Things to remember for my next walk - sun cream! It all started off a bit dull on Friday but by the end of Sunday, after 45 miles of walking (including the 3 miles from Market Harborough station to the start of the walk), I had a nice red glow and white lines on the side of my face where my glasses had been. It's easy to forget that the sun in early May is as strong as late August.
This has been my first weekend of solo (Oscarless) and unsupported walking, as the back up team (my wife) had decided to go on a girls weekend in Austria. So it meant a few changes, with the train to and from my walk and a couple of sleep overs, I am no longer an airbnb virgin!
Day 8 took me from Flore to Chipping Warden near Banbury, a total of 15 miles. It was forecast to be a hot day, so I made an early start from my airbnb accommodation in Upton, bus back to the White Hart in Flore, and I was on the trail by 8:50. It takes me approx 6.5 hours to complete a 15mile section, with a few water stops and lunch break.
There were 3 quite steep inclines, approaching Church Stowe, Eyedon and between Eyedon and Chipping Warden. But the thing about walking up hill is that you always know you'll get a great view when you look back across the valley, and today was no exception to that.
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| Village green & stocks, Eyedon |
I lost the plot midpoint between Morton Pinkney (that's a great name) and Eyedon, Where I couldn't make any sense of the instructions in my book and I'd lost 4G signal, so I couldn't check back against the OS maps app on my phone - technology, it always lets you down at the point you need it most, (that's a new addendum to Murphy's law). But I muddled through and eventually picked up the path again.
Some interesting facts for you from today's walk; I crossed the first south flowing river (river Cherwell) which flows into the Thames, I crossed over the Nene which starts near Daventry and flows all the way back to the Wash, near the starting point of this walk. I crossed the Grand Union Canal and the A5 which follows the route of
Watling Street, which is the is the old Roman road linking the Chanel ports to London and the legionary fortress at Chester. It was also used as the boundary in the treaty between
Alfred and Guthram, (
Guthram keeps popping up, he must have been a proper tyke in his time).
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| Grand Union Canal |
The guide book was written a few years ago, and it's really noticeable that there has been a significant decline in village shops along the route, so if you are doing the walk, always assume that where shops are indicated in the book that they no longer exist and make sure you have plenty of water and supplies with you. Also marked places with accommodation and the accompanying list of accommodation appears to be out of date, and I've found it difficult this weekend to get accommodation on route at a sensible price, although the Stag and airbnb I stayed in were great value for money.
I got into a conversation with a Parish Councillor in Farthingstone who said that it might be worth emailing the Parish Council of the villages where you need accommodation, as they maybe aware of people that could offer up a bed for the night, which is really all you need, so might give it a go next time.
My wife has printed me a Macmillan Way t-shirt (it's all part of the back up and support services!) With Boston to Dorset on the front, The t-shirt is great as opens conversations about what I'm doing and why. As I was having the traditional end of walk beer in the Griffin in Chipping Warden, I had a conversation with a guy, who, and I genuinely think he was serious, thought I'd walked from Boston USA. In his words "I thought it was a bloody long walk! Boston, Lincolnshire! never 'eard of it" I'm guessing he was a few pints in to his Sunday afternoon session - beer and sunshine, a great combination! I'm going to add 'walking on water' to my t-shirt, that should get the donations for
Macmillan Cancer Support rolling in.
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| Church Stowe |
As I finished my walk, I got a taxi to Banbury, the taxi driver was a passionate cricket fan, and he was telling me all about the Cricket World Cup which starts in a couple of weeks. I'm not a massive cricket fan, but he's got me interested.
It has been a great weekend of walking and I am now 114 miles in after completing 42 'official' miles this weekend. I made it back to Stamford, tired and a bit bedraggled. I caught up with Oscar, who without a doubt had the 'bag on' with me, he's done nothing but sulk since I arrived home. Full steam ahead planning the next section where I hope to do a few additional days and break the back of the walk
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