Friends it has happened again…my 2024 Prostate surgery resulted in various family cancellations. Now 2026, a week before leaving, an Emergency hospital visit resulted in an Abdominal Hernia diagnosis.
A long exhausting roller coaster hospital day ranging from “Initial Diagnosis with a rather painful pushing manipulation 😰” to “CT scan” to “CT scan shows "Houston we have a problem" - Surgical team advised and prepping for emergency surgery" to “surgery now booked in 4 days” to “more time and assessment required before surgery based on past medical history".
End result no choice but to cancel our Cotswold Round holiday walk. 🥲
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| Packed and ready to go! UGH! |
Similar to 2024 when I posted a pending blogpost I am posting my planned pre-walk Cotswold blogpost. Humour...or at least my kind of humour...past stories…simply help me move forward.
Somehow I believe I am not done yet…another long walk or two will be in my future.🤞🏽Wishing Carol & Leonard a great Cotswold vacation.
Here is my unchanged Cotswold pre-walk blogpost written before my hospital visit 😳
...to spend time with friends who go way, way, way back in time.
First a couple of other thoughts…
Blogposts: For those few 🤣 who will not make it to the end of this blogpost some upfront information. I will not 🎉be blogging during this Holiday with Dawn and good friends Carol & Leonard. I look forward to simply exploring these English villages, gentle walking in the countryside and those awesome English breakfasts! Perhaps a post walk blog post will emerge...I will see how the spirit moves.
You may rightfully ask “Why are you then creating a pre blog post?”. Well I foresee in the near future self publishing Volume 9 of my walking adventures and an overview of the Cotswold Round walk is absolutely essential. Please don’t ask the obvious further question “Why?”.
Truth be told I simply had way too much fun creating this particular blogpost. That is reason enough for me. ☺️
I have also been reflecting on a similar 2015 walk....Thames River Walk from Oxford to Windsor.
We had a great time walking 11 days / 119 kms along the Thames River all the while desperately trying to keep up to my friend Dennis’s torrid walking pace 😮💨 😉
The merry band Dawn and me, Elaine & Dennis longtime friends dating back to pre-school days for our middle daughter Jeanne ~ 1989 and their good friend Dave.
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| L to R - Dawn (Guy), Dennis (Elaine), Dave, Elaine, Guy (yes it was shorts weather!) |
The walking itinerary...note the assumed 3 km per hour walking pace.
I volunteered to be the “walking company” creating the daily walking route, choosing/booking accommodation, baggage carry etc. There may have been an all in good fun quibble or two from an unnamed member of our group about “room size”...”Guy come have a look...it’s so small”. 🤣
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| Dennis and his treat |
My one regret was in Windsor where on the last day we visited the castle. The flag indicated the Queen was in residence therefore I naturally assumed she would have tea with me as an honoured representative of Canada. Alas it did not happen! I never found out why. 😰__________________________________________________________________________
Moving forward to 2026 we will be walking in the Cotswold UK area with longtime friends Carol & Leonard whom we first met in 3rd year University 1976/1977. Dawn & I were married mid 1979...Carol & Leonard copied us and were married in early 1980.
Over the years ...pre children... Carol & Leonard introduced us to wild canoeing trips... first trip shooting likely Class VI (Extreme/Exploratory) crazy rapids on the Manigotagan River in Manitoba. A fond memory is being in the bow with Carol in the stern and skillfully steering our canoe sideways against a large boulder in the middle of white water rapids.
Ahhh time to rest however Carol was a wee bit fearful (frantic, terrified) of a disastrous outcome with the force of the water wrapping the canoe around the boulder! I managed to save the day by prying off with the paddle and all was good again. 😉
Subsequent trips followed including a famous early 80’s trip on the Black River where we first had to obtain permission from fire fighters prior to starting out. Then we found out Black River water levels were so low that we spent more time trying to get the canoe over umpteen beaver dams than anything else. I may have fallen in a time or two…canoes and me don’t get along well.
A memorable trip as the forest fires pushed all manner of wildlife to the river...moose, bear, owls, deer, great blue heron etc.
Insane cross country ski trips led by Leonard followed...in Arctic freezing cold conditions...not on well groomed ski trails but up/down steep ravines in Spruce Woods provincial park. I spent more time on my b*tt than anything else! For those who have seen me curl recently I am once again doing something similar but this time on ice.
Children came...Carol & Leonard moved umpteen times as Leonard sought ever greener pastures as an Actuary finally ending up in Barbados and Cayman Islands...while Dawn and I enjoyed Winnipeg.
This was then...
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| Leonard, Carol, Guy, Dawn |
Could this really be now 😳...
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| Do I dare name anyone in the above picture? |
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| Guy, Leonard (he is a wee bit older than me therefore warrants the cane 😊), Carol, Dawn ☺️ |
"Picture a place of gentle hills and gorgeous stone villages. A place of honey coloured houses and luscious green meadows. A place of hedge lined country lanes. Picture this, and you have the Cotswolds. Our Cotswold Round is a circuit of some of the most picturesque towns and villages the Cotswolds has to offer.
Their very names themselves an invitation to the inquisitive – Moreton-in-Marsh, Stow-on-the-Wold, Bourton-on-the-Water. Almost all of the round falls within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Covering over 2000 square kilometers, it’s the largest such protected area in England and Wales. Only Cheltenham lies outwith the boundary. On your journey you will walk through many nature reserves as well as Sites of Special Scientific Interest.
Cowslips carpet the grassland in spring and in summer look closely for the pyramidal orchid and bee orchid. Bluebell woods bring vibrant colour and sweet smelling lily of the valley fills air. The red kite and the skylark occupy the Cotswold sky. Rare butterflies flit from flower to flower and fortunate walkers may get to see a duke of burgundy or adonis blue.
The ever present golden stone you’ll see is Oolitic limestone, formed sometime around 150-200 million years ago, when the Cotswolds were covered by a warm sea.
Hundreds of Cotswold villages are built entirely of this stone. Consequently the Cotswolds have more protected or listed buildings than any other region. You may spot some Cotswold Lions, these shaggy sheep are bred in small numbers today, but were once the foundation of England’s wool trade with Europe. An industry amounting to almost 50% of the country’s economy.
The magnificent churches you’ll see, many disproportionate in size to the villages they serve, were known as wool churches, constructed or enlarged by huge contributions from the wealthy wool merchants.
Accompanied by the sight of wildflowers and the sound of birdsong, this is a country walker’s dream. A mix of open meadow, track, woodland, river bank and country lane combine to make our 59 mile Cotswold Round a relaxing walk through what you’ll no doubt come to remember as quintessentially English countryside.”
Ok this description is clearly totally over the top however one has to be enthused about this walk!!!
Cotswold Round Itinerary
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| We will walk this route with the exception of the Cheltenham spur |
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