Day 9: Stockbridge Hiking!

18,000 Steps and it's only 5pm. You'll see photos of our hike... along a narrow track alongside the River Test, to a water and flower farm, with a lunch stop at a lovely pub in a small hamlet of thatched roof cottages.  After those, a few shots of breakfast at our lovely hotel, pictures of the hotel courtyard, including our upstairs room (farthest to the right), and our little post hike "CUPPA"...(Earl Grey, hot).

Winding a few miles alongside the river Test. 
Obvious why Peggy seems anxious about taking another step...
Always on the lookout for an Elva bench! 
Thatch city! 
I could live here... beautiful curb appeal! 
Thatch cat? 
The long and winding farm road...
Monet-esque!
Suggested by our hotel front desk(who loved her Gideon New Testament), this Water and Flower Park was our destination 3.5 miles from our hotel. Worth the walk! 
Some wonderful color combos. 
Sign! 
Lovely, Liter, Thatch... the Trifecta!
Best scotch egg in 15 years...
Nicoise salad with tuna perfectly grilled for Peggy. 
The Bunny is the crossroad that we walked to see the trout fishing on the Test River, the brick building is the pub in which we ate lunch and the Thatch roof is a random cottage. 
Obviously not fanny bridge in Tahoe city... but close! 
Loved this comforting sign combination. 
CUPPA!
Now to our start of the day with a buffet. 
Smoked trout over scrambled eggs with Canadian bacon for me. (Amazing) 
Poached eggs over avocado toast for Peggy,  which she loved! 

Shout out for the single largest, most luxuriant bath towel ever! With a powerful waterfall showerhead, you've got a great combo! 

Our room upstairs is the farthest to the right! 
The Grosvenor's interior garden which our room looks out on. Love the square popsicle trees. 

Dinner was a special treat, a block down the road, so we added more steps, and the White Hart was waiting for us! 

Peggy finally got her fish and chips (which were triple fried and extra crispy) and I had a tender chicken schnitzel... yum! 

The walk back, via the very quiet main street of Stockbridge, was a perfect ending to a perfect hiking day! 

That was a large haddock! 
Super tender chicken with an anchovy- forward Caesar salad. 

The main street of Stockbridge at 8pm! Pretty mellow... blessings until tomorrow! 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome ... T-10 days

Image
Do you enjoy vicarious travel? I suspect you do: No logistic nightmares, no travel hassles, no jet lag exhaustion, no packing and unpacking, no outlay from the nest egg, no ... well you get the idea.  Your opportunity to explore delightful parts of Italy, England and Norway has arrived. Welcome to our personal blog,  as we'll use this to go old school... to actually print out a book for our tactile and physical enjoyment. Here you will join me and Peggy, vicariously, as we explore Italy's Dolomites for a week, then head to Southport, England for 3 days (known, by some, as the fly fishing capital of the world) on our way to a 2 week Celebrity cruise in and around the Norwegian Fjords. I might even throw a video or two in the mix depending on upload speeds,  etc.  By God's grace, as He leads, we plan to share Gideon Bibles and the joy of knowing Jesus at every opportunity... please pray for many seeds to be planted and many to be gifted eternal life.  So get your ...
Read more

Day 2: Relax Day!

Image
5:45am sunrise mimosas were no problem for me given the jet lag (Peggy was sleeping soundly) ... no sunrise was the only problem.  I magically erased the other 20 folks from the infinity pool.  Breakfast, from the power table, overlooking the valley, was a real treat.  Cable car to a stunning wilderness photography museum called Lumen was pretty special, and you can see some videos taken there on the whatsapp blog. (don't tell Steve B. I went to a museum). We love finding a cross on mountain peaks, communicating all glory to God!  Spring bloom in July.  Cool enough for a windbreaker as we circumnavigated the peak on an easy 30 minute rather flat walk about... remember it's Relax Day....  Our hotel from the returning cable car ride.  Back in time for outdoor pizza made by the world champion, according to the marketing material.. gotta believe it therefore!  Classic outdoor woodburning pizza oven helped make the pizzas extra excellent.  Had to ...
Read more

Day 1... Travel Day!

Image
Travel Day starts with packing the car.  And this trip we've trimmed down a bit! Yay us!  And so it begins with a suggestive upgrade bid email from Lufthansa for 1st class seating.  I entered a bid of 10% the normal upgrade price and was, to our amazement,  accepted.  This kicked off a number of wonderful add on benefits... like 1st class lounges, private escorts through terminals, car rides directly to the plane instead of commuter busses etc. And as you can see in this picture,  a lounge kickoff glass of delicious French bubbly.  Once in our seats, more bubbly, and although there were only 8 seats in first class,  the conversations were joyful!  Each seat was like a private office,  comfort loaded and fully convertible to a bedroom.  One of our neighbors was a CEO of an AI company, and another was a past 747 pilot who flies first class any time seats are available.... Even the bathrooms had space with their window view. The best f...
Read more