Thursday 8th July

Another hot day with just the odd splash of rain and a wonderful pint of Old Speckled Hen at the end of a taxing day of walking which seemed far longer than the stated 7 or 8 miles!

After a truly gigantic breakfast together in the garden we set off on time. Only a small group of us today after 17 the previous afternoon. Hugh - still in shorts, Shan his wife, David our guide from Alcester and myself set off for the 'Bull in Ambridge'. Only 4 miles or so the route planners said and being a lifelong Archers fan I was looking forward to seeing the inspiration for the Bull in the everyday story of country folk.

We walked and talked and met folks along the way as they walked their dogs, telling them about 41 Club and how we came into being and what we were trying to do by walking 100 miles. Carried away with our mission of spreading the word - we missed our right turn off the road and ended up with a significant detour along a main road before we picked up a path through fields to where we needed to be.

And then we stopped for cake and coffee in a beautiful cottage garden before setting off again now bound to be late for our lunch time appointment by an hour.

The Bull turned out to be everything I hoped it would be - including a little village green and memorabilia of the Archers! I was sad to learn that Sid had passed away since I last listened to the programme: I really must make an efforts to listen more regularly!

When we arrived we were met by Martin and Maria Green: Martin is National Secretary. We also had our receiving group from Droitwich as well as members of Malvern along with Michael and Maureen - our very first hosts who had come to see how we were getting on. They brought their three dogs with them and they patiently lay under the trees as we had lunch. Mike and Heather - our hosts from Alcester were also there and we spent time thinking about how we might resurrect the National caravan rally at some point in the future.

After an enjoyable lunch we set off for our 2.75 miles afternoon walk! It turned out to be a marathon due to overgrown paths and fields that hadn't seen the hand of a farmer in years: truly challenging walking in places making it difficult for us all - especially Yvonne and Maureen who were both out just for the afternoon. Valiant efforts by our guide John and other members of Droitwich brought us eventually to the Boot Inn and the pint of Old Speckled Hen in superb condition.

This evening we have enjoyed yet another great evening of fellowship with 41 ers and their wives - good food, good conversation and another BBQ with ominous warnings about the length of time we are going to need to complete our walk on Saturday morning.

A 9.30am start tomorrow with a number of guest walkers expected to join us. There were some spots of rain tonight at the BBQ and we shall have to wait and see whether we get a wet day tomorrow.