The start of this year's journey was literally a damp squib. This morning in London, as I put the last few things into my backpack, was grey and wet.
I put my faith in South West trains - often a risk - but my train left Waterloo a minute early and arrived at Sherborne five minutes late. Not bad by British standards. Half way through the route the clouds gave way to sunshine, and it's been blue skies all the way since then.
Sherborne - a small town in North Dorset, 19 miles north of Dorchester and 21 miles south east of Glastonbury - is a pleasant place of honey coloured stone, centred around its abbey and an ancient public school.
The school - £19,200 per term for boarding - has operated on the same site since its foundation by Aldhelm in 705, many of the current buildings date from its refoundation by Edward VI in 1550.
The abbey is roughly contemporary, much of the magnificently vaulted building dates from the 14th and 15th centuries, but with inevitable Victorian tinkering.
The town also has two castles, one a small stately home very choosy with its opening hours, the other a mediaeval ruin, but sadly in a quick overnight there isn't time to see everything.
I walked to the edge of the town, not very far, and tested the first few yards of the footpath which will start tomorrow's route, clearer than I'd expected, then returned for a pub grub dinner and a couple of pints back in my resting place for tonight.
Tomorrow's journey runs from village to village across Dorset to another old town - Shaftesbury - and at just over 18 miles it will get my legs into gear for what comes next. The forecast is for some sun, around 22 degrees, with very little risk of rain. That sounds great!
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