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| Say goodbye to Winchester |
He said:
We are staying near Exton now after the first day of walking; a good 10 mile day. Although we had some light rain on and off in the morning, it was much less than was forecast, and later the sky opened up with patches of blue and large thunder clouds. The wind was strong at times, but there were also many sheltered places.
The first day of a long distance walk is always full of questions like: how do we get out of Winchester and onto the path, what do the signposts look like, will we have the right clothes, how will my legs and knees be, will we find a good place to have lunch??? Today we probably would not have asked, "will we hear live military fire at close range?" The answer to that question would have been 'yes' on this particular first day of walking. As we got closer to the very small hamlet of Chilcomb, we started hearing the strangest loud sounds and echos, as we got closer, we heard the distinct sets of sounds, the explosions followed very quickly by the echos or the sounds of the targets. We saw a horseback rider who said that the Ministry of Defense had a live firing range nearby (1/4 mile), and what we heard were not just pop guns, these were powerful. The quiet calm of the rural setting was interrupted by loud ominous noise bursts followed by perfect quiet.
A gentle rain was falling for a time, a great clouds were moving about, but it slowly cleared away. We enjoyed walking in the gentle hills and forested sections, the path today was mostly in a completely rural area; we had our packed lunch in an open barn next to the many bales of hay. At long last, we got to the top Beacon Hill, from which we to call for our pick up ride to the B&B. The UK cell phone borrowed from David worked perfectly the first time, that was fantastic because it saved us from 2 miles of walking off the path on narrow roads with buzzing cars.
After we had settled in, the B&B hosts kindly gave us a ride to the Shoe Inn in Exton for our evening food and drinks. Because the Wifi connection did not work well enough from our upstairs room, we were delayed until the following morning (May 14) to update this blog entry. Making our comments from the living room downstairs after breakfast.
She said:
A civilized start time of 9:35. Good walking weather - jackets off w/in 1/2 mile. Up and out of town by then.
The Hawthorne trees are blooming and fragrant - we remember them as our constant companions from previous May walks.
Briefly back to harsh civilization as we crossed over the M3 motorway.
The lilacs are also in full bloom - every once in a while along the path I stick my face in a bunch of their blossoms and I smell my childhood in CT.
We walked a short bit off the path to view St. Andrew's Church, an 11th century church where George Washington's brother was a rector (!)
Meanwhile, there was some kind of shooting going on in a big way. We stopped a horsewoman returning from her morning ride (spectacular horse) - she said it was a Military Target Range - if the red flag was out we wouldn't be able to proceed. No flag, so I guess they were aiming in a different direction.
It was an odd juxtaposition - silence in an old church and cemetery broken by gun (assault weapon speed) reports. And, they were so loud. I thought that war must be very noisy.
The church was built in 1060 and somehow escaped the Reformation and Henry's purge of all things Catholic. It is early Norman architecture with Saxon influences.
Definitely worth the diversion.
Raining as we left the church, but not hard, just refreshing. The shower past and the birds started singing madly.
Passed an Alpaca farm - they are very strange looking animals - and curious. Came right over to the fence and stared at us as we stared at them.
I watched a kestrel hunting over a field for several minutes. It hovered for minutes at a time - beating its wings and staying stationary. Must have been exhausting but it was beautiful to watch. A couple of walkers came by and watched with me. One told me that the kestrel's main diet consists of voles. Voles urine emits ultraviolet light so Kestrel's have evolved to see ultraviolet light. That's just crazy!
Watched by a cottage (called Keeper's Cottage) guarded by a watch goose, every bit as loud and territorial as a watch dog. Also pretty crazy.
The fields of yellow rape are almost in full, saturated colorful bloom. With the expected sun and heat of the next few days, we should see quite a show.
Ate 1st Lunch at the shady end of an open hay barn - out of the wind with beautiful views across the fields. (A few long distance walks ago, we came up with the 1st Lunch and 2nd Lunch plan - 1st Lunch around 1-ish and 2nd Lunch around 4 (tea time). We found that if we ate our (usually large) packed lunches all at once we just wanted to lie down and take naps. Not a good feeling if you still have 5 more miles to walk. So, 1st and 2nd Lunch works fine.
Today I was so impressed by the sky - enormous, puffy, billowy clouds set in a startlingly blue sky. Since we are walking high up, we often have 360 degree views of this amazingness.
Stopped into Millbury's Pub on the path to see a water wheel that was written up in our walk book. 300 years old and person-powered (would have hated to have that job).
Met an elderly gent and his dog on the path - the guy was riding on a very cool, compact and rugged scooter. He was chatty and wanted to know where we were from and if we were doing the whole South Downs Way. His dog was a big and happy Labradoodle. Everyone we meet in the countryside is very friendly.
Pheasants squawking - another May sound in the countryside.
And then, we were at Beacon Hill - our day's walk end. We climbed to the top before calling our ride (the excellent farmer's wife/B+B proprietress/community theater actress, Suzanne). Long views all the way to the Isle of Wight and the ocean. I did not expect that.
Beacon Hill was so named because the English used to put beacons on the hill to warn of the Spanish Armada coming - The Spanish Inquisition!
We had a lovely chat with two women we had previously seen on the path. We met them again up on Beacon Hill. They are experienced walkers and recommended a walk in Turkey - The Licheum Way - they had done that long distance walk with their husbands and loved it. It is laid out by a mad Englishwoman who lives in Turkey. She cobbled together an amazing walk through ruins and along the seaside. She still helps to maintain it by painting boulders, etc. We'll have to keep that in mid when we are ready for our foray walk into the land of non-English speakers.
Our hostess's husband drove us and the other walking couple who are staying at the farm down to the Shoe Inn - since we ate our 2nd Lunch in our room when we arrived, we didn't need to eat dinner but we were keen to be out at a Pub and enjoyed a couple of good drinks and an excellent Stilton-heavy cheeseboard. He picked us up an hour later and here we are - back safe and sound and snug in our farmhouse B+B.
The Shoe Inn, even though many now think it has to do with shoes and they do actually have a seller's giant example shoe on display in the bar, was originally named for a furrier up the road and a furrier is a horse-shoe-er.
Cloudburst but sunny now.
Looking forward to a good sleep.
Tomorrow, 9 miles.
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