Opening Stretches 2012

The major problem with New Year’s Resolutions is that you are trying to do something which requires physical and mental effort through the two worst months of the year. Making actual progress with new diet or exercise regime is always going to be a test when you only have 8 hours of light daily and its cold all the time. So when I resolved for the New Year, to get regular weekend exercise and shed some weight (having pushed close to 75kg, post-Christmas), I gave myself a start date of 3^rd March, so that the joys of Spring might be in the vicinity, at least, when I got going. The date wasn’t one chosen arbitrarily, as I’d picked up a leaflet advertising walks organised by the Friends of the Settle & Carlisle Line, and that was the earliest one that stood out for me. Before that I thinks the days will be too short and the risk of extremes of cold too high. Serious planning was also delayed by what felt like an impacted wisdom tooth and I couldn’t set any exercise or holiday plans down when there was discomfort in my present and the risk of oral surgery in my future.

Introductory Thoughts 2011

Catching a train shouldn’t be a personal revelation, but that was how it seemed in February 2011. The good peoples of Northern Rail and WY Metro combined to provide cheap rail tickets in the winter months on the Settle & Carlisle line and that looked like a good way to use a day of holiday in my week off post-Superbowl. I went only to take the ride to Carlisle and back, but riding up Ribblesdale and taking pics made me realise that there is a lot of glorious landscape within a couple of hours of home and I had failed to give it proper consideration for the better part of nine years. I was no longer confined by my lack of personal transportation or funds, and I was free to do whatever I wished with my time, if I so wished. Of course, no walking was forthcoming, this journey led to the discovery that Carlisle is on of the under-rated towns of England, with far more history than you might expect, and that it has my favourite second-hand bookshop too, namely The Bookcase (yes, better than Barter Books of Alnwick!).

Introductory Thoughts 2010

My New Year’s resolution for 2010 came to naught, but it was the hatching of a significant plan, walking the Leeds Country Way. I’d studied the maps and downloaded the path guides already, and thought that 62 miles was not an over-awing distance when there are regular points to catch public transport, for which cost wouldn’t be a worry with my super-awesome Metrocard. The difficulty was I couldn’t figure how my body would react to 12+ miles of walking in a day, I guessed I’d need to do it in the middle of a week off work, with a couple of days to psych myself up beforehand and days afterward to recover. There was surely no way I could walk a stretch at the weekend and then go do a regular week of work. Predictably enough, I managed to convince myself that it wasn’t possible, for I didn’t have the stamina required and I would surely have other things to do with my time off, so it never happened, but the idea was out there.

Introductory Thoughts 2009

The good start of 2009 sadly didn't set off the active phase that it should have, and it had started well. The favoured winter touring grounds around the West Pennine Moors with my Sis and family took in the Reservoir paths at Wayoh and Turton & Entwistle, and the country park at Rivington, and a yomp up to the Peel Tower/Monument at Ramsbottom and as this was all done in the fiercest of Winter cold, I felt good for the spring, but somehow thing didn't come right.

Introductory Thoughts 2006 - 2008

It is a major regret of mine that my elder sister lived in Settle and Kendal between 1997 and 2004, and I never seized the opportunity to take on the walking scope that such residences offered. Especially regrettable seeing as her partner, Dr G, is an outdoors-y type and had turned her from being a somewhat sedentary character like myself. In those years, all I can recall is jaunts to Hawes and Malham which didn't involve much exercise, and trips to Scout Scar and Kendal Castle on a couple of Christmas Days.

Introductory Thoughts: 2002 - 2005

I like to walk. I seem to have become a largely solitary man, and I'm at an age where I need to get as much exercise as possible, certainly more than I'd get by sitting at home every weekend, and walking fits the bill for pastime and exercise. 2012 has seen me start on regular walking exploits, but it has taken me a whole decade to go from my first steps out for it to become a regular activity, so before we go further, a few bits of background story are needed...