Distance 15.57 miles, cumulative 798.63 miles, time 7 hrs 30 mins, walking time 6 hrs 40 mins, pace 2.3 mph, B&B Meadows Guesthouse.
Lynn started the day in shiny new boots but a frustrating day soon took the shine off them.
It was a fine morning as we left Ashbourne. Ashbourne is the town which celebrates Shrove Tuesday with the whole town playing a Shrovetide football game with the uppers playing the downers. As we left Asbourne we passed the down’ards goal.
The next village we passed through, Mayfield, also had an old custom of ‘dressing’ it’s wells. We passed two of the wells each decorated with collages made of petals, leaves and seeds. One celebrating the Queen’s 90th birthday and the other Beatrix Potter.
We passed through Rocester, garrisoned by the Romans and listed in the Domesday book as a wealthy manor but now it could be called JCB town as the location for the JCB digger HQ, factory and Academy. The Academy is partly housed in Arkwright’s original mill. Steve got all excited about a factory tour but it needed to be pre booked. What is it about boys and diggers?
We passed one other walker Andrew, a 61 year old Canadian from Vancouver who was born in Glasgow, was walking LEJOG. His blog is:
journeyswithandrew.com
We compared notes and experiences and wished each other well.
The day was frustrating as public footpaths in Staffordshire are poorly signed and maintained. The path had also been closed or diverted in a few places with little or no signage or alternate route provided. This made for slow and at times painful going as we ploughed through the undergrowth or struggled with route finding and detours. At one point we emerged into the rear yard of a garden centre to find the path well signed from it’s entrance but not from the field behind it. We just about retained our sense of humour, including when it started to rain an hour from our final destination of Uttoxeter.
Our first visit to a Wetherspoons since crossing back into England helped to restore us, if not completely cure all the nettle rash.
And finally – it’s sad to see the England football team have also decided to exit Europe at least the Rugby team have faired better down under.
steveandlynnwalkdotcom 
Lynn, did you or Steve clean your new boots? I know who would be doing it if it were Lois! Seriously, hope the weather gets kinder to you as you head through the Midlands.
Love your pictures and blog.
Tim & Lois
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Oh dear, just look at the state of those new boots. Let’s hope they kept the mud off of your socks and didn’t give you any hotspots. Also that’s some jungle you walked though earlier today, I’m surprised you guys didn’t get lost in there. Enjoying the photos but I’m always a little curious as to how you bump into so many LEJOG walkers, surely they are just walking along a path in the opposite direction? Perhaps there is there some secret code amongst you mad walkers? My other curiousness is in relation to all of your possible conversations on such a long walk. Have you both solved world peace? or is that to be concluded at about the 1k mile mark? Very proud (not meant to be patronising….as we’re all considerably younger than you, well maybe Alexander) of your walking efforts coupled with the blogging. Keep it going
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Following on from from a very pleasant cruise around Italy with Miss Samantha I have spent most of my time catching up on your blog and I’ve finally done it…. As you know, reading is not one of my strong points and it would have been easier if the letters were bigger. However, I like looking at pictures and found them informative during the periods I managed to stay awake. How does JC remember a weekend walk 20 years ago when I can’t remember what happened 20 minutes ago..? Furthermore, Ryan’s not very bright and should stop writing…… Clearly, if someone is walking on your path in the opposite direction it’s not difficult to bump into them if you’re not concentratin…… No ‘g’…!
To put your minds at rest…….. The sale of your house has fallen through due to local council intervention. One of the walls became unstable following the removal of all the roof tiles by the squatters. On a positive note, the council have boarded up all the holes where the windows were so at least it’s secure for you. As Ryan pointed out I have cut the grass again, or at least what’s left of it. The mower ran out of fuel and I found petrol in your garage and refuelled it. Unfortunately, some petrol spilled resulting in s small fire…. Nothing serious but the garage beams may need replacing and your front lawns no longer need mowing.
Clearly I have nothing better to do than tap away here but your blog is excellent, funny and informative …… I also like the new car you’ve got me. Great talking the other day and glad you’re both doing so well…… 800 miles and counting……!
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Shame about your new boots Lynn, you have really broken them “in”. The pictures of the Well Dressing reminded me of the times Brenda was very much involved in this when we visited Ashford in the Water.
A group of us lead by Brenda would do a tour of all the wells , and then argue which was the best. Of course Brenda’s always came out on top.
Rained here since early morning , easing off now , 2.15. pm. Hope you have had it drier. See you both later.
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By my calculations, if your original total distance was correct (1140 miles) you have walked 60 miles more than the expected daily average. Unfortunately, it would appear from the poor sign posting, lapses in concentration and the occasions Steve has relied on Lynn for navigation that a fair amount of contingency should have been included in the overall mileage. A reasonable contingency of 10% making the actual target mileage of 1254 miles makes you a mere 14 miles behind the daily average!!!
Setting aside the comments of an older brother and official statistician, you are doing amazingly well. You will be pleased to hear that your house is in good shape and mum and dad were keeping well when we visited them at the weekend.
We look forward to seeing you when we all return from our travels.
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