Day 3 - The Day of Wrong Turns!

Hi everyone, hope you are enjoying the trip down memory lane. Looking back on each day is bringing me so much joy and it’s been amazing to relive those memories and all the incredible things we achieved.

Day 3 was an interesting one! We set off at 9 am from our hotel in Wimbledon and it was the first day that we had a lot of people join us! Some family came along—shoutout to Alex and Paddy—and a bunch of friends and even a few of Dad’s colleagues. It definitely set the tone for the day and gave us all a bit of extra energy.

The group!

The core. Still a lot of smiles here!

We knew that day 3 was a shorter walk than most so we were all very pumped up and excited to get going. So, we set off, walking through a park and over a golf course with so many people following us. Dad was on navigation duty, and up until this point, it had been smooth sailing. But, of course, the first day with a big group, we totally messed it up! About four miles in, Alex ran up to Dad, pointing out the hotel we had stayed at the night before. Turns out, we'd walked in a giant 4-mile loop, taking us pretty much right back to where we started!

We managed to keep it quiet for a bit, but as the miles dragged on, people started to notice how much longer it was taking us—and how little progress we’d made. Luckily, everyone found it pretty hilarious, and we all carried on with good spirits.

We ended up finding a coffee van in the middle of a beautiful park, which turned into a much needed (and totally unplanned) coffee and cake stop. The barista was understandably overwhelmed when 20 people all placed their orders at once!

When we eventually made it into a town, we thought it would be a great place to stop off for some lunch. However, we were planning on just grabbing a sandwich and plodding on, but a few people needed the loo, so we had to stop at a pub. We all ordered some soft drinks and water and figured there was no harm in having a 20-minute sit down! The next thing we knew, plates of fish and chips and burgers were coming out and dad’s work colleagues had ordered a feast! We told them we wanted to keep walking because we were seizing up and that we would meet them at the end. Mainly because we were getting very jealous of the food to be honest!

Little pub stop!

The next couple of hours were pretty straightforward, we walked and talked and ached for the next few miles and dad didn’t make any more navigation mistakes! I decided to be a good Samaritan and give dad a break from the directions, that’s when it all went a bit wrong! I was so confident in my abilities to follow a map, however, I led all of us the complete wrong way and we ended up having to scale down a small hill on the side of a busy road to get back on track! I hope people saw the comedy in the situation, but after 15 miles of walking, I am not sure if they did!

OOPS!

We eventually made it the end where we were joined by a few more of dad’s work colleagues and some friends. Because there were so many of us, it turned into a bit of a sesh! At the time, I had 20% off all drinks and my Uncle Fran was absolutely chuffed and definitely took advantage of that! We ordered wine and beers and had a good laugh. We were at the pub for a couple of hours before we all realised, we needed a shower and some food!

It wasn’t far to the hotel, and we were all hoping for a nice room and some hearty food. We got cleaned up and met at the hotel restaurant for dinner. I was so ready for a pint and a burger, so I was thrilled when a massive plate of food was placed in front of me. We were joined by Paddy, who had spent the hour we were getting ready drinking at the bar, so he was a little... merrier than the rest of us. As you can imagine, that made for some entertaining moments!

The best part of the evening came when our friend B stopped by with our dog, Monty, and his pregnant girlfriend, Lily. Seeing their little faces and getting some much-needed cuddles gave us all a big boost. So, huge thanks to B for bringing our Monts along—it was exactly what we needed!

I went to bed that night with achy knees, sore legs, and growing blisters, but I was still super excited for the next day—only 10 miles! The thought of a shorter distance made me sleep like a baby.

Day 3 was full of wrong turns and a lot of booze, and it was so much fun! There were things that were said that are still quoted today by some of us; “dish of the day” being one of them. I won’t explain to all of you how that came about, but the core walkers will definitely remember!

Come back next week to hear about all things day 4 in Windsor!

With love,

Rhiannon