We all met and logged-in at the Shoreham coach pickup point and then enjoyed a much better journey today as it was a Saturday and hence, very light traffic. The Shoe pub in Exton village was ready and waiting for us, bacon butties and fresh coffee for all that were lucky to pause. It was still noticeable that many chose to walk straight past the pub, that had opened especially for us, despite Keith saying earlier that if we don't make it worthwhile for the pub to open, we could loose this facility as it would not be viable to put this extra service on, and we would also loose a first and important pre-walk loo-stop! Some even ignored the main SDW and headed for a short-cut across the road & straight up hill....still you pay your money......?
Lovely coffee and a lovely freshly prepared bacon butty taken and that get's get us nicely on our way. Good spirits on day 2 today as the pub partakers mixed and shared stories of yesterday and hopes for today and that's surely what it is all about? Sun is shining and it looked like being a warm day ahead as we came across yet another, first faller of the day. No harm done just a bruise and the need for a plaster......and that was one of our experienced red shirts! We crossed over the footbridge of the lovely river Meon and briefly down the disused railway line then some 'root hopping' on a narrow tree-lined path before starting our long ascent of Old Winchester Hill. 
Views today were thankfully starting to return on this section, but not too distant yet as it was still quite a hazy day. Just for information, it is one of those hills that start steep and then get progressively steeper until a small gathering of walkers were in the hollow top of the hill taking a breather. 
Being suitably rested and watered I walked on a few yards to hug my first trig of the day before we joined with Monarchs way briefly again then unlike the East to West walk, we skirted around the fort and joined the road for a few yards before taking, thankfully, a more gentle decent than yesterday into the beautiful valley below. Whitewool farm and its trout pond could be seen in the distance as we walked through the preceding farm and cottages then over the trout river and headed for the fisher-people's club house to take on well earned refreshments. I should add that just before this break we were going through the farm & Lesley commented on a T-shirted 'hunk' that was trimming a hedge on the frontage of a lovely flint cottage and as we arrived at the cafe the (poser!) guy then proceeded to wash his car vigorously in full view of the resting bunch of female admirers. No top on now of course and a body, according to one of the ladies, that had clearly suffered from too much free-time and spending too long working-out in the mirrored gym.
Cafe was nice......simple....tea/coffee for a £1-00 donation and home cooked pasties that on second thoughts I couldn't resist. We ate half now and saved the other half for lunch later. Toilets round the back and as usual only 1 ladies.....so the waiting queue, unbelievably, used our gents!
Rested then off again on a long concrete, farm-drive that thankfully eventually ended reverting back into a more familiar forgiving SDW track that just went up and up and up for what seemed like an age, when at the top we came out to stunning views virtually around the whole 360 degrees. As is the norm on the SDW we frequently crossed paths with groups of youths, probably doing their DoE's still trying to look cheerful with their huge rucksacks. On top of Wether Down a rather smart silver Land-Rover sporting an array of swishy ariels and what looked like a large portable satellite dish parked in an adjacent field. The guy was sitting inside with headphones and microphone, looking at a computer-screen .........not a foreign spy as we first thought, but seemed to be just an air-traffic controller controlling some huge wingspan model aircraft that I would guess at about a third full sized replica. As well as a fleet of aircraft flying around the top of the hill, there were human parascenders as well, making for quite a busy scene. We decided that as we had well rested at the trout farm we would walk straight past the Sustainability Centre and cafe in Leydene Park as just now a thick slice of calorie-laden cake was not really what we yet needed........but don't let me influence you if you are doing this walk as a chance of a piece of cake doesn't come very often !
We learnt later that we had missed a group of GPs learning about and performing tai- chi on the lawn at the Sustainability Centre apparently it can be used as an alternative therapy to prescribe to their patients. Anything is better than pills and as a slight digression I read that parkrun has also being prescribed by GPs as a pill alternative? People and GPs are starting to think outside the pill-box.
Butser Hill was still a couple of miles away and as we thinned out from being a group and at times just the two of us or perhaps just another distant couple as we followed an orange-arrow byway through the shaded and slightly spooky beech woods. Being Saturday and a by-way, we were passed by bikes and the odd Land Rover and off-road vehicles, but all very polite on this shared track that actually had only just avoidable puddles! We didn't quite reach Butser Hill before a bit of fatigue set in and we polished off the rest of our drink and sandwiches. The SDW is now shared with quite a bit of weekend traffic on a 1 mile road section towards the round house Ancient Centre thingy, in the near distance. We joined a couple of ladies on our final decent towards the QE Park and picked off the plants spotted in a booklet we had purchased on the 1st day coach journey. This had been compiled by a lady that had walked this walk over many years and had unfortunately been unable to continue due to an illness. The 2 ladies had quite a knowledge of plants but seem to mainly disagreed with each other as to the species! The controversial new section of the 
A3 wound through the valley below but the works scar had 'healed' and nature had taken it back but still the traffic noise cannot really be disguised.
Don't take to a 'certain death' dual-carriageway shortcut that some fool-hardy pepes do, but take the 'acorn way-marked' signs to the underpass and into the cafe courtyard where we were all to meet up today. We were amazed at 50 or so walkers that were already so desperate to get straight on the coach....... not even stopping for tea/coffee, cake, or even for a wee. 
We, however, chilled out and took our ticket for the next coach and settled down for a small beer and jam & cream-scone, an unusual combination with beer I would agree, but nice enough! Around forty minutes and we were up and on our way back to Shoreham. Clive and Lizzy joined our coach as well as some of their fans. The mood on the coach was pretty upbeat and all seemed to be looking forward to what tomorrow may bring.....more of the same we hope, as we are really enjoying the walking and the superb weather once again. We didn't think it would match last year's superb weather but...........it's very early days yet with lots more walking to go yet.