When I heard Vicky wasn’t going to be available this year for The Pollicott Belles I kind of hinted to mum (Alex) that I’d be happy to step in of they needed someone else to make up the numbers. For two years I’d heard about tea and cakes, cups of coffee, and ice cream – it all sounded OK to me so I was pretty pleased when I was told I could join in for this years sponsored walk.
We set off from Pollicott at eight thirty on Sunday morning to walk down to Quainton to meet some other people who were doing an even bigger walk. An interesting experience what with cows that followed us through the fields and the road – this was the road where mum had her accident last year and this was the first time we’d been down there since then.
I thought maybe it would help to shoo cows away but well noticed by Alex and Sian it did look like I was praying to them – especially it being Sunday as well.
We stopped for a quick chat with some local residents safely knowing there were no cars or cows in sight.
When we reached Quainton we realised we had missed the Ashendon walkers so we sat down with an ice lolly and a refreshing drink to look at the map and plan our route home. Nearby there was a rather interesting take on violin playing from a near by house. This was what I was expecting – ice cream, drinks, and music.
On route home we came across a field with a rather large herd of younger horses. Working at The Horse Trust and loving horses as much as I do it became my job to guard Sian and Alex from them as they herded towards us in a rather excitable fashion. The Belles knew I would come in useful eventually.
Getting closer to home we ran out of map to guide us home, Sian was doing well to direct us back but mum was convinced she had hidden some directions in her bum bag.
We met a very friendly farmer who decided that maybe we looked a little lost and very reassuringly mentioned that the field we had just walked through just last week had a bull in it – well dodged I think from some of the reactions in the earlier fields.
Once decided that we already knew where we were going and the nice farmer had just told us what we already knew, I had my first piece of girlie advice from Sian. She happened to mention that when dealing with men you should act like you know nothing when really you know it all.
Taking a slight detour near the end of the walk as we had a little trouble finding the exit to the field we decided to cut the walk a little short and Andy met us at the end to give us a lift back home.
8.30 – 1.30, 5 hours for a 12 ½ mile walk. Not bad I think especially as we had to be all washed fresh and looking funky as we had a date with Lady Gaga at Twickenham rugby stadium at 7.
Sian and I looked particularly funky as we rocked the night away dancing along to the music and had a great time. Mum and Andy looking not so funky I think had a little snooze waiting for Gaga to arrive.
Was an absolutely great day and really looking forward to doing our walk later this month.
Annalise
xxx