Yesterday I returned from a weekend in Suffolk where I did a 12 mile circular hike around the historic Mediaeval town of Lavenham on Saturday and a 6 mile circular hike around Long Melford on Sunday.
Saturday’s weather was amazing for mid October with warm sunny temperatures of around 23 degrees. This changed literally overnight with Sunday being more typically rainy!
Both walks were rounded off in quaint little tea shops 🙂
I’ve done no ‘special’ walks this week… no walking clubs and no mini adventures. All 49 miles walked in week 40 have resulted from: walking around my local town; walking to and from work; walking between London offices and walking to and from the station. So nothing exciting but an average of 7 miles a day fitted into my everyday working life.
Having arrived home last Tuesday, this weeks’ walking includes our final day (Monday) in Makarska, Croatia. The first 6 days were lovely and sunny however the last day was a different matter in which we were somewhat battered with a storm! The storm didn’t start until lunchtime and I still managed to walk 9 miles around Makarska on that day!
Today being 30th September means we are now 75% of the way through 2018 already! The good news is that as my revised walking target for this year is 2050 miles I am well on my way to reaching this 🙂
I have 436 miles to go which is an average of around 33.5 miles a week or just under 5 miles a day!
46 of these 48 miles were walked in Croatia this week, mostly in and around Makarska, our base for 7 days. We stayed in an apartment and while close to bars, restaurants and the sea it was about 1.5 miles to walk into the Old Town and marina. Some days we did this 3 or 4 times which soon racked up extra miles! And most mornings I got up an hour or two before the rest of my family and went for a 3 – 4 mile walk.
The above photo was taken during one of my early morning strolls where I could see the sun rising above the mountains behind Makarska. This was a lovely time of the day before the resort became busier with holidaymakers!
13 of the 51 miles I walked during this week were completed by hiking the Seven Sisters coast path where I was fortunate to have amazing weather for this. I also boosted this weeks’ mileage up by doing 20 miles on the Wednesday! I walked to and from work; walked around Central London (rather than taking the tube for meetings); did 5 miles in the gym and another 6 during the evening with one of my local walking clubs!
View from the top of the Bridgewater Monument
Running total (to week 35): 1,422
Miles walked in week 36: 37
Total walked so far in 2018: 1,459
Not quite as many miles as usual this week mainly due to going away to Liverpool with work for 3 days (although on both days I got up early and did 4 – 5 miles each day before breakfast) and also being busy with lots going on at home! I did manage to fit in a 9 mile trek with another walking club today, around the scenic Ashridge Estate which is a National Trust which is part of the Chiltern Hills in Hertfordshire.
A good effort this week with quite a few of these miles completed during a fabulous hiking and camping weekend in the Peak District in Derbyshire.
With another 18 weeks left in 2018 and a new target of 2000 miles walked I will need to keep the pace up and walk an average of 35 miles each week for the rest of the year!
I’ve had a busy week with a few days in Liverpool for work and a weekend with my family in Suffolk! Keen to continue with my walking mileage and also to spend a bit of time exploring I got up early 4 times this week and did 2 x 3.5 mile early morning Liverpool walks and a couple of early morning (1 x 4 miles and 1 x 6 miles) beach walks in Lowestoft.
Early morning is a beautiful time of the day when the sun is rising and there are hardly any people about.
Fifty at Fifty 