ROCKINGHAM to GREAT OXENDON
The one with the spooky overgrown passages ways, sausage baps and the best pub garden ever!
Distance: 15.78 miles!
Weather: A bit of everything. Light Rain, overcast and warm sunshine.
Health: Julia, feels fine today. Trail legs have kicked in. Rebecca is done for the day! Debby went very quiet around mile 13!
THE SHORT VERSION
We have not stopped laughing all day. We left the orchard around 7.30am and finally pitched our tents in a pub garden at 5.30pm. We saw reindeer, rescued a lady who let her staffy dogs off the lead in a field of cows (not pretty, the dog got kicked!) and saw the most amazing field of poppies. The stories just unfolded. A brilliant day and one for the memory bank.
JULIAS RAMBLINGS
💤 Blimey, it got a bit chilly last night. My beanie and long johns just didn’t do the trick so the hand warmers made an appearance (between the thighs works best!). I woke up at 5.15am and caught the sunrise peeping through the trees in the orchard. What a way to start the day!
7.50am – We arrive in the first village called Great Easton. Rebecca casually announced “The bum lady lives here! I had colonic irrigation just around the corner a few years ago”. I probably shouldn’t reveal the conversation topic for the next 10 mins!
8am – Passed The Old Corset Factory. I do wonder what types of Corsets they made here! Great Easton.
8.25am – wow! We jumped over a stile and entered a full field of poppies. What a sight!
8.42am – Time for a wee with a view (Rebecca’ words!)
9.20am – ouch! Overgrown area. My arse gets stung by a stinging nettle. Don’t panic Mr Mannering… Rebecca has Sudocrem and Debby is happy to rub stinging cream in my rear end!
9.44am – We arrived in the small village of Cottingham I search of a shop. We stopped the very attractive postman. “Do you know if there is a shop in the village?”. The dishy postman replied, “There’s a village shop up the road that sells bacon rolls etc”. We waved him off and then hi-fives each other! Bacon rolls sound like we’ve hit the jackpot!! We arrive at the shop and this guy with a beard and crocs looks ya up and down “we’re you in Gretton yesterday?” He asks. I nodded and he explains how he saw us yesterday. Small world! We order Sausage & egg baps and Debby had a bacon bap. When it arrived, all is right with the world again!! An old man turns up with a handful of carrots and swapped them in the shop for two bananas. Would life be great if life was that simple?
10.30 – We reluctantly left the cafe and ended up alongside a spooky trail with graves along the path (weird). Rebecca said how it felt like we were about to go on a haunted theme ride at Alton Towers. Just as she said that we heard screaming!
OMG! We can hear a lady screaming her head off and wondered what was going on? We witnessed a field full of cows running around in circles with a woman screaming in the centre. Her two starffy dogs were on the loose and chasing the cows! The next thing we see is one cow kick it’s back legs and the white staffy goes flying! Debby to the rescue (with Rebecca and I offering support from behind the fence!). She dives right in between the cows and between Debby and the dog owner they manage to get it under control. The woman is super grateful. She was a bit of a hippy and was in another world!
We then stumbled upon an old Pumphouse and Debby had to have a go! It doesn’t sound funny when you write it up, but it was hilarious. Steep descent through Middleton.
Met two old women who stopped to chat with us. One looked at the other as she leaned on her old lady walking stick and said: “Margo, we should do the Jurassic Way, it’s only walking”. Margo didn’t say much as they wished us well on our travels.
11.14am As the heavens opened we came across an amazing sight of a herd of Reindeer running towards a shelter. Yes, I see the irony!
Rain clothes on and off just as bad as a tarts knickers!
12.20pm – Stoke Albany. Rebecca goes into the pub to see if they are open while Debby and I wait patiently outside. 5 minutes pass and Debby and I start to wonder what has happened to Rebecca? Then the door opened and a familiar face and a familiar rucksack! Rebecca couldn’t find the pub owner so decided that she’d make the most of the opportunity and use the facilities.
1.25pm – Rebecca phones the pub in Great Oxendon and we have a campsite for the night!!
1.30pm – MASSIVE bull!! Ring through the nose! Omg… see photos. This thing was huge!
1.38pm – We heard a little baaahhhh and saw a little lost lamb! Debs to the rescue! (See video) 2hrs later and the lamb was back with its family.
2.30pm – bull! A frigging huge thing with a ring through its nose!
3pm – The trail took us through a horse livery/racing stables. We got chatting to the owner who gave us a warning as we went to stroke of his horses “these are thoroughbred horses and will lull you into a false sense of security then bite your hands off! We backed off quickly and said our goodbyes!
5.15pm – Arrived at our destination for the night. We are all sleeping in a pub garden. The George at Great Oxendon. Steven is so lovely and has looked after us tonight. A lovely end to an eventful day!