Day 5

 I slept reasonably well in my proper bed, at The Clothiers Arms, but kept waking up because I was too hot! There’s no pleasing some😜

I had a superb cooked breakfast and set off along the Stroudwater Canal towpath, until I met up with the CW. 

The path then took me up through some scenic fields of sheep

before a seriously steep climb up to Selsey Common. 
It was a tough slog climbing to the summit, but the views from the top made up for all the pain! It was blowing a real gale up there, which was quite chilly! 
The path then went through a wooded area for a few miles, but it was nice to get out of the wind. It was quite a tough slog with quite a few hills to climb/descend. 


Eventually, I came out at Coaley Peak, where once again there were some spectacular views across the Berkeley Vale. 
I then went back into another wooded area, with a steep descent. Of course, that only meant one thing, another flipping steep climb! 
This picture doesn’t really show how steep that was. I had to stop several times on the way up to admire the view (nothing to do with the fact that I was blowing out of my ar*e)!

After that climb, there was a descent down into Dursley. I didn’t explore the town, so can’t give an honest review, but the bits I did see were not that inspiring! 

I bought an ice cream and replenished my ‘secret’ supply of jelly babies, before settling off on the lung-busting climb up to Stinchcombe Golf Course. 

At the summit, you have the choice to walk 2.5 miles around the whole course and catch a view at Stinchcombe Hill, or do as I did, and walk straight across the fairway and down the other side! 

There was then another climb up into the village of North Nibley and then descent to my campsite at Hunts Court Huts. 

It’s a really nice spot, with its own collection of various birds of prey. 

I am writing this in the Black Horse Inn, in the village. It is basically an Indian Restaurant in a pub. You can tell it must be good, when a party of the local Asian community came in for a party! The place is heaving on a Wednesday evening. I have just eaten a chicken shisna and it was absolutely delicious! Trouble is, I could happily eat another one! 


So that’s another 14 miles and 2400 ft of climbing done. I’ve got a tiny blister on my right little toe, nothing to cause any real issues, but just painful enough to make going downhill uncomfortable! 

The plan for tomorrow is to get to Tormarton, which will be 17 miles and a fair bit of climbing! 

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