Day 15 - Loughborough to Nottingham

I walked around 20 miles today, possibly a little more so it's been my furthest distance, however it didn't feel like it as it was a day of friends, support and big bag transportation! 

I arrived at Loughborough train station just after 8am (I had to walk cautiously as the pavements were frozen in many places, ok I might have been a bit late anyway!) it didn't feel quite as cold as the previous day but the air temperature was low and there was lots of snow and ice around. 

Hugh my friend Lorna's dad had driven up from Gloucester that morning to take my big rucksack from me at the beginning of my walk and would keep it in his car and drop it off that evening in Nottingham. What a start to the day, what kindness! Then John, a friend I'm staying with in Nottingham arrived from the train to walk with me, despite having never walked that far in a day! We had a brief chat then Hugh said we should get on our way which was a good call.

John and I arranged to meet Hugh, along with Lorna and Hari who were on their way from Bradford, in a Keyworth coffee shop for lunch at 12, after which we'd all walk to Nottingham together. That meant we had just under 4 hours to cover the first 10 miles, we didn't know the terrain, but as I was only carrying my small bag it should be do-able but we couldn't hang around. We said goodbye to Hugh and headed down a narrow, grassy alleyway with a lot of dog poo, but thankfully not for long as it opened out into a wide expanse of fields and some beautiful water. 

The walk was a mix of frozen fields and quiet roads. I was grateful for the snow which made what would have been muddy paths easy to walk on, with the added bonus of the lovely crunching sound beneath our feet. It's been a long time since I last saw John so we had plenty to catch up on, we spoke a lot about Ro and the qualities that made him special. We also spoke about John's work as a celebrant, particularly leading funerals. I told a 15 minute story just to say that I like rum in hot chocolate, but as John said when you're walking for hours you can give lengthy answers to simple questions! 

The end of the story was that last December I was visiting my friend Mary in San Francisco and we made a toast to Ro with rum hot chocolate looking at the golden gate bridge all lit up. Mary, Ro and I had visited Lebanon in 2019, and as we drank, shared our memories from that time together.

We arrived in Keyworth around 12.30pm and met Lorna, Hari and Hugh who had already placed our lunch orders so it wasn't long before I was eating a hummus wrap and drinking coffee! When I'm walking with others I don't feel the same need to arrive before it gets dark, but we needed to get on our way as we still had 9 miles to cover! 

I decided to reroute so we could spend more time in the fields and less time along busier roads. It was a special afternoon walking together and as Hari put it, weaving in and out of conversations with each other. Lorna invited us to stop at one point and shared a few words as we remembered Ro and others gone before us, and had time in silence as Hari poured a drop of whisky onto the snow. 

We arrived in West Bridgford along a lightly snow covered greenway, an old railway line that took us almost to a little park where we used the loo and had some whisky coffee and sweet treats. It was 3.30pm and half an hour after my 3pm coffee cut off, I'd had 2 coffees that day and I do prefer coffee without any extras, but it warmed me up and didn't taste too bad! 

We were ready for the final couple of miles into Nottingham, just as it was getting dark we crossed the river and followed John along the canal as he pointed out some of his favourite places in the city. He took us to a bar with a canal boat in the middle of it, and we couldn't not stay for a drink. The atmosphere and lighting were warm and we raised our glasses in a toast to Ro and maybe one day on a long walk I'll tell a 15 minute story that will end with what I drank!