There’s something about the halfway point in a long walk that always makes me smile. After that I know there are more miles behind me than in front and I’m homeward bound. At the same time, these are some of the most difficult miles. Tiredness begins to set in, muscles begin to ache. This is when the mind is more important than the body and the little things to make me smile are the things that keep me going. Continue reading Moonwalk training, Winchester at last – first published 12 April 2013
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
February 2013 was coming to an end, leaving me just over two months before the Moonwalk. Now the long walks were getting tougher and the cold weather wasn’t helping. To avoid getting lost on a long cold walk I went back to basics and a route I knew inside out and back to front. Familiar doesn’t necessarily mean uneventful though… Continue reading eighteen miles, snow and horses in pyjamas again – first published 22 February 2013
The long walks of the Moonwalk training weren’t always easy. In fact there were times when I really didn’t feel like walking at all. Mostly though I overcame this obstacle and got out pounding the pavements despite the inner voice saying stay at home. Sometimes it took a supreme effort of will to get out and keep going. Training for a marathon, even if it’s a walking marathon, is a tough lonely business. The last walk of January 2013 was one of those times.
Continue reading Walking when you don’t really want to walk – first published 27 January 2013
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
21 December 2014
Somehow Christmas has crept up on me when I wasn’t looking. Perhaps this has something to do with losing four days to flu. So Sunday found me with presents to buy and lots of miles to walk if I wanted to make the hundred by the end of the month. It seemed a good idea, then, to combine the two things and walk the five miles to the Swan Centre in Eastleigh. Continue reading Mansbridge, last minute shopping and making up the miles
15 November 2014
Despite it being the first day of my holiday, there was no let up in the rain on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, there was no chance of staying inside in the dry and warm because I’d been invited to my granddaughter Bea’s birthday party. As Commando had an appointment at Commando Senior’s little crooked house this meant a six mile walk for me. Another walk in the rain. Continue reading chasing rainbows
9 November 2014
Sunday was about remembrance in more ways than one. It began with two minutes of silence and the Queen laying a wreath of poppies on the cenotaph in London. Of course we weren’t there, we were standing silently in the gym watching on TV and thinking of all those who gave their lives for our freedom. Continue reading Remembrance Sunday