Important Info

Planned kilometres: 23 (cummulative 489)

Kilometres walked: 22 (cummulative 523)

% Completed (based on 1800km trip): 29.1%

Weather: Sunshine & blue skies (forecast high of 27)

Pubs visited: The Red Lion, The Anchor

Pints: 4 (cummulative 60)

Kms per pint: 8.7

Blisters: 0 (cummulative 2)

 

Gloucester to Tewkesbury

The sun is shining and the main topic of news here is about the sunny weather forecast for the whole Bank Holiday weekend. I’m sure in a couple of days the news will be about the heat wave hitting the UK and how it is unbearable.

 

During my trip I have come across lots of signs warning that Fly-Tipping will be prosecuted. Fly-tipping refers to the illegal dumping of waste on the side of the road and I have seen evidence of it quite a few times when walking some of the country lanes.

Todays trip was following the Severn Way which is a pathway the follows the River Severn. The term pathway is sometimes an overstatement as you need to bush bash to follow a very vague path. Today’s path was varied and went along the river bank and through farm land & forests.

 

The first stop of the day is The Red Lion and it river bank garden bar. I arrived at 11:15 and the pub didn’t open until 12 and already half of the tables were occupied with people waiting for the pub to open. I decided that that was a great sign and so found myself a table on the riverbank and sat in the sun reading my book until opening time. By the time the pub opened every table was full.

The only issue was that I had lost my sun-glasses when walking through the forest to get to the Red Lion. They must have fallen off my hat when climbing over styles. I wasn’t going to retrace my steps for an hour to try and find them as the lenses were wrecked and needed replacing, so I will have to go sunglass shopping tomorrow. I had a pint and lunch and when I left the Red Lion, there were cars and people everywhere.

 

The rest of the day was relaxed as I walked through paddocks in the sunshine.

 

I arrived in Tewkesbury at 3pm, which gave me time to visit the Tewkesbury Abbey, have a look around town and find a pub to watch Chelsea vs Liverpool (wish I hadn’t bothered).

 

Tewkesbury town has lots of medieval buildings and the hotel I was staying in was one of them.

I am staying in a JD Weatherspoon pub called The Royal Hop Pole. On the way to my room, I had to pass through medieval hall that is part of the building. I only have a single room in the hotel and the room was tiny (I think I now know how Harry Potter felt living under the stairs). It only had a single bed, which is not something I want to repeat too often.