JOGLE 5 Day 4 Sat 12 May 12

Started  0900. Finished 1615. 15 miles.  Dunbeath to Helmsdale.  A very uneventful walk. We saw loads of cyclists, a runner and motorcyclists heading south and north all on the JOGLE-LEJOG mission.  On reaching the first village Ian stopped for water replenishment at the local post office that wasn’t open.  However the proprietor kindly filled Ian’s bottle from her kitchen tap that is not connected to the mains but runs straight from the river nearby. In the meantime I had a chat with a runner heading south, whom having retired  was running JOGLE.  His wife apparently drove the camper van during the day and they met up in the evenings.  We had lunch at a historical Clearance Village reached by following a small path to the edge of the cliffs.  There is a memorial there and some history boards explaining what the clearances were all about, no wonder the Scots hate the English so much when you consider the way the land owners treated them.   On arrival in Helmsdale we found the Belgrade Hotel easily enough but the Belgrade hotel was not so good, the reception on arrival was poor, the service not particularly good and the shower was rubbish, this reinforces our point that Hotels don't understand walkers.  We put our freshly rinsed out socks on the only hot radiator in the place (which was halfway up the stairs) this soon promoted a quick reaction to the use of a tumble dryer despite asking earlier and being told that we don't do laundry. When it came to Kicking out time it was really noisy at 0030 hrs causing Ian to go down and have words with the noise makers which worked as they all cleared off – noisily!  However the Landlord and Landlady didn’t seem to think it was a problem. Getting a packed lunch out of them wasn’t that easy and breakfast was a rather solitary affair – what no guests? No surprises there then! In the evening we ate in a really nice restaurant further along the road, it was very pleasant and offered very good service and very nice food.  Helmsdale itself is nice enough place with old fashioned shops, you feel as though you’re walking through somebody’s front door and all the shops have wooden floor boards and wall to wall goods with every space utilised to the full. Helmsdale also has a railway station and a port, very useful if you are fed up with walking!  What is noticeable about this part of Scotland is that very few of the people we met that run businesses are actually Scottish.

JOGLE 5 Day 3 Fri 11 May 12

Start 0900. Finish 1715. 20 miles. Watten to Dunbeath.  Today the weather is threatening to rain all day with very strong winds.  Well the weather carried out its threat but fortunately the wind was behind us and our Paramo gear with Nixwax technology kept us dry.  Keeping dry is an interesting point as it is all about ventilation and humidity control and juggling between keeping the rain out but allowing sufficient ventilation for perspiration to evaporate without making our base layers any wetter than they already are.  The roads where very straight and went for miles across moorland and forestry land. One of the highlights of the day (this is really sad) is that I landed up herding an escaped sheep up the road for several miles.  The stupid thing wouldn’t let me pass and kept running ahead.  Eventually a break in the fence enabled it to get back into afield with its mates – well we think the other sheep were its mates – who knows?  Probably there's an irate farmer in Scotland looking for Dolly! Even in the middle of this desolate wasteland and the appalling weather life goes on and we came across a massive Wind Farm construction taking place. The project was huge and was an interesting distraction from the straight road. It is  a shame that the work force see the ditches on the side of the road as a place to deposit their rubbish none  of which was bio-degradable.  The most popular drink in the ditches was Iron Bru, perhaps a tax should be levied on companies whose product is found littering the countryside. The second highlight of the day is the Campster Cairns.  A very interesting historical site that is well looked after, you can even crawl inside one of the cairns and admire the Stone Age plastic roof that keeps the rain out!  A nice spot for lunch if it wasn’t raining! Eventually the rain eases off and we arrive at the coastal road after a long, long, long straight walk, to the dreaded A9! I welcome this fact as this marks a mile stone (a very long one at that of what we have achieved so far).  Interestingly on the way we passed quite a few plots of land for sale and an idea of building a house on one sprang  to mind until you see the efforts of other would be landowners and realise that it is not quite all what it seems and the fact that you are miles from anywhere!!  (Hello - utilities?)There is a cottage being modernised on the corner of this road junction and some very handy railway sleepers to rest on and have our lunch. The lunch plan was going well until we were hit by a very sudden and nasty squall, it was so cold and wet that in seconds our body temperatures dropped very rapidly and we barely had time to get our Paramo back on and everything packed away before the sharp, spiky rain hit us.  My hands were so cold I could hardly use them.  We turned to the right (didn’t bother with a salute this time) and headed south along the coast road,  our companion (but not friend) for the next several days. Within several hundred yards we came across our second bus stop which turned out to be a godsend as we could get out of the rain, have a bit of a re-group and dry off whilst we waited for the squall to pass.  The rest of the walk was fairly uneventful other than dodging traffic moving at superfast speeds, a by-product of living in a place where distances are long and there is no traffic.  Inverpark B&B turned out to be the best of all the B&Bs Ian and I have stayed at.  Apart from everything in the room was pink the place was superb,  superhot fast showers in a massive wet room,  good washing and drying facilities, a marvellous breakfast and superb hosts, did I mention the free pen as well?  The evening meal was interesting. The restaurant located in a porta-cabin of sorts was very nice inside with good service.  I had a Donald Burger which is apparently named after the local butcher who makes them.  The burger was very nice too.  Now please remember this important little detail about Donald and his hand made burgers as it may have had a historical significance. In the morning we met our very first JOGLE walker. This chap had only just started and was carrying everything on his back including the kitchen sink and wondered why he was going so slow.  We soon educated him on how unnecessary it was to carry lots of kit and our hosts very kindly boxed up his equipment and posted it home for him. His rucksack was half the original weight by the time he set off for the day. Did he ever make it? We don’t know, we never saw him again.

JOGLE 5 Day 2 Thu 10 May 12

Left at 0830 Arrived 1530 Miles 17.75 John  O Groats to Watten. After a very nice breakfast we set off  in hot pursuit of the Photographer to have a proper photograph taken by the sign, but he was nowhere to be seen, well no surprises there then! The story about John O Groats and the funny looking house is quite interesting, it is all to do with a Dutchmen apparently so I’ll leave that for you guys to look up on the Internet because as I am about to discover later in the walk history is not my strong point especially when it comes to Beef Burgers.   Today the weather is very cold but sunny which makes for very pleasant walking.  The views across the Orkneys are absolutely superb and I very much doubt whether the view could get even better, indeed the views along the coast as far as the eye could see are wonderful.  The only downside about walking in this part of the country is that the roads are very straight and mostly flat, although the upside is that cars are far and few between and for that matter so are the natives who seemed to be very scare on the ground.  It takes quite a lot of will power to keep going along a straight road for miles when there is no end in sight or for that a simple bend ahead to focus on.  For those that didn’t know I fell of the motorbike ion boxing and suffered  6 broken ribs and a collar bone on the right and a dislocated thumb on the left that had to be re-set by an Ortho surgeon.  Well the thumb doesn’t like the cold, so luckily I had my glove with me for the really windy bits.  The collar bone is not healed but does not cause any discomfort and so far in the day my knees are more sore than anything else.  Although the back is a bit stiff from where the chest drain went in – anyway we will see how it goes and yes some would say – what walking with a broken collar bone? Must be mad?? –well its official you don’t need it apparently? And it doesn’t hurt – turn to the right, salute and carry on! The Brown Trout Hotel were not expecting us and luckily I had my internet booking form with me and eventually the proprietor worked out that we had used a third party to book the room. They had my surname down as Barry and not Sexton which led to the confusion.  Further more Ian and I always ask for a twin and we were given a double, interesting!  Luckily for us there was a spare room available so we had a double each and mine had purple sheets a purple quilt cover and purple curtains! Nice!!  The evening meal was very nice as were the staff and the natives were very friendly but clearly with large lake nearby and the name of the hotel (A big clue that!) it was full of grumpy Scottish  fisherman. No surprises there then Sherlock!

JOGLE 5 Day 1 Wed 9 May 12

Ian and I arrived at Gatwick on time.  Di drove me to the airport and Ian took the train and arrived first (A first).  We received a frosty reception from the Flybe check in as we hadn't used the electronic check in machine. We were worried our bags would be too heavy or classed as too big and then be made to pay extra for hold baggage. We were ok and passed the checks. Security was interesting. Ian got frisked and I had to empty my bag so that my small jar of Manuka honey could be confiscated. The flight to Inverness went well and we landed on time and caught a taxi into town. We arranged to drop some gear off in the left luggage room at the Royal Highland Hotel to collect when we stay there in a week’s  time. We had lunch at Bella Italia where unfortunately my 2 for 1 voucher from Flybe was way out of date. We went for a short stroll around Inverness and found a Holland and Barratt. I stocked up on my Manuka honey and because they had a penny sale I was able to get them to keep the second jar behind the counter for me to collect next week - how good is that? The train to Wick took four hours and went through some magnificent scenery. Arriving at Wick we were met by our pre-booked taxi and went straight to John O Groats. On arrival we explored the area took all the photos but not any proper ones by the sign as the photographer was not there. Apparently the photographer turns up by apppintment only, so it seems. The local shop keeper who was also a fireman and part of the coastguard had created his own signs which we used. The views of the Orkneys were spectacular. The weather was cold but sunny and it stayed light most of the night. We were staying at the Sea View Hotel.  The Hotel had a building across the road which had been recently modernised and was very omfortable with a good shower.  The evening meal was nice as was the breakfast.

PRACTICE WALK FRI 27 APR 2012 NORTH DOWNS WAY FOLKESTONE TO WYE



 

What no rain?

Designer hoodie with JOGLE logo

This is one of the many practice walks undertaken before a major JOGLE event such as the forth coming John O'Groats to Fort William from 9-23 May 2012. The flights are booked and we're even checked in and boarding passes issued at both ends of the trip. Ian has designed a really good logo for the walk and produced designer tour T-Shirts and Hoodies. Now before you all go thinking that Ian and I have become reprobates by wearing hoodies they do have a significant use in the maintenance of our health and wellbeing in that they fully cover us up and therefore will stop the "Midges" and “Cleggies" attacking us. I have heard that an Avon (Ding Dong Calling) product based on oil that is rubbed into the skin works as well at keeping the insect life at bay. I am wondering what this stuff smells like and would our JOGLE 5 become retitled "Two poofs on a good walk" LOL. This is also a test blog to see if you are on receive, please let me know if you have. I have added several photos to the blog to show the joys of our practice walk. I look forward to updating you all once we get started in a couple of weeks’ time.


Bliss - sleep at last

JOGLE 4 Day 9 - 11 Sep 11

Oakhampton to home. The bus from Oakhampton to Exeter was the X9, supposedly an express service, well it was late. Ian and I shot up stairs and sat at the front of the double decker bus so we could see the route we had taken the day before which had roughly followed the A30. Luckily the bus got a move on, so although we were late arriving at Exeter St David’s, luckily so was the so was the South West Train service to London, Waterloo. I hold a SW train Season ticket so are able to travel at weekends for free and a £5 each upgrade saw us sitting in first class, enjoying our freshly hand-made sandwiches courtesy of the local baker in Oakhampton (no Greggs there either) and a Saturday paper. Safe arrival at Waterloo saw us go our separate ways having arranged a planning conference at the new JOGLE HQ to sort out JOGLE 5 which is going to be John O Groats to Fort William in May 2012. I’m off to the Military School of Languages at Beaconsfield to see if I can learn the lingo for this next trip and I must remember to apply for my visa. Luckily Ian is part native being that when we first met in Colehill in the 70s he was an ardent Celtic supporter having moved to Dorset from Edinburgh.

Total 122 miles

JOGLE 4 Day 8 - 10 Sep 11

Start 0830 Finish 1700 Distance 20 miles. Crediton to Oakhampton. Well Plan B was to walk as far as Yeoford where a railway station that ran a passenger service back to Crediton and onward to Exeter was. Yeoford was the last cut of point or escape route from the walk and therefore an appropriate place to see how things shaped up. It was fairly easy walking along the Devonshire Heartland Way as apart from a Farmers’ field full of Corn that obliterated the footpath otherwise it was Minor roads all the way. I think the farmer will be grateful to us as we didn’t walk around in circles thus creating a local phenomenon but we might have wandered up and down a bit to give some reality to the “Maze” field. At Yeoford a quick appraisal of the medical situation was conducted, that went something like “I’m not coming back all this way to do this bit again, so we might as well keep going!” personally I was thinking, “warm train, nice coffee and doughnut in Exeter and a bit of retail therapy thrown in”, sigh. Well it was only another 15 miles through the undulating Devonshire countryside along some very easy walking quiet minor roads and the weather was holding out as well with sunny spells. As for me I was looking forward to seeing the rolling hills of Dartmoor shrouded in mist. There really wasn’t much to see along the way of any real interest other than the scenery of Devon, very rural. At Sprayton we discovered a pub called the Uncle Tom Cobley which was also a four star B&B, all very nice. We stopped there for a soft drink and sneakily ate our sandwiches outside on the picnic benches. I guess that was the highlight for the day apart from dodging fast moving tractors that filled up the whole lane, luckily the British Military Training came into good use here and I was able to disguise myself as Blackberry Bush. Just as well the tractor was not in hedge trimming mode. Later whilst lent against a hedge and eating an apple thinking about how much further we had to go, what we could eat tonight for supper and what the B&B would be like and more importantly would we find it! A massive tractor and trailing come hurtling towards me and it looked as though the farmer hadn’t seen me, then at the last moment possible and with a big grin all over his face he turned left and only just made the turning such was the size of the trailer. The views of Dartmoor were spectacular and well worth the wait although it had started raining and the hills were becoming covered in cloud. The last few miles saw us trudging through the outskirts of Oakhampton and a fairly easy discovery of the B&B.

JOGLE 4 Day 7 - 9 Sep 11

Start 0845 Finish 1900 Distance 21 miles. Sampford Peverell via Tiverton too Crediton. Today turned out to be the longest and most challenging of all our walking days because someone had miscalculated the distances on the map, nothing new there then! Except this time instead of shortening the day it became rather longer, by about five miles longer! The weather remained overcast most of the time with the odd shower but it stayed relatively warm. We started off at a good pace along the easy walking of the Great Western Canal and soon made short work of getting to Tiverton. At Tiverton we stopped for a well-earned coffee and sticky bun break and admired the Tiverton Canal Basin as well as watching the canal boats being pulled along by Cart Horses. Tiverton is quite a nice rural town and relatively unspoilt by the usual commercialism. I suppose that’s nice way of saying it didn’t have a Costas or Nero’s around but it did have a Greggs! After a quick exploration of Tiverton we headed off to find the start of the River Exe footpath. The River Exe path was relatively easy to follow and we quickly arrived at Bickleigh. This is overly commercialised with the Mill being converted to an Art Gallery/Pottery and shops and of course the Steam Railway but no picnic spots. We had our lunch on the wall of the main river bridge that is a single lane road and watched the world go past. It was quite interesting watching all the near misses with cars, buses and vans as there is a massive blind spot on the approach to the bridge. I am quite surprised that traffic lights have not been installed. Bickleigh has certainly changed a lot. The last time I was there was in the late 70s when as a Junior Soldier we had to undertake the Royal Marines challenging high level rope course, followed by a Bridge Jump into a river some 30 feet below near Ashburton. There were no hard hats or safety ropes in those days and definitely no risk assessments!! Just as well my mum didn’t know! From Bickleigh to Crediton it was minor roads all the way with some tracks meandering along the contours of the Devonshire Hills. It wasn’t until we arrived at Crediton and settled into our comfortable B&B that I realised how bad a way Ian was with some very nicely swollen legs. Luckily a short hobble along the road saw us eating at the local “Two for One” where it transpires that the manager was from Dorset and ran a few pubs that we used to frequent in the Wimborne area. An early night followed with legs suitably elevated and a plan B quickly convened in case we couldn’t get all the way to Oakhampton the following day, a 20 miler on hard tarmac all the way.

JOGLE 4 Day 6 - 8 Sep 11

JOGLE 4 Day 6 8 Sep 11
Start 0815 Finish 1630 Distance 17.5 miles. Taunton to Sampford Peverell. Today the weather was better, very cloudy with threatening showers and no sun. The walking plan for today is to follow the path of the Grand Western Canal which for most of the day lacked definition and in places ceased to exist almost completely. It wasn’t until later in the day we came across a fully restored part of the canal that provided some great walking and interesting sites on the way. Earlier in the day we came across a massive restoration project where parts of the aqua-ducts have been exposed which now are no more than a bridge across a stream in a farmer’s field to a huge lift installation designed to lift canal boats some 30-40 feet. Where the canal had been completely overgrown by trees all the trees where earmarked for felling. Sadly that stretch of the canal will never be re-joined to the later fully restored stages because of land reclamation by farmers and residents along with houses and garages being built across the original path. It is fascinating to see the history unfold through old buildings and areas that live on in name only. One particular site was the restored workings of a lime Kiln. Although no different from any other Lime Kiln to look at, those that had restored it made the additional effort of putting up an information board which made it all the more interesting. For the first time ever I was able to see how a lime Kiln worked. The main conclusion I drew from this it that is that an awful lot of wood was burned to make it work, probably wouldn’t get away with such a process today. Walking along canals you get to meet all sorts of people, mostly dog walkers who liked to stop for a chat and of course the miserable dog walkers with their miserable dogs who can’t seem to manage a grunt let alone a smile, you can’t help but feel sorry for them. The Canal path took us past the rear entrance of our Hotel for the night which was the Globe Inn. It is a nice place and the room was very comfortable but it has to be said Hotels just are not in the same league as B&Bs. We ate in the Merriemede Hotel which is across the road from the Globe. Don’t ask me why it is something that we do, which is too eat elsewhere other than where we are staying. We were made to feel very welcome at The Merriemeade Hotel and soon got chatting to some local cyclists who meet up on a Wednesday evening for quick ride around the country side, something like 15 miles in the evening. It seems that one of the cyclists used to live in the village that we had had lunch in the day before; that two of the cyclists had cycled from John O’Groats to Land’s End, this met with some interest from Ian but alas it didn’t last long, oh well more walking it is then; finally the same two cyclists turned out to be undertakers and knew the motorcycle hearse carrier we met in Taunton very well, small world isn’t it?

JOGLE 4 Day 5 - 7 Sep 11

Start 09.10 Finish 1530. Distance 12 miles. Bridgewater to Taunton. As the Hotel wouldn’t provide a packed lunch for health and hygiene reasons we headed into town to find our trusted favourite sandwich makers, Greggs. Having bought our sandwiches we headed for the indoor market located in the “Ye Olde Market” hall in search of some fruit. Having purchased a single apple and a single banana we got talking to the market stall holder. Clearly he thought we were barking mad when he found out what we were doing or else he felt sorry for two middle aged men whom he must have thought were a sandwich short of a picnic (actually it was the fruit we were missing!)and decided to give us our money back and let us have the fruit for free. I think it is fair to say that all is not lost in Bridgewater, well not just yet. Today the weather decided it was going to rain and drizzle all day. So Ian and I opted for the dry weather programme of sorts. A walking dry weather programme means you avoid footpaths, fields, long grass and anything that is going to make you wetter and muddier than you already are. A quick revision of the route saw us enjoying the minor back roads along with the steep hills as we were well and truly out of the Somerset Flats now and powering our way into Devon. I suppose “powering” is a bit optimistic it was probably more psychological than physical, but we made good progress with a short break on a nice bench in a pleasant village. This is a good thing about the English Country side in that you come across some random bench in the middle of nowhere donated by somebody who used to visit that spot for years. It’s a shame the person had to die before they put a proper seat in. Not long after our break we came cross the Temple of Harmony. I didn't see any hair spray (for those that remember the Advert). It is an interesting building of which Ian and I had a debate about the architecture as to whether it was Greek or Roman; personally I thought it was Victorian because the sign said it was built in the C19th (I think sometimes that Ian despairs over my lack of understanding of things arty). The opening times are very limited so we didn’t get to look inside. The weather cleared at lunchtime and the decision was made to stop for a proper lunch in a Pub at Kingston St Mary. We had time on our hands being that today was a short walking day. The B&B was very nice with a warm friendly welcome and best of all a pot of tea and homemade cake was provided on arrival. The building was a very old farm building in the middle of a modern housing estate. Clearly the land had been sold off years ago and all that was left of the farm was the original farm house. It was here that we came across a visitor riding a motorbike with a side car. It wasn’t any old side car but a hearse and he had been booked for a funeral the next day. I managed to get his business card and the family is now briefed as to how I am getting to my funeral! Ian and I caught the local bus from the nearby park and ride into Taunton. We were looking for a launderette and luckily the bus went straight past one. It is almost a routine now, we find a launderette that doesn’t have any soap powder and no change available for the machines and looks as though it is the hang out for the local down and outs. I bought a box of soap powder and probably used too much as the machine foamed up and we lost sight of the washing, luckily it didn’t leak out all over the floor. I did manage to sell the remaining powder to another couple as I didn’t want to be carrying it in case it leaked out of the box and got wet inside my Bergen leading to foamy Greggs sandwiches (that we hadn't eaten yet and were saving for tomorrow). Having had a really big lunch we were surprisingly ready for me more and Prezzos came to our rescue as being the only reasonable place around for food. The Park and Ride delivered us back to the B&B in time to watch England play Wales.

JOGLE 4 Day 4 - 6 Sep 11

Start 08.15 Finish 16.35 Distance 15.5 miles. Glastonbury to Bridgewater. The Travel Lodge Breakfast Buffet has died and been re-incarnated in the form of packaging and lots of packaging. Yes it was delivered to the room but left outside the door and no one actually knocked to say it was there either. Probably just as well as the staff would want to deliver the breakfast and run away as fast as they could in shame. Breakfast was a muffin, cornflakes with UHT milk, orange squash and something resembling a croissant and everything double wrapped. Luckily the town of Street was only a couple of miles away and that’s where we headed for a proper breakfast of scrambled egg on toast with a decent cup of tea and real milk- heaven. Ian was introduced to the delights of the Street Retail Outlet Centre (Clarks village) which I think he was impressed with. The walk to Bridgwater was fairly uneventful. We were still following what was left of the Great Western Canal and came across some sterling efforts to revive large parts of it, including some massive lifting gear. Unfortunately I don’t think it will ever be fully connected due to houses and garages being built over it and the land reclaimed and converted to back gardens. The views of the remaining Somerset Flats were nice and put in perspective the massive drainage ditches, although the views were being taken out by squally rain, which plagued us all day. A lot of the roads were very straight and boring, foot paths provided a welcome relief, I even saw a bird of prey attacking a small bird, although it flew off and the bird was saved as we approached. The footpaths in places were up to the usual poor standards we have come to expect in this part of the world along with some of them being blocked by electric fences and cows. We did come across a rather nice cottage with three carvings of three bears outside, very cute, indeed the home was being used as a cottage industry selling homeopathic remedies. I didn’t check to see if it was made out of sugar and spice and all things nice just in case we became bewitched, mind you it could have been owned by the barking mad pharmacist we met earlier in our travels! We came across more angry dogs, luckily these were well locked away behind a big fence. Finally we crossed the M5, a good sign as this means we are well on our way into the West Country. We didn’t see any large hoardings with packets of Marlborough on, so maybe we are not that far West yet. Bridgewater was a big disappointment, very run down and lots of shops boarded up. It had the air of an inland seaside resort? We managed to stop at Costa Coffee for a latte and some nice biscuits as a treat. We arrived at the Old Vicarage Hotel in the centre of town, only to find new owners in charge and struggling to find our booking. Apparently I confused them (no surprises there then!) by saying we were in a twin room, in fact we had been booked in to a family room, so one double bedroom, one lounge, one dressing area, standard en-suite and a twin bedroom all for £48 each. We decided to eat out at Prezzos which was located in a very nice old converted Corn Market. We asked the hotel if they could provide a packed lunch for us, but they declined due to health and hygiene reasons because of carrying them in rucksacks! Whatever!! After a quick wander around what was left of Bridgewater and a quick beer in a Weather-spoons we headed for bed.

JOGLE 4 Day 3 - 5 Sep 11

Start 08.15 Finish 1810.Distance 20.5 miles. West Harptree - Glastonbury. Today was not a particularly eventful walk. The scenery around Cheddar Gorge was the highlight of the day and although I have visited Cheddar Gorge by car I have never walked across the top of the Gorge itself. The path taking us to the Gorge was interesting in that it took us through a very ancient mining area and on into a place called Black Rock. At Black Rock we meet a young group of fellow walkers undertaking their Duke Of Edinburgh Award expedition. We struck up a conversation and quickly established the group were heading for East Harptree which is not far from where we had come some two hours earlier. They couldn’t arrive before 1400 hrs and as it was 1100 hrs I guess they were killing time for a couple of hours. We stopped at a nice pub just off the A371 near Rodney Stoke for a pint and to eat our lunch. A very pleasant spot in the pub garden with the sun shining – a chance to get the washing dried! The afternoon saw us enter the area known as the Somerset Flats and yes very flat and very boring but with its own challenges. Footpaths that look as though they go across the many drains in the areas don’t always have footbridges to get one across the drain. This meant the route that we had recced on the map was not always viable. We had to skirt around on a couple of occasions to find paths that actually showed a FB (Footbridge) on the map to guarantee that we could cross the ditch (Drain). Interestingly a lot of farmland was for sale in the area and on one farm in particular it looked as though a farmer had gone bust as the crops were not harvested and the harvester was just abandoned in the field. On our travels through BANES (Bath and North East Somerset) and Somerset itself we came across numerous locals helping themselves to the fruits of the hedgerows such as Elderberries and also Hazel nuts and or Cob nuts. Apparently the Elderberries make good “anti-virals” – really? I seem to recall my Dads homemade Elderberry wine that always matured into a sparkling wine and that certainly brought a touch of the “O Be Joyful” to those that imbibed and would have probably knocked anything else for six!! As we arrived on the outskirts of Glastonbury the roads became very straight for miles at a time and of course it started to rain in true Glastonbury style. Ian and I made it to the Travel Lodge and ordered Breakfast that apparently gets delivered to your room – really? More on that one later. As it was raining we thought we would get a taxi into town, this involved a 30 minute wait and as an Army marches on its stomach and I was hungry and it was pouring with rain we opted to find the bus. A very helpful person (not, I think his brother ran the taxi firm) on the front desk of the Travel Lodge didn’t know where the bus stop was and thought it was quicker to walk into town – great! We had to get some washing done and set off in pursuit of a Laundry. By the time we found the launderette it would have been quicker to just hang our stuff out in the rain and it goes without saying that the Launderette was shut on a Sunday night. I’ve not been to Glastonbury before – mostly driven around the outside of it. It turns out that Glastonbury is very spiritual and Ian was in seventh heaven as they had a Vegetarian Café and a Vegetarian Restaurant. It goes without saying that Ian and I were eating a vegetarian that night. I did point out to Ian that I didn’t think I could eat a whole Vegetarian in one go, (After all I am a Carnivore). We couldn’t get a table for two and had to share a table with two ladies. One was sat with a laptop (local lady) and immediately told us she had mis-booked a flight on Ryan air! Well good luck with that one then. The other lady turned out to be a barking mad freelance pharmacist that was into Homeopathic medicines and really hated ” Boots The Chemist” and was from Birmingham. She stuck a pin in a map and decided Glastonbury was the place to go for the weekend. We proceeded to get a blow by blow account of what was in the shops, such as Broomsticks and Cauldrons and when Ian mentioned Harry Potter – well that was it, a big mistake. Luckily we managed to quickly devourer our Nut Cutlet Risotto with Jacket Potato (I had to have something off the menu I recognised!) and headed for the pub. The pub was quite quirky as well with a singer playing a guitar and singing Ralph McTell numbers (OMG) and a fully dressed Knight looking like something out of the crusades. It could have been one of King Arthurs Knights of course but he was rather large, perhaps he was called Circumference? What happened to the washing I hear you ask? I’m not saying because if my mum reads this I’ll be told off for not wearing clean underwear- after all what would the hospital staff think if I arrived at the A&E department having been savaged by a local bull, a friendly Labrador (not) or a barking mad pharmacist on a broom stick, if my smalls were not clean, I dread to think! All I can say is that the Travel Lodge was a most welcome safe haven for the night.

JOGLE 4 Day 2 - 4 Sep 11

Start 09.45. Finish 18.45. Distance 15.5 miles. Bath to West Harptree. Today I was attacked by one of three so called friendly Labradors. Unfortunately we had little choice but to follow the foot path through someone’s back garden. Luckily only the paw came into contact but drew blood and left a very big bruise. Thank goodness for my Advanced Life Support (ALS) training I was able to save my self and treat the injury with TCP contained within my First Aid Kit! All that stuff you get taught in the Boy Scouts does come in handy in the end. Although the sterile 2 pence I had for making a phone call isn’t much use these days as rural phone boxes don’t take coins any more. In the meantime Ian managed to play his part in saving my life by photographing the whole thing. I have no doubt that the photograph will be rolled out when I least expect it. We walked through an old mining village called Camerton and we followed the old railway line and canal path. There is even a board and statue of a miner in the village that explains the history of the mining operation. Even the slag heap looks quite attractive, now its covered in trees. The path we have been following is called the Limestone Link and it is a really good path with lots of new gates but unfortunately it is not too well signposted. What is noticeable is that the farmers are not walker or footpath friendly. With quite aggressive cows in fields and electric fences across footpaths or even the cows stood right in front of the style. Indeed on one occasion such a beast was a massive Bull! He was very determined that we were not going across the style. In the true tradition of the British Army Ian and I came up with a plan, which meant that I had to go first and distract him whilst some yards behind me Ian would creep around the side and head for the style. I thought the better plan would be that as Ian had the bright red rucksack he could distract the bull and run like hell if he got chased whilst I fall over laughing and casually climb over the style. In the end we sort of crept around the side, waving the map case and shouting “walk on”, well that told him didn’t it!  The bull got up and moved on with a withering look as if to say –“I’ll have you next time”. That was enough excitement for one day and a welcome arrival at the Blue Bowl Inn at West Harptree was very nice. The accommodation was good and the food enjoyable with a welcome pint of Ale and staff making you feel very welcome. It wasn’t long before the “I can snore louder than you can” competition started again to the aroma of freshly washed walking socks drip drying on the cold radiator - nice!

JOGLE 4 Day 1- 3 Sep 11

We left Waterloo Station on the 1920 hrs train to Bath using my SW Trains Season Ticket and two of the free ticket allocated every year with a £5 each upgrade for first class and arrived at 2150 hrs. A very comfortable journey especially as it was helped along with a bottle of Chimay, a 50th Birthday present that I thought I’d share with Ian as his Birthday was fast approaching - something we appeared to celebrate every night as he wasn't giving the exact date away. On arrival in Bath we had to find the No13 Bus to Coombe Down. A friendly native pointed us in the direction of the correct bus stop, we almost jumped on the No13 going the wrong way. The Polish bus driver was asked to tell us when to get off. He agreed to tell us where to get off and muttered something about Warsaw. More friendly natives came to the rescue and told us when to get off as opposed to where to get off – a subtle difference in local dialect. There is very little street lighting in Combe Down and we both trying to read and follow the directions to the B&B in the dark. After several minutes we came across a brightly lit house and thought, this is the one! It turns out that it was the wrong house but yet again a friendly native came to the rescue, he escorted us to the right house, he must have been quite well off as he had a big torch! Our hosts made us feel very welcome. The room was large and airy and the en-suite bathroom even had a double shower and really big fluffy dressing gowns (woo!) – not seen a shower like that before on our travels, and for the curious amongst you, no Ian and I didn't use it at the same time! A good nights’ sleep intermingled with competative snoring ( I can snore louder than you.....) followed by an immense breakfast saw us on our way the next day.

JOGLE 4

Well it's been almost a year and we are busy warming up for another Ian and Barry epic adventure from Bath to Oakhampton in the week starting the 3rd September. We should cover about 110 miles during the week. I've been busy training along the North Downs Way and Ian has been conducting his practice walking on the way home from work. It should be noted at this point that Ian's dedication to the JOGLE mission is second to none. Ian has single handily moved the JOGLE Headquarters from the Union Jack Club at Waterloo to the Prince of Wales Pub in Kennington. So what? I hear you say; well the PoW is around the corner from where we used to hold our planning meetings when I was based at Kennington. The PoW is where we use to retire after a hard nights planning for some liquid refreshment and incidentally where the birth of "lets walk the Pennine Way” started. Of course you all know me well enough to know this is a bit of nonsense and the reality is that Ian has been busy moving his business into premises within the Kennington area, it is just coincidental that the PoW pub is just around the corner. The planned route will take us from Bath via West Halptree, Glastonbury (Via Cheddar Gorge), Bridgewater, Taunton, Tiverton, Crediton and Oakhampton. We look forward to keeping you all up to date with our experiences and hope you get as much pleasure reading the Blog as we will from walking the walk (not!). We are starting from Waterloo station at 1900 hrs. on the 2 Sep and meeting under the clock - just in case Ian has forgotten what I look like I'll be wearing a "red rose" in my hair, along with the bleeding obvious like walking boots, a big Bergen and walking apparel - all cleverly camouflaged and concealed in keeping with the best traditions of the British Army, well what's left of it. Of course if anyone doesn't have anything better to do, you can always turn to see us off and we could always play a live version of the "where's Wally books" at Waterloo Station, that will be me then!

Day 9 JOGLE 3 Summary

Total distance walked this week 104 mile. Total to date 474 miles only another only another 500 to go. We stayed at 5 B&B, 1 Hotel, 1 Pub and 1 YHA. B&Bs are definitely the best. Treacle sponges with custard = 5. Chips x1 only. Pints of beer only 16 - brandy for medicinal purposes x 7. We have concluded that the number of beer pints consumed bears no relation to the volume of snoring what so ever because it is always at the same volume. The only thing that we found to hug was the wooden bench on the last day. Trees need to be chopped back if one is going to enjoy the view along the Cotswold Way. Japanese knot weed is a scourge and needs severe management. Why do herds of cows always have a munch in on the footpath we are trying to walk along. 13 different types of mushroom spotted on route. OS maps aren't keeping pace with re-routed footpaths. Boost bars consumed = 10. No blister plasters used but 25ml of Tinc Benz applied. ”Are we there yet? Or are we halfway yet?” X 20. Number of times Barry had to wait for Ian- countless!!

Day 8 Old Sodbury to Bath

Reveille 7.00. Breakfast 8.00. Departed 9.00. Arrived 6.15. Distance 14 miles. Neither of us slept well due to noisy "A" road right next door to the cottage, this was further compounded by heavy Lorries actually making the beds shake as they went past. Breakfast wasn't that clever either as Ian didn't get an omelette although scrambled egg was managed with funny shaped pieces of toast. The Dog Inn although a convenient place to stay but not on our favourites list- B&Bs are definitely the way to go. Today’s walking was fairly uneventful-just a slow plod with a coffee stop at the Tormartin layby (all quiet here - no action ;-)). Lunch was eaten just outside Dyrham Park a very nice national trust place that Di and I had visited previously with the motor bike club. Lunch was provided by Cath's Kitchens courtesy of the Texaco garage next to the Dog Inn; we thought it would be too much trouble to ask the pub to make a packed meal. Lots of spectacular views, we even saw sheep shearing taking place in an open field. Weather was very sunny becoming overcast later in the afternoon. We climbed a really steep hill outside Bath which reminded us of our Pennine Way hills- luckily there weren't too many of those around. We planned to deviate from the Cotswold Way path to save time and mileage- so map reading became challenging discovering paths that haven’t been used for a while and mostly overgrown. At one point Ian was chased by a cart horse and foal- quite entertaining seeing Ian move quickly :-)) The M4 could be heard for miles around and if it wasn't the M4 making the noise then it was these stupid single engine flying things droning away. At one point we thought they might be drones sent up by the respective wives to check up on us. We came across a flower shop at the end of a very long lane in Cold Ashton-this had a very big wooden seat outside that Ian and I enjoyed a nice cup of tea on courtesy of the flower shop and a nice piece of homemade flapjack as well. Ian has decided that he is going to build his own wooden seat in the same style- I'm just not sure when! We are staying at the Bath YHA tonight - a real come down to what we have been used too- I just feel sorry for the other six people sharing with us, by the time Ian and I have finished snoring our heads off they will have all moved out-good plan! Bath itself is very nice. A lot of work has been done to clean the place up and pedestrianize the area- we managed to grab a Nero's whilst waiting for the number 18 bendy bus to the YHA - up another steep hill! At least they provide an evening meal. We're having homemade quiche followed by fudge cake and custard. Tomorrow we go our separate ways with a planning meeting scheduled for October for the final push to Lands’ End.

Day 7 Middle Yard (Stroud) to Old Sodbury

Reveille 6.15. Breakfast 7.00. Depart 8.00. Arrived 6pm. Distance 21 miles. A long and fairly uneventful day. Found out it was Ian’s birthday today which even he had forgotten, so a few extra pints tonight to celebrate especially after all that walking. The Valley Views is an excellent B&B really walker friendly. The Cotswold Way is a really good well looked after path. The scenery that comes into view as you turn a corner or climb a hill is amazing. We have decided that we need to go back and do the whole route as we have cut off some of the bigger loops to complete our end to end (E2E). We are at the Dog Inn (no it not in a lay-by!). The accommodation is in rose cottage next door to the pub and we have free run of the place. The weather is really nice especially this afternoon when the sun came out with a nice breeze and the air cleared to give yet more stunning views, we thought we could see Glastonbury! (Ian and Barry joke). It has to be said that we forget that there are some parts of the country where there is total quiet without a manmade sound anywhere and the Cotswold Way is one of them although a few of the trees have grown so tall that the views are obscured. In some places it was that dark even the luminous parts of the compass lit up. We have had a very nice meal at the pub whilst playing trivial pursuit. We are conducting an experiment to see if there is any correlation between how much beer you drink and how loud you snore.

Day 6 Gloucester to Middleyard (Stroud)

Reveille 7.00. Breakfast 8.00. Depart 8.45.Distance 14 miles. A very interesting day for once saw Ian up first and out the door before breakfast to log on to the internet to sort out work issues. After an all you can eat breakfast for £7.50 (expensive, a builder on the Earls Court Road is only a fiver) we headed into town as someone’s phone wasn't working and my Nero's loyalty card was having withdrawal symptoms (it needed a latte adding to it) and we needed lunch so we paid a visit to Greggs. Ian discovered that you to reset iphone4 if they freeze and no its not orange cutting him off or failing to provide a signal, even by Gloucester’s standards they have mobile phone signals. Gloucester as a place leaves a lot to be desired, lots of shops but nobody around and those that are around are all looking miserable - so not going back-natives not friendly. Getting out of Gloucester went well until we arrived at Robin wood Country Park. We were looking for Wysis Way for which all signs had disappeared and none of the paths did anything useful other than act as home for dog poop. The Gloucester council had invented this walk called Geology Way-what's that all about then? Walking around rocks or else the path disappears under one! We eventually got around it thanks to the compass and contour reading- however it did mean taking a planned deviation across the golf course (we think this is where the path disappeared under a geological boundary stone!. Much to the golfer’s annoyance two people kept shouting four! Then diving behind a bunker and those who watch the Inbetweeners will know what I mean when the words Golf W*****s were heard (except we had to be careful as are in no fit state to run). Finally we picked up the Wysis Way (Links Severn Way with Cotswold Way)this was like doing an assault course with either having to climb over or crawl under fallen trees whilst under fire from the local outdoor rifle range (just another day really!). Eventually we arrived at the Cotswold Way-wow! What a well maintained and signposted pathway. We met a Ramblers Association Cotswold Way Warden who pointed out a few local things. Soon after our encounter we arrived in Painswick a very nice place famous for its Yew trees in the church yard. Time for an ice cream stop-magnum gold-yum. One farmer had painted his style markers with white paint and even the water trough had written on the side in big white letters “style this way”. Almost immediately after the white style came the Lama farm. The farmer was busy mating his Lamas which according to him can take up to 45 minutes each time! Lucky lama is all I can say no wonder the male Lama had a big grin all over his face. As we started the climb down towards Stroud we were treated to spectacular views of the Severn estuary. The Valley Views B&B is very nice and has a bath! Whoopee long soak time. We are in a loft conversion which means I can only stand up in the middle of the room! We had a very nice evening meal of Lasagne followed by lemon sponge pudding and custard. There’s no local pub, so early to bed as we have an early start tomorrow.

Day 5 Tewkesbury to Gloucester

Reveille 7.30. Breakfast 8.00. Departed 9.55. Arrived 3.55. Distance 12 miles. The late start was due to getting into the launderette at 9am. I got our clothes tumbled dried whilst Ian went and bought lunch and sourced some travel wash from Boots. Tewkesbury is a very nice town in a time warp from the days of the battles between the York and Lancashire houses - war of the roses. The area has suffered badly from flooding in 2007. Today’s walking was pretty uneventful, windy with a few spots of rain. There is hardly anyone around apart from people walking their dogs. We came across two police ladies on the river path sorting out how to recover a transit van with a crane on the back that had been driven into the river. As we left the tow truck turned up along with an irate farmer. We also encountered another footpath deviation due to a mass of fallen tries. We stopped for a sneaky lunch at the Red Lion. I fancied a coffee and Ian wanted a hot chocolate, it was also lunchtime-however every single table and all the fences made it clear we had to eat food purchased on the premises, so it was hoods up, backs to the pub with the rucksacks strategically placed to hide our activities-talk about behaving like naughty school boys. We are staying at a Travel Lodge which is ok, one double and a put you up-all very basic but for £19 a night not bad, but all in breakfast is £7.50 (it’s cheaper at Benji, s on the Earls Court Road!). It is a shame that more of these facilities don't have washing and drying facilities. We had our evening meal at the Tall Ship pub. I went for stir fry vegetable tagliatelle with blue cheese followed by pancakes with cream, golden syrup, pineapple and ice cream - stuffed or what! In the pub they sell a drink called sex on the docks, I asked the barmaid if she'd ever tried sex on the docks, she said yes-but I wasn't sure if she meant the drink? Japanese knot weed is still prevalent everywhere although not as bad as further up river. Tomorrow we venture into the Cotswolds thus moving relative flat walking to a lot of hill climbing-at least it will be constantly changing scenery.