Day Thirteen,

we were up early,

we had decided to beat the crowds, so we were out just after sunrise, to the surprise of the ducks,

not a soul in sight,

and this was the reason we were here so early,

we wanted some photographs,

with nobody else in the frame,

just Diana,

it was worth the effort,

well at least I think so, and I am sure Diana does as well,

also it gave me a chance to take some people less infrared photographs,

which I will work on in the coming months whilst Diana is at work,

I almost look like I know what I am doing,

it was great to have the whole place to ourselves,

no one under the willow,

or walking the streets,

it was like a ghost town,

and surprising,

the difference that just a couple of hours makes,

I was really enjoying myself,

as was Diana,

just one more,

then back to Coombe House for a excellent breakfast, starting with cereals and fruit, followed by your choice including salmon and scrambled eggs or a great fry up amongst other dishes,

out into the car,

for a day driving around,

there are so many villages to look at in the area,

many with picture postcard homes near them,

like these,

and in the villages,

the town square,

that apart from the yellow lines,

 looks like it has not changed since it was built,

this village is Chipping Campden,

so nice as it was the in day it was built,

a quick look into one of the antiques shops,

and the market building from the lower road,

lots of tea rooms of course,

we then drove back past the houses we had seen before,

they look so nice,

I hate to think how many hours a week,

it takes to keep the gardens looking so nice,

even a small one like this,

next stop for us,

again in Worcestershire,

to see a folly,

Broadway Tower is a folly on Broadway Hill, near the large village of Broadway, at the second-highest point of the Cotswolds (after Cleeve Hill), Broadway Tower's base is 1,024 feet (312 metres) above sea level,

I spent what seemed to be forever waiting for the yahoos to get out of the way so I could take an infrared photograph,

patience paid off in the end,

back in the car park I noticed this beauty,

a MV Augusta Stadale 800, would I like one? no prizes for guessing the answer!

off again,

through villages,

some not even having a pavement,

and as always remember the horses,

there are lots out here,

we stopped again,

to take a walk,

and look at this most impressive gate,

which was next to the church,

and nearby cottage,

as always we surrendered ourselves to sat nav,

and here is a reason not to,

I should have noted that the sign at the beginning of this 'road' said not suitable for motor vehicles,

after one mile into this 2.2 mile 'road' and there had not been a single passing place,

I was dreading meeting a car making the same mistake as us coming towards us,

thankfully we did not, note to self, do not trust sat nav every time!

we found ourselves in the delightful village of Snowshill,

and we knew it was, as it was on the pub,

a few photographs,

and we started to walk back to the car park,

up the hill, as we neared the top there was a mighty roar as not one but five 'super cars' flew past us,

and here they are, Audi's,

Jaguars,

in different colours,

and a Lotus,

made up the line up,

for our final visit of the day,

the Cotswold Falconry Centre,

the centre opens from mid February to the beginning of November, admission is £10.00 for Diana £7.50 for myself, 

first up for the show was a falcon,

which took off getting ready to fly on a nearby building,

but regrettably it would not hunt,

so the falconer used a lure,

to entice the bird,

which it took,

and ate on the ground,

the bird,

still feeding,

was brought round for us all to have a closer look,

next was a kite,

but this one prefers to find dead food,

and wandered around picking up food as it went,

I should mention that all of the time this was going on the falconer was giving a most informative talk about the birds,

after a talk about this hawk,

it was time to fly, and fly it did, an estimated 3.5 miles away looking for a rabbit or squirrel, strangely enough there are not that many in the area now, well the birds are flown on every one of the 4 or 5 shows a day,

coming back home,

the bird received a tit bit,

a number of birds were put through their paces,

all of the time we were being given information about them,

for instance I had always thought that falcons were good flyer's, well it appears that in the flying stakes they are pretty hopeless, in a straight chase they can not catch a thing, a falcon has a top level speed of about 30 - 35 mph a duck 40 - 60 mph, a pigeon 60 - 70mph, but some have been clocked at just over 90mph, in a straight race a falcon would just starve to death, so it uses gravity to increase its speed to sometimes approaching and even exceeding 200mph, and there was me thinking that falcons were the Kings of the air!

next one of the smaller eagles, like the falcon perched on the building behind the seats,

and was soon aloft,

and returned after its flight, what a fabulous and informative show,

the show over we had a walk around,

 I should say that every show is different, the next one will feature vultures,

like these,

I was using the normal camera, so Diana got left lugging the infrared around,

as we walked around I noticed an owl,

that flew from perch to perch,

a few moments and he was off again,

I did not realise it,

I had stumbled,

into a teaching lesson,

where students are taught,

how to handle birds of prey,

just keep clear of the landing zone,

there we are, all done,

we wander around,

looking at the birds that are kept here,

this one so eager,

for his turn,

he kept trying to take off,

but his tethers held fast,

Diana said that she also really enjoyed the show,

one last look and we were off,

and on our way back for our evening meal,

seeing how busy it was later in the evening we had booked a table, at the Old Manse Hotel,

pate for Diana,

scallops and bacon for myself,

we both decided on a roast,

chicken for Diana, lamb for myself, we were both way too full for dessert, so off back to our room for us, a bit of television and we were off to bed.