Brenda Parker Way, leg 6

After a hiatus of about 2 years, we finally got back to walking the Brenda Parker Way, a local 78 mile route. It’s split up into 9 sections so we’ve just three more to go. It’s not been the most interesting of walks but we’ll finish it before moving on to something else. 11 miles today of mostly farmland, woodland and villages, plus a stretch along the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton railway that was closed in 1965 as part of the Beeching cuts. We stopped to eat lunch in a village sports ground, complete with miniature railway round the perimeter, and passed by Highclere Castle, the setting for Downton Abbey, although we barely caught a glimpse of the house from the footpath that went around the furthest reaches of the estate. And apparently we walked over Watership Down, although I didn’t realise that until I got back.

11 miles is the most I’ve walked for a couple of years, so my legs really felt it later, but it’s good practise ahead of my forthcoming trip to North Wales next month.