The alarm goes off way too early and for a moment I wonder what the noise is. We pack, have breakfast then water the greenhouses and the hanging baskets before setting off for the bus stop. The bus is early and we arrive in Norwich station in good time to buy coffees and newspapers.
All our connections work brilliantly and we alight in Princes Risborough station just before midday. Rich was worried that we wouldn't meet our previous path and maintain the golden thread, but the station only has one entrance, so all is well.
We walk through the town, watching the red kites flying off from rooftop perches and people pause and chat to us on our way. A woman is gathering rosemary in the churchyard and the scent is heavenly.
We cross a railway branch line to Leamington Spa and Birmingham Snow Hill as we leave the town. There are steps up to the track but we cross the line on foot, as we did in Norfolk. We're back in a truly rural area again. We then head out over some grassy fields and stop for an early lunch as we've had no mid-morning break today. Today is our first (and only?) hot day and my sun hat makes its inaugural appearance.
After lunch, we follow the Outer Aylesbury Ring for a while. The path has some low branches in places and, though I can get through crouching, Rich has to resort to walking on his knees.
We reach the A4129 in Longwick, which is quite busy, and we follow it for a while before turning down an unclassified road. Rich reassures me that things will be quieter now. How wrong he was!
As we walk along, we notice that the road surface is quite sticky. A small steamroller then comes into view. Beyond this, we sink into the newly laid road surface and the heat coming off it is startling. In front of us is a massive machine spreading tarmac across the full width of the road. The steamroller driver tells us to pass it on the verge on the right, which we do with alacrity, getting stung in the process. Beyond the laying lorry, the road appears to have had an initial dressing of tarmac and then been covered with woven plastic sheeting in preparation for the final layer. We've never seen anything like it before.
We turn off thankfully across fields and I start to fall down awkward, small dips, concealed by the undergrowth. I comment that Rich's feet must be too big to catch them but, just as I say this, he trips on a hole! As we carry on, the undergrowth continues to fight back until we reach Aston Sandford. We walk along an unclassified but busy road, provoking at least one car horn complaint, then turn off towards Haddenham.
We reach St Tiggywinkle's Wildlife Hospital and stop for a welcome cup of tea. Tiggywinkles was founded by Les Stocker and his family in their back garden in 1983. It is now the busiest wildlife hospital in the world, treating 12,000 animals each year and receiving 100 casualties a day in spring and summer, 5-10 per day in autumn and winter. It's expenditure is around £2 million pounds per annum. It also does a mean cup of tea. We see a few of the patients: red kites, a tawny owl and a sleeping badger, then leave a donation on our way out.
We walk through the picture perfect village of Haddenham, using the road to cross the branch line again and into fields, now on the Wychert Way, a circular walk unmarked on the map. Buckinghamshire, like its neighbour Hertfordshire, certainly has a profusion of footpaths. There are seven waymarked routes named on one small area of the map (Outer Aylesbury Ring, Midshires Way, Bernwood Jubilee Way, North Bucks Way, Aylesbury Ring (not the outer one), Swan's Way and the Ridgeway). The Thame Outer Circuit and the Wychert Way are not even documented.
We walk downhill, admiring the Chilterns behind us in the distance and cross a footbridge onto an island in the River Thame, which runs into the Thames (or Isis in Oxfordshire). Two surprised egrets take flight as we arrive. We cross an older bridge (possibly related to nearby Notley Abbey) to leave the island, then wend our way across the fields and uphill into Long Crendon.
The village is even more picturesque than Haddenham and we walk through it to reach Long Crendon Manor, our stop for the night. We are greeted by the owner, Tim, and three large St Bernard dogs. The hall of the manor is 12th century and the wing we are staying in dates back to the 15th century. The other wing is 14th century. The manor was awarded to Walter Giffard by William the Conqueror but only became a dwelling in about 1187 when the hall was built for the Augustine abbots of Notley.
Total distance: 170 miles
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