Thursday, August 02, 2007

Over The Hills And Far Away.......

Er...actually...no......was at home this weekend.....

But oh how I long to be on those hills. It's torture at the moment, having to learn to balance home life and the urge to be free and wild on the rugged summits. But at least I managed to get in some new experiences in July - the highlight of which had to be walking Striding Edge. I say walking...it was more like crawling, floundering, balancing etc, but it was good. Apparently, despite my earlier protestations, it looks like I may be persuaded to go up Sharp Edge after all...we'll see!!!!

It suddenly dawned on me that it's only about 6 weeks until I go to Ben Nevis - the ultimate challenge in my quest to become a Hill walker. The past 9 months have been amazing. I've been to some great places, met some wonderful people, developed good skills - especially navigation and lost loads of weight. I feel fitter, generally happier(yes mum....really!!!) and love being out on the hills. I've also matured emotionally and am learning to balance my hobby/passion with everyday life which, for me, is quite difficult. Maybe because I've spent too much time on my own or maybe because I just can't believe there are others out there to share it with. And do you know, that's probably the biggest realisation I've made recently....yes, I can go walking on my own, I can look after myself, be aware and safe and I can be miss independent sturdy girl...but you know what. I don't really want to be. I'll go on my own if I have to, don't get me wrong, but I've finally realised that I want company - good friends and conversation, quite times and after thoughts - to be shared with others. And that is really hard for me to admit. But there it is. When I was in Somerset I used to walk with a small group of friends and we called ourselves the Amblers. We covered the distances but took our time and enjoyed the scenery, the history and the atmosphere of the places we walked in. So 'The Amblers' is about to be re-born - watch this space for more over the coming months.

I'm glad to know that I have some regular readers out there and that in my own small way I seem to have given you the inspiration to get out amongst the hills. I love hearing your stories and they help to keep me motivated as well so please keep on emailing. Carla, let me know how your training is going - I'd love to know. I've even managed to inspire my good friend Pat it seems. I had an email this week telling me about an amazing walk she did around Cheddar Gorge - twice in the same day. Now that's something she wouldn't have done on her own a little while ago so good on on you Pat. Look forward to walking the route with you next time I'm down your way - which I hope will be soon.

I'm still hoping to go to the Peak District next weekend so should get some good walking in then. In the meantime, I'm slogging away in the gym, enjoying gentle evening walks with the dog and generally trying to enjoy life and our feeble summer.

This coming weekend I'm going to be playing around underwater again but hope to get out for a nice walk locally on Sunday - certainly hope so, starting to get a bit stir-crazy with not being out walking!!!!!

Am also passing the time away by reading 'The Fell Walker' by Michael Wood - interesting read and kinda making me want to make a trip to Keswick - then again, maybe not......!!!!!

All for now.

Sturdy

Posted by Admin @ 8:21 am