Training Walk: Goodbye to the Gower
Today I planned my own route and it was almost all new to me - a lovely saunter through some woods with the Gower Way, a jaunt along the coast with the Wales Coast Path, and a swim through a marsh.
Wait, what?
Yes, in my infinite wisdom, in order to join one bit of the Gower Way to one bit of the Wales Coast Path, I plotted a route via footpaths across some fields which, on arrival, turned out to be a quagmire of knee-deep mud.
That's a very specific depth of mud you've mentioned there, Louise.
Yes, it is, because that's how far up my walking trousers it got at the worst. And, yes, I once again had the joy of walking about 14 miles in soaking wet socks and muddy ankles - but this time, I kept them on until I got back to the car, and the dead sheep came afterwards. This time, an actual dead sheep moulting all over the field, rather than a skeleton, bringing the total number of dead sheep encountered on walks in Wales to three.
Other than this boggy low point, I actually really, really enjoyed this walk. I don't know quite what caused my funk yesterday - was it too warm? Was I just not in the mood? Was I bored by walking the same paths over and over? Hopefully it's the latter because that at least I can guarantee won't happen on LEJOG.
I have also discovered a new favourite walking surface: tarmac. Wait, hear me out! I realise it's hard on your feet and will almost certainly wreck my knees but:
1. you can look at the scenery, rather than at the path, because there are no sudden ankle-turning rocks or patches of knee-deep mud to watch out for
2. it's really easy to cover miles very quickly
3. if something AWFUL were to happen, you're pretty sure an ambulance could get to you
4. I don't need my knees after August anyway
Look, I love walking on grass, but the trouble is it's unpredictable. Grass can be lovely, provided it's nice short grass (sheep are excellent lawnmowers) over nice, firm, dry soil. If it's long grass, or an uneven surface underneath, or mud or bog underneath, it goes from being delightful to being a slog. Tarmac never does this to you. Tarmac is the walking-surface equivalent of the guy your parents would choose for you: dependable, reliable, carries through, not too exciting. I walked on tarmac for a lovely 3-and-a-bit miles of the Gower Way and a further 3-and-a-bigger-bit miles of the Wales Coast Path (where, once again, I did not see the sea in 5 miles of walking a 'coastal path') and it was glorious.
The other glorious thing: I planned this entire route around revisiting my favourite bridge and when I got there it was lovely and I even washed some of the marsh-mud off my hands before eating my snack sitting dangling my feet off the edge of the bridge again.
The only other disaster today was that I walked 20.5 miles and forgot my fitbit; and if it's not recorded by fitbit, did it even really happen? Yes, it did, because I have RunKeeper as well - so although I won't get the delicious, delightful step-count, I still get the GPS-tracked "workout" statistics. And a handy little memento of all the points where I went the wrong way for a bit.
Boot cost per mile: £1.03
Distance today: 20.52
Time by Naismith: 7h44
Time walked: 7h11 - clearly I'm more normal today
Lunch: still tasted of apathy, possibly because it was the exact same as yesterday's
Weather: sunny, mostly warm, put my hoodie on when it got windy, took it off where the bull was.
Wildlife: dead sheep; live sheep and lambs; brand new Welsh pony foal and very protective mother; lots of other Welsh ponies; very rural-idyll mixed-grazing of sheep, cows and a bull who watched me the whole way through his field but didn't actually bother to stand up; two horses who also watched me the whole way through their field, including turning through 180 degrees at one point in a very sudden movement that scared the bejeezus out of me; lots of birds; butterfly; several dogs, both friendly and not - the latter thankfully all the other side of fences and walls
Wait, what?
Yes, in my infinite wisdom, in order to join one bit of the Gower Way to one bit of the Wales Coast Path, I plotted a route via footpaths across some fields which, on arrival, turned out to be a quagmire of knee-deep mud.
That's a very specific depth of mud you've mentioned there, Louise.
Yes, it is, because that's how far up my walking trousers it got at the worst. And, yes, I once again had the joy of walking about 14 miles in soaking wet socks and muddy ankles - but this time, I kept them on until I got back to the car, and the dead sheep came afterwards. This time, an actual dead sheep moulting all over the field, rather than a skeleton, bringing the total number of dead sheep encountered on walks in Wales to three.
Other than this boggy low point, I actually really, really enjoyed this walk. I don't know quite what caused my funk yesterday - was it too warm? Was I just not in the mood? Was I bored by walking the same paths over and over? Hopefully it's the latter because that at least I can guarantee won't happen on LEJOG.
I have also discovered a new favourite walking surface: tarmac. Wait, hear me out! I realise it's hard on your feet and will almost certainly wreck my knees but:
1. you can look at the scenery, rather than at the path, because there are no sudden ankle-turning rocks or patches of knee-deep mud to watch out for
2. it's really easy to cover miles very quickly
3. if something AWFUL were to happen, you're pretty sure an ambulance could get to you
4. I don't need my knees after August anyway
Look, I love walking on grass, but the trouble is it's unpredictable. Grass can be lovely, provided it's nice short grass (sheep are excellent lawnmowers) over nice, firm, dry soil. If it's long grass, or an uneven surface underneath, or mud or bog underneath, it goes from being delightful to being a slog. Tarmac never does this to you. Tarmac is the walking-surface equivalent of the guy your parents would choose for you: dependable, reliable, carries through, not too exciting. I walked on tarmac for a lovely 3-and-a-bit miles of the Gower Way and a further 3-and-a-bigger-bit miles of the Wales Coast Path (where, once again, I did not see the sea in 5 miles of walking a 'coastal path') and it was glorious.
The other glorious thing: I planned this entire route around revisiting my favourite bridge and when I got there it was lovely and I even washed some of the marsh-mud off my hands before eating my snack sitting dangling my feet off the edge of the bridge again.
The only other disaster today was that I walked 20.5 miles and forgot my fitbit; and if it's not recorded by fitbit, did it even really happen? Yes, it did, because I have RunKeeper as well - so although I won't get the delicious, delightful step-count, I still get the GPS-tracked "workout" statistics. And a handy little memento of all the points where I went the wrong way for a bit.
Boot cost per mile: £1.03
Distance today: 20.52
Time by Naismith: 7h44
Time walked: 7h11 - clearly I'm more normal today
Lunch: still tasted of apathy, possibly because it was the exact same as yesterday's
Weather: sunny, mostly warm, put my hoodie on when it got windy, took it off where the bull was.
Wildlife: dead sheep; live sheep and lambs; brand new Welsh pony foal and very protective mother; lots of other Welsh ponies; very rural-idyll mixed-grazing of sheep, cows and a bull who watched me the whole way through his field but didn't actually bother to stand up; two horses who also watched me the whole way through their field, including turning through 180 degrees at one point in a very sudden movement that scared the bejeezus out of me; lots of birds; butterfly; several dogs, both friendly and not - the latter thankfully all the other side of fences and walls
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