Lechlade to Newbridge - Day Three

Here we are again!  Day three and we are off to Newbridge.  Last night's hotel was Vera's Kitchen, a brilliant B&B with only 3 tiny individual cottages facing on to a common courtyard.  Each cottage was brand new and beautifully decorated.

Funnily enough, Vera's Kitchen does not serve dinner so we choose Colley's in the town center.  The owner, and the only staff other than the kitchen, was a quirky gentleman with stereotypical English manners referring to us a Sir and Madam.  The restaurant had a fab gin bar which we had to try...fantastic!  The food was also far above the average.  So far, the reputation of English food being poor is been proven wrong!

Not long after we left town on our way to Newbridge we came across the statue of Father Thames which originally stood at the source but has been moved to the navigable source of the Thames.

All along our route today you could see these so called, "pill boxes" that were built during world war II to hold back a potential invasion from Rommel's Panzer divisions and keep them from reaching the Midlands.  They were built not long after the Dunkirk debacle when Britain was quite vulnerable to attack and morale was low.  We passed at least a dozen or more along the way.

Heather, wearing her German football jersey occupying a pill box and being repelled by Shelagh, a patriotic Brit trying to eradicate the German menace.

As the day wore on, the river Thames became noticeably wider.

Today we passed by more than 1/2 dozen locks.   The locks are heavily used by private pleasure craft and are operated by hand.  Private individuals live beside the locks and manage them 24/7.  It is impressive to see how beautifully landscaped the lock stations are.  The managers use their down time to garden.

One of the many old wooden foot bridges we travelled across on today's walk.

Anther close up of a WW II pill box.

More WW II planes flying over our heads in formation today practicing for this weekend's air show.

Wildlife walking through the trails.

Beautiful thatched cottage along the Thames today.

Today's Rock Star photo manning the lock.  Are we cool or what?

At the 10 mile marker we stopped at our second pub stop for the day.  Nice restaurant and pub, bitchy waitress!

OK, it was a very posh pub as you can see by the pristine, vintage Bentley out front.

Who left their shoe in the field??  This is a view of Chimney Meadow, one of the most unspoiled, pristine meadows in England.  You can see the brown cattle enjoying the meadow in the background.

Much of today was like this. . . hiking in the countryside along an ever deepening and widening river.

The girls posing along one of the many wooden foot bridges.  Aren't they cute!

Very cool geese hanging out on the Thames.

Finally, our destination, Newbridge, after 36000 steps and 16.5 miles.

And, our hotel and pub for the night, The Rose Revived.
We were joined by some of Shelagh and Pete's friends tonight, who will accompany us for the next few days.