Cheltenham and Winchcombe England

Today was lots of fun. I dragged painfully out of bed at 7:30, showered, then moped around for awhile before having breakfast with Liz at 8:45. I felt so tired this morning, it was ridiculous. Took me until almost noon to get moving. So we ate, then headed out around Cheltenham and went over to the tourist information office to see if we could rent bikes to ride around the area. We ended up finding some information on a nice walking path instead so we decided to do that. The bus to take us to Winchcombe, the starting point of our hike, left at noon so we quickly grabbed some lunch at a cool place that was cheap, good and very friendly. We both got great sandwiches and ate them on the bus. Got to Winchcombe 20 minutes later and it was really sweet. It was a smaller town and very picturesque. The buildings were old and pretty and everything was green and lush and well-kept. It was very cool and Liz especially loved it. :) So we wandered around a brief while and then found the path to go on and hiked all afternoon. It wasn't like a path that was created for hikers, it was a route that was planned over farms and through trees and over landscape that already existed. There were minimal markers telling us where to go, so many times we just had to wing it and try to interpret the map correctly which was interesting. :P The first thing we saw was a very old castle which was pretty cool. Then we trudged across a bunch of fields and farm area that was extremely muddy and we got our shoes and pants all muddied up and it took awhile to get through. We got down to a small area of woods and a stream which was nice and there was an old, abandoned millish house by the stream and a little pond which waterfalled down by the mill and turned into the stream. It was neat, but I got stung by some type of plant there. It hurt really bad and my hand stinged horribly and even puffed up a little. It still pricks a bit right now even. :( so, after that part we headed more uphill and met up with some actual roadways and defined paths which were nice and not muddy. The rest of the hike was mostly hills and fields and trees and sheep. Tons of sheep everywhere and then the occasional plantation that would pop up. Got back in to Winchcombe just before 5 then spent some time exploring it some more. saw about the whole crux of the town in 30 minutes then caught the 5:45 bus back to Cheltenham. Got back, went to the Y to get rid of our load, then went back out for dinner. Wandered for awhile and couldn't find much, then decided on a Thai place that was very nice. I decided to make in the 6-month anniversary dinner that I owe Liz. :) The food was really good, a little spicey but not too bad. I got chicken in a sort of sauce that was something and spices and coconut mixed together and it was pretty decent. I was a fan. :) So dinner was nice and we talked for a long time (I think we were there over two hours and they were bitter at us for staying so long...) which was really nice. I really truely enjoyed being friends with Liz today for the first time in awhile. So thats great for revival's sake. :) Anyhow, we got done with dinner a little after 10, came back here to repack stuff and chill out and I just took a shower a bit ago. I may pack some more now and then get off to bed.