Ridgeway 2013 day 3

Thursday 15^th August 2013 Watlington to Goring

At breakfast this morning was a couple whose backs were so rounded and their heads so forward they could only look down at the tabletop in front of them.  Walking they must have been only able to see their feet, and I have no idea how they were able to drive.  Breakfast was boiled eggs with toast and jam – yet another disappointment for a costly B&B, and I was only slightly mollified when the owner discounted my fee by £10.

The day began with some amazing walking through wheat (or perhaps buckwheat) fields and later rapeseed fields.  Interestingly, I had been noticing quite a lot of horse manure along the trail so far yet had not seen a single horse thus far.  Walking through Ewelme Estate my trail guide told me to expect to see not only horses, but dogs, deer and pheasants, however the place was devoid of all of those.

Rapeseed fields

Grim’s Ditch was an interesting earthwork at first, but it did go on for some time and its condition gradually deteriorated, and the guide-book's promised fields of bluebells must have been at a different time of year (although I did see one single one).

Grim's Ditch

Eventually I arrived at the Thames River and walked alongside it for the rest of the day, through both North and South Stoke and eventually into Goring, and thereby finishing the “East Ridgeway”.

The Thames

Flowers in Stoke

Dinner that night was in a pub where the only other party were four Australians.  In overhearing their conversation, they spent a bit of time mocking the Kiwi accent, especially when pronouncing “Fish and Chips”.  Little did they know that the silent solo gentleman in the pub with them happened to be just such a Kiwi.

Day 4