walks

Goats don’t like wet hooves!

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Last weekend’s adventure was planned to start in civilisation, so I thought I ought to clean my walking boots to look vaguely respectable! Although I’m always careful to dry my boots, I rarely do anything else & they usually bear the muddy souvenir of the last adventure. Consequently it had been a long time since the tread on the sole had been visible, so I got a nasty surprise to see that the outer sole had worn away on one heel. There was a hole where I could see through to the spongy inner layer of the sole.

I love my scarpa boots they are leather & goretex (taking no chances!) and extremely comfortable. My first thought was to get them re-heeled, but I’m not sure that’s possible due to the spongy layer. I also had to acknowledge that the leather on the top was showing signs of cracking.

They’ve done me well, I’ve walked hundreds of miles in them & only once had a blister. I guess I have to accept its time to start looking for a new pair. In the meantime I intend to wear them entirely into the ground.

Towards the end of last weekend’s walk I was faced with a long stretch of path that resembled a steam!

It was so deep I had to walk on tip toes to avoid the water over topping my boots…but do you know, even with the cracks & worn soles, my toes were toasty & dry. Grateful to my good old faithful walking boots!

L

Abbey ruins, a cave, a film set & an ancient oak

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Who would have thought a short walk in the Surrey countryside could take in so much, but we came across all this and more on the last section of the Greensands Way we walked.  Read about it here.

Confesssion… it was actually a little while ago we walked this section. We had hoped to camp at the coast this weekend, but the high winds meant this wasn’t sensible. Instead, we are walking the next part of the Greensands Way, which made us realise we are behind with the blogging!!

R & L

Walking and talking

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Walking and talking – two things which very good for your mental health as well as your physical health. I’m not the only one who believes this – and this weekend I joined up with a group of people who walk every week with the specific aim of connecting people, combating loneliness and helping people improve their mental health as well as their physical health.

The organisers of Walk and Talk saw how much communities suffered during the pandemic. They saw how isolated some people became and were inspired to do something about it. The idea is very simple, every Saturday at 10.30 you can turn up and there will be someone else to walk with. There is no need to book, there is no charge and both buggies and pets are welcome!

I chose to try out the group which meets at Morden Hall Park and found a very friendly group of people from all different backgrounds and life situations enjoying spending time together in the outdoors. Not only do they walk together but those who want to stayed on and had a coffee together in the National Trust cafe!

Unknown to me I was especially lucky to choose this particular Saturday because they had a local history expert leading the walk. As well as telling us stories about Morden Hall’s history, she pointed out some hidden features and had brought old photographs to help us picture what it would have been like.

At the moment they have five groups, but they are aspiring to set up more. Check out their website for more details.

L

An intentional detour!

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As you will know, we are currently walking the Greensands Way. We’d only walked two sections and got as far as Thursley when we got confused – the Greensands Way appeared to go both west and east! As far as we can work out, there is an additional ‘spur’ of the path to Farnham, whilst the official route continues east.

Not wanting to miss out on anything, and curious to walk on Thursley Common which we had heard about but never visited, we thought we’d first walk this spur before continuing with the main path.

Turns out Thursley and Hankley Commons are both interesting environments to explore – read about our walk here.

R & L

Guest goat interview – Great Glen Walk

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From time to time we like to hear about how some of our friends have embraced their inner goat.

Where have you been walking recently?

The Great Glen Way from Fort William to Inverness 

How long is that path?

In theory it’s 75 miles but there are places where you can take either a higher or lower level walk and on occasions I detoured to get a better view from up a nearby hill so I took some 80 miles  

How many days did you split it over?

The walk took a full week but there’s also a lot of travelling to get to the start and back home!

What did you do for accomodation?

The accommodation was a real highlight of the trip – a large, old barge. Each morning after breakfast the boat and 7 walkers departed and met up again early afternoon. There was a crew of 4 – Captain, Guide, Cook and a man who did all the other jobs necessary on a barge. 

What is the scenery like?

Stunning scenery especially the 25 miles or so along Loch Ness made all the better given the wonderful weather and absence of midges  

What was your highlight from the walk?

Most of the other walkers were very fit and wanted to walk fast. A couple struggled a bit with this so spent a couple of days on the barge. The result was that I spent most of the walk alone with the professional Guide who was a great guy full of stories about his experiences guiding in the Alps and who was very knowledgeable about the countryside we were passing through.

Any lowlights?!

There were no real problems on the trip but it’s worth bearing in mind that you are likely to be in close company for a week with a group of people you’ve never met before.  You just have to hope you all get on well together!

Would you recommend this walk to others?  If so, any tips or things you’d do differently?

This is a great way to walk if you don’t want to carry your stuff around with you or worry about accommodation and where to eat each evening. The bedrooms were en suite with a wonderful, powerful shower and the food was excellent. 

In search of King Kong

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By the end of our 5 days walking in the Mendips, our bodies had got used to the increased activity and the walking and carrying got easier. We were keen to keep up the steps and so we’ve started our next challenge already, the Greensands Way. We’re going to do this route in circular day walks, the same approach as the Wayfarers. It’s pretty long, so it should keep us busy for a while!

We walked the first section last week… and went in search of King Kong!

Read about it here.

R & L