The advantage of staying at a Hungry Horse pub: scrambled eggs, toast, coffee and orange juice for less than £4. And served from 7.00 – though today I did not need to start early.
The heatwave was over, and I even had the waterproofs on for a short while. I walked 5 miles to the edge of Clevedon, where I met up with Ben (my oldest) and he walked with me the rest of the day. All on backroads in the Gordano area, eventually approaching Bristol. We were lucky that the (excellent) pub in Clapton-in-Gordano was open and serving baguettes.
All very quiet walking, except for a brief bit of A road (with pavement) in Abbots Leigh.
Neither Ben nor I had been across the Clifton Suspension Bridge before, so that was a minor adventure.
We met up with Bart Day at Clifton Cathedral and then Ben set off to find a bus back to his car in Clevedon. It was great to walk the day with him. I noticed that my body does seem to be getting used to distance – today was 18 miles and I did not feel too tired and achy at the end of it.
I passed the 300 mile marker. And Bristol is a significant staging post, as I am finished with the South West Peninsula. Bristol is not only the largest place I have been so far – but it is the largest place I will visit on the whole journey. (It appears that it is bigger than Liverpool – I am sure there are different ways of measuring things and some would dispute this.)
Bart kindly took me to his home in St Arvans for a rest day tomorrow – the first for two weeks. There I met his partner Cristina and the dogs Cocoa and Oscar. Bart was a pupil of mine in the ate 80s in Surrey – part of choir, musicals (he played Sweeney Todd) and in particular the ten voice vocal group Echoes, who performed in places such at the Purcell Room, Salisbury Cathedral, Wookey Hole Caves and the restaurant in the Post Office Tower. His mum, Alison, was a colleague – she sadly passed away this year, and because of this walk I was unable to get to the funeral.
After supper, some wine and any amount of reminiscence, getting updates on many ex-pupils whom I had fallen out of touch with.
Today's route
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Daily Data
Days left until John O’Groats | 56 |
Route miles walked | 302.04 |
Route miles missed | 12 miles owed to sponsors |
Estimated miles until John O’Groats | 754 |
Evening and rest day walking | 4.5 |
Counties walked through | 5 |
Ferry miles | 0.4 |
Number of walking companions so far | 4 |
Number of stiles crossed | 42 |
Current sponsorship total | £12,585.85 |
Cast of characters (Bold = walking companions) | Jeremy Pemberton, Laurence Cunnington, Brad Poulson, Adele Poulson, Graeme Parkhill, Andy Hellwig, Patrick Lynn, Esther Lynn, Emma Rayner, Quentin Rayner, Sara Low, Robbie Low, Christopher Darwin, Heather Darwin, Christine Hytch, Chris Hytch and Annown, Hilary Edwards, Richard Edwards, Rachel Robbins, Mark Robbins, Ben Turner, Bart Day, Cristina Dorador de Los Santos |