Suddenly, we’re so very close to the end of 2016. I honestly feel as though I should only be summarising September in this post – in fact, the first thing I did was to type the wrong month in this post’s title!
Chew Stoke, North East Somerset.
I’ve already accepted that I’m not going to reach the one-thousand mark (at least, this year). However close I do get, I’m not going to try and push myself too hard in these final months, with the diminishing daylight hours.
So, at the end of October 2016… How far have I come in this challenge?
Near Castle Combe, Wiltshire.
Perhaps for the third month running, I’ve sat here, wanting to write about how this has been a ‘disappointing’ month, as far as my tally goes. In fact, the figures tell a slightly different story and I begin to wonder about the psychological risks of working towards a number, instead of simply tallying my mileage up as I go…
Last weekend was a big dent in my hopes to reach for one-hundred miles, as I came down with a bad cold and barely even left my flat across four-days.
Quantock Hills, Somerset.
02/10 – 12 miles – Quantock Hills (pre-walk)
09/10 – 10 miles – Castle Combe (led by Brunel Walking Group)
15/10 – 17.5 miles – Wrington to Chew Stoke (and back), following the 2 Rivers Way
29/10 – 12 miles – Quantock Hills (walk-leading with Brunel 20s and 30s
30/10 – 4.5 miles – Dundry (with a friend)
Total = 56 miles
Plus 22.5 miles of local and evening walks around Wrington.
Castle Combe, Wiltshire.
Total for October 2016 = 78.5 miles
By accepting an intention to reach my own target – as opposed to the target – I feel I can better ‘allow’ myself to appreciate my walking a bit more. It becomes slightly less about the numbers. One of the reasons I add brackets after each walk (with Brunel; with a friend; etc.) is so that I can appreciate something more; to remember and realize that I don’t always go wandering off on my own and neither do I have to.
Near Chew Stoke, North East Somerset.
Total for 2016 so far: 791 miles
Still, above all of that, I’m a little disappointed that I have come so close to my personal target eight-hundred miles and yet, but for that weekend of illness, I probably would’ve surpassed it already! Nine-hundred miles in one year remains a realistic achievement and yet, it’s not one I see as being essential or necessary to obtain.
Wrington, North Somerset.
