I awoke to grey skies and a slight feeling of seasickness from sleeping on an inflatable bed. With my contact lenses in, the pouring rain became evident. However it takes more than a bit of drizzle to stop Pope and Finill, so off we set down the Grand Union Canal towards Milton Keynes where Steve's friend Giles had kindly been bullied into giving us a night's accommodation.
My feet were completely soaked within two minutes of running along the canal towpath, so it was some while before I realised that my trainers felt slightly loose. This puzzled me, as I was expecting my feet to swell slightly with all the miles and I stopped to investigate. The reason soon became apparent. Jez had thoughtfully removed the insoles from my shoes to enable them to dry better when he put them next to his boiler. Unfortunately he had forgotten to put them back in before he handed them to me the next morning and I had foolishly not noticed.
The 'Mizuno' imprint on the soles of my feet is still visible. I should ask them for sponsorship...
Things soon brightened up as we came across a barge operating as a cafe which provided Steve with the opportunity to eat more buttered toast along with eggs, mushrooms beans and sausage. Happy Days.
Milton Keynes appeared and then inexplicably faded from view as unbeknown to us the canal follows an extremely wiggly path. We asked a fisherman how far we had to go and he replied '4 miles'. This cheered us up no end and we pressed on, however when we asked another couple about an hour later, they claimed that it was now 6 miles! As we clearly had no idea where we were and it was after 8pm, we phoned Giles who took pity on us and drove out to pick us up. It turned out that we were only about 3 miles from his house and had completed 55 miles.
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