One route, two very different walks...

Last weekend's walk was a 9 miler along part of the North Norfolk coast on a quite grey, wet and windy day. Given the beautiful weather we have today I felt I couldn't pass up the chance to visit the coast so decided to repeat the same route to test what impact the weather had on me, it turns out that it does have quite a significant effect!

I took the train down to Cromer where I headed onto the beach, walked along to Sheringham and continued to Weybourne mill where I turned round to catch the train back from Sheringham. A really nice, varied route. I walked along sand for part of it, gravel banks for other parts and the cliffs as well, so a really good training opportunity. The change in the weather made the route seem completely different from one week to the next.....

last week....

this week.....much better!

This week's walk, although visually much more fun, was a at much slower pace that the previous week, adding an extra 15 minutes to the 9 miles. I put this down chiefly to the heat, but also partially to the crowds of people that were taking advantage of the sun, meaning I often struggled to walk along at my usual pace. 

Last week I also added a little pit stop to my walk. Stopping off at West Runton Beach Cafe for a hot drink (wouldn't have been needed this week!) and to collect the collecting tin they have kindly been holding for me. Thank you to everyone there who have supported the challenge, I have just counted up the coins and it totals very nearly £30! I suppose it would be remiss of me at this point not to mention my fundraising page....  just click here!

Slight disappointment today was that my camelbak 'hydration pack' has sprung a leak! It was nice and refreshing in the heat to have water leaking onto my back but not really ideal. Looks like I will be venturing to the shops this week to find a replacement, any recommendations welcome....

Here comes the sun....

do do do do.........

Another weekend, another training walk, now with only 7 weeks to go until the challenge.

I didn't want to go too far afield this weekend so decided to take myself off for a Norwich based walk. I headed off from my base in Tombland and headed down Kings Street to Whittlingham broad. I wasn't expecting a particularly exciting walk as this is a route I've done many times, seeing the sign below though suggested that maybe things would be different this time....

Sadly there were no sharks to be seen. However, the sunny weather really was a dramatic change to the weather I've been training in for the past month so this walk did seem a little different than usual. The novelty of the sun detracted from the familiarity of the route I guess. It being spring I was treated to the sight of various duckings, cygnets etc, a nice excuse to pause every so often!

Following the walk to Whittlingham, plus a lap of the broad I headed back into the city. Before I went home however I headed over to my old haunt, Gas Hill. I took myself up the hill and then round to walk down Ketts Hill and then...........repeated it! So, a total walking length of 9.5 miles including 2 goes of Gas Hill, not bad going I reckon. 

Hello again.....

Wow, it really is quite some time since I last updated this....oops!

Pleased to say though that it's just the blog I'm neglecting, the training has been ongoing with at least one long walk every weekend. Given the weather of the past month or so I have had plenty of opportunity to test out my waterproofs!

Recent walks have included more of Wherryman's Way, North Norfolk coast and various parts of Boudicca Way. Too many to really catch up on now but I promise to make more of an effort update on my training walks over the next 7 and a bit weeks. (yep, that means less than 8 weeks until the challenge....)

This weekend my plan was to do two walks, taking advantage of the Bank Holiday weekend with one walk on Sunday and a shorter one on Monday. Well, I managed the Sunday one with a 12 mile walk on Marriotts Way. Good walk, and the rain mostly held off. Unfortunately it was overshadowed by the sigting of two (separate) mice during the last two miles of the walk. Those who know me will be aware that I am irrationally terrified of anything rodent-like so this was definitely not a highlight!  Today I was suffering a bit from yesterday's 12 miler so struggled to motivate myself enough to go for a proper walk. Instead, I took myself off to Gas Hill ( previous visits ) for some gradient training. Managed 5 trips up and down it, not a bad effort all things considered.

So, in summary, have been training, promise to work harder at blogging.

Finally, with less than 8 weeks to go it seem appropriate to start plugging my fundraising page again. I'm not just putting myself through all this training pain for fun, I'm also raising money for two charities that are important to me, The Prince's Trust and JDRF. I know a lot of people sponsored me last year when I sadly had to cancel the challenge (and thank you for sponsoring, you're amazing!) but if you want to sponsor me again (never know!) or didn't last time but would like to then that would be incredible, just click here.