Cotswold Way

We had already pre-booked accommodation for the night between the penultimate and final days of walking and a hotel in Bath at the finish. Now that the time was upon us, we heard the news that storm Ciaran was due to hit sometime during this period. As the time drew closer, it became apparent that we would encounter poor weather on Thursday, but there was a good chance of reasonable weather on Friday (the final stage).  All things considered, we thought this was a fair outcome and so we braced ourselves and got up on Thursday morning for the train down to Yate, some thirty minutes or so by rail from Gloucester. We arrived at the basic, modest Yate railway station, as light drizzly rain began to fall. With about an hour until the 620 bus, which passes Old Sodbury, we decided to call a taxi, which turned out to cost exactly £10 and was much more comfortable and convenient than waiting for the bus. Soon, we were being off-loaded at The Dog Inn, Old Sodbury, exactly where we had stood ...

Stage eight - Wotton under Edge to Old Sodbury After a hiatus, we are back to the task in hand... Stage eight saw us up at the crack of... 0540, in order to be out the door by 0630, in order to park the car in Stroud and walk to Merrywalks bus stop by 0710 for the bus to Dursley, which in turn would link to Wooton-under-Edge, our start point. A 'West Gold Group Dayrider' from the Stagecoach app for £15.50 seemed to cover the travel for the day for all three of us, and the free parking in Stratford Park in Stroud helped, with only a ten minute walk to the bus stand. After a short ride to Dursley, we headed to Sainsbury's, being the only place likely to be open at about 0730, where we bought pastries and a much needed coffee, along with some snacks for the walk. From the get-go, we knew we'd have to keep up a reasonably quick pace in order to reach our destination before the bus arrived at the Dog Inn in Old Sodbury. Soon off the bus and on our merry way and the day was a...