Shepherdswell 12 miles

Had to have the full breakfast as it’s my only chance of a proper start to the day. Don’t think the Europeans have quite got the hang of it yet.

Then a quick keek at the Kirk as it was next door. Bloody huge so knackered by the time I finished.

Met my first other pilgrim or nutter. He had just finished walking back from Rome so looked somewhat hairier and thinner than myself. I have been seriously stockpiling round the midriff for a while in anticipation of future shortages. He was very keen to talk as I suspect he hasn’t met many others on his trip. He mentioned that he had been fined by the French authorities as he had been 100 days in Schengen area. And banned for the next 6 months. So my plan to finish within the 90 days looks like a good idea.

Lesson of the day - just because the sun is shining when I start the day and no rain is forecast, don’t pack the waterproofs at the bottom of the bag because when it does start raining everything has to be emptied out into the rain to get to the damn things. In the stramash I managed to dislodge an earphone. After walking another couple of hundred yards I realised it was missing. Couldn’t find it anywhere so concluded it must have dropped in the grass either on the path as I walked or where I had stopped. Luckily I have many years of experience hunting for golf balls in long grass. Took a bit of time to find but there wasn’t a 3 minute rule to worry about. I was in no hurry and I couldn’t just whip another out of my bag.

Nice short day so despite the late start I managed to get here before the only place to get food closed at 4pm. However the best that could be managed was a processed cheese and tomato roll. Dire but I was hungry. Camping tonight in a basic campsite. A field with portaloos in fact. So dinner will be a banana. With breakfast going to be another banana tomorrow I will start to make progress on that midriff.Read more