Josh:-
Woke up about 6.30 reasonably warm due to the Snugpak overnight. However the freezing air was evident when coming out the bag to ear porridge and drink tea. Porridge was drier than normal due to lack of water.
At 7 got going, and left at 7.45.It was very cold but did not feel so bad as yesterday morning.
There was evidence of snow over night in little white patches which had thawed then refroze in the grads.The ground had frozen even harder than the previous day.
About 8 a flurry of snow started to fall, only small flakes that only rested on our clothes then fell off. On frozen ground it settled and turned white. Frozen puddles were covered catching Roge out nearly felling him .
I found the snow a nice change and the first 3 hours pof walking went fast. We spoke of I pads, Apple and Windows. Large areas of mud now frozen kept us clean.
We came to and passed through Bourne End, not alot to speak of. Cookham was slightly more interesting. It was the place dominated by Stanley Spencer , his gallery and we walked through a church yard where his ashes were scattered.
We stopped under the A404 bridge, considered a break but walked into Marlow for a Costa coffee. It is where I wrote this.
Marlow is the burial place of the Spotted Boy, a mummified hand of an apostle.
We had followed PRADA footprints in the highstreet passing many coffee shops.
Roger:-
We bought a single large Americano, a bucket of a coffee but shared it....budget! We also charged phones and had another. It was fairly busy but warm and cosy as always. A few folk asked us "You're not camping in this weather?" But we find rain worse and no one bats an eye then.
We bought hobnobs from Sainsburys... staple food stuff!
The walk to Henley was through constantly falling heavy snow , now 4 inches. It was not bad going, we had capes on and were warm by walking. Our boots kept our feet warm but a ingress of water cause damp feet.
The walk to Hurley was uneventful, we headed passed a large mansion with a deer park and new fencing to reach Aston. Here we walked up a road and had to return once I realised it was going up after 1km.
We easily walked into Henley via Remesham but Josh must of been drinking because he slipped over 5 times much to my pleasure.
We crossed into Henley heading for good old wetherspoons for coffee and hot choc. It was about 3 so we did not stay long, half hour. Regretfully we left and gained the tow path to the lock where children sledged in mass, thoughts of my two boys back home who love the snow, and I love taking them out to it. We could not find our guide book promised water at the lock so I asked at the lock keepers cottage, I was given a half litre bottle of water...we would be short.
We skirted Shiplake college in dimming light, following the edge of rugby fields with bunting edge.
It was getting dark when we scraped the 4 inch snow away for our tent and pitched next to the tow path away from all. Tent pole was brittle and snapped again, quick repair and got our gear stored. It was gone 5.
The night seemed bright with a weird orange glow reflected from the sky onto the snow from Reading 6 miles on.
We were so tired we only had biscuits and tea.
Cold evening and I used the baffles on the sleeping bag to retain the heat. Asleep after 9.30 and question time on Radio 4.
No comments:
Post a Comment