I have a hard time processing that I have been in England for two weeks of my Camino. But the time has been positive, warm and deeply healing. And I'm still on the Camino.
Day 30: Another walking day: Preston Candover, Brown Candover, Northington, Swarraton.
Crazy weather day. Brilliant sunshine, pouring rain, overcast, wind. Sometimes all of the above in a single hour.
Began my walk in Preston Candover, the village where Emma grew up, and the site of my many visits over the first 20+ years of our 40-year friendship. Emma's mother Penny and stepfather Tim hosted me, then Phil, then us with the boys, over many years at Sumner House. I watched Emma be married from there, twice. At one point, it was a 4-generation compound, when Emma's fabulous grandmother Googie lived in the garden cottage and Emma brought up her boys in Hector's House at the bottom of the drive. Emma married Colin 18 years ago and moved a few miles away to Swarraton; Penny and Tim moved to London a few years later. Becca lives a 1 1/2 mile walk away, over the Chalk Hill.
It was a fun day for a walk. I waited out the rain in the village shop, then visited the churchyard to pay respects to Googie and Reenie (longtime housekeeper for Penny and Tim), who are buried close to each other there. Got my stamp at the Purefoy Pub, then out onto the road, heading for the Ox Drove Way.
Confusingly, there are multiple paths, some parallel, named Oxdrove or Ox Drove. Way, Track, Path. Confirmation that precision, capitalization and punctuation are still relevant.
The beginning of the Oxdrove Way, which turns to a Track, climbed gradually up a hill, closed in by hedges. Wet and grassy at first, then dried out further up. Glimpses of freshly plowed-under fields. Soil is dry, chalky.
This was a more sonic than scenic walk. The wind had many voices as it roared through the bushes and trees, hummed through field gates and sang in the overhead power lines.
Eventually the path opened up, passed alongside a stately home, along a wall and dropped down into Brown Candover. Eight horses, most blanketed, played frisky chase in the crossroads field. Over and along the currently dry Candover Brook along the Wayfarer's Path and then across the field to Northington Church. I was glad nobody witnessed my graceless descent to the road via a very brambly bank.
Rain set in as I reached the church, and my awesome Altus backpacking rain gear made the remainder of the day dry and comfy. Down the path into the Grange, across the road and back to the house.
It was supposed to be a short day. Oops. 7 miles after all. A bit sore, time to take a rest day.
Great evening with Wilf and his sweet girlfriend Sophie, both home from school for 24 hours, while Emma and Colin went to a dinner party. Loads of Spaghetti Carbonara and lively conversation about the English and American educational systems.
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