Fancy a Swim?

It's great to be back on the Macmillan Way, I've had a bit of a break over the Summer due to hols and a mysterious foot injury, but all good now and I'm really looking forward to completing my journey over the next few days.

So far I have walled 215 miles from Boston to Beckington near Frome, and I have just 75 miles before I finish my journey in Abbotsbury, Dorset.

My wife (the back up team) and Oscar the Dog have both travelled down to Somerset with me, Alison will be dropping off and picking up, which means no heavy rucksack to carry, and I'm hoping that all three of us can finish the last leg of the walk to Abbotsbury together.

Now Oscar isn't a great traveller, so the thought of a  3.5 hour car journey with him didn't fill me with joy, but he did really well, however he was clearly  just biding his time to exact some revenge for being cooped up for so long.

Village Lockup

The first river we came to he was determined to get in, and he pretty much took me with him. As we approached the bank, I suspect forgetting he was on his lead he just made a leap and as he went I went as well. Although I managed to stop a full immersion, I looked like a baby Giraffe with my right leg in the river with the water up to my nuts and my left leg halfway up the bank! Of course to make matters worse, there was a family sat having a picnic watching the full sequence of events unfold, I'm sure it gave them great entertainment value, especially as I struggled to get out of the water!

Once we were both out of the river, I brushed myself down emptied my boot of water, and we set off again. About 15 minutes later I realised I didn't have my glasses, so we had to re trace our steps, say a " 'ow do" to the Picnic family again, find my glasses and for the second time off we went. I'm sure the Picnic family, will be regaling this story for years to come!

Nunney Castle

This was the first of two Oscar related water incidents, the second occurred when we were following a beautiful wooded stretch of the walk near Nunney. Oscar was off lead so saw his opportunity to get in the river and cool off, he did a flying leap, off the very steep bank, but didn't give a second thought to how he would get out once in the water. "Bloody dog", or words probably a bit stronger than that were mumbled, as a lay down on the wet forest floor, to try and reach him and using his harness hoick him out of the water. Not a word of thanks as he climbed across me, then shuck himself all over me. As I stood up I looked a proper state, covered in mud and for the second time today, nice and wet. Yes, Oscar is definitely back!

Lullington Water Pump

The walk today was a steady 10 miles from Beckington to Trudoxill, no long stretches of road or paths so lots of navigation and of course with a couple of dog rescues it took me longer than expected finishing the walk about 8pm after a 3.30 start.

I passed through some beautiful villages, including Nunney with its Medieval castle complete with moat, who knew about that! Lullington with its old water hand pump, and Buckland Dinham, with its village lock up........ hmmm if it had been open I might have dropped Oscar in there!

But the most surreal moment, was as I crossed the river at Great Elm, where I could here a choir singing. There was a moment in the peace and quiet where I thought I might have been called. I checked around and no bright lights, and Oscar was still very much there! So I just stood and enjoyed it, it was a lovely moment.

As I walked into the White Hart car park in Trudoxhill, I was met by Alison, with a cheery greeting of "oh my God, you look a state, how have you got into that mess?" How indeed!

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