Overland Tales

At 10:45 am on 7th November 2007 I said goodbye to my folks, walked out of my house and turned left. And so my travels started.

I'd been planning to head off on another long stint for a while, and now the time was right: I'd just finished my contracted period at work, I had plenty of savings, and had no commitments: no house, no pets, no kids and no girlfriend. I had just turned 29 and wanted the last year of my twenties to be memorable before the Dark Ages of the thirties - containing such horrors as receeding hairlines, wrinkles and pot bellies - took hold.

I had implied to my folks that I would be catching the bus into the nearest big city east, Bath, but that was too easy, I felt. So I walked there: nine miles of ambling through English villages and countryside. I had never seen my home country through the eyes of a traveller before, and I was eager to see how it looked.

From Bath, at which I met up with a few ex-workmates for a final meal and drink or five, I headed east to Lacock. This charming medieval village was apparently used for a number of locations in the Harry Potter films, or so I learned from the landlady of the local pub. She confided in me that they were only filming the other week for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. However, I didn't linger to take in the sights, as the emphasis for this part of my voyage was more about the walking than the sightseeing. Besides, there were plenty of sights along the way: birds of prey hunting, wild grouse scattering at my approach, and the beautiful rolling landscapes of Wiltshire.

The twenty miles between Lacock and the World Heritage site of Avebury took me over six hours to cover, a lot of it trudging along the grass verge of a busy road. Not the most enjoyable of walks, and I was glad to dive into the nearest Bed & Breakfast to rest. My shoes had started to rub, and I had a blister on my little toe the size of, er, my little toe. (I'll spare you the pictures).

Avebury was located in an extremely historically-important area of the UK. It's most famous for its stone circle (or circles, as there are in fact a few of them). Whilst not as high and mighty as Stonehenge, they are still impressive structures that date back thousands of years, and as a bonus you can wander around and touch the stones, which you can't at Stonehenge. I had a few beers in the local pub that very modestly claims only in small print on the menu that it is the only pub in the world to be located inside a stone circle, and took in the man-made hill, Silbury, and an ancient communal burial site known as a longbarrow dating back 5500 years. That's almost back to the beginning of the creation of the Earth if you happen to be a Creationist...

From Avebury I followed the River Avon downstream, heading South now instead of East as I had been doing so previously, and in doing so cutting across Salibury Plain, where the British Army like to play wargames now and then. As a result you get to see some funny signs that you wouldn't necessarily see in urban areas (other than, perhaps, Moss Side in Manchester).

I based myself at Amesbury, the largest town in the area, and an easy walk to Stonehenge (40 miles down the road from my house and I had never been there), unfortunately part of which required me to traverse the dual carriageway A303. Only in England could a thundering commuter road be built within a site of such historical import as Stonehenge - such shortsightedness. Luckily, when you are on site (having paid your £6.30... I think there is a discount for YHA members), the road is mainly hidden and you don't really notice it that much.

I was extremely lucky with my visit, as it was the off-season but with blue, sunny skies, so the stones sparkled and it wasn't too busy (but still popular). The audio guide was informative at dispelling myths but generally concluded that "...we don't know" what the site was for. Whatever, it looks majestic, even with trucks rattling past in the background.

My final day of walking was to the southern city of Salisbury, full of higgledy-piggledy half-timbered buildings and a towering cathedral. I stayed in the YHA there and met a good few other travellers, pretty much the first I had met since I left a week ago.

So, thoughts on the first week? Bloody tired, having averaged 15 miles a day, but rewarding: my potbelly had definitely gone down a bit. Still, I felt glad to hang up my boots... for a few days at least.