Saturday June 10th

Another super hot day was predicted for our first day of walking along the Ridgeway. Unusually for me I packed 2 litres of water as there are no streams or villages along today's route.

All our logistics worked well, we arrived in the same carpark at the same time, approx 9:30am. We drank more water and then off we headed in the right direction!! The Ridgeway is an ancient route across the hills that was used by drovers and people from the ancient communities. The first part passes Avebury, Silbury Hill, The Sanctuary and various burial mounds. Slightly worrying in today's heat is the fact that it is a exposed ridge path however we did well for our 2nd breakfast and sat in the woods looking at the view. At lunchtime it had slightly clouded over so we were able to enjoy the view from Barbury Castle, sitting on a bench. Luckily we had enough water as the toilets were closed.

There were lots of people around, many cyclists without bells, why, just why? And some hot and bothered D of E groups, it felt quite good to have a smaller rucksack than normal although with all the water it was heavier than I would have liked. We followed the ridge down into Ogbourne St George where the sky went dark and just as we arrived by the village fete, it poured and poured and then a bit more, eventually we left the safety of the trees and walked into the very pretty village, with its thatched cottages.

And then our saga began, having booked all our accomodation in early January we decided to reconfirm everything 10 days ago, we confirmed, ordered packed lunches, booked pubs for meals etc. The Sanctuary confirmed our booking, the lady was going to be working in the tea tent at the fete but her husband would be there to let us in, ha ha😂😂 he was painting next door and didn't hear us shouting, ringing the bell, ringing the landline (he was in big trouble when his wife came home!!) so we abandoned our bags and went to the pub, The Well in the Inn.

Eventually we got in, and had coffee and chocolate muffins, all is well with our world and now we are just waiting for our dinner in the pub. 

So the photos are a bit of a muddle!! Am learning on the go. The glass thing is the well in the pub. Liz isn't really storming off having a hissy fit, at least not yet😊