Day 9 - Thurgarton - Worksop (Hooray - back on target!)

I made it to Worksop - hooray!  We had the worst rain ever today - non stop, torrential, constant cloud burst type of rain - ALL day.  This made visibility really bad and Louise and I had a real battle of wits to stay safe.  The roads that we had to take looked perfectly tame on the map but, in reality, were very dangerous.  Lots of bends, hardly any grass verges to leap on to.  This is my ongoing, worrying problem. I must admit that i did not expect to come up against such a constant set of challenges - over and above the actual business of walking the daily 20 miles.  It makes it twice as tiring and I am genuinely grateful to be alive at the end of the day!

Sunrise over Nottinghamshire

Eventually after traipsing along a lethal road, we found ourselves taking cover under a tree, right on the edge of an MOD training ground (which wasn't, I hasten to add, marked on my map).  My phone and reception failed and it was too wet to change the battery. After some emergency Dairy Milk rations (i'm not quite sure why but chocolate really does help in a crisis) we heard some gun shots and realised that we were very close to a firing range!  Last straw - I took the decision to be rescued and Louise's brilliant friend Lizzie (Lizzie, if you are reading this - you're an angel - thank you!)  picked us up off the road and drove us to the nearest tea shop about a mile down the road.  Yes, it was technically cheating but i really didn't care - when it's a decision between taking a lift or staying alive, it's not a difficult one to make!  After an artery-hardening, delicious hot chocolate, Louise and I attempted to dry off and calm down a bit.  The rain was getting steadily worse but we picked ourselves up and marched the last bit to Worksop - singing stupid songs from Abba which made us feel MUCH better.  Louise, you are a star and I can't thank you enough for putting up with the rain, the roads, the scary drivers and your moaning cousin!  Another big thank you to Sally and Henry Machin for picking us up, feeding us and lending us clothes- and generally making us feel human again.  Oh joy -i'm back on track and on schedule which is great for morale.  I am about to buy a pile of OS maps for the rest of the journey - despite the wonders of technology and the brilliance of GPS, you just can't beat a good ol' fashioned paper map!