[I originally posted this in June 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image link]
Maggie was kind enough to pick five of us from Marlborough from where we were staying. We claimed that it was because it was most efficient time-wise, but it was actually because we couldn’t be bothered to walk.
No, that’s not the Queen Mother or the Pope waving from the back seat, it’s Bev.
[I originally posted this in June 2018 but have reposted it to fix some broken image links]
DISTANCE WALKED: 19.6 miles
BRAVEST PERSON: Julian (for exceptional bravery in the heat) and Steve (for exceptional bravery with hayfever)
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Susanna won’t share with me now that I’ve spoiled her stone myth” – Steve “They don’t call me donkey Dave for nothing” – Dave “Gordon is going nowhere near my thumb” – Dave “My thumb is above average” – Dave “What’s going on between your legs Bev?” – Julian “I like nuts. But not Andrew’s” – Susanna “I can’t even use that in the blog, it’s beyond the pale” – Julian “No, get a shot now before the meal, spice it up” – Dave “Mine was conceived on a bar stool” – Susanna “What goes on in High Barn stays in High Barn” – Steve M “Just don’t tell Andrew” – Bev “Suddenly Steve’s head went down” – Dave “I’ll help you in ” – Steve M “Our bathroom is shared” – Maggie “Do you knock once for a cup of tea, twice for something else?” – Dave “We’ll just wang out the back” – Dave
Well that was an emotional day. We started off with breakfast in our pub, which was excellent. Well, I thought it was excellent with a full English and cereals. Bev complained about the egg, the bacon and the sausage. I thought the sausage was delicious and enjoyed half of Bev’s sausage.
Maggie was kind enough to drive us back from Marlborough back to the path, which meant two separate trips. We started off walking along the route and it was nice that the temperature was lower than yesterday. Steve struggled with hayfever, but he was very brave and only mentioned it a couple of times. He’s a real role model for Bev.
Bev complained quite a lot. Mainly towards the end of the day, but not exclusively. I can’t post this on the blog as it’s 18-rated and not X-rated, but Bev explained what she has done at Wayland’s Smithy. Honestly, I was shocked. And then that led to a revelation about what Maggie liked doing outside.
Fortunately, Dave, Steve and myself had gone to Greggs. Bev and Susanna spent 45 minutes in Waitrose and bought a lot of middle class produce. But that meant at least I had a delicious Greggs spicy chicken roll at lunch-time and that was excellent.
We went to look at the Uffington White Horse and Bev guided us towards where it was. After that guiding I then guided us to where it was, and it was an impressive site. Well, what we could see of it. But, Bev found a penny from 1908 and she kindly donated it to me, so she was flavour of the hour.
The white horse was impressive because of its location in the surrounding landscape. Susanna spoke a load of gibberish about standing stones and Bev remorsefully mocked here for several hours.
But the highlight of the day was the pebble that Bev wanted everyone to see. Now, I liked it, but there was a lot of angry people at Bev. It was an historic stone though that was of local importance, and was worth seeing. It’s known as the Blowing Stone and is a sarsen stone with numerous holes in, which is capable of making loud sounds if blown correctly.
The last hour of the day was walking to the hotel, which was off the main route and to be honest, I could hear Bev 200 yards away complaining. Susanna meanwhile went diving into a bush.
As for the evening meal, well, that was a drunken mess. Seven people, fifty shots and lots of great food, what could possibly go wrong? Well, quite a lot….. More on that will be detailed in my posts about day two that I’ll make tomorrow….
[I originally posted this in June 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]
What more could the group want after a lovely meal and drink than a lovely little walk around Marlborough? I thought we could have a 45-minute walk around the town, even though it transpired to be two hours. But that just shows how rather exciting my walk was.
I pinched the walk from the Marlborough town web-site and it was a tour of the blue plaques of the town. I rated the walk as 10 out 10, and Bev only complained three times, so that showed just how good it was.
The highlight for me was discovering that Thomas Wolsey was ordained in the town’s church in March 1498, so I was rather impressed with that. We also went to look at Marlborough School and the security guard ran out to see what all the noise was about.
I didn’t like how former gravestones had been used as a pathway outside the church, eroding them away so that they’re lost for future generations.
I was pleased to have visited the town though, so much history and some rather interesting courtyards and rows which went to the back of the properties. Much was lost in the town’s great fire, but the rebuilding that took place is mostly still there.
Below are some photos of the walk.
[I originally posted this in June 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]
Our choice for our evening dine, the Green Dragon in Marlborough.
Well, how lovely!
Pre-meal drinks.
A plan of old Marlborough.
Wadworth Corvus – a very impressive stout.
Ready for our meal!
The beer selection, with 6X and Corvus there was enough to keep me going for the evening 🙂
I’m very picky about fish and chips, but this was excellent. Everyone ordered it, which wasn’t original of us, but I think everyone was pleased with it. Even Bev.
So we were all pleased with our mains, so Bev had a dessert. And complained about it.
I liked the Green Dragon, lots of different areas, and all rather comfortable. Overall, this was excellent, as the staff were particularly friendly and engaging and the service was attentive. The pub was clean and comfortable, the meals were of a good quality and they tolerated the noise that some of our party made.
[I originally posted this in June 2018, but I’ve reposted it to fix some broken image links]
Some photos from our day of walking!
The official start of the Ridgeway, although we had started at Avebury as it’s an important historic site that we wanted to see.
The former railway line from Ogbourne St. George to Marlborough. Marlborough used to have two railway stations, but it now doesn’t have any and 11 miles from the nearest one. There are plans to try and reconnect it to the network, but they haven’t made any recent progress.
Dave in the woods along the former railway line, which is a now a walking and cycle trail.
Views over the countryside.
Jumping for joy at Barbury Castle.
Bev, excited about her lunch.
Bev, after her lunch.
Looking out over Swindon from the bank of Barbury Castle.
Vicious and very frightening cows.
A house.
We only saw one these signs in this format, which I thought was really nicely done.
Some sort of thing for horses.
The Ridgeway map.
The railway line to Marlborough again.
Planning the route.
A lot of the route looked like this.
In case anyone wondered why the descriptions of these photos are really short, it’s because I have to leave for the second day of walking now. So, feel free to make up your own captions if mine aren’t descriptive enough 🙂
[I originally posted this in June 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]
Waiting excitedly at Swindon bus station for the bus to take us to Avebury.
I was able to watch myself on CCTV, which gave me minutes of exciting entertainment as we hurtled through the Wiltshire countryside.
Here we all are, in the centre of the Avebury ring.
I’m still concerned that Bev is quite clearly two inches shorter than she was last year.
We walked around the ditches of Avebury. Or at least we did until we realised that a chunk has been closed off by the National Trust. And to ensure that people obey their notices, they’ve put a herd of slightly aggressive sheep into the field to attack anyone who strays.
Avebury is a henge monument dating back to around 3,000BC and is one of the important prehistoric sites in the country. Although my hope of learning lots more about the site from useful informational boards was dashed, as there weren’t any informational boards to help me interpret the site. But, unperturbed by this, I found useful information from Google.
I posed for a few photos, but I don’t like to take the limelight.
Tree roots.
The sun is shining over Avebury.
Bev wanted to tie a ribbon up on the tree. However, we didn’t have one, so she used toilet paper. I’m sure the Gods will really appreciate that little token of respect.
Bev ready to hang up her toilet paper.
Group photo of everyone. Other than me, I’m taking the photo.
A stone.
[I originally posted this in June 2018, but have reposted it to fix a broken image link]
DISTANCE WALKED: 18.1 miles
BRAVEST PERSON: Julian (for exceptional bravery in the heat)
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “By the time she’s worked her way down to my leg she’s had enough of a treat” – Steve B “Bev saw it when she was in my room” – Dave “I’m not worried about drawers or bed bugs” – Dave “You like a bit of speed do you?” – Dave “I can slap until the cows come home” – Dave “I went there the other day for a little prick” – Dave “I was asked if I wanted another one, I said I’m not used to two pricks in one day” – Dave “This might put just a little extra distance on the walk” – Julian
There will be lots more photos to come, many tens of them. But this is the initial summary of the day, and it’s been a long one. We all met up in Avebury to begin the walk and we had a look around the stones. I then decided I’d walk everyone along the main road to the official start of the Ridgeway walk, which Bev complained about on numerous occasions.
It was a hot day, and my bravery was noted on several occasions. We weren’t covering a huge distance today, so we made good progress along the route. Unfortunately the Ridgeway isn’t known for its sheltered terrain, so it was quite an exposed day out there in the Wiltshire countryside.
I mentioned it would be nearly impossible to go off route on the Ridgeway as it’s a clear path and it’s well signed. Anyway, in the afternoon we went wrong on the Ridgeway. Well, I didn’t, I was at the back of the group talking about Andrew’s balls with Bev, the others went wrong. It added on a few miles to the walk, but no-one really complained. Other than Bev.
We then played the Akinator where the on-line game tries to guess who you’re thinking of by asking questions. Much hilarity ensued at this clever piece of magic, although Bev’s choice of characters was, er, interesting…. Only Steve M was able to beat it, with someone I’d never heard of.
One of my favourite parts of the walk today wasn’t actually even on the Ridgeway route, it was the walk along the former railway line from Ogbourne St. George to Marlborough. I explained that it was around 3 miles and it would go into the heart of Marlborough. Anyway, the path was lovely and had some shade, although it was still hot. 3.9 miles later we arrived into an area not in the centre of Marlborough, but no-one complained. Other than Bev.
We got into our lovely hotel, and they put Bev, Susanna and Dave in the stables. To be honest, they judged that well. I’m dreading breakfast in the morning, with Bev and her eggs. It’ll probably get its own blog post.
After a long debate between Dave and myself, we decided on our evening meal. We picked the Green Dragon, a Wadworth pub that was excellent. I ordered fish and chips and everyone copied me, but I made clear on four occasions that if they were short on fish then the others could go without. Fortunately, they didn’t, and the fish was most lovely.
Afterwards I decided to take the group on a 45-minute history walk of Marlborough that I had found on-line. Nearly two hours later, when it got dark, we decided to rush the last part of the tour, but everyone agreed that it was a most interesting and exciting walk. Other than Bev.
So, overall, it was a really lovely first day of walking. Other than I’m sun burnt and grumpy about the hot weather. I’ll post tens of photos in smaller posts when I can of the day, we did cover rather a lot of terrain, as well as lots of topics of conversation.
It’s an early start in the morning. Bev and Susanna are rather middle class and are going to Waitrose, whilst Dave and me are common so we’re going to Greggs.
[I originally posted this in June 2018, but have reposted it to fix some broken image links]
We left the Travelodge all refreshed and reinvigorated for the first day of walking. But all walking adventures need to start with some fine dining, so off to the artisan bakers we went…
Here it is, Swindon’s finest baker. Second to none.
The door situation was confusing, so I let Steve work it out. I also didn’t want to look too desperate by running into Greggs, although that was how I felt…
Here he is at the counter, busy adding things to his order and holding up mine. But my time came, and I got a delicious chicken bake and latte, enough to suffice me for a few hours. We also brought dinner here, as there’s unlikely to be anything as good later on.
So the morning has started off in a lovely manner, it’s now off to the bus station ready to get the bus to Avebury.
[I originally posted this in June 2018, but have reposted it to fix some broken image links]
Our final pub visit of the day was to the Sir Daniel Arms and it was hard to contain Bev’s excitement. When we arrived at the pub Bev was a short distance behind complaining, so it felt that we were back on the Hadrian’s Wall week…..
I used the app as I didn’t want to wait for the others to faff about ordering. My food arrived before the drink, but I’m very patient and didn’t complain to the others in the group that they were holding up my drinks order. Although my rather lazy approach to ordering meant that I never did see what real ales were available at the bar.
Perfectly acceptable burger at a very reasonable price. My food arrived before everyone else’s, so that was perfect as well, win-win.
Here we all are as a group, team Ridgerats or whatever it was Susanna called us. We still haven’t thought of a group name, I was thinking more along the lines of something involving the word Greggs.
Two photos of the pub interior, it was fortunately quite quiet when we were there.
[I originally posted this in June 2018, but have reposted it to fix some broken image links]
Pub number three was the Hop Inn, which Bev told us was a former sex shop. We didn’t feel it appropriate to ask too many questions. Not through lack of wanting to ask questions of Bev, but because we didn’t really want to know the answers. The Bev Enigma is something that needs to unfold slowly.
This is the first pub that all met up at, so Maggie, Bev, Steve M, Steve, Dave and Susanna were all here, marking the official start of the Ridgeway adventure.
I was delighted with the choices here, some interesting beers and numerous ones that I hadn’t seen before. The liquorice stout sounded positively luxurious, but there was no way that I couldn’t order the peanut butter & banana porter. Despite the ABV, it was very drinkable and there was a lingering and pleasant after-taste of the banana, although I couldn’t get the taste of the peanut butter at all. But, I’d order it again.
We were delighted to see that there was a pizza menu, and we planned to just stay here all night. I noticed that the chicaritzo pizza looked particularly tempting, which would have gone beautifully with a pint of stout. Then, horror of horrors, they announced that they had just three pizza bases left. I worked out that as there was seven of us, that would mean that after I had a pizza to myself the others would have just one pizza between three people. This clearly wasn’t sufficient, as one member of our group can devour an entire pizza in one mouthful (not me), so we had to make the sad decision to move on. Which meant I never got to try the liquorice stout….
The interior of the pub, very on-trend and contemporary, and very much my favourite sort of pub. Of all the pubs we got time to go to in Swindon, which was only four, this was my favourite. But, onwards we marched to pub number four for food.
