Journal: |
Got up at 6:30am and, after some last minute foot treatment,
didn't start walking until 7:15am. Accommodation isn't all
that easy to find in these parts (not quite so touristy) and last
night I booked an over-priced room in a hotel in Penkridge, where I
aimed to be before 5pm so I could collect my next mailed pack of
maps from the Post Office.
In theory, it should be a relatively comfortable day and I tried
to set off at a good pace, although my heel where I had a deep
blister last night now felt bruised when I put any weight on it.
I tried to nurse it a bit with a limp whilst walking steadily.
According to the guide-book, the day had few scenic highlights and
the paths were sometimes challenging. Both observations turned
out to be correct, with the route almost entirely across flattish
farmland via minor roads, bridleways and field footpaths, with just
a couple of small woods thrown in. Having had a fairly big
dinner last night, I wasn't famished and didn't bother having
anything to eat or drink until reaching a service station where the
path crossed a main road around 10am, where I had a Snickers and
flavoured milk. It was cooler and I was wearing my light
thermal top for the first time in nearly a week.
From the service station it was another couple of hours of mostly
country lane walking until I reached the pub in the very small
village of Bishop's Wood where I aimed to get some lunch. I
arrived at 11:45am and sat outside at a picnic table until the pub
opened at noon. I went in and ordered some lunch and soon
discovered that the chirpy young barmaid had attended the same
primary school in Melbourne, Australia, that I attended, Bentleigh
West, only about 40 years later! Her family had returned to
the UK, but she planned to emigrate back to Melbourne in the
not-too-distant future.
I left the pub around 12:45pm, confident that I would reach
Penkridge in plenty of time to get my mail, but the quality of the
paths deteriorated markedly for long stretches. Many times it
was along the narrow uneven edges of crops and in some places the
exits from one field to another were so overgrown, they were easy to
miss, and I did a couple of times. Before long, I began to
realise I didn't have as much time up my sleeve as originally
thought. In the end, I reached the Post Office at 4:50pm and
discovered it was open to 5:30pm, so no dramas. I picked up my
new maps and mailed off my old ones before retracing my steps a
little to the hotel where I had booked a room.
Not long after I arrived, it began raining, and hasn't stopped
since. I was aiming for Abbotts Bromley tomorrow, where a
team-mate from the 2004 Three Peaks Race was going to meet me for
dinner. However, I haven't been able to get any accommodation
there so will try and make it to much larger Uttoxeter (nothing
booked yet), which is a further 10km, making it quite a long day.
The guidebook is again quite negative about the quantity and quality
of field path walking tomorrow, so I may look for some road
alternatives, especially if it's raining. After tomorrow, the
scenery should start getting interesting again, and the paths
better, I hope.
|