Dragonfly, Ewok, and Buried Treasure

TUESDAY: Watlington to Princes Risborough

 

Another late start this morning! We took ages getting packed away, and it was already hot by the time we set off.



 

10.49am: Goodbye White Mark Farm.

 

We started out with a fully charged camera so we could take plenty of pictures and measure our distance walked.

 

11:17am

 

11:18am

 

11.36am: They mow the Ridgeway. Who knew!

 

11.36am

 

By the time we reached the tap at Aston Rowant Nature Reserve, we were really hot.



 

12.03pm: Some of this went over my head.

 

1.08pm: Ah seen a dragonfly!

1.09pm

 

Dad had been raving about the amazing blue water in the chalk pits at Chinnor. Maybe he saw them in the 60s. 

1.13pm: Chalk pit in the background. Meh!

 

1.20pm: We thought of stopping here for lunch but there was nowhere to sit.

 

1.41pm: Much better! A park near Chinnor.

For lunch we had oats and blueberries made into "porridge" by stirring in olive oil. #calories

 

3.48pm: First glimpse of Whiteleaf Cross.

 

When we reached Princes Risborough, we had a rest in a park and phoned my brother. He was out eating in a restaurant with mum while I was sweating on the Ridgeway. How's that for being born under a bad sign?

 

Still, we had to press on because we had to reach our hidden stash of supplies by nightfall.

5.02pm: Whiteleaf Cross a little bit nearer!

 

5.15pm: Steps, steps, steps...

 

5.44pm: A well-deserved rest.

 

5.50pm: Yep. This'll do!

While Dad was getting the food and water parcels we'd hidden in the bushes a few weeks ago, I made friends with every dog that passed. I made a lot of friends! 

 

5.59pm: One of the lovely dogs I met. He was very friendly.

 

8.21pm: The album cover?

After dinner I had a little dance LOL.

8.25pm: Tired? Me?

 

8.32pm: The album cover!!!

 

8.34pm: Ready for bed!

 

Distance covered: 19.622km

Hello from Watlington

MONDAY: A real camp site at last!

When we woke up this morning we collected our clothes from the drying room. Dad washed them in the sink last night. We had a gigantic breakfast then left the Youth Hostel and walked over the bridge into Goring.

 

 

Me crossing the Thames

Our feet weren't so bad today. Dad has new insoles and didn't complain as much. We arrived at White Mark camp site and straight away had another shower. Then we walked into Watlington to get food. We had dinner from the chip shop.

I had a Mars bar in batter, which I've wanted to try for ages.

More nom!

The camp site is lovely. It's really quiet. They let you charge your phone and camera so we did that because the battery had been getting low and we want to take more pictures.

The longest day (so far...)

SUNDAY: Long walk to Streatley

We got up a bit earlier this morning. While we were having breakfast, a man walked past and we talked to him. He told us he'd started from Ogbourne St George today! He had walked further before we had breakfast than we had walked all of yesterday. He said he was going to walk to the Youth Hostel in Streatley.

7.34am: I had an extra lie-in while Dad packed the tent.



8:19am: The dent of the tent.

We started walking and Dad noticed something wrong with his boots. He looked inside and the footbed has crushed down as thin as paper. Once we started walking we came across a sign showing where we were.

9.10am: Do not trust the "You are here" grid reference - it's for a point several fields to the north!

At about 10-o'clock we arrived at the Court Hill Centre, which was a bit off the Ridgeway, but we didn't mind because it has a tea room! By this time, Dad's feet were both hurting a lot. When we were at home we planned that we would stop at Court Hill for the night but we didn't book because we didn't know how fast we'd end up walking. When it turned out we were doing very well on Friday we decided not to bother because we'd want to camp further on. But today Dad's boots were hurting so much we changed out minds. But they had no camping spaces left.

10.15am: Ready for cake!

The tea room wasn't supposed to open until 10.30, but the lady saw us waiting on the bench outside and said we could buy something straight away. We sat in the courtyard and there were loads of swallows swooping about. I had one piece of cake, one piece of flapjack, and a Pepsi Max. Dad had two pieces of cake and a pot of tea.

We talked a bit and came up with a plan. Dad phoned Aunty Sarah and asked her to meet us in Streatley (the next town) with some better insoles and also his spare boots. After a bit we remembered our conversation with the man who passed us at breakfast time, and we came up with a better plan: We asked Sarah to meet us at about 6.30pm on the outskirts of Streatley and give us a lift to the Youth Hostel. (That's where I am right now! But we had to walk a long way after Court Hill to get here!)

After leaving Court Hill, we saw a lady on a horse and then we saw a drone flying along the path. It passed right above us. Maybe we'll be on YouTube tomorrow!

12.24pm: I don't know if Spartacus has been found yet, but I thought I'd share this in case he hasn't.

We hardly saw anyone else for the rest of the day's walk. It was horribly horribly hot, and my feet started to ache. Dad said his feet were hurting more than ever.

12.34pm: Having another rest.

Because we knew we would be able to get water when we got here, we threw away all the water we were carrying except what we needed to drink for the walk to Streatley. Dad said that made his rucksack much lighter and helped a bit.

2.56pm: This tunnel was so lovely and cool!

4.40pm: Me waiting while Dad tried changing to a thinner pair of outer socks. (It didn't work. LOL)

4.52pm: It was hard to make a smile for the camera.

We got to the carpark outside Streatley at 6.35pm. Before we had even taken off our rucksacks, Sarah's car appeared. Good timing! We were very pleased to see them.

6.42pm: The Cavalry.

Sarah's car only takes two people, so she drove Dad to the Youth Hostel to check in and I waited with Uncle Kenny. She came back and got me and then she went back for Kenny. When I arrived here, Dad was already in the shower. I had a shower as soon as he had finished.

Afterwards we went to the pub on the corner and sat in the garden for a bit. It was lovely to have a proper chair, and the grass was lovely and soft so we sat there barefoot!

8.31pm: In the garden of The Bull, Streatley. Dad won't tell me why they all giggled at this sign.

We've just had our dinner (Mum sent us some extra goodies with the boots). It's really hot in this bedroom but there's a fan so it's not so bad. We haven't seen the Speedy Man from this morning yet. He's probably on Ivinghoe Beacon by now.

We're both using bottom bunks in case our feet are so bad in the morning that we can't get down a ladder.


Distance covered: 25.705km.

First full day on the Ridgeway

SATURDAY: Walking to Sparsholt Firs  We were supposed to wake up at 5am today, but we had a lie in because we had a late finish last night. So we were awake at about 7.30.

7.46am: First sight of camp site. (We arrived in the dark).

We took our time and had breakfast and brushed our teeth before packing the tent.

8.59am: More than three hours behind schedule!

We had been walking for about ten minutes when we saw what would have been an ideal place to camp last night. It was level and sheltered and even had a bench where we could have had our breakfast.

9.30am: On the other hand, we might have been squished.

9.42am: Turn left.

Because of our late start, it was after ten-o'clock when we arrived at the place where we hid the food on the way from Swindon. It was a nice surprise when we unwrapped it because we made the parcel a couple of months ago and forgot what we put in it. Please ask your friends to sponsor my walk here. A food parcel from Luton Foodbank makes a real difference to people in difficulty and is so much more important than mincing about in a rucksack.

10.26am: HOW much cling-film, Dad?!!

We had a snack and drank lots of water, then put the rest of the stuff in Dad's rucksack and carried on walking.

11.07am: I went jellybean because we were about to walk next to a road.

We had to be careful walking next to the road, but mostly there was a wide verge. We promised ourselves a pitstop when we got back on a proper path.

11.39am: Special thanks to the two cyclists who whizzed past our resting place and did amazing skids so the dust went in our faces. Wish I was as cool as you.

12.23pm: Me with a wind farm in the background.

12.44pm: We passed a bunch of flags in the middle of nowhere.

1.34pm: Took some time out to just be really really ridiculously Goodlooking.

After topping up our water bottles (and soaking our hot heads) at a tap at Idstone Farm, we walked on to Wayland's Smithy and got there at 1.45pm. There was quite a lot of people there because it's not far from a car park. But we had the place to ourselves after a while. Dad just lay there not moving. He said he didn't need an ambulance or anything, so I went exploring.

1.56pm

2.42pm

We had planned to camp near here, and we arrived an hour late. But we started walking three hours late, so we had caught up very well. We decided to just have our lunch and a rest, then do some more walking. As it got near 4-o'clock we reached Uffington Castle. It was a long steep walk up to the top but I still had plenty of energy to run about like a mad thing when we got there. We saw a man with a big kite. He was nearly lifted off the ground when the wind blew hard. I went off and found the Uffington White Horse while Dad stayed and guarded the rucksacks - which involved bravely sitting on the grass taking photos.

4.03pm

4.17pm

4.17pm

4.18pm

When we reached the next tap (just before Sparsholt Firs) we decided to camp.

6.34pm: Pleased to be camped at last

6.35pm: Sparsholt Firs

We had our dinner once the tent was up, and now we are lying in our sleeping bags waiting for sleep Distance covered: 18.273km

Go! Go! Go!

FRIDAY: Avebury to Ogbourne St George (and beyond)

Grandpa drove us to the start of the Ridgeway this morning. We left Grandma and Grandpa's house at 9.30am and arrived in Avebury at 10.30am. We went for a walk around the village and looked at the standing stones. Then we had an ice cream before heading back to the car. We drove around the corner to the start of the Ridgeway. Then we got our rucksacks on and smothered ourselves in sunblock, then it was time to go.

11.39am: Withnail is I.

11.37am: Dad being a chimp.

After saying goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa, we walked up a long hill. It wasn't steep so it was a nice easy start, but it was quite hot and sunny.



11.40am: We're off!

At about 12.50pm we reached a small road and there was a field with a sign that said Hackpen White Horse. We had planned to go and have a look at the horse, but we wanted to find somewhere shady to rest, so we carried on a little bit.



1.13pm: Nom!

About an hour later we reached Barbury Castle, which is an Iron Age hill fort.

1.46pm: Barbury Castle

We weren't sure we were crossing it in the right direction but it was okay in the end. On the other side of Barbury Castle there was a car park and a picnic area. We sat on a bench in the shade and had our lunch. Many people can't afford to buy enough food to live on. Please share this link to my sponsorship page so that more people have the chance to help raise money for Luton Foodbank.

2.16pm: Gimme nom!

We had expected to see a reconstruction of an Iron Age house but either it's been demolished or Dad was confused. #sayingnothing

After lunch we carried on walking...



 2.50pm: The Ridgeway is so metal!

 After a while we started walking down a hill and crossed a small bridge. Dad said there was s stream there last time he passed, but today it was totally dry.



4.01pm: Me in Southend. It's true!

We crossed a road and reached our first watering point. A kind person has put a tap on the front of their house with a sign saying "Drinking Water". We drank as much as we could, then filled our water bottles, then carried on up the hill. We had planned to camp just a few metres up the lane, but because it was still early we decided to press on.

We stopped and cooked out dinner by the side of the path. (It was pasta with chicken Cup-a-Soup for flavour and it was the most delicious thing I have ever tasted!)

6.19pm

6.20pm

While I finished my dinner, Dad went off to see if there was anywhere good to camp nearby, but there wasn't, so we walked on a bit more. I thought it might rain, so I put my rain cover on my rucksack.



8.07pm: The walking jellybean!

We eventually found a good spot among some small trees, and it was nearly dark by the time we got inside the tent. I'm pretty tired, but we walked a lot further than we planned.






Distance covered: 21.518km