Friday July 20th, Great Haywood - Lichfield, 17 miles

Having breakfasted on three poached eggs from Julie Carrington's hens, I left High Meadows Guest House at 8.30, crossed Shugborough Park and Satnall Hills and arrived 9.30 at Milford Common, where I had arranged to meet Gerald from Stone Ramblers. He arrived at 10.00 with a pleasant surprise in the shape of fellow Rambler Pam. The 2SW follows the Heart of England Way over the Chase, but we were heartened to spot its red waymarks which had gone up since my reconnoitering walk of only the week before.  At Springslade Lodge Tea Rooms we were joined at 11.30 by my friends  Val and Nick, keen wildlife watchers on the Chase. Gerald photographed us at the nearby Katyn memorial to the 25,000 Polish prisoners of war murdered by Stalin in WW2. 



(from left): Nick, Pam, Christine and Val

 With Gerald and Pam setting us a brisk pace, we continued across the Sherbrook Valley to Flints Corner and the start of Marquis Drive.  The dark cloud which threatened during our picnic on the old RAF Hednesford site (with five of us sharing on one bench) dissolved into warm sunshine which gave us all a good thirst when we reached Castle Ring and the nearby Park Gate tavern at about 2.30. Pam stood us all a round and having said goodbye to Val and Nick, the three of us continued towards Lichfield, but taking an alternative route to avoid Watery Lane near Gentleshaw, which had been muddy back in April even before all the rain started.

On a steep downhill outside Gentleshaw, we overtook a young mum proudly pushing her 10-week old baby for his first walk in his red BMX-style pram.  She was wearing weights round her ankles to get herself back into condition.

At the appropriately-named hamlet of Farewell, Gerald and Pam turned north for Longdon, leaving me to walk the last couple of miles of the 2SW along Cross in Hand Lane, whose name surely betokens the old pilgrimage route.  Hardly had I left them than a lady cyclist stopped to ask me whether I was OK on my own! I assured her I was, having felt completely safe all along the 2SW.

From where Cross in Hand Lane meets the A51, it was just a couple of hundred yards back up the main road to the Hedgehog Hotel where Simon and I were booked in that night.  When we retired to bed after a rather protracted meal, Simon reproduced the ceremony of the first pilgrim party by washing my feet with a cold wet towel - a most refreshing experience!