Day 3 - Lechlade to Newbridge - Sunday 30 July

Distance: 16.25 miles
Time: 5 hours 56 mins
Walking partner: Bill Batchelor (eccentric computer programmer and co-founder of AQA, the best question answering service you're ever likely to need. Oh, and I live with him too, thereby benefitting indirectly from any company profits; but it is really good!)
Accommodation: The Rose Revived, Newbridge

The second longest day of the whole challenge so an early night after a wholesome supper at The Trout Inn at St John's Lock was in order. Imagine our delight when we realised that the wedding party that we'd seen earlier chomping through their wedding breakfast in the Hotel dining room were gearing up to hit the disco floor in the hall next to our bedroom. Fortunately for us, late licences must be hard to come by in Gloucestershire and everything shut down at 11pm leaving us plenty of time for shut-eye before an early breakfast and slightly off schedule departure at 8.20am.

Sunday dawned as a perfect day for walking. A slight mist hanging over the by now navigable Thames. The grass underfoot springy with dew. A cooling breeze but a promise of lots of sunshine ahead. The most perfect aspect of the day for me was that Bill was carrying my back pack leaving me with a small plastic bag filled with our emergency snacks. The fact that he was in agony after about 10 minutes didn't dampen my enthusiasm as much as you might think. But a serious discussion ensued about the logistics of getting me a different back pack later in the week.

Since Lechlade the river has become more populated. Barges and pleasure cruisers as well as camping and caravan sites though not many people were about early on a Sunday morning. We were rather more pleased than is socially acceptable to note that even with our slow pace (about 2.7 miles per hour if you must know) we were still beating boats that had started out at the same time as us because the Thames Locks also start at Lechlade and they seem to take an age to operate. Competitive nous?

We stopped for coffee at Radcot Bridge at The Swan which looked nice but would probably get very crowded, and fortuitously rang ahead to book a table for lunch nabbing the last table in the process. Lunch came after 10 pleasant miles amid the meadows and meandering river at the rather fabulous Trout Inn (again) this time at Tadpole Bridge and it was certainly a gastronomic reward for our endeavours although drinking at lunchtime is not to be repeated on this challenge I fear. We ended up falling asleep in the pub garden and then had to contend with the remaining 6 miles in a state of dehydration which does not improve an already slackening pace.

We eventually made it to the Rose Revived (which sounds a lot more romantic than it is) where Bill departed (with quite a lot of items from my pack which we deemed 'spare'... including my waterproof trousers) and I repaired to the pub for my evening meal (the only solo eater amidst a bevy of holidaying families). I could say lots here..... And then to my room which turned out to be above the loud speaker playing the pub's piped music (James Blunt anyone?) Retired hoping that closing time was 11pm in the country.

Lots of encouraging phonecalls and texts from people - thanks Sally, Trish, Dad, Gabs, Dom, Bill, Jacqui A, Julie, Susan and others. It really keeps me going.