Think Flower Power, Jimi Hendrix, Mamas and Papas, and you’ll be on the right lines - Oli is Sians Volkswagon camper van, in bright yellow in case you might miss it.
Oli was brought into play on what was (so far) the hottest day of the year, as Sian and I set off to Worminghall. The plan was to give Oli a good run out and to get us to the start of our first serious walk of the new fund raising campaign for Florence Nightingale Hospice – The Clifden Arms.
Given this was the start of the days training our visit to The Clifden Arms involved only soft drinks….very much out of keeping with The Belles, but work to be done.
After a quick study of the map we decided to head off in what we thought was the direction of the pathway we were after, but ‘oh dear’ – lost after just thirty seconds. Not to worry though we headed in the direction of a friendly face sat having a drink outside of the pub but, not to be, before we could reach him he was up on his feet and off into the pub.
Just as we thought we’d lost our only hope of a ‘point in the right direction’ there was the friendly face – in the open window almost next to us. ‘Hi’ said Sian, ‘we’re looking for the pathway on this map’ she said, kind of holding the map up as if that might help jog his memory. As he began to explain the best he could we realised this window leads into the gents toilet – Sian was busy holding a map in her hand as it quickly became apparent this gentleman was holding something in his – and it wasn’t a map!
‘Sorry, no hand signals’ came the friendly voice, clearly trying to help us feel at ease with the situation we had managed to get ourselves into, I may have felt a little more at ease but I’m sure my red face was radiating more heat than the hot sun.
Eventually we did get on our way and once clear of the window and out of sight of the kind man, well, it would have been wrong not to have almost fallen over with laughter. Sian and I agreed…today was going to be a good day.
The map shows the route far better than I can explain it but the basic plan was to head off to Waterperry (cake here, so huge incentive for us to make good time), then make a circuit of around 7 miles, and head back to Oli at Worminghall.
I have to conclude that walking seems to be every bit as hazardous as bike riding, perhaps because Sians warning of 'watch the rabbit hole' took on less urgency at walking speed than perhaps it might had I been riding a bike. Anyway, I failed to 'watch the rabbit hole' until my foot was well and truly stuck and I was left fighting to maintain some balance. Fortunately it was a case of 'no harm done' and I walked away unscathed but I did begin to wonder how I might have explained a broken ankle to the consultant treating my arm injury from last year - I assured him we'd be doing 'safe fundraising' this year, not a bike in sight, to turn up to his next consultation on a pair of crutches might have been awkward.
As we arrived back into Worminghall I really did begin to worry about Sian. Alongside the wall of a local church someone had very thoughtfully placed a bowl of water for anyone walking a dog, a very kind gesture on such a hot day. As Sian headed straight for it and began to stoop down I really did begin to question whether it was wise to have gone out on such a hot day - what I didn't see from the angle I was at was the fresh cold water tap on the wall above the bowl. A moment of some relief I can assure you.
Oli was a welcome sight and, after 3 hours in the hot sunshine, we sat back and enjoyed a short rest before setting off back to Pollicott. It had been a fun day....can't wait until the next one.
Love
Alex x
