Distance Walked: 24.5km, Time Taken: 6h 30m, Avg Walking Speed: 3.8km/h
Didn't use the GPS today as it was threatening rain so I buried the phone down in my pack so it wouldn't get wet. Didn't go off track once (feeling rather smug) so using official distance instead. Suspect this gives a more accurate estimate of my average speed. Mind you, I didn't stop for a rest, except for a 10 minute break for a sandwich.
Weather horrible all day. Overcast and windy with occasional showers. Every time I got the goretex coat out and put it on it would stop. I take it off and 10 minutes later another shower. Ended up no bothering with it as never got very wet.
Breakfast was not very nice. The coffee was instant, although served in a French press. Who did they think they were kidding? Even if the taste didn't give it away, the lack of grounds would. The host also hinted I might not want to open a new box of muesli but instead finish off the remanants of another brand. I did want, and did, open the new box. Only white bread for toast and the scrambled eggs were watery. From some sort of mix perhaps? Still, the host was very friendly as was the couple from Exeter who were also staying. They were the couple we had all met in Standish Woods the other day.
Not much to report about the walk. More of a slog than anything. I planned to stop at the Somerset Monument just outside of Hawkesbury Upton to eat my sandwich but there was no bench and there was a stiff wind. Only came across 2 or 3 benches the whole day in sharp contrast to yesterday when you couldn't seem to walk for more than 15 minutes before encountering another one.
Ate my trail mix as I walked instead. At one point, the packet got blown out of my hand into the hedgerows. Fortunately just sideways so it didn't tip and I didn't lose any. Ate my sandwich just outside Little Sodbury instead. I came to the top of a fairly steep climb down and there was a brief patch of sunlight so I parked myself down on some dung-free grass for a brief (10 minute) pit stop.
The countryside is not as interesting to walk through as the earlier stages of the walk. Two highlights though were a massive hillfort and the parklands belonging to Donnington House. I could imagine a Georgette Heyer hero living there.
Got to the B&B just on 4pm. I'm staying in a converted barn up in the attic. A bit cramped and one of those modular showers complete with a low flow shower head. On the plus side, I have an electric heater which I control so heat to dry my smalls and keep my room cosy. Bliss.
The Geordie boys are staying in a wing attached to the farm house. They had mentioned to the landlady that they knew me when they checked in. She offered to ask them to take me to dinner with them when they left. I accepted as company would be pleasant. Might aim to walk with them for tomorrow morning. Dithering about whether just to buy a sandwich here in Tormarton and press on so I get to Bath 4-ish again or to stop at the pub in Cold Ashton. Guess I wait and see what the weather is like tomorrow. If it is like today then I'll want to finish as quickly as possible.
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Had dinner with the Geordie boys at the local pub. It was the only place in town that served food. The only shop of any kind in fact. Had a rather good steak and kidney pie with chips and broccoli, carrots and peas. Washed it down with a pint of the recommended local ale, Severn Sins, which turned out to be a beautiful dark ale. Almost like a stout. The Geordie boys had a couple of pints of Bass and then moved on to two bottles of merlot from Oxford Landing with their meal. They ended up insisting I have a glass of the merlot too, which came as a shock after the ale. Staggered back to the B&B and to bed about 10pm which was a bit later than I would have liked.
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