Well, we couldn’t have asked for better weather for this first day of walking, albeit it was a bit windy up on the tops of the hills. Cathy and I both lost our hats at least twice, but Simon’s cricketing hat remained impressively in place. Here’s a photo of us all setting off, accompanied as far as the Gullet by Simon’s partner Ness and their gorgeous dog, Sparky.
A party of well wishers comprised of David, Libby, Rev Julie and Bob were there to see us off, and Julie blessed us with the lovely Celtic blessing. As we headed up hill towards the Hills, Liz and Derek whizzed past in the car and also wished us well – a good start!
For the first couple of hours, the skies were overcast, which was perfect walking weather, but as we came down off the first run of Hills into British Camp the sun shone and the sky turned blue and so it remained for the rest of our walk. Stopped for our first rest break on a bench looking out over Evendine and beyond, stunning views.
Carried on towards the Worcestershire Beacon, meeting along the way a stunning variety of dogs (and their owners), all very friendly. Through the Wyche Cutting we marched, and upward, ever upward to the Beacon where it really was remarkably windy. Down the other side and took our second break in the sun on a bench within spitting distance of North Hill. Discovered via a text from Mike that the Buddy Beacon wasn’t working, so needed to text him our current position.
Thankfully Simon took on the job of navigating us down from the Hills to pick up the Worcestershire Way and did it brilliantly. Having walked down Old Hollow – and passed the Grand Designs house, which looked great – we fought our way through a particularly jungly bit of footpath, being very thankful for the dry weather!!! Then it was onto the Worcestershire Way and wide open paths through orchards, which was lovely. Simon navigated us expertly to our final destination, pointing out geocache sites along the way and Cathy kept morale high with restorative conversation. I’m very grateful to both of them for accompanying me on Day 1, but was even more grateful to see the trusty Skoda awaiting us in a layby as we navigated the busy main road up to where Mike was waiting. Day 1 done and here’s the photo to prove it.
Now for day two……