Mini celebration

This weekend, David and I finally closed the loop of the London Capital Ring after walking the final three sections on Sunday. With such lovely weather, the 12-ish miles flew past.



We took the ferry back across the river to Woolwich as the foot tunnel is still closed. I have a feeling that this is how I will be completing the walk in May as although Greenwich Council's website states that the foot tunnel will be closed until 'March 2011', the site sign says 2012. Boat trip vs. dark tunnel under the river? I'm not all that sad about it.

I've taken photos on every section (some more than others) and put them all together into one collection in my Flickr. Have a look at them here.



Earlier today I started putting blue dots on my wall map. More on those to follow...

Holding Page.

Hi! I owe both updates and emails but things have been rather busy. So this is just a short post to let you know that I'm still alive and still training.



Yesterday I went out and bought some new walking bits to try out before the big event. In my stack of synthetic goodies are four pairs of socks. I'm giving the black ones a go today as David and I are off out to walk the final three sections of the Capital Ring. Bar the Woolwich foot tunnel, which is still shut for renovations. So we should be able to finish the walk with a nice little boat ride across the Thames. Lovely.

Better, fuller update to come tomorrow.

Sunshine!

It all feels pretty Spring-like out there right now. Or at least it does in London. It makes it so much easier to pull on my trainers and get out there when it's like this, and I've recently enjoyed a couple of walks where I haven't even needed to take a fleece.

More of this please, sun!

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In volunteering news, I've just sent out an email to all those who have previously expressed an interest in walking with me. If you have not received this but would like to take part, or know someone else who would, let me know and I'll add you to the list! I'd love as many people as possible to join me.

Road block

If you are a friend of mine on Facebook or follow my Twitter then you will have seen an extraordinarily downbeat status update yesterday afternoon (even by my standards). It went like this:

Miserable walk. Rain, a bit of hail, hip pain for hours, and I saw a dead coot floating in the canal. Totally morale shattering.

It was honestly the most horrendous walk of my life, but I was so determined to finish it I just kept going. Even when I was starting to swear under my breath, even when the rain started beating down heavily on me, even when I was not certain my legs would keep me upright. I was going to finish those stupid 23.5 miles because I knew that if I didn't, I might as well give up this whole escapade.

So I finished it.

When I got home, my hips hurt like hell. About an hour after walking through the front door, I was certain that I would never get off the sofa again. All through the night, I was waking to shift from hip to hip. And when I got up this morning it felt as though my legs had been replaced by a pair of very wobbly stilts, painfully strapped directly into my hip joints. But it wasn't the hip that was troubling me. It was my left knee - sore and stiff and almost impossible to straighten.

My boss very kindly let me work from home today - I spent it with my leg in the air and an ice pack strapped to the back of my knee. It feels a good bit better now, easing with a little bit of wandering about the house and a couple of stretches in the front room. But I've still booked myself in to see a physiotherapist in a couple of weeks, just to see if there's something I could be doing better. In the meantime, I'll keep going. I'll note how my body feels and find a way to get through.

Last night I was ready to give up. Tonight, I'm ready to beat this challenge.