The morning plumbing and chirpy birds singing from outside our open window roused us from our slumber. We showered , got dressed straight into our walking gear and down for our 8:30 breakfast prepared by Mark our multi-tasking host and chef. A good home cooked Wiltshire ham and eggs for me with Lesley having the vegetarian option but with ham! (don't ask) My sometimes grumpy back was a bit below par this morning, typical! Probably from the strange bed or yesterday's on/off's of the rucksack. The sun was shining much too brightly and looking to us like a false dawn as it wasn't tallying to BBC app forecast that predicted dull at first followed by a bit more duller later. So we're now ready for the first 12 miles, providing the pre booked taxi turns up on time. At breakfast we learn rather belatedly that Mark could have given us a lift to the start and a couple sitting next to us at breakfast, offered us a lift too as they were driving right past towards Avebury! Something to perhaps ask the proprietor if booking up Parklands, but check he is able to it, the day before!
We were collected on time by the taxi for the 10 miles or so drive to Overton Hill where the chatty driver said it was well-worth a look at 'The Sanctuary' opposite the start, before setting off. The sun was still shining when the taxi driver took our photos, "all part of the service he said"! However excited we were to get to move on from this rather underwhelming place, as advised we popped over the road to The Sanctuary for a look at the circles of stones and posts, or now just the stone markers where the main stones used to be and more markers where the wooden posts would also have been before they rotted away, probably a very long time ago! We diligently read the info board pointing out what the experts had speculated they were all put there for. We met a nice couple from Wokingham doing the same circular browse and discovered they too were walking the Ridgeway, but in short sections by taking 2 cars and shuffling them from start to finish. Today they were starting the same section as us having completed other sections closer to home. Quickly passing us by although our pace, over time, was pretty similar and so we kept them in view in the distance for some way, as the husband had a bright luminous day pack and seemed to always walk several yards ahead of his wife (forgot to mention: as we were going back to Parklands otel tonight we had our large rucksacks but with just a day provision and no clothes so our pace must have been brisker due to this ). The broad path was shared by polite trail bikers, MTB cycles, horses and later on we passed through a horse and carriage event with a variety of sometimes quite elderly drivers and youthful passengers, not racing, but following a marked course taking in the Ridgeway and other by-ways on the downs.
After just 15 or so minutes from our off, 
a couple of lad-cyclist came towards us, politely, them taking one rut and us taking the other. We both commented on elf & safety grounds that they had no protective gear or even helmets and 'rut-riding' from a previous painful experience, is never easy, having to balance both of your pedals exactly horizontally and therefore trying to avoid the inevitable & sudden bike-stopping event! As they passed us one 'rut-rider' became parted from his bike, much to the amusement of his mate. "That's one-all" he laughed. No harm came to man or bike thankfully and left us speculating about the fall of the other lad? At Barbury Castle we took on some welcomed calories with Mark's perfectly prepared pack lunch (one between two was enough) where we chose to sit up high and take in the special surrounding views. Wrong! A chill wind blowing across our exposed location soon lowered our body temperature so we couldn't hang around long enough to really enjoy it. We gobbled our food down and moved on soon realising that had we walked just a few hundred yards more, after Barbury Castle, the adjacent Barbury Hill viewing point might have been a much better and more sheltered stopping point…... had we known it. Barbury Hill also benefited from some slightly scruffy toilets, a drinking water tap and proper seats. The only down side being is it has a car park, which of course means it had rather a lot of people and is therefore much less peaceful, so you take your choice, people or bone creaking hypothermia!
The next section for the afternoon was very pretty with our track ahead proceeding through part of the remote 
Marlborough Downs with just the odd spectator cow for company before dropping gently down towards our village and hotel at Ogbourne St George. However, with forward planning, we had previously decided, barring problems of course, to walk on, by-passing the village on the 2 - mile loop of the Ridgeway that skirts round the perimeters. This shrewd move would save walking this bit tomorrow morning and of course our packs were lighter today…clever or what? We felt pretty fresh so were not even slightly tempted by the 200 yards path down a lane and into the village and our days' resting place. Passing by the 'To the Village' sign and carrying on along the trail we crossed the main A346 just after the pretty village of Hallam with a quite surprising and amazing array of quaint thatched cottages. We crossed the path of the old railway line, now used as a national cycle trail, ascended pretty sharply for about a mile to reach our footpath sign and turn off for the day. 
We now were descending at last by way of a clear and well used path dropping back into the village, passing a haulage company with big red lorries filling their yard, over the old railway line / cycle way again and under the main A346 bypass before finally removing our boots at Parklands before a well earned cup of tea from our room tray. The Hotel was closed as it was Sunday, so we showered and rested, before changing into our evening wear (we carried it, so we were going to use it ) and walking to the Inn with a Well pub, just 200 yards up the road for a decent pint of local ale and a very nice evening meal indeed. This pub could also be a good alternative accommodation with rooms at the back in small 'lodges' complete with baths we were told by the landlord. It has an unusual glass covered well in the bar as a feature, hence the name. Well fed and watered we headed back to Parklands in the near total darkness as we had not taken our torch and village street lights were limited to hopefully enjoy our second sleep at the otel. Thankfully, no hot tap creaks tonight as the kitchens were not being used and guests were few or were perhaps not bothering washing tonight. Sleep was quick andpretty good!