I had a rather restless night, with my bed squeaking so much and a headache in the middle of the night (I don’t think I drank enough the previous day), but when I woke I felt rather refreshed. We sorted ourselves out and went straight for breakfast, which was a very nice full english, although a tad on the salty side. It was fuel for the day. We ate well, packed our bags, grabbed the pre-made lunch from the woman behind the bar, then checked out, setting off at about 9.30am.

Today was meant to be a less intense day, and also was meant to be a cooler day than the previous day. I was feeling rather refreshed and ready to go, Min on the other hand had come down with a cold and had lost her voice. She wanted to continue the hike though, so we did.

We knew that Day 2 started with a gradual incline, eventually becoming quite steep as we got closer to the top of Old Winchester Hill, but as it hit us first thing we thought we’d be okay with it. As we began to reach the last bit of the climb we took a short break as it was rather tiring, and as we found out, currently 29*C!

We continued up the steepest part of this hill and were greeted by a cool breeze and the most spectacular views. You could see as far as your eyes would let you in all directions, it really was an amazing view. We spent quite a bit of time just standing at the summit of this old Iron Age hill fort, just taking in the views before we began our descent. The walk down was much more gradual and on a more established trail so was far easier than the climb. We ended up passing some open fields and met with further amazing views, until we reach our lunchtime spot Meon Springs. Primarily a fishing spot with c/glamping, but it had cold drinks, ice cream, and shade! So it made for a great place to stop, enjoy some well deserved lunch, and with the help of ice cream, for Min to regain her voice.

*View from the summit of Old Winchester Hill*

The next part of the journey wasn’t so hilly, it had a hill, but not quite as steep, however it was so exposed and in this weather it felt nightmarish. It was so tiring and my feet were beginning to ache. I’d made a very foolish mistake and wore my spare shoes for this leg of the walk as I thought it may help with the blisters, these were not walking shoes, and as I discovered, my heels were really slipping in them on the climb. So what blisters I obtained from Day 1 had multiplied and grown!

Eventually we made it to a turning that went across a large farm, once more, completely exposed to the blazing sun. As we reached farmhouse in the middle we could make out the church in the distance, from looking at maps I knew what it meant – The B&B was close!

This last bit of the walk I expected to be easy, it was all flat, on road/pavement, however I found walking on the road and pavement to be more painful than the grass, trails, gravel, etc. I felt like an old man as I hobbled down the road, leaning on my trekking pole for support. It was amazing just how much it hurt.

We eventually made it through the village of East Meon to our accomodation at Ye Olde George Inn which was absolutely packed! It was so different from the other place as the staff were so busy. A man showed us around the place, gave me my key, then scurried off. I have to be honest, I didn’t get a good vibe from him, it was all very unfriendly. The room however was great. It had everything in it that was needed, and even though it was above the busy pub downstairs I didn’t hear anything from down there. I showered, changed, then went for a much needed drink.

Dinner the other night was delicious, but the food here was on a whole new level, we felt like we were fine dining. I enjoyed a belly of pork which was delicious, and I tried some Crabbies Ginger Beer for the first time, which went down rather too well.

We used this wind down time to discuss tomorrow. With Min’s cold developing further, and the state that my feet were in we decided that doing the final part of our trip may just kill us. Originally the plan was a walk to Queen Elizabeth Country Park, meet my wife and daughter and spend some time with them, however my wife broke her foot, so we made a last minute change to walk on to Petersfield. We considered taking a taxi from here to Petersfield, or find an alternate route — we went with an alternate route. So we plotted a route that would have less hill for Day 3 then called it a night.

South Downs Way: Day 2

South Downs Way: Day 3

South Downs Way: Day 1