Date: January 1991
Participants: Graham Beevor, Malcolm Duff, Howard Hillier-Daines, Drew Rush, Malcolm Rush, John Schmitt and Geoff Wright.
This year we headed off to Gloucestershire and a place called Lechlade-on-Thames, where we had decided to start the hike. We arrived at a reasonable time and met Martyn Daviss (ex SL and GSL of the 22nd Finchley) in a local pub. He was now living in a place called Highworth a little further south.
Having caught up on all the news we bid him farewell and set about finding somewhere to pitch our three tents. A bit of open land close to the river was found, with no real protection from the cold.
We started the hike the next morning by crossing Ha’penny Bridge. Built in the 18th century it got its name from the toll once charged to cross it.
Our initial destination was Castle Eaton that we were able to reach simply by taking the footpath that roughly followed the course of the river.
As for the rest of the hike, very little else can be remembered. Although there is no doubt that this was a better hike than it’s predecessor, we cannot even recall where we spent the Saturday night.
The route though, as shown on the map took us north-west through Marston Mersey and onto Mersey Hampton. From there we walked to Quenington, with its buildings made from lovely Cotswold stone, and then onto Southrop before heading back to the cars at Lechlade.