Most commented posts
- Day 2 – Gone with the Wind — 7 comments
- Day 15 – Blenheim — 6 comments
- Day 6 – Rollright Stones — 5 comments
- Day 23 – Walking with the End in Sight — 5 comments
- The Day After — 4 comments
Author's posts
Sep 06
Day 8: Lower Shuckburgh to Weedon Beck
Honours and Shame Another roasting day and wandering around in circles. It could be worse. I might be Michael Fawcett, Chief advisor to Prince Charles. No one told Fawcett the way to extract millions from Mahfouz Mubarack in exchange for honours without breaking the 1925 Act. This act was passed to stem the gross activities …
Sep 06
Day 7: Rest Day
Counting Blessings A day away from roads, brambles, plough and paths that lead nowhere. A day to sort out the car, get clothes cleaned and have a good night’s rest. Breakfast with younger daughter – always a joy – and lunch with her beloved sister so our cup of happiness floweth over. Kariba danced with …
Sep 04
Day 6: Harbury to Lower Shuckburgh
Plough of Despond A sweaty day. Our joyful mood, stimulated last night by kind friends and a great dinner, gave way to irritation when we found our paths terminally blocked by the HS2 construction site. We zig-zagged to escape only to find the farmer had tractored the right of way into terminal extinction: we were …
Sep 03
Day 5: Hampton Lucy to Harbury
Relationships Used to Involve Relations I think we all regard mobile phones as an unalloyed blessing. However, I think these phones have a serious kickback from the law of unintended consequences. When I met Jane, I determined to marry her as soon as possible. I suffered what the Italians call “colpo di fulmine”- “a stroke …
Sep 02
Day 4: Welford-on-Avon to Hampton Lucy
Oh, it’s a Hat! I was amazed that the pub sign was a flag that contained quite clearly male genitalia: I was surprised because the village simply didn’t look that sort of a place! The last time I saw such a sign was in Pompeii, for brothels were the sort of thing the Romans went …
Sep 01
Day 3 – Lenchwick to Welford-on-Avon
Tub-thumping Pub Hooray… a great pub at last. Just as well after yesterday’s ill-tempered rant at down at heel pubs with which the UK is infested. We lunched at “The Bridge” at Bidford-on-Avon. This pub is excellent. . The staff seem genuinely pleased to see us. It’s clear someone had taken trouble with the decor …
Aug 31
Day 2 – Beckford to Lenchwick
Pub Grub Grumble Another lunch in yet what sadly turned out to be yet another bog-standard pub. It was sited by a river with all the natural romance of Wind in the Willows: you could imagine mole and ratty rowing lazily by on their way to their famous picnic. Anyone with even the beginnings of …
Aug 30
Day 1 – Cheltenham to Beckford
Going Round in Circles Once again, Jane and I – and of course, Moses the dog – are setting off on a “circular” walk. And as was the case last year, rather than staying in the homes of kind ZANE supporters, we will be sleeping in our own bed at home for much of the …
Aug 29
The Day Before
Everyone is being suspiciously kind to me (and Jane and Moses) as we set off. I see them staring with a look tinged with disapproval as they wonder: “why isn’t he an exhibit on the Antiques Roadshow rather than tottering out like Captain Tom on yet another trek, at his age? They can think what …
Sep 23
A Couple of Days After
Now the walk of 143 miles is over, our 11th walk! – the weather was kind to us – In fact it was perfect. A couple of last thoughts. If I am denounced for expressing my views, I shall of course demand ”counselling”: apparently it’s all the fashion these days. I was told that my …