Day#4: Waking at the Sustainability Centre mini-Yurt in superb comfort, our clothes washed in the solar showers and dried by he wood burner. Guy sick as a parrot, Will recovered. We sing for the office win Nigel the Accountant, spot Ben Law rambling about, agree to organise a Sustainability Centre Pilgrimage, then wander off well fed from the cafe. The farmers wife points us to the Source of the River Meon, so we scramble down and sing to the boggy ground where it all begins. Meeting a Geo-Cacher is slightly dispiriting, as he marches blindly past the River source in search of a small metal capsule hidden beneath a conifer 200 yards away. East Meon village was a Templar centre, surrounded by 7 holy hills (like Rome and Bath). In the Church we sing for German tourists, who correct our pronunciation of Maria Durch ein Dorwald Ging. We walk to the five-ways crossroad, a footpath junction 1 mile a East of the village. Its an obscure pilgrimage destination that almost every journey I have walked has included. Despite its furtive history, this once significant destination still exerts a Pilgrim pull. Guy crashes here, utterly spent, but the Oaks revive him somewhat. We finally reach Petersfield, and wait 20 mins in the middle of the A3 while rush-hour traffic pins us down. In the dark it is near impossible to judge the speed of approving traffic and the risk of a casual attempt is vast. We finally part the steely waters and cross, entering Petersfield. A famous warm welcome awaits at the Harrow Inn of Steep. The pub has been held for the same maternal line for nearly 100 years, with Alec Guinness and John Wyndham among its famed regulars. Its pea and ham soup, cooked to the same recipe for nearly a century, amply healed Guys holy-water tummy troubles, and so with ease and delight after a classic night of song, ale, and extremely honest conversation, to the donkey-shed we retired.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 11:48:07 +0000