Day 3 - Woolstone (Uffington) to East Ilsley

There's no two ways about it - today's stretch was a bit of a slog. We completed another 12.5mls and for some stretches we were walking on hard tracks. The weather was cloudy, misty and very breezy .. We couldn't help thinking if it had been warm and sunny these tracks would have been horrible to walk on. However, other parts of the walk were on wide grassy stretches which made up for it.

The pub landlord gave us a lift up from Woolstone and the first hill past Uffington Castle wasn't as bad as we had expected. I obviously need to improve my map reading. I was expecting undulating countryside but we had a couple more big ups and downs before the flatter sections of the walk.

We passed by another hill fort at Segsbury and later on walked past the Devils Punchbowl which looked more spectacular from further on along the path when we lookd back. We had been seeing red kites soaring overhead all day .. later on we were lucky enough to see some lapwings too. 

This was the first weekday walking and the path seemed a bit quieter .. just other walkers and the occasional cyclist. We were both tiring by the end and the last couple of miles were hard work .. it was just a case of keeping going. We eventually reached Bury Down where Ed met us and transported us down to East Ilsley where we are staying tonight. The Crown and Horns is a real find .. A lovely spacious room with a 'wet room' and very tasty food. 

I am sat here yawning and my eyes are beginning to close so it's obviously time to bring this post to a close. Just time to give you the stats .. 12.5mls done today and the total mileage stands at 35.8mls. My Garmin also tells me we have walked for a total of 14 hours at an average speed of 2.5mph. It also tells me we have stopped for breaks and lunches for 4.5hrs so the overall average speed is just under 2mph. Don't you just love gadgets!!! :-)