JR here:- The hard roads of England have worn out the knob on the end of Pete's stick. I offered him the spare knob I was carrying but he declined - will wait until he wears it out. That was the discussion this morning while we were waiting for a lift to Maske. Walked about 10kms today which we managed reasonably well mostly across open farmland and some of the forest that runs along the valley of the Swale. Saw a red squirrel in the wood and the usual rabbits. We got into Richmond at lunch time and repaired to the local fish shop to try the national dish for lunch - lots of limp chips (which may have been the gravy) and cod bites (lots of batter, little cod) so we were all very full. The hotel we are staying in was built in the 1760s so it pre-dates white settlement of Australia. Spent some time looking at the castle which Peter discovered was built by an Alan Rufus of Brittany in the 1100s would you believe. Col here:- Have really enjoyed the short days as the knee has been playing up a bit. But only 5 days to go now so should be able to get through it. I agree with the assessment of the fish and chips if you could call it that. They were pretty woeful. Hopefully we can have some Thai tonight if Pete gets back from his walk in time. Apparently Miss Bradbury took 3 months to do the walk (the lady on the DVD) not a couple of weeks and don't let anyone tell you that this walk is a doddle cause it isn't and the fairly relentless pace of it makes it certainly more of a trek than a walk. The fact that there are no rest days is probably the biggest issue so older bodies don't get time to recharge before the next stage is upon you. Peter here:- My rant for tonight is about mattresses. Now you dont expect perfection for around 50 pound a night for a twin but the mattreses experienced so far fall into three main categories - firstly the ironing board (springs all gone flat as a tack), the hammock (collapsed along either the y axis or x axis of the bed or both) and lastly the floater (highly cushioned but requires a Intel 7 920 processor to assist the body to make the 1000's of decisions a second necessary to keep your body stable and from rolling off. In most rooms I am just arms reach away from Col and we call our choreographed movements around the room - the twin room tango. As for my knob I think it will last out to Robin's Hood Bay but comforting to know that John carrys a reserve knob. Al here:- Blister pads tried to become part of my socks today but successfully managed to separate them from my feet when we reached historic Richmond (built before 1066 and all that). Went to the castle of one of John's realtives and tried to lay claim but they weren't having any of it so we went and had Thai food, and it was almost real, not like that poop that we had at lunch that they call fish and chips, the filthiest greasiest muck I have ever consumed!!! But I am still alive and without having a coronary so another great story of survival in Ole Blighty !!!
No comments:
Post a Comment