On Saturday, I finally did a Cotswolds walk to the Broadway tower. This required a bit of navigating by train and bus to get to Broadway where the walk begins. I remain impressed by the British public transportation system. It’s easy and cheap to get anywhere nearby. To get to Broadway, I took the train first to Moreton-in-Marsh then a bus through some amazingly tiny back roads to Broadway. I had a few hours to spare in Moreton-in-Marsh. For future reference, it appears to be the place to go for antiques. There was some cool stuff there, but I didn’t need any more cool stuff.
Broadway was in the middle of some sort of festival, I’m not sure what for. Festivals are popular over here. I ate lunch then headed out on my hike. Hiking here is interesting. The paths you follow head out across pastures, through people’s back yards, wherever. Sometimes they’re not paths, just occasional signposts that reassure you that you’re going the right direction. It’s a bit of an adventure just walking.
The highlight of the walk is the Broadway Tower. It’s pretty fun and the view is tremendous. An unexpected bonus was being able to tour and underground cold war nuclear monitoring facility nearby. The hill near the tower has hosted a Royal Observer Corps facility since World War II. This monitoring facility is unique because it is still fully equipped.
On the hike down I struck up a conversation with Selina. It turns out she grew up four fields over from the Tower, but had since moved away. She was back visiting her step-mom. She has the interesting job of improvement specialist for the Scottish government. I’d never heard of the position and asked how it was going. She’s applying improvement science, also new to me, to healthcare. Interesting stuff.
Here are a few pictures from the day…
