The day started really well, because, you know: beautiful people, coffee and porridge with fruit, nuts and seeds in it is a combination I could stick with all day. We were really glad we decided to come this way rather than via Taunton. However, we had to leave the fabulous friends we stayed with last … Continue reading Day 46 – impatience is setting in

We left Burnham on Sea after a lie-in this morning, which was lovely.... both the leaving Burnham on Sea and the lie in. I did think the cycle stands in Burnham on Sea were quite cute, but at the same time did wonder why a whole town of people on mobility scooters who are never … Continue reading Day 45 – a town and country divide

Thankfully it's a rest day as our legs are aching so much, the first key trip out of the hotel was to top up the supply of paracetamol and ibuprofen. It's not just us with mobility issues though....... Burnham standard ratio: two hospice charity shops, three mobility scooters A quarter of residents in Burnham on … Continue reading Day 44 and we have mobility issues

Today's route was supposed to be 33.9km and ended up being 35.5, but that's nothing new. Likewise the elevation was 210m, which I feel is called "a step" in Scotland. So that wasn't impressive either. Even the environment being grey and dull from the start couldn't stop us. Although the sound of rush hour traffic … Continue reading Day 43 – a psychological journey rather than a physical one

It's always a dream start to the day when you've been kept awake by the people in the room above until gone midnight and you're making a porridge pot up with a Travelodge kettle. However, sliced banana and a tiny jar of honey made it all worthwhile and got us off to a good start … Continue reading Day 42 – a day of two halves…..

As we needed to leave the lovely 300 year old George Hotel really early this morning, the manager said she could put "a few bits" out for us for breakfast, which she wouldn't charge us for. Suffice to say, I'm eating cheese rolls for supper as I wrote this as we had so much food. … Continue reading Day 41 – from sheer delight to Wales and sheer terror

It has been quite the profile today, with the same total elevation as yesterday but with a whole extra kilometre to enjoy it over. Well, as the saying goes, what goes up....... ....must come down. That makes perfect sense. The rest of the day has made us smile a lot more than the hills though. … Continue reading Day 40 – and “Strava’s having a laugh”

We left the beautiful Stanbrook Abbey hotel this morning in the rain, on well signposted, beautiful off road paths that showed us exactly the hills we were headed for. We dodged fallen trees; (no Strava hallucinations required); waded through bracken, now turning an autumnal, gold colour and wandered past impossibly pretty houses. Within the hour, … Continue reading Day 39 – today has been very up and down, but that’s the Malvern hills for you…

Today we walked along Mark's past and, for most of the day, the very pretty Worcester and Birmingham canal. As soon as you leave Mark's birthplace you get stories of him crashing his car as a teenager, into the hedge before we've even gone 5 metres down the road. As we neared the canal, sites … Continue reading Day 38 – out of Mark’s family home, turn left and go south down memory lane…..

And a day late posting as we're realising that one day away from walking is not really enough. We need one day to rest and recover our aching legs. Then we could spend a second day doing all the things we needed to do like book a clinic appointment for rabies jabs; tweak the next … Continue reading Day 37 – rest-ish