Leader: Jim Blakelock

Well, what can I say about this one? It WAS a great walk, the buttercups looked fantastic in the fields, and the views were great, the weather warmed up perfectly…BUT…OMG, cor bleedin blimey, 8 out of 10 stiles were broken, wobbly or totally broken or overgrown, and quite a few of the footpaths were overgrown, but it WAS a great day.

Five of us left the cp at 9am all wearing long trousers I will add, due to the warning we got from Jim about overgrown paths (little did we realise to what extent Jim was talking about), and headed out of town across footpaths towards the edge of Linslade.

It wasn’tt long before we started to experience the overgrown paths, ducking and weaving and tripping in the undergrowth, then across to Soulbury. On the edge of Soulbury we came across an elderly gentleman with his dog. He had fallen over and could not get up so we helped him up under the watchful eye of his Alsatian. He had already called his wife so as we got to the edge of the field his wife was there to meet him. With fond farewells we said our goodbyes and went on our merry way.

Just before Stewkley we stopped for morning break where there was a seat next to a small pond that fitted all of us on it. On to Swanbourne where we had our lunch stop at the Betsy Wynne pub. We got 35 mins there, we needed it.

After lunch we headed out heading for more overgrown footpaths heading for Hoggeston, on to Dunton then through Cublington and finally, after 19 miles and quite a few deer, the church at Wing could be seen in the distance. With smiles on our faces and aching feet we headed for the church and the car park where we'd left our cars.

All my photos are on my web site. www.steveceegalleries.smugmug.com 

Great day Jim.

SteveCee