Day 9 – The Most Memorable Day!

Hey everyone! I hope you've all had a lush week. Today’s post is all about Day 9 of our walk, and what a day it was! Honestly, looking back through the events of this day brought back so many funny and unforgettable memories.

We were a small group again, joined by Gaynor, Pernille, and the Pienaars (Laetitia and Catherine, Emilia’s best friend). It was a close-knit group, which worked perfectly for the day ahead. We all woke up feeling a bit sluggish and dreary from the night before’s antics, but after a shower and some food, we quickly snapped out of it. 

The gang for day 9!

Doctor Donna sorted out our blisters, which were progressively getting worse and worse – we had a new patient to the clinic this day because Paola needed taping up too!

We met at the lobby of the hotel, all in our Walk for Pia t-shirts and merchandise and set off from one of our favourite hotels of the whole walk. The walk this day was our longest day. It was over 24 miles! It wasn’t part of the plan, but we took so many wrong turns—some of them not our fault, but others, definitely our own doing. But I’ll get to that in a minute.

We started off in great spirits, laughing about the night before and singing along to our joint playlist as we walked. The weather was perfect, and we were surrounded by beautiful fields and woods. I felt surprisingly strong on this day—such a relief after the tough couple of days before.

Big smiles!

 Our Most Memorable Break Stop!

We walked for about 6/7 miles before finding a lovely, quaint village to take a rest. We were walking past some beautiful cottages and farms and met some lovely animals on the way!

Dad's new bestie!

However, this peaceful village became the scene of a rather dramatic moment. We found a spot near some horses and a big wall where we could sit and rest our legs. But just as we were settling in, a local woman came storming over, furious that we were sitting on “her” wall—despite the fact that it didn’t belong to her. We tried to explain that we were walking for charity and just needed a 10-minute break, but she wasn’t having it.

At this point, I did something I never thought I would—I started shouting back. Anyone who knows me knows I’m usually not one for confrontation, but after a long walk and little sleep, I was just very angry! Things escalated quickly, and soon enough, a few of us were involved in the shouting match. Meanwhile, Gaynor started crying (she was also laughing, which made the whole thing quite amusing!). And to make the whole situation even funnier, Paola was stood to the side of this whole exchange, stretching on her yoga matt! Whilst I was shouting at this old lady, Paola was trying to get zen in her 'downward dog' pose! Very entertaining for all of us.

So, after letting off some steam, eating some snacks and having a wild wee, we were all on such a high. No one had ever seen me like that before and to this day I have never been in a confrontation like that! The next 10 miles were much more relaxed as we continued to walk, occasionally stopping for a quick rest and a giggle at what had just happened.

Getting Lost A Lot!

The problem on this day was, because it was so rural, a lot of the footpaths labelled on the map were no longer there or had been covered with shrubbery or trees. So, most of this day was us finding a public footpath, realising we couldn’t walk on it, retracing our steps, and finding a longer, alternate route to the same location. This meant that we were adding on so much mileage throughout the day – and there was very little we could do about it.

We didn’t get to our lunch stop until around 4:00 PM. Tom had found us a perfect spot near a golf course with picnic benches and beautiful scenery, but after getting lost so many times, we were all starving and pretty fed up by the time we arrived.

But it was totally worth the wait. Tom had prepared lamb koftas with pitta bread, tzatziki, and veggies—and of course, there were crisps and chocolates to follow! The food was absolutely perfect after such a long walk.

The Final Push

By the time we finished lunch, we only had about 5 miles left to go—seemed like nothing after the 15 miles we’d already done. We walked through a beautiful golf course, which the boys especially enjoyed!

We were all getting quite tired at this point but then the best thing happened. We got a call from our friend B who was looking after Monty (our dog) and his pregnant girlfriend – and she told us that his puppies were born! She facetimed us and showed us 4 gorgeous, tiny puppies and said she named one of them Bluebell because mum loved bluebells so much. Little did we know that Bluebell ended up being the newest member of our family 3 months later and now she is nearly 3 years old. Best surprise ever!

We were so so happy after hearing the puppies were all born and healthy and that lifted our spirits so much for the last couple hours of walking. However, this is when it all went quite wrong! All we needed to do to get the hotel was walk through this field which was probably a couple miles long. However, when we got to the start of the footpath, an angry farmer came out and told us we weren’t allowed to walk on her farm! There was clearly something in the air because this was the second time we were shouted at this day!

So, instead, she said we had to walk through an alternate field, which took us a much longer route to get to the hotel. Not only that, but it was full of cows that she described as ‘very angry and aggressive!' We had to walk in complete silence, trying not to provoke the cows—especially because Fran was wearing a bright red jacket which probably didn’t help the situation!

We thankfully all made it through with no cow inflicted injuries, but realised we were so far away from the hotel – and there was no path to take us to it. Instead, we had to basically go cross country through thick, grassy fields. Apple maps came in handy at this point and so did the sound of the very busy motorway that was just next to the field.

By this point, it was 8 pm and we were just walking through a random field in Bristol! Luckily, we found a small opening from the field and arranged to meet Tom in his car. To get to the hotel safely, we decided it would be best if Tom and Richard drove us the last stretch. We managed to find a little shoulder on the side of the road for them to pick us up, and at last, we made it!

Best Hotel Arrival Ever

The hotel that night was the highlight of the day, and not only because there was a bed there! It was a small lodging; so, it was just us staying there for the night. We went straight to the lounge area where the owner Chris had bottles of prosecco ready for us! And waiting in the hotel were all the Hansens – Jan, Klara, Mathilde and Alfred. Our besties! I can’t explain it, but getting a hug from the girls, who we have grown up with, was all that I needed! That, and an ice pack for my groin! Donna, Emilia and I sat there icing our separate injuries – me and my groin, Donna and her ankle and Emilia and her knee. But to make things better; Uncle Kevs was back! He joined us that evening at the hotel ready to set off with us for day 10. It was so nice to have him back to full health and he was full of energy which hyped all of us up. Seeing him was a big pick me up for the core walkers.

Once we were ready for dinner, Chris and his wife had prepared us a 3-course meal – we had steaks and it was so good. By the time dinner was over, many of us were fading fast, so we headed to bed. The boys, however, stayed up drinking port with Chris and the hotel staff— something we only discovered in the morning!

Day 9 was without a doubt one of the most memorable days of the whole walk. From the argument with the “Karen” to the surprise of the puppies being born, so much happened that it will always stand out as one of my favourite days. And the best part? Day 10 meant crossing into Wales—and that felt like we were on the home stretch!

Sun going down and we were still walking!

Thank you for reading and stay tuned for next week’s post about Day 10 where we crossed into Wales!

With love,

Rhiannon