Leg 10 - North Cerney to Cirencester - All downhill (almost)

 

We had a lovely sunny morning for our last Monarchs Way walk; a short, easy but triumphant stroll into Cirencester. There were six walkers (Deborah, Jacky, Andy, Chris, Rod & Di) plus of course Lily the dog to round us all up.

A short uphill stretch out of North Cerney led us to a field where we admired a buzzard circling in a clear blue sky, before taking a straightforward, and gently downhill, walk across fields, and through some woodland, following the course of the River Churn.

 We went under a massive flyover carrying the A417, and arrived in the village of Baunton. Three very convenient benches in the churchyard were ideal for our lunch stop,


 and suitably fortified, we continued through Baunton, across a couple more fields, and into Cirencester.

 We took a slight detour round Cirencester as some of our party had never visited the town, and arrived at Jack’s Tea Room for tea and cake to celebrate the half way point of our Monarch’s Way challenge.

Some statistics; over the course of the year, Deborah & Alison, and Rod & Di were joined by 20 guests, most of whom came for just one walk, but special mention should be made of Steven, who joined us on six walks. In total our guests walked 145 miles between them.

We started out from Stratford on the 20th March, and arrived in Cirencester on 22nd October. When Charles II did the same journey in September 1651 it took him two days - although to be fair he was on horseback.

Next Spring we will resume our Monarch’s Way challenge, from Cirencester to Bristol, in ten stages, a total distance of 56 miles. We hope friends and family can join us.

Blog written by Rod. 

We are walking in aid of Grassroots Suicide Prevention

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/28-30MonarchsWaywalk2022

 

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