The first day of August 2013 began badly with lots of annoying jobs and a call from a grouchy supplier. Then there were Bridge supplies. It seemed impossible to get my head round that minefield. Things started to look up when I went for my lunch time walk. The parks were looking beautiful and there was another rhino to tick off my list. Then I found the rhino motherload… Continue reading The rhino mother load – first published 1 August 2013
July 2013 was coming to an end and I had a date with a rhino. The plan was to walk to the airport, find the rhino there and walk back, a nice little eight mile stroll and one more of the out of town rhinos ticked off my list. Sometimes things don’t work out quite how you planned though and a catalogue of disasters meant a change of plan. Continue reading scorched earth – first published 27 July 2013
At the end of a busy day the last thing you want to see on the way home is a huge plume of smoke ahead between you and home. That is exactly what happened on the evening of 26 July 2013 as Gail and I were heading for the Itchen Bridge. By the time we realised what was burning it was too late to turn back. We’d just have to find a way around it if we could. Continue reading southampton’s burning – first published 26 July 2013
In early June 2013 CJ accidentally got a taste of homelessness and almost frightened me out of my wits. There was a worrying development on the river path and I seemed to have chocolate on the brain. The latter is probably quite normal. I also discovered that irritating survival expert and TV personality, Bear Grylls, has his uses. Continue reading Bear Grylls as a new diet tool – first published 10 June 2013
Yesterday I told you all about the Spitfire factory and the old Floating Bridges. My plan had been to walk down to the shore and have a look at the Royal Princess from the other side of the water, trying out a different route in the process. Passing the old Supermarine site and the remains of the Floating Bridges was purely incidental but, as so often happens, I got a bit distracted and it was an interesting diversion. It’s good to make plans but not if you stick to them too rigidly, I prefer to go with the flow. Next stop, Weston Shore to see if I could get a better view of the giant ship. Continue reading A princess, a queen and a sun lounger disaster – first published 8 June 2013(2)
Most marathon training programmes build up slowly, little by little with regular walks or runs and then taper off in the weeks leading up to the event. Usually the longest walk or run is twenty miles, at most twenty two. The thinking being, if you can run twenty miles you can push through the wall to run the final six point two on the day. This was not the way I saw it. When I started off five miles seemed like a pretty long walk. After walking ten, five was a piece of cake. It seemed to me, if I did the whole twenty six point two before the tapering, it would be easier on the night. In April 2013 I’d made it to the penultimate walk. Continue reading Moonwalk training, twenty four miles and a few disasters – first published 12 April 2013
With less than two months to go until the Moonwalk I had hit the long miles with a vengeance. Even the short walk weeks were ten miles plus and, in mid March, I had a twenty mile walk ahead of me. The last thing I needed was bad weather… Continue reading Twenty hellish miles with goats in trees – first published 15 March 2013
Some days it seems anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Other times even the things that can’t go wrong do. 22 January 2013 was one of those. In fact, it had all started to go wrong after my snowy walk the day before and went downhill from there. Reading it now it seems like one of those bad farces you watch on TV with one hand over your eyes. At the time I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Continue reading A disastrous day – first published 22 January 2013
25 April 2015
A few years ago I made a cock up of monumental proportions on the Twilight Race For Life. Basically I turned up on the wrong night, one day after the race, dressed in bright pink, with my race number pinned to me and covered in glo sticks. As mistakes go it was a big one and embarrassing but, to put matters right, I walked more than the distance involved, dressed in my stupid pink costume, all alone, at night and feeling like a total idiot. On Saturday we discovered someone else had made an error that made mine look like a tiny faux pas. Let me start at the beginning…. Continue reading Monumental cock up on the London Marathon front
21 April 2015
Even before I crossed the road I could see the green sign was still there and my heart sank a little. Even so, I crossed and peered uncertainly up the towpath. It loooked dry and firm but still I dithered. Last year there was a bad breach where the path looked to be in danger of being washed away altogether. If I went ahead I could come seriously unstuck and have to turn back. The cracked wall was testement to just how bad the flooding had been. The wier was flowing fast, but it wasn’t as high as I’ve seen it. In the end I decided to give it a try. Continue reading Weirs, alpacas, goats impersonating cows and stinging nettles