05:09:39
Didn't sleep very well. Decided to leave as soon as it started to get light. Here's a photo showing how I left no trace, other than a slightly less damp reactangle of ground.05:11:17
Strange light in the trees.05:12:55
Me emerging from the trees.05:15:09
Rather a misty morning.
05:17:37
Back out on the Ridgeway now.05:22:43
The misty scenes were partial consolation for the almost complete lack of sleep I'd had.05:27:54
05:35:57
I particularly like this photo.
05:51:59
Some kind of animal bone on the track.06:25:57
I think the flowers lining the track here are rosebay willowherbs.06:26:59
06:27:22
The mist was starting to lift by this point.
06:33:47
06:54:42
06:59:58
07:01:35
A former railway bridge.
07:04:20
07:17:23
Were these vines maybe? I couldn't quite get a close enough look to see for sure.07:27:48
07:28:48
07:28:59
I think I had finally reached the last official section of the Ridgeway, from Ogbourne St. George to Overton Hill.07:34:05
Heading up onto Coombe Down.07:46:59
07:54:02
07:54:05
07:59:15
08:22:56
I rested for a while on Smeathe's Ridge, and attempted to do something about my feet, which were really very sore by this point.08:59:56
09:13:09
Approaching Barbury Castle.09:21:28
09:23:42
09:34:11
09:46:26
09:48:11
10:02:57
This is around Hackpen Hill now, but again I didn't stop to try and see the white horse, knowing that I'd need to walk a fair bit down hill to get a decent view of it.10:32:19
10:33:40
I couldn't resist this bench and stopped for another sit down.10:37:22
I was in a fair amount of pain by this point.10:49:24
10:51:23
Once again I dithered over whether to follow the Ridgeway then the Wessex Ridgeway all the way to Avebury, or to take the apparent shortcut down Monkton Down.
10:53:02
...and having not learnt from my mistakes last summer, I tried the shortcut again.10:54:08
10:55:34
11:26:27
Once again the path was largely obscured by wheat.
12:01:17
Anyway, finally I made it to Avebury - my appetite for taking photos in that last hour's slog somewhat diminished! I was very happy to see the Red Lion.12:35:41
I very much enjoyed this pint of bitter shandy.13:02:29
After lunch I went to pay my respects to the stones.13:03:16
The weather was rather subdued today, so they weren't really showing at their best.
13:04:12
Still, I was happy to have made it here.13:04:34
13:06:30
13:07:11
13:09:13
13:13:09
One last picture of Avebury's stones before I got the bus to Swindon, and from there the train back to London.