A rebel without a clue.

Gorgeous breakfast at Gorge on the corner before we head up to the Castle and join the Saint Swithins Way. Bubble and squeak, beans, sausage, bacon, toast, coffee and Zumo de Naranja(£9.90). I am happier! The café on the main road wasn't open and the number 65 was late, (so we caught it)! We were very lucky! I didn't want to hitch without a full belly and to put Michael ill at ease. Now time to be ready to climb out of this road focused Way: the North Downs Way is very near to that perpetual thunder, droning on and on, on the A31. *** It's a rather nice morning on the Way, but I am ready for cake and a pot of liquid gold!   Teacake from the Post Office and a larger pork pie to eat before we reach Alton. We're neither so tired nor so crabby today. In fact the entire morning has been a pythonesque/Fawlty Towers accompanyment of me talking to the horses, us searching for eels in hovercrafts and female riders, in their jodhpurs, which twist and turn (riding high) slippery w...

Beginning of day two. Coffee in the glorious sunshine. We're going to walk about and first we go to Farnham for breakfast. Michael must shave I will not. But later I will wash and change into boxfresh  clothing for the next couple of days heading west to Winchester! *** After Brunch and we have gone our separate ways. Lovely sausage baguette and earl grey Brack and a French press of coffee in the Tea Room in the Craft Centre Seale. Now I am finding an alternative route back onto the North Downs Way, which is the same as the Pilgrim's Way until Farnham and then joins the Saint Swithins way into Winchester. *** Farnham was a long tailback. Is this all The South has to offer? Bumpers... Michael appears to have withdrawn himself so I don't know if it is valuable to continue on this meander without getting serious about walking. There are many more options on the South Downs Way... Or there is Lola, allotment and mum. So far this is not as I foresaw it. The noise on the main roa...

May the 4th be with me?  I think it was. First going to see JC, who now works at the YHA on Euston Road, opposite the British Library, who was very happy to see me - I got a proper happy feeling seeing that warm honest individual! Then a fantastic hours walk to Spitalfields, via Smithfield, Farringdon and the  Barbican Centre to The English Restaurant to wait for Michael - where I got lost a little unable to locate the café I used to frequent (it was the same but had become a restaurant since 2009 absorbing the next door establishment). I drank a couple of halves to keep the pennies... The proprietor - called Kay - was a great warm lady originally from Oxford, with a place on Ramsgate, and living above the premise and it would be nice to return there for some food on the 13th before heading to Cambridge or if we just stay in London? Next down through Tower Hill to Monument and over new London Bridge (which replaces the ones which have fallen down and the one which was taken to...

Yesterday suddenly something happened to Michael. He went very anxious about people and COVID. Also he was absolutely exhausted. But rather than complain he went very silent. We'd walked hard most of the afternoon to Nonsuch and Ewell until we reached Epsom which was busy and abysmal. In Epsom he wanted to stop so we looked for accommodation, but luckily the Travelodge was only available online and the Premier Inn was fully booked. We were forced to catch the train, a packed commuter train, the short distance between Epsom and Guildford and then catch a bus for the short journey to Puttenham. The train was slightly delayed, and I could find no sign of a bus stop alongside Guildford Station, so we were virtually out of time to get the 65 to Alton. After the longest day we stepped onto the bus just as it was leaving the bus station, within the Trinity Centre, and couldn't pay because the ticket machine wasn't functioning. The bus driver said I don't go to Puttenham, which...

Language is inadequate To describe anything real The words don't pour out As they did before in a flood. But now they're few And far between. Reality is much more That a miniature string, strung, Can ever play out.

Down to The Calls, IF... on Call Lane, for a hearty breakfast - it's not too expensive at £11 and you get a good feed here with a lot of attention to detail like home made baked beans, grilled halloumi, a nice veggie sausage and bacon rasher. I don't know anywhere else in Leeds that does such amazing fayre, except Eat Your Greens on Kirkgate: but that's a lunch and dinner venue. It was quite quiet along North Street and Vicar Lane. Passing through Kirkgate Market and alongside the Corn Exchange to a buzzing quarter of Leeds: where all the most lovely/awful happy/angry folks pour out in the early hours of the night before! But on this Wednesday it's tranquility incarnate. There is the dichotomy/dualism of life.  I've not been out at night down here, under the railway bridge, since Everton and Umberto(owners of Hip Menswear) did Ucci night's at the Backroom(it wasn't called that back in 2000/01 and Norman(now no longer called that). Steven and I went to Space...

It's raining, and it's pouring, the old man was snoring. But now I am awake. Morning of Day One - task for today is getting settled in Southwark for the evening before heading out. We must be in Puttenham by Friday, which is a little after Guildford. But I'm not sure whether to get to the Pilgrim's Way directly south, slightly south west or follow the ancient way to Cirencester - Stane Street, which would miss out Dulwich... Google maps suggests Leatherhead is 6 hours walk from Southwark... Dulwich didn't come up with any accommodation and it's just too short a stage for the first day out. If I only walk a couple of hours I'll be so God Damn drunk for walking on Friday we wouldn't get to Puttenham! *** This morning my other head is on my body. Like Wurzel Gumage I have various craniums depending on the particular set of variable I see ahead of myself. Building up to today I was quaking with my worried head, but this morning I am bright and sunny with thi...