Day 8 Flore to Chipping Warden

Flore to Chipping Warden

15 Miles

Approximately 30 minutes after starting out this morning I reached a significant marker on the walk. Just after crossing the waters of the Grand Union Canal the guidebook informed me that I had completed 100 miles of the Macmillan Way. Only another 190 miles to go.

The route today took me through a succession of pretty villages, each with their own character. Most of the houses and cottages were constructed from the local stone and boasted lovingly tended gardens.

While the villages each had their own characters the countryside between them was very predictable and consistent. Just how much oilseed rape do we need to grow in this country? Field after field, after field, after field. England’s green and pleasant land as described by William Blake has become a vista of bright yellow. After a while it becomes a little monotonous and I looked forward to the occasional break in the pattern when I could walk through meadows containing ewes and their lambs, or the occasional field of grazing cows.

Some of the paths today were marked as Bridleways. For the benefit of anyone who thinks that these are simply wide footpaths with good headroom let me make you aware of the reality. Horses churn up the ground. Not as much as cows do. I will give you that. But a succession of horses will churn up the ground a lot. Bridleways can get very difficult and muddy. One of today’s sections was described as muddy and another as wet and muddy. This roughly translated as “you will lose your wellies and get stuck forever” and “you had better bring a canoe”. Fortunately these sections were finally overcome but not without the use of strong language.

Chipping Warden is the closest the Macmillan Way comes to where I live. It is only around five miles away from my home. This has its advantages. For example anybody requiring a lift home from the dearly beloved wife need only phone up and say “Nearly at Chipping Warden, pick me up at The Griffin” knowing it would take her at least ten minutes to get there. The unscrupulous could easily work this to their advantage by not making the phone call until they were actually at The Griffin so they could grab a quick sherbet before the transport arrives. The very unscrupulous could even have just started to sip their second pint!