Day 46. Taking Tiffin

When we examined the maps in light of yesterday’s experience, it was clear that today we were heading for another walk of 40+ kms.

So we shortened it and walked from Kilmeston to Brown Candover. This was a mere 22.5 kms, giving us an average for the two days of well over 30 kms, and a total to date of 1285. Today’s climbs were a mere 919 metres.

A very nice lady called Abby in Cheriton told us that, although there was no café in the village, there lots in Alresford, that we should go to Tiffins, and say she sent us.

At Tiffins we had a splendid time talking to some people who informed us that Alresford is the centre of the watercress industry in Britain, and that there is a private railway line, with several steam engines (we had just seen one), just to take the watercess to market.

A very kind couple said they would be donating to Pancreatic Cancer UK via my blog or JustGiving web page.

After yesterday’s immense walk, I tried to activate the UK dongle which I bought in March especially for this purpose. I had carefully explained at PC World why I needed it, the project I was undertaking, that I would not be wanting to activate it until June, and that I did not live in the UK. I was assured that the dongle package from “3” was fully fit for this purpose.

When I got home and examined the package, I saw that I had to activate it within 13 days, and that I could not use it unless I had a UK address. I spent many a long hour trying to sort this out with both PC World and “3” (the latter being in India, of course, and completely unable to understand my problem. I was assured from all sides that, whatever it said on the tin, it would work for me. Of course yesterday, crunch time, I was told that, unless I had a UK address which was linked to my bank account (and of course I do not, as I had explained many times, because I live in France) the package which I have bought and paid for will not work.

This leaves me up the creek without a dongle. As it happens, there is a Holiday Inn next to the campsite, so I can go there, buy a drink, and use their WiFi. After tomorrow I will not be able to do that, so posts on this blog may be sparse. I am of course going to try to find a pay-as-you-go dongle, which is what I asked for in the first place. I don’t know whether they exist. Watch this space.