Following the serpent to Burpham

Met Anton and we went to Marks and Spencer’s in Tilley hats, Craghopper trousers, Berghaus anoraks, proper Swiss walking boots. Anton was also sporting gaiters strapped around his calf. In his rucksack were Ordnance Survey maps, a compass, the first aid box and a nicely constructed baguette with bacon, lettuce, tomato and I think a dab of mustard.

My rucksack contained an emergency banana, a camera, information about dragons Anton had found, and the Bone of Contention - the small MP3 recorder which had so treacherously let us down last time.

Off to Littlehampton on the train. Today the weather was very different from when we walked it before, dark clouds, very strong wind and sun over a greenish and choppy sea. There was a moment when walking to our start point Anton suddenly felt really ill and wussy, and I thought the curse of the Dragon had struck again. However he felt a bit better after a sit down and some food. He had a snuffling cold and has not been eating properly lately. This is because he has lost interest in food now that he's teetotal.

This time we knew how to work the equipment and everything worked pretty well. I was checking what we had en route and was fairly pleased. We just decided to relax and be ourselves and for better or worse this is what will come out.

Not incredibly eventful walked up to Arundel (making it four times now that I have walked the particularly agoraphobia inducing bit) but felt pretty good. It was windy and a bit bleak, but this seemed much better dragon hunting weather. We walked inland as before following the undulating line of the river, and then crossed the bridge at Arundel and then Anton had a secret route, which led us towards Jacob's Ladder, which is the site of an Iron Age fort.

We climbed up the stairs and by way of an omen I almost trod on a lovely bronze coloured slow worm on the path. Slow worms of course are not snakes but legless lizards. A bit further on we were briefly assailed by a dense cloud of flies, and then we were into the eructational but beautiful village of Burpham. Burpham? Pardon? Etc.

Anton's destination for us, which was a surprise to me, was a nearby pub called the George and Dragon (from whence the legless lizard had repaired methinks). We had two good pints in there (Anton allowing himself a drink) and I took a photo of a sign behind the bar which I enjoyed.

Then home. I rushed off to collect a piece of wood to mend my bed which has necessitated me sleeping on the floor for some weeks. And then mended my bed, which meant taking the cursed thing apart and screwing it together again. That bed has never been right since it spontaneously collapsed in the night a couple of years ago.

Spoke to sprinkles cheerfully for a while, despite a lousy Skype connection. She was off in the evening with her aunt to a Japanese restuarant. I spent the rest of the day rushing about as I seem to have ants in my pants at the moment.

Below: The Sign of the George and Dragon, the slow worm, Anton by the Arun in the wind, pub print.