Day 25 - Wednesday April 29th. I was planning routes until 11.30 - right up to Glasgow in order to get timescales and distances into perspective, and I was awake before 6am, so it wasn't the best night's sleep. I have forgotten what it's like to just wake up, have a cuddle and turn over and go back to sleep till... whenever. Anyway, job done and I was awake enough to tackle the day. We had breakfast in the Little Chef over the way, which was what one would expect. Why does everything have to come wrapped in plastic? Can you imagine the cost of that in resources and waste, all for 1 man's crappy meal?
We walked a bit to traffic lights to cross the busy St Helens - Liverpool road, then walked up a lane through an industrial estate where it was still gritty and oily and industrial. This is good because it means people are working, but the poor stream that ran behind it actually had rubbish embedded in it's bed - the remains of bits of plastic and metal. We were then out onto a landscape that was now beginning to show signs of rolling, rather than being completely flat, comprised mostly of huge fields of green grass, or wheat or some other grain - very different from the sheep of Wales and the small fields of Devon. Being Lancashire, there is usually some sign of industry, but we were keeping out of the towns and industrial areas. The path took us into a wood and became very narrow and muddy at and we slopped along this for several hundred metres before emerging back onto fields again. Luckily the ground was firm under the mud and water so it was passable. Although the land was rising, it seems to have been very marshy at some time because there are drainage ditches around the fields and woods tend to be boggy. A watery bonus was the Orrell Water Park which is a large area of woods and ponds with well laid paths and bird watching points: it was busy with people out taking their exercise.
From the point we entered Orrell, we were walking on streets, past houses for several miles as one village led into the next. It was not unpleasant because the places were well looked after and we were climbing a hill, so began to get some good views east. We didn't find anywhere to stop for refreshments until noon, when a pub was just opening that was well run and provided some excellent soup. Spending day after day for weeks on end in the exclusive company of one other person, other than one's partner, is an unusual situation. Even with a partner, you usually go out to work rather whereas we are together pretty much all of the time. We both seem to be adaptable, and happy to give each other space and haven't had any serious problems or arguments, but I was feeling that John was having some problem with me. We are both finding this challenge tough and not relishing the prospect of more weeks doing the same: we want to get back to normal life with our wives. I have done a directional walk like this before, albeit in stages, so was better prepared for the fact that some days are just boring and hard work, but John had not so had a rather different expectation. We discussed the situation over our soup, and it transpired that there wasn't really a problem, but John's silence was his way of coping with a situation he wasn't enjoying very much. We agreed to make the best of it, and enjoy what we could and try to be a bit more responsive to each other, and continued our walk in better spirits which were enhanced when John got news that his old employer, Xerox, were contributing £5,000 to Precious Lives (www.justgiving.com/johndrinkwater).
We are approaching the 500 mile point today (ended the day at 498.4 miles!) so I reckon that, if we stick to the planned route and keep the pace going, we are close to half way! And we are still walking, with no injuries and no serious problems.
We emerged from the villages onto paths on top of the hill with great views to the East: considering the view included the industrial heartlands of Bolton and Chorley, it looked very green, and the trees are particularly lovely with the new leaves coming out. The remainder of the day was long lanes and minor roads through land that was flat again so was easy walking but not very interesting. Croston was an attractive, older village with an intriguing area around the church, a pretty green and 5 open pubs, but completely choked and spoiled with parked cars and traffic. We reached our B&B at 5.30, very relieved to be able to get off our feet as usual.
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