Sunday, March 04, 2007

The Sapperton Circular Walk

Sarah and I went out for the second of our walks taken from the Footloose pocket guides that we bought at the Christmas market in Bath a few years back. This time we ventured a little closer to home. Sapperton is a beautiful little Cotswold village just West of Cirencester. The walk took us North of Sapperton past Pinsbury Manor (now that is a gaff) to Hoar Stone Longbarrow (not much to look at to be fair). We then headed down the hill and up into Edgeworth.

Apart from being a beautiful village and having a wonderful Tudor manor, the church (St. Mary’s) had some fantastic stained glass windows.
I am not normally seduced into churches, having had an overdose in my youth from my overzealous Grandfather, but this was intriguing. A mixture of Saxon, Norman and Gothic styles it seemed worth a look. Although it was a little dark inside, the stained glass windows were absolutely stunning. I was amazed to be able to get some sharp photos whilst handheld (hooray for the Nikkor VR lense). After 5 minutes wandering around the church we pottered on into the woods of the Bathhurst Estate and down to the remnants of the remnants of the Daneway Portal (the entrance/exit to the now defunct Daneway tunnel on the Severn & thames canal). After a short, but steep, climb back up to Sapperton we returned to the car feeling self-riteous and a little jaded in the legs.

The new walking boots saw action again (and plenty of mud). They seem very comfortable and are now wearing in. Here’s to more long walks...who knows, there may even be a few more church visits...that would be a turn up for the books...Grandad will be proud!

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