We wake up at 06:15 to make another early start. The day begins sunny, but thankfully it is significantly cooler, though at a predicted 27C, it would usually be considered quite warm for a walking day. Yesterday, however, Britain’s hottest ever temperature was recorded in nearby Coningsby at 40.3C, so it feels pretty pleasant.
Today, we are going to follow the Viking Way all day as it goes in the direction we want in any case. As before, it is a meticulously maintained path. Around 8 o’clock, we spot a hare, so my theory about hares and landscape proposed earlier is almost certainly wrong and they were just avoiding the heat. It’s also lovely to see lots of yellow hammers, which have declined in recent years back near our Norfolk home. There are several kestrels hunting above the fields; in Norfolk there are far more red kites, which we don’t find here at all. Moving further on, I finally get the picture of a brace of hares that I’ve been trying to get since I started.
The Viking Way is beautiful as are the Lincolnshire Wolds that it crosses. They are gentle chalk hills, reminiscent of their Cotswold namesakes where our first long distance walk took place. It feels good to gain some height as we reach our highest elevation yet at 137m (Beacon Hill is the highest point in Norfolk at 105m). We also pass through more villages than on any of our previous days, stopping for pints of orange juice and tonic at the Green Man in Scamblesby (the place names are becoming more Norse too). We are not struggling for places to stop today.
After lunch, we come across workmen replacing rotten sleepers on a boardwalk over soggy ground on the route. No wonder these paths are so good if that kind of maintenance is ongoing.
We amble on for the last few miles, watching some coots with what must be their second brood of chicks and spot a cormorant randomly flying over the fields, finally rejoining the river and arriving at The Old School B&B in Donington on Bain.
We receive a warm welcome as well as a gift of a little bottle of Prosecco that we use to celebrate our arrival. We are both thinking that we should be walking further daily, when the Ordnance Survey app confirms that we have walked 14 miles today, so not too shabby after all.
Total distance so far: 116 miles
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