After several days of warm sunshine mid-week, the weekend was heralded by a drop in temperature of at least 10 degrees and the steady rain was turning to sleet as twelve walkers waited for the bus from Luton to Streatley. We  spent a couple of hours trudging through the rain, including an unintentional 3/4 mile detour through Sainsburys carpark (thanks Geoffrey for guiding us out of there). As we crossed the county boundary from Bedfordshire into Hertfordshire the rain stopped and the sun started to appear, much to our relief. The route took us along a number of green lanes heading north east which were muddy but not unduly arduous. This was just as well as we had to do well over 7 miles before we reached the pub in the pretty village of Pirton just after 2pm. The Motte and Bailey gave us a friendly welcome and was still serving food.  Refreshed and with the sun shining we resumed our route along the Hambridge Way, a surfaced bridleway which took us into the village of Ickleford, just outside  Hitchen and from there we headed uphill to our final destination at Letchworth. Feet were dragging as we made it to the station with only a few minutes to spare and just in time to avoid a heavy downpour. The next stage will be 14 miles to Royston.

Gillian