Category: February 2013

sixteen miles, woods, chapels and fallen soldiers – first published 8 February 2013

Weston Shore
Weston Shore

Training for the Moonwalk is a challenge. Sometimes it’s hard to find the motivation or the time to go out on long walks especially in the mud and cold. It has to be done though, if you want to live through twenty six point two miles on the night. Every week the walks get longer and the motivation more illusive, particularly when you come to the long miles. In February 2013, three months before Moonwalk night, I reached the first of those long miles. Continue reading sixteen miles, woods, chapels and fallen soldiers – first published 8 February 2013

Blister advice and winter light – first published 6 February 2013

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Blisters, as any walker knows, are a sad fact of life. Anyone who was walked for any distance will have learned this to their cost. My Moonwalk training exploits taught me a great deal about how best to deal with them and these days Commando often refers to me as his blister technician. Back in February 2013 poor CJ had need of my advice, although he wasn’t exactly eager to accept my help. No son likes to think mother knows best after all. Continue reading Blister advice and winter light – first published 6 February 2013

meandering and exploring – first published 4 February 2013

Millers Pond
Millers Pond

In early February 2013 I took some time off my Moonwalk training and went exploring one of the trails I’d passed on my travels, just to see where it led. It turned out to be quite a find leading me along a little stream through a ribbon of woodland right in the centre of the suburbs. It would become one of my favourite walks in the months and years to come. This was the first time I walked it. Continue reading meandering and exploring – first published 4 February 2013

Body butter and gadget troubles – first published 3 February 2013

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Is it only me or does everyone else suffer with the ‘whatever can go wrong will go wrong’ syndrome when it comes to all things technical? It isn’t that I don’t like gadgets, I’m as fond of my iPod, IPad, Mac, Fuelband, iPhone and any number of other little doodads as the next girl. The problem is they just don’t seem to like me. Whenever I have to do something simple like back up or sync, it seems I hit all sorts of problems and a task I thought would take seconds ends up taking hours. The beginning of February 2013 was a prime example.  Give me the simple things like, walking, gardening and home made body butter any day. Continue reading Body butter and gadget troubles – first published 3 February 2013

seven soggy, muddy miles – first published 1 February 2013

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Back in February 2013 I was training for my second Moonwalk. This time I was using a proper training plan with a long walk one week and a shorter one the next. Even so, when it’s pouring with rain even a short seven mile walk can feel like an eternity. Add to that mud and floods that forced me to change my original plan and you have a real challenge of a walk. Continue reading seven soggy, muddy miles – first published 1 February 2013