The Road goes ever on and on; Down from the door where it began;
Now far ahead the Road has gone; And I must follow, if I can;
Pursuing it with eager feet; Until it joins some larger way;
Where many paths and errands met; And whither then? I cannot say.

[JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings]

Sunday 24 January 2010

The First Seven Days of Leisuredom

Between Saturday 16 January (the day after ceasing to be employed) and Friday 22 January, we walked on six out of seven days and covered 55 miles*. Hardly an earth-shattering number, but I was rather pleased with it (even if my legs are still undecided as to whether to forgive me for the sudden shock).

That pleasing statistic set me to thinking about how many (or rather, how few) miles per week I’ve been motivated to get out and cover over the last four months. Here’s the answer:

image

We will be setting out from Kent in just under 2 months time, and to make sure that I’m in a fit state to enjoy the walk, I’ll be aiming for the mileages for the next eight weeks to look nearer to the ‘Week 13’ column rather than like the ‘Week 1’ column.

(*We’ll gloss over the fact that this week’s 55 miles involved less ascent than we would often cover in a single day in a hillier place)

6 comments:

  1. Hi Mick & Gayle
    I just picked up on you blog again. Exciting to hear you're planning another walk and I am going to look forward to hearing about your planning and the walk. You sponsored me on my continuous Munro round in 2008 www.johnandskye.blogspot.com Long trips can be addictive! I still have not recovered from the sense of freedon and wonder that I gained from my walk and long to do something like it agian. You are beginning to inspire me....Oh heck....
    Best wishes
    John Dunbvain

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  2. I looked at your 'week 1' statistic and thought that it was fine! Dear me! You can't go rushing into these things... I managed a massive 9 miles with Lord E & Whippy yesterday afternoon. 'twas a struggle!

    Word = 'glotaily' - I like that...

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  3. Hi John - I'm glad you posted that comment, because for some reason I thought that you had stopped blogging when you finished your big walk - so I've just rediscovered your blog too!

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  4. Alan - "Glotaily" - what a good word. Now all we have to do is find a definition for it...

    As for mileages, I might have been persuaded that the 'Week 1' figure was reasonable, except that I looked at Week 2 of our K2CW itinerary and noticed that I must have had a rush of blood to the head when I planned those distances!

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  5. Ooh Err! That's over 20 miles a day for a whole week - still - shouldn't be too many hills in there...

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  6. I think that it was the 'but it's completely flat' straw that I was clutching at when I thought that a whole week of 20-miles-a-day was a good idea.

    Or maybe there was a bottle of wine involved whilst I was doing that bit of planning.

    Or maybe I voiced concerns about the distances to Mick, who maybe was watching football on the TV at the time and thus just said "that sounds fine, dear".

    Or maybe all of the above!

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