It's building up to the walk:-
The weather has been perfect if not a little warm, we tell ourselves,with just a sprinkling of rain to keep the allotment happy. Crops are starting to grow already and this could only mean the yeild will be ready in just a few days, slap-bang in the middle of the 9 days.....we surmise! The second of our 'long' practice walks is due this Sunday when we plan to do a 10mile ramble with our local group in and around Quainton, Bucks. The day looks to be warm and is perhaps the last day before a forecast of an 'unusual' low-pressure storm, predicted to drop our temperatures and drop a large amount of rainfall, whilst bringing down branches and generally making an unseasonable and unwelcome nuisance......as long as it tops-up our allotment tanks and gets it out of the system before Friday when our first walk day begins from Eastbourne to Alfriston.
10miles around Quainton in Bucks is perhaps not typical at all of the Southdowns Way in so much as the route seemed to avoid hills but nevertheless it was a good distance with pauses to climb some fairly awkward styles, something we shouldn't encounter too many of on the Southdowns which is starting later in the week. We commenced as normal at 10am and with banana and lunch stops we were still back to the finish, and the excellent cafe on Quainton Green, by 2.45pm. 
A good turn out of some 20 people, many we hadn't seen before as we seem to only do Thursday walks due to our weekends often being elsewhere. A sturdy breed of mixed ages, more used to distances than our 'Thursday group' with 8 mile maximum norm and a pub stop at the end. With a brisk pace a threat of rain that came to nothing, stunning fields of meadow grasses and flowers, still uncut with just a smattering of livestock on the way, it was an excellently selected and led walk. Thanks Ramblers onceagain.