Rumination: 1,000 Miles Achieved!

Self, at Temple Mill, Holbeck, & at 1,000 miles

 763 days after starting out and by way of 97 separate walking excursions, my 1,000 mile target has been attained, with 7 whole months to spare before my 40th birthday. It seemed like a lot of miles when first planned in 2012, but now in 2014, it can stand as my proudest achievement since graduating from University, after I have blazed trails across the North country (and the Midlands), seeing this land in all its varied aspects and having taken an unexpected journey into my own psyche as I have gone on my way. I have taken paths through geology, geography and history, and now it's time to celebrate my achievement before the trail recalls me.


The Beginning: Gargrave Station 03/03/12

I am pleased to report that I did get a reception party on the terrace at Cuthbert's, coming together in the quarter hour after I arrived at the pub, five of my colleagues from the hospital, JM, KM, KC, TF and LT, and four of my closest friends, IH & AK, and M & SW, all told a party of nine to toast my achievement and receive my gratitude for their time, assembled to hear of walking tales before conversations drifted to more familiar or random avenues. Haven't done afternoon drinking in a long time, as it's not good for the constitution generally, but its fun to see what kind of wildlife is out in the city on a Saturday afternoon, like a bicycling Santa Claus and a Hen Party who will not have their inflatables allowed in the bar at lunchtime. I'll settle to enjoy my well-earned beers, a couple of pints of Norwegian Brown Ale, which sounds like the most hipsterish brew ever (hey, it's international ale week at Wetherspoon's, damn it!), and I'll take All Day Brunch for my lunch, which has to be eaten from beneath a shelter improvised out of pint glasses and menus when the drizzle starts to come on (sorry I don't have an pictures, I'm not someone who regularly Instagram's my lunch). Later decamp to the slightly more upscale surroundings of Veritas, to discover that I still have my skill for picking the hoppiest brew on the bar, Chinook, in this case, and there's some general lamenting among my friends that we don't get together nearly as often as we used to, largely because we got old (all of us celebrating our 40ths within a year of each other). It's not going to be a day for a late finish as three brews in the afternoon is giving me a woozy head, but there's still time for a trip down memory lane and a second meal out as we retire to Fuji Hiro, our regular eating joint of a few years back, the only place that I know of where you can enjoy a plate of Spicied Chicken Men. I'm home by 6.30pm, drunk and cheerful, knowing that my stomach isn't going to thank me after the exercise I've given it, and if it's a rave up celebration that you were hoping for, maybe that will come when I take my department out for drinks at the end of the month.


Half Way: North of Leeds 02/03/13

A few days have now elapsed since my odyssey reached its stated goal and with the celebrations now passed, I have to wonder how do I feel about my attainment of a goal that seemed so large and distant when I conceived it back in June 2012? Honestly, I'm not feeling a lot of elation, as my target has approached so steadily and straightforwardly that I've never felt like I was striving for it, it has always been visible and at within range at the walking rate that I set myself, and I'm sure it would have been greeted with much greater joy if I had gotten there with only a couple of weeks left before my 40th. Instead I have a feeling of well earned satisfaction, of a job well done, something that was achieved with determination and application, like completing a piece of important work with plenty of time to spare (which I don't think I have ever done in my life, every deadline has always been met with an insane flurry of activity). I have learned a lot about my physical capacity in the last two years, and whilst I may have bitched repeatedly about grey moods or general exhaustion, I have found resolve to keep going, to find the energy within myself and the will to seek out new route and new vistas. Starting out from Gargrave Station, back in March 2012, I only had in mind a three month burst of exercise through the spring, which turned into the 1,000 mile odyssey once I decided to continue through the summer, which suddenly seemed like a much more attainable target once I passed halfway within twelve months, no longer was it a distant goal, it was more like milepost that would certainly be passed. Sure, it has taken me two years to get there, and at no great pace either, compared to folks on the walkers forums and those who'd drop the #1000miles tag on Twitter, this is a modest achievement, but it is my achievement, one that I set out to attain, and I did it, it cannot be taken from me.


The Start of the Next 1,000:
Marshall Mills, Holbeck 05/04/14

Honestly, the exercise factor of my walking has not really aided my body in any noticeable way, as I have not lost weight or gained extra stamina for use during my working life, however the travelling aspect has opened my mind in ways I could not have foreseen at all. I'd started out to make walking a method of enjoying my solitude, but it has instead it has given me insights that I had not had previously, and the view of the world that I had possessed has grown richer and more complex, but has also revealed a much greater simplicity in other regards. I have always been a scholar of geography and history, but once you start tramping the trails you begin to appreciate how geology has wrought the spectacular natural features of the land, and how the landscape has influenced how human settlement has developed. The ways that agriculture has wrought changes to the countryside, and how industry has caused entire towns to develop, and how those settlements have changed in the wake of industry's passing. I have followed the tracks laid down by ancient man, through centuries of history in all the quarters of these counties, and even walked through the gathered masses of these contemporary isles, and what was once just a feature on a map or a distant location glimpsed from a passing train or car, is now a landscape that I have interacted with or a place that I have been. Many people I know still do not understand the appeal of walking, to which I can only say, 'It's not about the destination, it's about the journey', for me this has been all about experiencing the world at a human pace and putting aside the methods of the 21st century to see the world at a more considered rate. Indeed, this could be the secular version of pilgrimage, for I have made my journey and experienced the trials and tests that it has presented to me, and at its conclusion I am willing to accept revelation, not of God but of my place amidst the history and peoples of these islands.

1,000 Miles (before I'm 40)

'What happens next?' is the next question, and I can only say 'keep going', because there is still so much more to see, as I may have blazed trails across eight counties over the last three walking seasons, and there may be a lot of colourful lines on the map, the honest truth is there is a lot more green on it that needs to be visited. It's too easy to think that you have run out of places to go, but a look at the map will reveal places that you are still to set foot, even within a very short distance from home, towns that yous still haven't visited and trails that still await your feet. The miles travelled so far could still boggle the mind, for if I were to pick up my theoretical trans-Europe route from Morley via Calais, Paris and Marseilles, the miles walked this year added to a left turn would have landed me in Saint Tropez, and if I'd made a direct aim for Italy from the English Channel, I would currently be in Rapallo, a few miles south-east of Genoa. Alternatively, an eastern trend would have me in Poland, five miles beyond Poznan, and a southern track would place me in Berga, just across the Spanish border and about 65 miles from the Mediterranean coast. Crunching the numbers also has me thinking that my second attainment of 1,000 miles should be a lot quicker than the first, because of the miles put down so far, only 921.7 have been done in the North Country, the remainder being in the Midlands, so 1,000 Up Country should be my next target. Secondly, I have walked 812.2 miles on my own, with the others being familial, social or FOSCL, so 1,000 Solo should also be attainable, and finally, when the 1,000 mile odyssey was determined in June 2012, I had already given myself a head start of 208.2 miles, so I have actually walked only 792.9 miles since then, and thus those miles should be rewalked to give me 1,000 miles since deciding to walk 1,000 miles (!).

So the journey continues because it doesn't have an ultimate destination, though my 40th birthday will be the right place to take stock, and I'm going to keep on for as long as energy and enthusiasm remain with me, I have probably started to late to do the equivalent of a walk around the Earth's Equator, 24,500 miles is surely a target that is beyond me (though if I counted the every-day walking that I did I could probably get close), but I see no reason to say '5,000 Miles Before I'm 50'? That's probably thinking a bit too far ahead, as I've still got seven months of my 40th year to enjoy before then, let us instead put the troubles and trials of my world to one side, and seek out the new paths and views, landscapes and histories, because there is still so much to see in this land.

Next on the Slate: A riverside stroll, in search of a view from my childhood.

1,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 1001.1 miles
  (2014 total: 87.9 miles)
  (Up Country Total 921.7 miles)
  (Solo total: 812.2 miles)
  (Declared Total: 792.9 miles)