Rumination: The Conclusions of 2014

Once again the concluding thoughts of the year come along after the business of the 2014 walking season has receded to be replaced by the surprisingly involved festive season that has absorbed most of the last 5 weeks, I might not have had any self-powered excursions to fill my days, but it feels like I have barely had any time to relax since celebrating my 40th birthday. The conclusion of 2014 feels a whole lot better than the similar end a year previous, 2013 ending with me feeling mentally drained and physically exhausted, whilst this time around I'm already looking forward to what 2015 might bring and seeking out the new trails to occupy my legs as there are still so many routes to walk, around West Yorkshire and beyond. Still, nearly half way through this particular Dark Season and at the end of the 1,000 Miles Before I'm 40 odyssey, and we have to wonder it once again, What have we learned this year?

Rumination: 40 Years Achieved & Celebrated!

So, how does 40 years old feel, exactly? Not all that different to 39 to be honest, or to any age back as far as about 32 for that matter, it's more of a marker along the way of life than the start of old age, and so many people I know have turned 40 without it affecting them at all that it held no dread for me, indeed hitting 30 was far harder for me than 40 could ever be. No one believes the 'Life Begins at 40' adage any more, and the fears of irrelevance with the passing years have been shunted on by a decade or more, certainly no one I know feels like life left them behind with their fifth decade starting, and I can now look back on the last decade with a great feeling of satisfaction and hope for the one to come. My fourth decade may have started with some moments of serious emotional instability, followed by the dissolution of my settled existence in Burley, but at its end, I am permanently settled in Morley and feel like I am in my prime, at the end of a walking odyssey that has taken me cross country and given me fresh perspectives on all corners of West Yorkshire, feeling good about my current self rather than lamenting my lost youth. So, taking a week off work seemed like a good plan for my 40th Birthday week, so that I might enjoy some time to myself rather than having to exercise my limbs at the hospital, and when you have gone and walked 1,400+ miles, you deserve the opportunity to do nothing for a while.

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.

Rumination: Another Dark Season Survived

This last couple of months has not had Winter come down hard on it, there haven't been any exceptional bursts of intense cold and there's been only the slightest flurries of snow, instead it has been a lot of moderate temperatures and rain, not quite on Somerset levels, but the North Country has been kept moist throughout January. So why has this last five weeks or so been so singularly awful, as the arrival of February has been marked by several friends and acquaintances, cursing the previous month and condemning it to history as 'one of the worst ever'?

Rumination: The Conclusions of 2013

Here we are at the darkest corner of the season, the pit of the year, only redeemed by the fact that it has Christmas located within it, and as we are about as far as possible from the active walking weather, this must be as good a time as any to have a reflect on the triumphs and failures of the 2013 season. I have to find something good to say at this grim portion of the fading Autumn as my only stretch of exercise, my annual festive stroll to Birstall retail park had me appalled that it starts getting dark at 2pm, so a positive rumination on the season passed is necessary before I can start stoking the enthusiasm for hitting the trails next year. So what have we learned in 2013?

Rumination: Time, Gentlemen, Please

No, I don't have another day in my legs. Four weekends have now passed since my last day on the trail, and I think it's fair to conclude that the 2013 season is finished. My birthday week, two weeks ago, should have signalled the end, but I'd held out hope that a fair day over the subsequent weekends would provide me with a day to act as a finale and to get in the last plotted walk for the season on the West Riding's High Moors, but no such luck. The weather chose not to smile on me and my body did not greet any available day with any enthusiasm at all, and so the season is done, and so am I.

Rumination: Pausing for Breath

Back at the start of this walking season, I said I'd be taking a few more weekends out of my schedule to allow for some recuperation and to prevent myself burning out from too many days on the trail, but as the weeks have progressed and I have found myself intent on hitting the byways on every weekend. Having to catch up on the delayed stretches of the Dales Way and having to catch up on them before Spring Jollies was the major factor behind the activity, as was the need to use as much available Spring as possible after that never-ending blast of Winter, but I also need to relax, as the last few major walks had all proved quite mentally taxing, so I needed a good reason to get off the trail, preferably one that didn't involve a lot of booze...

Rumination: Beating the Retreat 22/03/13

Taking a room in the Black Horse Hotel in Grassington was such a good idea, being able to end your walk and immediately jump in the shower, give your boots and gaiters a scrub and check your shoulders for only minimal amounts of bruising after carrying 8 kilos for 17 miles. Then being able to get in a couple of pints of Grassington Best Bitter, and Sausage and Mash for dinner, and chat with the staff about sharing someone else's name, share walking tales with the other patrons and to send word of my progress to my folks via the hotel's phone when my mobile refuses to play ball. And there's still time to peruse my OL2 and route guide to bone up on the coming day's route and to get myself familiar with the bad weather alternative avoiding Grassington Moor, before getting an early night with the weather still looking clear and me still having full intent to press on to Buckden.

Then, as the cliche would have it, what a difference a day makes...

Rumination: The Dark Season Passes

No, I haven't given up. And the trail is due to be re-engaged.

The way time passes as you get older is most perplexing, the passage of days is incredibly rapid and recent events can feel like they were an age ago. It's been 12 weeks since my last noted walk and that time seems to have torn through, but it feels like it's been a year since I last went out, and I'm going to blame the dark quarter of the year for that, but now here we are in February and I'm psyching myself for a return to the trail.

Rumination: The Conclusions of 2012

Not getting up on a Saturday morning is an odd feeling after all those weekends of walking, but on the morning of 17th November I stayed in bed and was not roused from my slumber until 10.30am. Not walking turned out to be enormously relaxing, but even when the reality of walking was put away, I still had a pile of blogging to be done and only once that had been put to bed could I really consider the 2012 season to be done, and so 47 walks and 55 write-ups later, we are finished. So 2012 draws to a close and what have we learned?

Rumination: Disappointments

All my plans for walking through summer and winter had been mutable and subject to change, depending on weather and mood, but one was going to happen no matter what, and that was hitting Wild Boar Fell on 29th September. On my first trip up to Carlisle in February 2011, I saw this huge mountain that I'd never previously accounted for, and then read about it on my reading about the Eden Valley for the summer holiday, and it seemed such a tempting and under-visited walking target. However its size and lack of tracks meant it wasn't one I felt I could do without guidance, so it fell into 2012's walk schedule and I looked forward to it after seeing it snow covered in February and falling in love with Mallerstang in March, and I waited on the FOSCL group attempting it again. It came up on 7th July, but I didn't fancy it in early summer, and then the next walk was mid-week, so last time in the year was September 29th, and it was going to be a triumphant conclusion to my Dales trips and nothing was going to prevent me going...

Rumination: Aches and Pains

I keep this blog for tales of walking, it does not exist for any other purpose. The days of everyone thinking that a blog should cover every single fragment of detail from people's everyday lives has thankfully passed, and I will endeavour to keep away from adding details from the rest of my life here (that was for my Livejournal account, and I haven't logged into that for years!) However, sometimes the rest of my life interferes with my walking, and causes disruptions to my plans and that is what I'll be talking about today, so I apologise in advance for griping about my work and the physical toll it took on me over the summer. For a brief hiatus, I will talk about something other than walking, and if you are not interested, there are plenty more walks to come before the end of my first walking season!

Rumination: 1,000 Miles

The evening of 22nd June saw one of the most singularly extraordinary rainstorms I have seen since December of 1996 (when it rained solidly for a week, and the roof of my house leaked) the sheer volume or water that came down finished off just about any interest I might have had in walking the following day. It was also prudent to stay in that weekend as I might have been needed for emergency flood relief as my friends in Mytholmroyd had been updating Facebook with anxious reports of the river rising and then having a flood in their kitchen. It turns out that it was nowhere near as bad as it sounded, but 'kitchen under water' sounded immediately alarming to me, at least. So another weekend didn't get walked, and I felt pretty miserable for it, especially as the day turn out to be pretty nice after the deluge of the previous night.

Rumination: Active March

Active March did not get the day 6 which was anticipated for it as I'd found that extra reserves of enthusiasm could not be found for any of the other days of my week off, really too much hot weather for that time of year. More significantly, the last Saturday of the month fell by the wayside when I had planned to join the FOSCL group for a jaunt from Dent to Ribblehead via Deepdale and Whernside. That morning I had woken up with a rather uneasy feeling in my stomach, and had to make a swift decision on going out or not, choosing not too proved to be absolutely the right choice, as about an hour later, around the time I'd have been travelling through Bingley, I was really really glad to still be in my own home and not on the train...