I left Grove House at about 9:00 and began hitching towards Warminster. I walked the first 3 miles to the town of Wootton Bassett¹
Just outside the village I got a ride to Calne and after lunch (three packets of chips and a couple of fruit juices) I hitched on to Melksham. Finally a truckie gave me a lift to Warminster and I rang Ann [my relation, Lady Ann Blakiston] and she came and picked me up.
After I had settled in at her cottage in the village of Corton, she took me around to a dairy farm run by twin brothers Richard and Robin Witt and I arranged to work for them at hay-carting for tomorrow.
¹Now known as Royal Wootton Bassett for a fascinating reason. During the Gulf Wars of the early 2000s, military personnel killed in the fighting were brought back to England via the nearby RAF Lineham air base. As the coffins were driven through Wootton Bassett, the town’s residents would line the streets in salute. Read more about it here:
CurseOfTheTraveller 