Week 43 walking update

Running total (to week 42): 1,762

Miles walked in week 43: 46

Total walked so far in 2018: 1,808

I had two days during this week where I did no extra walking at all… On Thursday I was working at home and just too busy with full-on back-to-back Skype meetings that I didn’t even have time for a lunch break, let alone a 4 mile lunchtime walk.

On Saturday, Chris and I had planned a 6 mile walk to a local pub for lunch and back but unfortunately his elderly father was taken into hospital so we abandoned this, drove to Norfolk, picked up his Mum and took her into visit him in hospital! Hopefully he will soon start to feel better.

Today in lovely sunny (but cold and crisp) weather I did a walk with a local walking group which focussed around the Wimpole Estate which is not far from Cambridge.

Week 41 walking update

Running total (to week 40): 1,663

Miles walked in week 41: 48

Total walked so far in 2018: 1,711

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 🙂

Week 39 walking update

Running total (to week 38): 1,560

Miles walked in week 39: 54

Total walked so far in 2018: 1,614

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!

Week 38 walking update

Running total (to week 37): 1,512

Miles walked in week 38: 48

Total walked so far in 2018: 1,560

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!

Week 37 walking update

Running total (to week 36): 1,459

Miles walked in week 37: 53

Total walked so far in 2018: 1,512

Good effort this week! 53 miles is an average of 7.5 miles walked each day 🙂 As a little snapshot, this was my mileage for this week:

Monday = zero (quite unusually these days for me not to walk anywhere)
Tuesday = 11 (walking to and from work and the stations and using the treadmill and cross trainer in the gym)
Wednesday = 11 (same exercise as Tuesday)
Thursday = 13 (same as Tuesday and Wednesday but I had an extra walk into our local town and back this evening)
Friday = 4 (walk to retail park and back)
Saturday = 2 (walk into town and back)
Sunday = 12 (walking with local walking club)

Gym update

A short update to confirm I am still doing 2 – 3 gym sessions each week! So far this year I have been to the gym on every single day that I’ve been in the London office. As I work from home a couple of random days a week, have the odd flexi day and occasionally work away from London I never do more than 3 days in the office.

The gym is often quiet and there is usually no more than 4 or 5 people using it at the same time. We have TV screens with subtitles which helps to relieve the boredom of 25 minutes on a cross trainer or tread mill!

My routine is still fairly similar:

25 minutes on the cross trainer
10 minutes of weights (focussing on arms and shoulders)
25 minutes on the treadmill

I haven’t done as much on the rowing machine lately as these are not located near the TV’s… so they are boring…

And I am still burning off around 450 calories each time.

This morning there was nobody in the gym at the end of my session so I took the opportunity to take the above photo!

Weeks 35 and 36 walking update

Running total (to week 34): 1,371

Miles walked in week 35: 51

Total walked so far in 2018: 1,422

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.

Hiking the Seven Sisters

Challenge number 19 now complete! I was inspired to do this when my friend Jas first mentioned it over a year ago. I was lucky to have experienced perfect weather conditions, unlike the torrential rain from last weekend’s camping trip in the Peak District!

The Seven Sisters are the 7 chalk cliffs you can see in the picture below. The total distance was 13 miles and despite hiking up and down the 7 peaks it wasn’t too difficult. I’ll shortly produce a blog post on my travel blog where full details can be found!

September weigh-in

Weight today… 8 st 5 lb! Oh dear…

For the first time this year, my weight has increased…

I think this happened during last weekend, August Bank Holiday where I was camping in the Peak District. Despite 2 mountain hikes this also involved a 4 day binge of alcohol, crisps and snacks, curries, cakes, cream teas and ‘taking my finger off the diet pulse…’

So it seems the moment I stop tracking my calories my weight creeps upwards…

Thankfully I haven’t lost my focus and I am still in the mindset of taking care of my weight and fitness levels and aim to be back at 8 st 3 lb in October!

Kinder Scout… hill or mountain?

As the highest point in the Peak District in Derbyshire I had always thought of Kinder Scout as a peak or a hill rather than a mountain. However, as Wikitravel and other websites classify Kinder Scout as a mountain, I’ve added it as the third mountain climbed in 2018! (And at 636 meters it was actually higher than Slieve Tooey last Saturday which is a mountain…)

Chris and I had a great weekend with 5 of our friends where we camped in Edale and climbed Kinder Scout last Saturday in lovely sunny weather.

By complete contrast we climbed another two peaks the following day in torrential rain, temperatures not much above freezing and high winds!