Northward

 The night before we were to leave Bere Regis and head north was the night of the big storm and we wondered if we would indeed be able to take off in the morning.  Luckily by morning the storm had blown itself out in our area and it was a sunny day.  Along the road we did see downed trees and there were flooded patches of road here and there but in general we didn't see too much damage.  This apple tree was in an orchard that the footpath to Cadbury Castle went through.  It had obviously gone down the night before as it looked fresh was covered with apples.  The footpath system in England is wonderful.  Public right of way footpaths go everywhere, through fields, along houses, through barnyards.  Where they cross a stone wall or fence there is often a stile or a painted section of wall to indicate that you should cross there.  That's so the farmer only has one piece of fence that needs repair from being climbed over.  Gates are to be left as found, open or closed.

Cadbury Castle is an iron age hill fort that is considered by many a likely site for Camelot.  We didn't take the time to climb the hill but we did enjoy the walk through the orchard.  Here we were not only following in the footsteps of the Arthurian legends but author Jack Whyte's wonderful Camulod series about England in the 5th century after the legions left.  We drove through Glastonbury and saw the Tor in the distance but took a wrong turn at a roundabout and decided to keep on going to Bath.

 Bath has been on my list of places to see for a long, long time.  I love stories of Roman Britain, and Jane Austen's Bath adventures.  The Roman Baths are as amazing as I thought they'd be.  The water is warm and a little smelly.  You can drink a little bit of sanitized water from a fountain but I did wonder if the sanitizing process might well take out all the virtue.  After all, Jane Austen didn't drink it  sanitized.

 We spent our first  night on the road in the hostel in Stow-on-theWold.  This is one of my favorite English towns and the third time I've been here.  It has a wonderful big market square surrounded by houses made of that lovely, lovely golden Cotswold stone.  Here the final battle of the English Civil War was fought.

When I went to England the first time 20 years ago with my friend, Alicia, I took a picture of this incredible door.  When I finally got the film developed I had no idea where it was.  This was, of course, before the internet, so I couldn't just Google the places I'd been until I found it.  When Siri and I went back 3 years later I took her to Stow-on-the-Wold just to show her some of the places I'd been before and lo and behold there was my marvelous door in the church of St. Edward.  This time I went on purpose to find it again.  Tolkien must have known about this door.  To me it looks so much like his drawing of the door to Moria.