MIDWIVES' DAY! WASHINGTON TO WHITEWAYS - DAY 6

Starting day 6 at Washington - Elsena, Pam and Tina

Above the Arun Valley taken by nice young man!

We watched this calf being born!

We have come from that horizon path and the farm

Hooray, the end of today!

Cheers with cups of tea - Pam Tina and me

4th May 2011:  What an amazing day - such a lovely walk - easier than other days. We met on time at Whiteways Cafe car park, had a coffee and flapjack, then left one car there. We drove to Washington to start our Day 6 walk. It was good to see my midwife friends, as I missed their last outing, just a pity our other friend Jo could not make it today. I was quite nervous about walking today when I got up, because I was still a bit stiff in the hips and legs, and my left little toe had a sore place. Once I had stretched, showered, sorted out my toe, I was much better, especially when I put my boots on and they were comfortable.

The start of the walk from the village was up the hill and past the church, crossing the footbridge over the A24. We went steeply up through the woods on a rough track, quite a long way before we came to a clearing, and then it continued to rise, and rise. The view at the top was worth the climb and effort! We sat on a log seat and had some more flapjack and water before attempting the next hill. Once we were on the crest, we were looking down on Storrington beyond the valley and miles of land to the North Downs in the Distance. The crest was a long one, so there was no climbing for a while, making it a pleasant walk.

We arrived at a decent mound (tumulus) to sit on for lunch, with a splendid panoramic view, from the sea at Arundel, parts of the snaking River Arun and the valley, as well as seeing the huge hill up to the A29 that we would have to climb. We took the opportunity to ask two walkers to take our photo by the SDW signpost - very good humoured and pleasant young men. They were walking from Amberley to Shoreham, and asked where we were going to, so I said 'Winchester'. Not today surely he asked! I explained what we were doing for GRACE and why, and they seemed very interested. As we said our goodbyes, they both handed me a £5 note for GRACE! How kind people are, and generous. Yesterday, we were given £5 by an elderly gentleman, who asked about the GRACE T shirt I was wearing!

Another surprise was in store not long afterwards... we walked down a steep chalk path to a dairy farm, which also had a small field beside the track with cows that had had their calves and some who had not (as well as a bull - I could not see why that was!) As we were going past, Pam said she thought one of the cows, which was laying down, had a prolapse, but on closer inspection, it was a bag of membranes, with a calf foot visible within it! No farmer anywhere, but we three intrepid midwives thought we would keep a close eye on proceedings! The bulge got bigger, the farmer appeared (he knew this cow was probably in labour, so was checking up on her every hour), he pierced the bag of water with his stick, and the two front legs of the calf became clearly visible. We stood well back, and the farmer was very kind to allow us to take photographs of the birth - as long as we did not get close, because the cow would stand up and cause problems. I used my zoom, and we were so priviledged to see the birth of a beautiful calf! The mother licked and licked the calf all over. It raised its head, but had not managed to stand by the time we left.

After that, we walked down to Amberley, then had to cross the River Arun and climb the very steep white chalk path up to the A29, which took about another hour, but well worth the effort, to look back at where we had come from on the horizon, with the river in between.

The walk down to the Whiteways Cafe was not a pleasant one, as the A29 is very busy, we walked along the edge of the crop in the field beside the road - too narrow to walk comfortably. We enjoyed a cup of tea in the sun outside before setting off back to Washington for my car, and then the drive home.

End of a perfect 6th day and 60 miles! Tomorrow, we will meet Gabrielle at Cocking at 9.30 am, before driving one car to the Whiteways Cafe car park, to walk from there back to Cocking - about 8.5 miles, so a shorter, if perhaps challenging route.