Miles walked: 11.4

Elevation gain: 1,409 ft.

Things looked promising for David this morning as he woke feeling he could do the walk today. His knee felt better, but on the very first climb, within a mile of starting, it started hurting again. He kept going as we debated whether he should go back and call a taxi or go on to a car park where we could call. At about two miles, it was obvious he was not going to get very far so he hobbled up to a junction where he could sit to wait for the taxi. Just getting the taxi was an experience as it took several calls by Nancy to finally get someone on the way to him. (The taxi company had trouble locating the junction.) Once they finally did get him picked up, the half-hour ride took an hour because there was a race going on and roads were closed so they had to find different routes. The driver said he had been driving taxi here for 35 years and went on roads today that he had never been on. The good thing is that we are staying here in Amberly for three nights, so he can really rest his knee and hopefully get it to feeling better.

The rest of us left David sitting by the road when we knew the taxi was on its way. It was a pleasant day again although a bit windy in the afternoon and chilly waiting for the taxi to pick us up when we were done.

That wind caused Nancy some troubles. She was just reaching up to take her hat off when the wind caught it and blew it to the other side of the barb wire fence lining the path. Nancy let out a couple of loud screaming swear words to the universe and then assessed the situation. The fence had two rows of barb wire at the top and the pasture side was actually 5-6 inches lower than our side. We found a low spot and both pushed down on the fence while she climbed over. Her first attempt was unsuccessful as she got her pant leg snagged on a barb. She finally got that released and tried again. Success! She retrieved her hat and once again we pushed and she climbed. Good thing her legs are longer than mine. While all this less-than-graceful climbing was going on, I was thinking I wish I could take a picture of this. I decided it might not be the best idea for me to let go of the fence to take a photo. As it was, we were able to enjoy a good laugh after it was all done.

The trail today was quite a mix of surfaces. Some parts were just regular dirt paths, there was some road walking, we also had nice soft paths on grassland, and we had hard, rocky, and uneven chalk with flint stones in it. I preferred the grassland. No matter the trail surface, it was all up and down, up and down. Nothing particularly steep, but definitely up and down. We finished on a down part today and we could see tomorrow’s start. It is definitely up; perhaps with fresh legs it won’t be so bad.

• To Moreton-in-Marsh, April 29
• To Chipping Camden, April 28
• To Stanton, April 27
• To Winchcombe, April 26
• To Guiting Power, April 25