Day 5 Oakham to Brampton Ash

Oakham to Brampton Ash

16 Miles

In my mind it was a joyous morning with the sun shining and the birds singing in the trees. The only cloud on my horizon was could I afford to take a day away from the walk to take part in the inevitable celebrations a week on Sunday. It would be the day of salvation after two years of suffering in the wastelands!

What was giving me such a high this morning? It was the greatest result of the season so far.

Wrexham 2 Luton Town 1

This means that the glorious Hatters won 3 – 2 on aggregate and sailed into the play-off final against York City at Wem-ber-ley. From there it will be but a short step to our rightful place in the Premiership.

You must believe. Come On You Hatters!

It was a good job that there was something to be cheerful about because the rest of the day was miserable and wet and I was glad to get it over with. You will never know how wet you can get until you have waded through seemingly endless paths of knee-high vegetation.  Even that paled into insignificance compared to pushing my way through two fields of shoulder-high soaking wet rapeseed. Even top quality Goretex knows when to throw in the (very wet and soggy) towel and simply take the path of least resistance and let the water in.

So it was a wet and bedraggled hiker that squished and sloshed his way into Brampton Ash on a wet Wednesday afternoon. Thursday will be better.

Another field of shoulder-high rapeseed