Diary - Day 32

It was always going to be tough to get going today. Leaving your own house is infinitely more difficult than leaving a dirty tent in a campsite in the middle of nowhere. Our first stop was to be Chiltern Valley Winery and Brewery located in the Chiltern hills just north of Henley. A little bit worryingly we were making good time on that first leg heading East, the wind at our backs, and we knew that most of the next few days would involve constantly heading West. Past Watlington the roads began to reach upwards and soon enough we were in amongst the trees trying to find the brewery. It is certainly set in a great location and we rolled in to meet David Ealand, the enthusiastic owner, by about 11am.

It was interesting to see a business at a different end of the scale to all of those that we had visited before. Chiltern Valley (the brewery itself is called Old Luxter's) caters for those who care much more for quality than price and it is therefore well situated near Henley. The shop contained a number of items that would be a little too expensive for me, but it all looked so good.............

The ales that we tried were top notch - while there we tasted some of the Gold and the Bitter but I returned there a little after the trip had finished and took home some of the Dark Roast which I really liked. David sent us away with some fruit cake and chocolate to keep us going and we sat down to eat these items on a village green a few miles later as you can see here:


Exactly what route we took that day I can't remember, but it did involve going through Ecchinswell as that is where we were when the photo below was taken. It is also where it began to tip down and we spent 30 minutes sheltering in the bus stop where I took the photo from. From there we headed towards Whitchurch and then Stockbridge where we stopped for a meal in a decent pub. It was another day where an unspectacular yet pleasant landscape turned to a bit of a drag as the rain came down and the temperature dropped. Not terrible conditions, but tough to really enjoy. Our meal was decent but we had to push on and finish the day before it became dark.


We found our campsite near Sherfield English on the edge of the New Forest and it was a pretty good one. It was more than the average cost for a tent pitch, but the showers were excellent and the bathrooms were even heated! Well worth a couple of extra pounds, I would make sure I woke early enough to get a shower in the next morning as well.......


Day 32 Review

Mileage - not sure, but about 95 would be a sensible guess. It was pretty far though not the most challenging
Crap weather rating - 6/10 We have had much worse, but it was a little annoying all the same.
Decent Pints drunk - a few - the tasters at Chiltern Valley were top notch and a couple of Summerskills beers at the pub were good an' all.