Sunday 21 April 2013

The things you see...

It's amazing what you see whilst you're out walking, on my latest couple of jaunts out to Laxey I've seen the obligatory wayward one shoe on top of a wall and the single glove on the kerb, but the winner this week was found by the road in Baldrine... It was a fish slice from a BBQ set! It looked pretty new and wasn't there when I did the same walk 2 days earlier, so if you are one piece short of a BBQ set, then you know where to look! It might seem odd to write about mislaid items, but when I'm doing the same walk over and over, I tend to look for markers of where I should be and at one time... I also place bets with myself on whether or not the glove will still be there when I get that specific part of my walk. This sounds ridiculous (even whilst I'm writing it), but I think it's important to find ways of entertaining yourself when your walking, so that you can battle the long stretches of road on the big day (especially during the hours of darkness)!

This week I finally feel as though I'm making progress, 2 x 14 mile walks under 3 hours and 10 minutes and my confidence is growing. The only thing I'm worried about is the possibility of wet weather. Last Thursday night when i walked from Douglas to Laxey, I got to Mines Road and turned around to walk back to Douglas and the heavens opened... My jacket got soaked almost immediately and after about half an hour the rain eased for 15 minutes before it started up again. My trainers were wet and so were my 1000 mile socks, not a good combination if you're planning to do 85 miles! This got me thinking that I would need to have 2 pairs of worn in trainers before June, so I picked found a pair of 'comfortable' back-ups and took them out for a 'test drive', thankfully they survived a good 3 hour stomp without causing me any blisters (touch wood), which has put my mind at ease somewhat... I would still love it not to rain during this years Parish Walk though!

I'm planning to give my sister another chance on the training front (after her dismal efforts a month earlier) so I'm hoping we'll get a good 9 or 10 miles in either tomorrow or Tuesday evening, here's hoping the weather will be nice! It'll be good to do a previous favourite route of mine, the old railway line from Douglas to Peel, whilst I know we won't go that far (probably and hour out and an hour back) I want to get as much walking in as possible this week. Next weekend will see me travel to watch my beloved Everton against Fulham, so I won't be able to do any official walking, unless I save my bus fare and wander the 6 miles there and back between from the Steam Packet ferry berth and Goodison Park?

I've gone on for longer than I intended, so will wrap things up and leave you with this question... How does someone lose one shoe and not notice?

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