Day 27 & 28 – Wandering around Buckinghamshire

Really? Who put HS2 in the way?

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Really? Who put HS2 in the way?

I knew that the area from Oxford to Cambridge was going to be a bit sketchy, but I had no idea that it was going to be this bad. We were hoping to get parked near to the windmill in Brill, but no luck there. So we decide to move on to our end point of Waddesdon and find parking there. Unfortunately we’re out of luck again so end up in a big lay-by with trucks in it. We’ve ran out of gas for the cooker and fridge, so we’re cooking on a portable burner that I brought just for this eventuality.

We’re not able to get a cab to get us back to Brill so we decide to walk half way there and walk back again. Through the Waddesdon estate the paths are ok, but further afield they are nearly impassable so we turn around and make our way back to Pixi.

Day 28 – We’ve arranged for a pick up in Wing to bring us back to Waddesdon which in hindsight was a good thing. We’ve not been walking for 20 minutes until we come upon a sign showing that the path we want is closed up ahead due to HS2 construction. Oh well lets try another way.

After re-routing we’re on another path, but this one is blocked too. This is getting ridiculous. After having a sit down and a look at OS maps it would appear that HS2 is blocking our route completely and there is no way to get across it.

It’s the first time during the walk that I’ve felt disconsolate and a little more than frustrated. All the paths we’re trying to find are either blocked or aren’t marked or are just plain not there. We’ve just wasted 20 minutes following what was supposed to be a path which ended up taking us into field with no way out and after retracing our steps we stop for a rest. I do the daily video and after watching it back at night I can see that I’m emotional and fed up.

However, while having a rest at a gate a farmer has come along on a quad bike and asks us to hold the gate open when his sone comes along herding a flock of sheep. Well at least we’ve been a bit productive today doing sheeping!

Total miles – 19.7

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