Wotton under Edge to Hawkesbury Upton, via Nanny Farmer’s Bottom

Short day today (8 miles) and the weather was excellent - for and English summer. Cool, partly cloudy, and only a few sprinkles.

Mrs. Grimes, at Sunrise Hill B&B, made us an excellent breakfast, and even with a relaxed start, we were off around 9:30. The path took us through High Street in Wotton under Edge, past the churchyard where the church bells were announcing Sunday service, then along a stream out of town.

Then, uphill to the ridge, circling around Nanny Farmer’s  Bottom (possibly more on that later), and through the really, really small villages of Wortley, Alderley, and Lower Kilcott, then on  to Coombe Farm in Hawkesbury Upton.

Passed through a lot of horse country today. Lots of them in the fields, and saw several riders.  Also spotted a red fox diving off the trail in front of us as we were entering some woods.

Coombe Farm is our B&B for tonight. A real farm, and their B&B rooms are in a separate building with a separate garden area. We got in a little after one, cleaned up, watched a little UK Antiques Roadshow, then went to check out the village of Hawkesbury Upton, about a quarter mile from the B&B.

Hawkesbury Upton is small. Looks like only one store (closed on Sunday), a couple of churches, and two pubs. We did the pub crawl of Hawkesbury Upton, looking both for a place that has wi- fi (our B&B doesn’t), some interesting beers, and a decent dinner menu.

The Fox Inn has a couple of real ales, Guinness, wi-fi, an “Italian” menu (pastas, pizzas, and an Italian chef that makes his own Italian wine), and a modern feel. The Beaufort Arms feels like the 200 year old inn that it is, has several local ales, Guinness, skittles, will be showing Northern Ireland vs. Croatia on the TV tonight, and a great pub menu. But it doesn’t have wi-fi. So you can see our dilemma, and maybe you can predict our answer.

We’re going back to the Fox Inn in a while to have a couple more beers and use their wi-fi. If you’re reading this, you’ll know that was successful.

Then we’ll move on to the Beaufort Arms, where we now have a table reserved (they know us now), for a Steak and Guinness pie, a selection of beers (warm and cold), and an evening of Sunday night Football.

I think we’re getting this walking stuff sorted out.

Go Ireland.