Bourton-on-the-Water Summer Holiday May 2018 Day 7

The weather forecast wasn't looking all that good so the walkers decided on a shortish walk, going from Cranham, up through Buckholt and Brockworth Woods to Coopers Hill. It was mostly uphill and dampish but some lovely paths through the beech trees. In Brockworth Woods we found a few edible Roman snails. Introduced by the Roman, they don't thrive particularly well in England and are a protected species. Living for 20 to 30 years, they don't get anywhere very quickly, migration distance around 4 to 6 metres! By the time we got to the top of Coopers Hill the rain was becoming a nuisance so we sheltered whilst watching a Hungarian filming the course of the cheese rolling competition. When the rain eased off we had a look down this incredible hill that no-one in their right mind would want to climb up, let alone chase a cheese down. A man helping to put the side fences in position came for a chat. He was the proud father of a lad who has been competing since 2005 and had won 20 races during that period. He was hoping to become the first person to win 21 races the following day. Click on this link and you'll find the answer Chris Anderson. There is steel fencing at the bottom to stop the cheese killing anyone and a rugby team in front of the fence to stop the competitors, who will be mostly out of control. Injuries are not uncommon. We gingerly made our way down an "easier" path to walk through more woods back to the cars. We chose to eat our packed lunch in the grounds of Prinknash Abbey but were not exactly impressed with the cafe/shop where we went for a coffee. This was our last day at Bourton-on-the-Water and the House arranged a "ghost walk" for guests wishing to have a final wander. Bourton-on-the-Water is a deservedly popular town to see all that is good about the Cotswolds and we were a bit concerned we would be inundated with tourists. However they were mostly around in the daytime when we were elsewhere and disappeared in the late afternoon. Harrington House was a superb HF house. The staff were excellent for the whole week and we all had an enjoyable holiday.