23.1 miles – The shining perfection of a cloudless early autumn morning, the cloudy restlessness of a late summer afternoon, perfection again at close It was the most beautiful way to have started the last… Day 88: ‘Elim’ – Brown Bread Street – Battle – Westfield – Three Oaks – Guestling Woods – Hastings Country Park – Hastings (East Hill – Old Town – Rock-a-Nore Beach)

23.6 miles – Sunshine to the north and south but surly clouds and rain above; some shame-faced sunny moments brightening the final miles I set off full of warm breakfast and good cheer. The weather… Day 87: Southease – Firle Beacon – Alfriston – Wilmington Down – Jevington – Willingdon – Hankham – Herstmonceux – ‘Elim’

21.7 miles – Thick mist thinning, and clouds clearing towards noon to give a warm and sunny afternoon A helpful lady walking her dog told me what a wonderful view one gets from Truleigh Hill.… Day 86: Truleigh Hill – Devil’s Dyke – Pyecombe – Blackcap – Balmer Down – Loose Bottom – Swanborough Hill – Breaky Bottom – Rodmel – Southease

27.6 miles – A thick mist, thinning towards noon, heavy rain in the afternoon A long and perhaps unexpectedly rather lovely day. I set off at 06:02, by a whisker the earliest start of my… Day 85: Manorfarm Down – Graffham Down – Bignor Hill – Amberley – Rackham Hill – Washington – Chanctonbury Ring – Upper Beeding – Truleigh Hill

20.4 miles – blessed rain, soft mist, a little sunshine later I left East Meon as the first drops of rain began to fall. The scent of dry-baked road wafted up to me. I wonder… Day 84: East Meon – Butser Hill – Buriton – Harting Downs – Beacon Hill – Cocking Down – Manorfarm Down

19.1 miles – Misty to start with, dissolving into hazy sunshine with mushy clouds later I left Winchester while most of its inhabitants were still vegetating over their morning tea. A mist swirled its cloak… Day 83: Winchester – Chilcomb – Cheesefoot Head – Gander Down – Exton – Old Winchester Hill – East Meon

I need to preface this post with the admission that its contents are my musings and guesswork while on the trail, not the result of research. I welcome comments from anyone who can add to… Day 82: INTERMISSION III – Aside for Ornithologists and Musicians

When the sun sets on a conscious dream the moon rises to carry the traveller through. The dream was to walk from Cape Wrath to Hastings in one unbroken thread of continuity. The outward dream… Day 82: INTERMISSION II – Sunset – Moonrise

I slept for an hour-and-a-half in the afternoon and fourteen hours that night. I spare my delicate reader the description of the effects of this (as I soon realised it was) stomach bug during that… Days 71 – 82 – INTERMISSION

5.1 miles – A comforting breeze, grey-flannels skies and caressing, light rain I slept appallingly. Perhaps it was the hard little flint stones which my camping mat couldn’t keep out, but I think it was… Day 70: Farley Mount – Sparsholt – Winchester

19.2 miles – The sun valiantly vanquishing the drear clouds to leave a hot, dusty afternoon I would not have my readers be in any doubt; the doors of Clarendon Palace closed for the last… Day 69: Clarendon Palace – Pitton – Middle Winterslow – Broughton – King’s Somborne – Farley Mount

19.7 miles – Grey-rinse skies, with occasional desultory rain, golden sunshine at day’s close On the map the Roman road, originally going to Old Sarum, looks ideal: a lovely straight bridalway – must be easy… Day 68: Boyton Down – Roman Road – Wilton – Salisbury – Clarendon Palace

19.6 miles – old-floor-cloth grey skies, warm, viscous airs I decided to take the quickest and easiest route to Winchester, which I hoped to reach in three days. Lullington After four miles, at Lullington, my… Day 67: Tucker’s Grave – Lullington – Oldford – Chapmanslade – Warminster – Sutton Veny – Tytherington – Boyton Down

10.4 miles – A perfect lovely English summer’s day The sun shone piercingly from a bright blue sky as I set off; the air was light and clear: it was not possible to feel glum!… Day 66: Bath Spa (Youth Hostel – Bathwick Fields Widcombe) – Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway Coombe Down Tunnel – Midford Station – Wellow) – Tucker’s Grave

19.3 miles – A typical lovely English summer’s day The glorious place names of yesterday and today are all genuine, and I genuinely passed through all of them. True, I have sometimes included small places… Day 65: Hawkesbury Upton – Little Sodbury – Old Sodbury – Tormarton – Marshfield – Batheaston – Bath Spa (Youth Hostel)

17.8 miles – Militant clouds, troublous airs What a feast of place names! I was awakened at 6:00 by Archie, a young scots terrier, who took exception to my being bang in the middle of… Day 64: Uley – Nibley Knoll – Wotton-under-Edge – Ozleworth Bottom – Hawkesbury Upton

21.5 miles – Clouds with sun later but… …But it wasn’t about the weather today ut about the forrest. I adored this ancient woodland, apparently amongst the finest beachwoods in Europe. I had a sense… Day 63: Birdlip – Buckholt Wood – Painswick Beacon – Painswick – Standish Wood – King’s Stanley – Coaley Peak – Uley

17.2 – miles – Sun and clouds playing catch-me-if-you-can in a merry breeze The rain played catch-me-if-you-can too – and it caught me! It went like this: first there were a few spots of rain,… Day 62: Winchcombe – Cleeve Hill – Lineover Wood -Leckhampton Hill – Birdlip

15.1 miles – ‘wetting rain’ followed by forgiving sunshine. ‘Wetting rain’ is an expression my mum used to use. It sounds ridiculous, I know, because rain is intrinsically wetting. What she meant was that kind… Day 61: Chipping Campden – Broadway – Stanton – Stanway – Didbrook – Winchcombe

18.6 miles – Rolling, billowing grey clouds, which released a single golden egg of sunshine I was once given a birthday card with a cartoon depiction of Marie Antoinette being led away to the guillotine,… Day 60: Alveston – Stratford-upon-Avon – Milcote Station – Long Marston – Lower & Upper Quinton – Chipping Campden