Cotswolds Day 4 – Rain Day! Stratford-Upon-Avon 9/23/24

Monday, September 24, 2024

Today was rainy all day long, so we all decided to skip the hiking section from Chipping Campden to Moreton-in-Marsh (7.75 miles) and instead drive a half hour up to Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birth and death-place of William Shakespeare. The town is beautiful, if a bit touristy, but my favorite part was the Holy Trinity Church where he is buried.

We walked around town in the rain, but it wasn’t too heavy most of the time.

The Avon River runs through town and we walked along it until we got to the church.

The church had a great graveyard and we looked for the oldest headstone for a bit. I think the oldest we found was around 1780.

Shakespeare is interred inside. There were several people explaining the history and points of interest. One man had memorized a newly discovered Tolkien poem about Christmas and recited it to us. Random, but I’m always down for anything Tolkien related.

After the church, we went to eat lunch at the Black Swan Pub, which also is called The Dirty Duck by the locals. It’s a place where the Shakespearean actors in the town gather to imbibe and there’s a separate wing of the bar where they hang out. It was a cool vibe.

We then walked back through town to our car and headed to Moreton-in-Marsh, where we would stay for the night and get ready to hike again the next day, when the weather was supposed to clear up a bit.