Tag: Twyford

Footpaths, stained glass and a thousand year old tree

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18 November 2015

This morning there was a break in the rain and a hint of sun between the dark clouds. It seemed too good an opportunity to miss so I grabbed the car keys and my walking boots. CJ who doesn’t like to miss an opportunity to get out, especially if it might mean conning me out of a coffee, tagged along for the ride. Over breakfast I’d worked out a route and even found a couple of likely parking places and somewhere to stop for that coffee. It all looked suspiciously like a plan. Continue reading Footpaths, stained glass and a thousand year old tree

The last long walk…almost – first published 26 April 2013

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As April 2013 was drawing to a close I had one more long Moonwalk training walk ahead of me. This was the big one, twenty-six point two miles. The longest walks or runs on most marathon training plans stop at twenty or twenty-two miles. The logic being, if you can make it that far, you can do the whole marathon on the day. This is not something I’ve been comfortable with and, for both my Moonwalks, I’ve trained to the full distance. Whether this is a sensible approach or not remains to be seen but it does at least leave me confident I can finish a marathon. April 26 was the day of the long walk…

Continue reading The last long walk…almost – first published 26 April 2013

Moonwalk training, Winchester at last – first published 12 April 2013

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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

Moonwalk training, twenty four miles and a few disasters – first published 12 April 2013

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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

twenty two blue sky miles – first published 29 March 2013

Frozen puddles
Frozen puddles

The end of March 2013 was Good Friday and time was running out on the Moonwalk Training front. After a horrible wet twenty miles it was time to step it up to twenty two. The forecast was good, as long as I got home before the afternoon, but it was still icy cold. As ever, there were plenty of moments when I wondered why I’d signed up for this… Continue reading twenty two blue sky miles – first published 29 March 2013

Twenty hellish miles with goats in trees – first published 15 March 2013

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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

Homeward bound

Water Farm
Water Farm

Eventually I dragged myself away from my seat overlooking the Itchen Valley and, humming to myself, set off along the lane towards Church Fields. There were sheep grazing on the Water Farm fields. At this point I had a choice of route, down the winding lane to Shawford and onto the Navigation, or across the road and through the southern part of Twyford Village. The Navigation was tempting, mostly because it meant avoiding the horrors of a mile and a bit of footpathless Highbridge Road with cars zooming past at fifty plus miles an hour. The Navigation, on the other hand, would have mud and breached banks. The section between Otterbourne and Allbrook was almost impassable on my last visit. Taking that option could well mean having to turn back. Continue reading Homeward bound

Twyford, revisiting an old friend

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3 March 2015

Safely across the road at the Hockley Traffic lights I set off along the road towards Twyford. It’s not the nicest of roads with cars whizzing past and nothing much to see at first, just half a mile of potholed pavement, traffic and fields hidden behind scrubby trees. I could have been on the Navigation trail if I’d just turned to the west but there was method in my madness. Back in the days of Moonwalk training walks, when my one foray onto the Navigation at Mansbridge had ended after half a mile of mud and fear before I’d even got started, this had been the route I’d taken when I came to the long miles. The ten mile mark was Twford, known as one of the most beautiful villages in Hampshire and, by trial and error, I’d found a little oasis of peace and calm amid the screaming muscles and blistered feet. Continue reading Twyford, revisiting an old friend