Day 4 - Newbridge to Oxford - Monday 31 July

Distance: 14 miles
Time: 4 hours 58 mins
Walking partner: none
Accommodation: Jo's gorgeous thatched cottage

Quite a strange night. The room was really stuffy so I had the windows open and I had just drifted off when I heard that tell-tale zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz -ing that sounds alarm bells when you're near a river. Sure enough I had to splat a whopping great mozzie and then sleep in a cauldron of a room with the windows shut. That plus texts through the night that my network had inexplicably delayed in sending me (sorry Karen that it took me so long to get back to you) and decided to do so at one hour intervals till about 4.30 when I could no longer sleep.

Anyway, enough of these domestic details which can be of no interest to anyone except myself. My first day of walking on my own was absolutely fine. No axe-wielding maniacs (well none who could catch me at my blistering pace of 2.5 miles per hour; yes, I've slowed down), no wild rampaging animals (though I did see a snake believe it or not); no stultifying boredom (actually, I did find the first hour a bit tedious until I discovered the great diversion of talking to myself. Maybe that's what kept the maniacs and the wild animals at bay?).

Monet-esque: Hart's Weir Footbridge linking two remote meadows

The weather was great for walking, cool and pleasant, that is until Godstow Lock when it began to bucket down, mere nano-seconds before I began to regret consigning my waterproof trousers to the 'spare' pile to go home with Bill. However, judicious use of the umbrella (most definitely not 'spare') meant that I was merely damp rather than soaked. The views were as lovely as ever. Meadows filled with wildflowers and iridescent blue dragonflies - I thought it was beautiful and I'm not even a nature lover.

I arrived in good time at Oxford Railway station and was met by my charming hostess for the evening Jo who has transported me to her delightful home, run me a bath filled with essential oils and epsom salts, washed my clothes and is as we speak preparing me a meal the tantalising aromas of which are wafting up the stairs. All of which sets me in good stead for tomorrow and the next few days.