The Ridgeway – Day 3

We woke in our little church home at 6 when the bells told us our time was up.

I planned to doze until 6:30 but Kai was up and packed by 6:32.

Luckily, I was upright and not in the midst of being half dressed when the warden appeared at the doorway. It was half light and he and I scared the shit out of each other.

He spent the next 4.5 minutes laughing his head off as he opened the church, told us “I think I just lost a life” wished us a nice day and left. Zero questions asked about the messy bedroom we’d made in the porch.

And now, thanks to our new friend the warden, we could make coffee and use the loo. Cheers pal.

We left by 7 into the windy damp mizzly morning and headed two miles along the Thames to the smart town of Gorring. Here it began to rain. We frequented the small boutique grocery store ‘Tesco’ and topped up on some much needed m&m’s and fish tins.

We walked back through town the way we came and stopped at Pierreponts cafe where I’d previously agreed that in exchange for them holding a package for me, we would disburse some sponds at their establishment by way of breakfast. Which naturally we were going to do anyway.

The package contained a small zip lock bag of Winnie’s next batch of food. And the Shakshouka was very much worth the deal.

We left for the trail once again and the wind was pretty ferocious. We crossed the Thames and followed a road up onto the ridge where we would remain, gently climbing and not so gently being battered, for the rest of the morning and into the afternoon.

For the last 5,000 years (at least) people have used the ridgeway. It provided a reliable route for traders from the Dorest coast to as far as the wash in Norfolk. It generally follows higher ground to offer a dry route with a commanding view; lest you were set upon by vagabonds. It boasts the Bronze Age’s star attraction, Avebury ring, Uffington white horse and the hill forts of the Iron Age. Invading Saxons, Angles and Jutes used it as well as the Vikings (when the invaders became the invadees). The road was frequented by drovers moving like stock to market before the enclosure acts of 1750. Now, many of the tracks remain used by farm machinery and walkers, like Kai Winnie and me….

…..And also these two guys we met late morning today. They are walking the ridgeway, in the opposite direction, facilitated by their good lady wives escorting them to and from an air b&b. Lovely. We exchanged tails of what’s to come, with us ensuring the little cupcakes and offer of tea in Nuffield church was not missed by them – while they ensured we knew where every single bench was from the east up to this point. I zoned out just for a moment, only to zone back in at the mention of a ‘pork van’ further up the trail.

Kai and I spent multiple parts of our day trying to figure out what he was meaning by ‘pork van’. A van made of pork? A van selling pork? A van that looks like a loin? We deduced it could be a snack van in a lay-by , but saw no such thing. Perhaps tomorrow.

I do hope it’s a van made of pork.

The day got bleaker and bleaker, wetter and windier. The track was firmer than tarmac. 5,000 years of ancient compacted chalk. All those giants walking on it carrying heavy stones.

We pulled in for a coffee, alas, not at the pork van but at a fallen tree, on the floor, in the wind. That’s how we do coffee now : https://www.justgiving.com/page/kai-pinnell-ridgeway

Onward into the fray, the bleak greying day and the half light. Oh but the berries. Such colour to brighten the dullest of days.

We stopped once again for a sit down when the opportunity presented itself – we had 5 miles left on the day. It was here that heroic Kai spotted a birdhouse the wrong way around, so with aching legs, a new creaking hip, and blisters forming, he took a stick and hobbled over to the tree to turn it around to reveal the door. What a guy!

Once more we ventured off , brave as we are into the wind. 5 miles flew by with further ponder on where the pork van could be located and before long we met a junction on which we turned south to a small re-entrant in the hill which offered us a spot to camp for the night. It was a low moment arriving in rain and wind after 22 miles of a drizzly battering.We noticed that this ‘wild camp’ spot also offered bell tents with freshly made beds, so we made the difficult decision to sleep there instead.

22 miles on the day.

Walking for Mindstep, and all those helped by it.

https://www.justgiving.com/page/kai-pinnell-ridgeway