After the best night sleep in years we woke to what sounded like more rain and Bourne being under 6" of water, it wasn’t too heartening listening to the cars sloshing through the puddles but after a fabulous breakfast (thank you to Shirley at the Dormy House) we set off in bright sunshine.
Dave's thighs were a bit tight and Martin's feet suffering due to some rogue grit in the socks the day before. So much for “1000 mile guaranteed blister free socks!”. After a quick visit to Boots for a few remedies we trudged off in the sun down the A15 to Peterborough.
After a few miles we stopped to rest (today’s plan was to walk for an hour or so and rest for 10 mins). However, it got increasingly difficult to get going again each time. We sat on a wall of a Ford Dealers (Mears) to rearrange boots etc. We were then greeted by owner who gave us a donation and offered us a drink. So, first tea break after 60 mins in true English workman style!
Wandering down the edge of the A15 through Langtoft listening to the radio we were then rudely interrupted by almighty honk of a truck. After picking ourselves up out of the ditch we were greeted by an HGV driver brandishing cash, in his haste to get over to the truck which was holding up the traffic, Martin's dash across the road was nearly cut short by the Hearse coming in the other direction!
After 8 miles or so we arrived in Market Deeping, where we were met by Suzanne and Jo brandishing lunch. Once fully refuelled of we set again, still in sunshine, on our way to Peterborough.
On route Martin spotted a strategically place wall for a re-lace of the boots, when Dave noticed in the distance the town of Glinton, just a mile to a mile and a half away. So we carried on to Glinton in the hope of finding a pub where we can get sorted in the company of a pint of Guinness! Passing through the town we spotted on the road ahead the Crown Pub… this sight gave us the momentum required to get up the small hill to get there. We reached the pub only to find it derelict! There must be another pub round the corner… 2 miles later we finally wandered in to the Crab & Winkle for the best tasting pint ever!
An hour or so later we arrived at Peterborough Station where we were due to meet up with the girls in the car, however, thanks to some amazing piece of idiocy by someone Peterborough has two A15’s, not helpful when following directions! After a wait at the station we started to get cold and the rain started, so we told the girls to head to the hotel, and we’d be there in 3 hours or so. It was a very long 3 hours seemingly all uphill, we arrived at the Premier Travel Inn A1(M) Junc.16 in Norman Cross after 1900. The feet were really on fire by now!
The Girls had checked-in for us so we could go straight to the room (via the challenge of a staircase!) and get the feet in a cold bath of water… aaaaah, the relief!
On the way into the Hotel we were met by John Scott who handed us £264.00 in cash that he’d collected from staff and guests at the hotel, which was the day’s real morale booster.
That evening we tucked into a great meal in the hotel restaurant accompanied by a few pints. Having just talked Dave out of pudding we asked for the bill only to find that they had donated that too! Only problem now was during the meal we had stiffened up and those stairs now looked like Everest’s big brother! Needless to say heads hit pillow and we were out for the count! Still another 50,000 + steps covered! 50 miles down 100 to go!
Huge thanks to Sarah Strain, John and all the PTI staff a credit to PTI and Whitbread.
Dave's thighs were a bit tight and Martin's feet suffering due to some rogue grit in the socks the day before. So much for “1000 mile guaranteed blister free socks!”. After a quick visit to Boots for a few remedies we trudged off in the sun down the A15 to Peterborough.After a few miles we stopped to rest (today’s plan was to walk for an hour or so and rest for 10 mins). However, it got increasingly difficult to get going again each time. We sat on a wall of a Ford Dealers (Mears) to rearrange boots etc. We were then greeted by owner who gave us a donation and offered us a drink. So, first tea break after 60 mins in true English workman style!
Wandering down the edge of the A15 through Langtoft listening to the radio we were then rudely interrupted by almighty honk of a truck. After picking ourselves up out of the ditch we were greeted by an HGV driver brandishing cash, in his haste to get over to the truck which was holding up the traffic, Martin's dash across the road was nearly cut short by the Hearse coming in the other direction!
After 8 miles or so we arrived in Market Deeping, where we were met by Suzanne and Jo brandishing lunch. Once fully refuelled of we set again, still in sunshine, on our way to Peterborough.
On route Martin spotted a strategically place wall for a re-lace of the boots, when Dave noticed in the distance the town of Glinton, just a mile to a mile and a half away. So we carried on to Glinton in the hope of finding a pub where we can get sorted in the company of a pint of Guinness! Passing through the town we spotted on the road ahead the Crown Pub… this sight gave us the momentum required to get up the small hill to get there. We reached the pub only to find it derelict! There must be another pub round the corner… 2 miles later we finally wandered in to the Crab & Winkle for the best tasting pint ever!
An hour or so later we arrived at Peterborough Station where we were due to meet up with the girls in the car, however, thanks to some amazing piece of idiocy by someone Peterborough has two A15’s, not helpful when following directions! After a wait at the station we started to get cold and the rain started, so we told the girls to head to the hotel, and we’d be there in 3 hours or so. It was a very long 3 hours seemingly all uphill, we arrived at the Premier Travel Inn A1(M) Junc.16 in Norman Cross after 1900. The feet were really on fire by now!The Girls had checked-in for us so we could go straight to the room (via the challenge of a staircase!) and get the feet in a cold bath of water… aaaaah, the relief!
On the way into the Hotel we were met by John Scott who handed us £264.00 in cash that he’d collected from staff and guests at the hotel, which was the day’s real morale booster.
That evening we tucked into a great meal in the hotel restaurant accompanied by a few pints. Having just talked Dave out of pudding we asked for the bill only to find that they had donated that too! Only problem now was during the meal we had stiffened up and those stairs now looked like Everest’s big brother! Needless to say heads hit pillow and we were out for the count! Still another 50,000 + steps covered! 50 miles down 100 to go!
Huge thanks to Sarah Strain, John and all the PTI staff a credit to PTI and Whitbread.
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