The King's Portrait

 There is always controversy when a new portrait of the monarch is revealed. This is the first official portrait of King Charles III. I wasn't sure whether I liked it or not. It is a very good likeness which makes a change from some portraits of the late Queen. I then discovered that I could go and see the painting for myself as it is on display in a London Gallery before being put on permanent display in the Draper's Hall which has limited public access.

When you see it in person, you can see more of the detail and not just the redness of it. Now I have seen it, I really like it. What do you think?

Demon with bowl

It was a warm day so I decided to go for a walk by the Thames. It is  a couple of weeks since I finished the Ridgeway walk but the UTI infection was followed by a chest infection so I haven't  really been out and about. But this week I have felt better, and I was keen to do some walking again.

Being midweek it was quiet by the river.

I am at Greenwich Peninsula and there are numerous art installations around. I had not seen this one before. It is huge and is called 'Demon with bowl'. I was surprised to discover that it is a Damien Hirst sculpture.

"It's uplifting to see this work come home to the UK where it was made, to Greenwich Peninsula. It’s a place that has strong resonance for me: I lived here in the late 80s when it was a wasteland. I’d collect things that were washed up on the Thames riverbank: old bottles and bits of plastic, which I’d make into collages. That process later led to my series, Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, which is where Demon with Bowl, and my other Peninsula artworks come from.” Damien Hirst.

The 18m bronze sculpture is part of Hirst's Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable series, first exhibited at the 2017 Venice Biennial. The huge sculpture is a copy of a smaller bronze recovered from the wreckage. The discovery of the body appeared to solve the mystery of a disembodied bronze headexcavated in the Tigris Valley in 1932.

Day 6: Ogbourne St George to Avebury

 

Today is the last day of the walk. It was another bright day but cold. I slept well in the purpose built accommodation attached to the pub and felt ready for the day ahead. We are expecting to walk at least 10 miles today but the walking has been easy with very few inclines and descents. 

We walked through the small village to meet up with the Ridgeway track. This is the River Og which gives the village its name: Ogbourne St George. There is a medieval church named St George in the centre of the village.

The manor house

Here we are back on the distinctive chalky pathway that is the Ridgeway.

The clouds are gathering and we wondered if today would be the day the rain caught up with us. We have been so lucky missing the showers this week.

The walk takes us across the Marlborough Downs. This is very much horse racing country. The chalk Downs are perfect for exercising the horses.

As we walked along we noticed there were small white posts marking out furlongs at the side of this wide path.

There is the possibility of seeing one of the famous white chalk horses today. Wiltshire is the county for seeing these chalk hill carvings. Most of them date back about three hundred years. There is only one that is of prehistoric origin but that one is not close to where we are. They are created by removing the turf to reveal the white chalk beneath and are usually quite large on the side or top of a hill. I am sure we walked very close to a couple of them but we didn't actually see any of them. 

Tina went in search of one but it was difficult to make out the horse shape from her photo. You really need to be above it or quite a distance away to see the whole shape.

We were surprised to see this little goat grazing by the footpath. His freedom didn't last long though, as the farmer had noticed and soon had him back with the rest of his family.

Time for a rest as we watched the farmer chase the goat.

As we continued on we saw the name of the farm which is owned by Neil King a well known horse racing trainer.

We have now entered Barbury Castle Country Park owned and managed by the National Trust.

This hill is part of an ancient iron age hillfort which dates from the 4th cent BC to the 1st cent AD. 

This is an aerial photo of the remains of the hillfort (taken from Wiki website) which gives you a better idea of what it looks like.  The large double ditch which surrounded the fort is an unusual feature. From this view you can also see The Ridgeway path passing through the centre of the site.

 

You don't get much woodland on the chalky downs.

The long straight path can be seen for what seems like miles ahead.

This was one of the wettest and muddiest sections we encountered. There was no way round it, we just had to go through it. My boots had been kept clean for the whole of the walk but not after this section. There was just no way of getting the chalky mud off them.

But here we are at the end of our walk in the village of Avebury, home to a group of ancient stones.

This is the World Heritage Site of the Neolithic Avebury Henge. The outer stone circle is the largest prehistoric circle of standing stones in the world and has the remains of two other smaller stone circles within it. It was built between 2850BC and 2200BC. The outer circle originally contained about 100 stones and is about a mile in circumference. It is thought that this was the principal ceremonial site in Neolithic history and the most complex.

Also in the village was the Avebury Manor National Trust property with its cafe. Perfect place to end the walk. After a welcome cup of tea and snack Tina and I went round the museum and gardens whilst the boys found a pub to celebrate the end of the walk.

Jackdaws trying to destroy the roof of an outhouse.

Avebury village is very small but picturesque.

This is one of the most spectacular post box toppers I've seen outside the shop in the village. The legendary Green Man. 

The pub where we were staying for our final night was a couple of miles down the road from the village. We decided to take the bus, mainly because there was no pathway alongside the busy road and also there was a bus due! I forgot to take a photo of the pub we stayed in that night but it was very comfortable and we enjoyed an excellent meal there to celebrate the end of the walk.

 I did take a photo of my breakfast fruit platter though, as it was an amazing selection of fresh fruit which I had missed during the week. After breakfast we all piled into a minibus to take us back to the hotel where we started the walk, so we could retrieve our cars and make our final farewells, before driving off to the various parts of the country where we live.

 We had had a great week. The distances walked each day were perfect. Enough to be an enjoyable challenge but not to exhaust us. Paul has once again excelled with his choice of accommodation and planning. We are all very grateful that he likes to plan these walks and provide us with endless spreadsheets. Thank you to Jim for his generosity and seeking out a cream tea for us to enjoy. Thanks to Tim for his tech expertise which I'm sure we really did need. A huge thank you to my room mate, Tina, who had to put up with my constant coughing fits during the night. And of course Steve who is a huge asset to the group with his sense of humour and dress sense. I wonder what next year will bring.

Day 5: Ashbury to Ogbourne St George

Great to wake up to blue skies. Once again the forecast is showers but that has not deterred Steve with once again showing his fashion prowess with the shorts and non matching accessories.

I hadn't seen the village when we arrived here yesterday as I was keen to have a rest but today I feel much better and I was pleased that the route took us out via the small village.

It is a pretty village with a number of thatched cottages surrounding the 12th century church. Although Ashbury used to be in the county of Berkshire. The boundary changes in 1974 transferred it to Oxfordshire.

There wasn't a great deal of variation in the scenery today as we mainly walked through agricultural land.

As many of you know, cows are not a favourite of mine, so I was pleased that an electric fence plus a barbed wire fence separated this herd from the trail.

Very muddy section.

As this is an ancient track it tends to be very straight.

Although it doesn't look it this was a main road junction as it led to the busy motorway, the M4, which we had to cross.

Whenever I travel on this motorway it is much, much busier than this.

Enjoying a lunch stop in the sunshine.

The fields either had wheat or rape seed growing.

We arrived at our accommodation for the night in the village of Ogbourne St George, mid afternoon. The bar in the pub where we were staying didn't open until 5pm.

Not to miss out on a drink in the beautiful sunshine, the boys found a Golf Club not too far away that was open to the public.