It was a hiking day, so I went back to a more minimalist breakfast of just eggs, toast and yogurt. I chatted jealously to a couple who had arrived last night and today was their rest day. They were friendly but I couldn’t chat long as I had miles to go.
It was the third, and hottest day of the heatwave so I did everything I could to prepare. I asked the owners to put a bottle of water in the freezer so it would be ice today. I also wore my wide-brimmed sun hat instead of a baseball cap, and attached a small travel towel to my shoulder strap so I could wipe the sweat off my face.
It was a relatively easy day today, 23kms of straight, flat walking, but I knew the heat would make it more of a challenge.
And it was a fine day. Really no problems. They had another “honesty shop” at a church (with toilets and a kitchen) which I stopped by, but basically it was just a hot sweaty walk…until the last few miles.
Why is it always the last few miles?
You see, the trail goes through active farmers fields and I had been spending day after day with the sheep. But the sheep had petered off a bit and now there were other animals. Like horses.
I’ve been in fields with horses before and it was fine, they ignored me and had plenty of space to roam, but this was a teeny tiny little backyard corral and the horse was right in the middle of the path.
It seemed friendly and I murmured what a pretty horsey it was and walked past it slowly to the gate. I went to open the gate when I heard a weird whooshing sound and felt a push on my shoulder. I turned my head and almost had a heart attack because the horse had put its head on my shoulder!
It was totally friendly and probably just wanted attention but I’m not at all familiar with horses and those things are HUGE up close. I kinda froze, nudged opened the gate slowly and slipped through.
There was an empty corral and then another one with a horse in it that approached me as I opened the gate and I hesitated before going in. Luckily this one just wanted to sniff me and then ignored me
I exited into an overgrown path filled with bramble. There were thorns so tough that I could feel them jabbing in my legs, but it was so overgrown I just had to plow through it as fast as I could and would asses the damage after.
Then I was immediately poured out into a cow field filled with many cows…including a bull. I don’t mind docile friendly females but bulls have anger issues. And are known to charge at people for no reason.
Also the farmers put the water tanks right in front of the exit gate and it was a hot thirsty day so that all the cows were gathered right where I had to walk…including the bull.
They stared at me as I got closer. My heart was still pounding from the horses and the bramble and I had to get the (ginormous) ladies to stand up and move away from the gate without spooking them and start them running. I didn’t want to get trampled. Luckily they seemed to be pros at dealing with hikers and they moved without incident and I finally entered an animal free field.
It was time to asses the damage. My legs still felt like they were being poked by little knives and I ended up having to hide behind a tree to pull down my pants and see what was going on. The thorns were so tough some were stuck in my leg and had drawn blood! So I wiped down my legs, pulled up my pants and continued.
At this point I was just done. I was soaked with sweat, stabbed by thorns, bleeding, and just totally over nature, animals and anything outdoors.
I got to the next village but it is also a one pub town and the pub wasn’t open yet. They had a small village green next to the pub and I just crashed under a tree to cool down a bit. There was a campground with a honestly shop so I walked over to it and they had ice cream!! And tables under the shade!! I hadn’t even eaten my lunch yet so after the ice cream and a cold sports drink I ate my sandwich and just relaxed.
I ended up talking to a German father and daughter who were also doing the trail. I was making new friends.
I didn’t see anyone at my B&B but the pub at dinner was filled with hikers including the Germans, the brother sister from my early days and a couple that I had passed earlier in the day as they were eating lunch. For dinner I had sausages and mashed potatoes. First I wrote in my journal as I ate and then one of the hikers joined me for a bit.
While the walk was easy today I just felt so drained from the heat and the sweating I again fell asleep at a ridiculously early hour. The sun sets late in England, after 10pm, and everyday I am falling asleep while it’s still light out. I had wanted to enjoy some beautiful starry nights, as I was far away from cities and guessed there was some good night skies in this part of the country, but I never made it that late.
23 more kilometers done!
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