One week on...

I've spent the last week reflecting on the walk, flopping around my house and waiting for my ankles to fix themselves. It's only now just starting to sink in that the last year of training has finished and that I'll now have hours of extra time week - my brain's coming up with some great ideas of how to fill that, but perhaps for now I'll just devote the time to sitting.

I've collected most of the photos that my friends took during the walk into one set on my Flickr, which you can now watch as one mammoth slideshow of the full 27 hours 11 minutes (it doesn't take quite that long to view!) Watch below, or go to the set page. Enjoy!

A bit of a breather. And some runners.

Hello! Before I get into this post, I've got a little bit of walk business to attend to.

By now everyone who was interested in walking with me should have received an email with walk timings. If you didn't and you're interested in joining, or you know someone else who would like to ramble with me, leave a message here for me and I'll pass the details on.

It's now just 10 days to the walk and the nerves are starting to set in. I'm finding myself waking up in the middle of the night worrying about little details just as much as big problems. My favourite theme seems to be anxiety dreams about finding locked toilets. Or searching out a secluded spot for a wee only to find someone peering out of a window. Disturbing.

Anyway, that wasn't really what I wanted to write a post about (I really don't think you need to hear about my imagined bladder concerns, but oh look, you have now). I really wanted to talk about these two:



Clairey and Lizzy ran the London marathon on Sunday and I went along as part of a little cheer leading squad. For Lizzy (handily marked out by having her name written on her chest) this was a first time marathon, for Clairey (similar handy markings) the second in 8 days.

Both did wonderfully at something that I can't even imagine doing. Honestly, for all the anxiety dreams and bitten nails that this walk has prompted, the mere thought of running a couple of miles (let alone 26.2 miles) sets off the tremors.

Anyway, I'm very pleased that Clairey will be joining me for a few sections of the walk next weekend, and hopefully Lizzy will be able to pop by for a little bit too. Maybe I can steal some of their stamina!

Monday Marathon Misery.

Hello all! I had a wonderful weekend of spending time with my Mum and Gran and generous donations and generally feeling really awesomely positive about the walk. I still felt the same way when I started off on my training this morning.

I walked 24.5 miles today. I was meant to walk 26 but my left knee failed somewhere around the 18 mile mark. Although I'm feeling much better now, sat on the sofa with hot and cold pads wedged behind my knees, a few hours ago I was sat out at East Finchley feeling as though the world was about to end.

But the thought of all of you wonderful people who believe in me enough to donate your money to my charity will keep me pushing on. Only a few weeks to go now! On the day I think I'll make sure I've got enough Ibuprofen on me to keep me upright...

So, about that sponsorship. I've had a few offline donations, so I just wanted to say thank you to my wonderful Gran, Simpson Hilder Associates, and Clare Harding. I am so overjoyed that we've burst through my target! It would be great to keep going and really break it, so please feel free to spread the word to whoever you can.

Onwards!

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.

The first request...the first proper call for volunteers!

I'm looking for volunteers to walk sections of the walk with me. I'm not just after super-walkers but also strollers, wanderers, explorers. Whether you can walk one mile, or 20, I need you to join me!

Here's a reminder of the route of the Capital Ring. I've currently planned for the walk to start in Woolwich at about 10am on Sunday 1st May 2011. I would anticipate being somewhere between Osterley Lock and Greenford before the sun is completely down. The next few sections will be walked relatively slowly and in the dark before, hopefully, arriving back at Woolwich by 10am on Monday 2nd May 2011 completing the Capital Ring and my challenge.

I'm going to need at least one person with me for every step of the way. This is largely down to safety, but a big part of it is about companionship and morale. Here is a short list of responsibilities.

• Keep me walking
  Most of this is going to be really tough for me. I'm going to need some moral support.
• Keep me on track
  Apparently I could be quite delirious towards the end of this, so I might need some help with maps and making sure I'm still going in the right direction. I'll make sure you have everything you need to do this. That's a map then.
• Keep me safe
  This links into the above. If I start going a bit loopy, please try to help me not walk into traffic.
• Keep me fed and watered
  I'll be giving you a little pack to bring along with you to your section. I can't carry all the water or food I'll need on this walk, so there will be some snacks and some drinks in there. There will be other things in there too, like maps. And torches if you're walking overnight with me.

At the moment I only need you to let me know that you're interested in helping - we can work out logistics once I've got some names together. But here are some things to think about...

How far can I walk?
I'm looking for people who can join me for any distance - a mile, a few miles, a whole marathon. But I need to know that you can do the distance you say you can.

Of course there might be unforeseen circumstances which mean that you can't make the miles you offer. I'm not going to make you keep walking if that happens! I'm just asking that you be realistic before we get started.

How fast can I walk?
I'm really not a brilliantly fast walker, but I'm hoping to average about 4mph. I'm likely to be walking faster at the start of the walk than at the end but of course that leaves the slow bits for overnight which, I appreciate, may not be your bag.

A lot of the route is suitable for bikes, so if it saves your legs and means you can join me for a few more miles you might want to consider that. Or one of those little push scooters. If you want to do this with a bike, let me know and I'll let you know which sections definitely rule this out.

Can I offer to be on call?
There will be mishaps: people will miss trains, blisters will rub, promises will be forgotten. But I will still need at least one person with me for every step of the way.

If you are someone who can come and take over another person's leg at short notice, let me know which sections you can cover and how far you're prepared to walk. I'll give you as much notice as possible and won't expect you to travel across the city at the speed of light.

Still interested?
Leave me a comment or drop me at email with your contact details: kateward@quitecommon.com

Big thanks, big walks, and big yawns.

Yesterday I went out on an 18 mile training walk. Not the longest I've done, but the longest in a while, s I thought I'd give you a bit of a blow by blow account of my day.

But first I want to say a massive thank you to my lovely best friend Linzi who made the day so much easier for me. You see Linzi decided to get a new mp3 player and, in exchange for the promise of an awesome evening out in the future, she decided to send me her old one.

He hasn't got a name yet (this one's a he - I can tell) so if anyone has got a good one, let me know.

Anyway, back to the training. Here's how everything happened.

---

6.50am The alarm goes off. David has a scrabble tournament and I've decided to get up at the same time and set out early.

8.00am I'm back at the flat after walking with David to the newsagents and bringing back half the Sunday paper. I sit down at the laptop and start moving music files from my external hard drive onto the laptop then onto the lovely new iPod.

08.43am I log onto Twitter and make a comment about getting ready to leave the house for the walk.

11.15am I finally leave the house and walk over the road to the bus stop.

11.24am I get on a bus and pull out the Observer magazine to help the journey go faster.

11.48am I arrive at Grove Park station, travel sick from reading the paper, and start walking towards the start point for Walk Three of the Capital Ring. It takes 10 minutes. I start the first leg towards Crystal Palace with an obvious spring in my step.



1.19pm I can see the Crystal Palace transmitter! I get a bit over excited.

1.38pm I sit down at a bench overlooking Dinosaur Lake in Crystal Palace. I have a snack. It's a Delicatoboll. Suddenly I'm very happy that we went to IKEA on Saturday.

2.19pm I walk past a very posh house. There's an empty Ab Circle Pro box waiting to be picked up with the recycling.

3.09pm Amazing campervan. No badge on the front. Instead it is replaced by a Greene King IPA pump badge.

3.41pm I bring out the big guns and start eating honey to push me through the last few miles. No, seriously.

4.33pm I arrive at Wimbledon Park. The 18 miles are over. I've done it in good time and I'm grinning. I have to wait for a tube.

6.05pm I arrive at Lewisham station. My legs are starting to ache and I decide to get a bus back down the road. I pull out the Observer magazine for the journey.

6.09pm I arrive home, travel sick from reading the paper and aching all over. I start running a bath and make myself some squash.

---

Reading that back I realise how uneventful this sort of walking is. I could have included all the times I started thinking about this twinge or that, or all the times I considered opening the honey earlier and then deciding not to, but it's barely interesting as it is. It makes you focus inward, notice every little ache in your body and random thought in your head. It basically makes you a bit boring. Sorry about that.

Back out on the road.

After a few too many turkey sandwiches and tasty beers I was starting to feel the urge to get my trainers back on and get back out there. So that's exactly what I did yesterday.

I wandered out to Woolwich and decided to start from where I'll be starting my grand walk in just a few short months...


See more photos from the walk here

Not a terribly auspicious looking start as the Woolwich foot tunnel is closed until March 2011. Which means that I'm unlikely to be able to complete the circuit (except by ferry) until I'm walking for real. In a way, I rather like it that way.

So I set out and walked sections one and two, from Woolwich to Grove Park. With a bit of a detour when I got off track, that was about 12.5 miles. Maybe a bit more. I ache a bit this morning - I haven't been out for a proper training walk for a couple of months now. But I've got the hunger again, and that's what's important.

I'm looking forward to my next walk already. Although it may have to wait until tomorrow, when my hips might have recovered a bit.

So, anyway, Happy New Year everybody! The first half is going to be supremely busy, with training and planning, but I'm so excited. Hurrah for 2011!

Frustration strikes.

More photos are in my Flickr set from the day
Sunday was a lovely sunny day, so David and I decided to venture all the way out to Greenford to take on the next section of the Capital Ring: Walk 9, Greenford to South Kenton. We left without maps as my printer was playing up but had faith in the signage that we've seen so far, confident that we wouldn't lose our way.

We did lose our way a bit, thanks to some confusing signs on the way into Harrow-on-the-Hill, and it wasn't the most exciting walk, but that wasn't what was troubling me.

What was troubling me was the ache in my foot, and the general decline in my fitness in the few short weeks that I've been off the proper training regime. As I reach an important milestone (more about that on Friday) I'm suddenly conscious that I have to start pulling out the stops.

So it looks like I'm going back to the gym, and I'm going back on the road, and I'm going to beat this. There is no way that I am failing.

Over half way around the Capital.

David and I used Sunday as an opportunity to walk the next two legs of the Capital Ring: Richmond Bridge to Osterley Lock and Osterley Lock to Greenford.

Both stretches wind alongside rivers and the canal and have very few roadside stretches. Rather picturesque, really. We picked a lovely day for it and the sun shone down on us the whole way. Getting to Greenford, the end of Walk Eight, means that we've gone more than half way round the ring.


You can see my other photos from the day as part of my Capital Ring collection on Flickr.

Of course, now that I've announced next year's challenge, these walks have a slightly more serious intent. I'm now looking for obstacles, park closing times and bad surfaces. I'm weighing up how long I reckon it'll take to walk it and whether it would be OK to walk it at night. And I'm not even heading out for the walk until I've managed to fit the mileage into my training schedule.

It's still enjoyable, but it reminds me just how much there is to organise.