In three days time I'll have been walking for three months.
I've covered over 650 miles and have walked the lengths of the Severn Way, the Glyndwr's Way, the Offa's Dyke Path, the river Conwy and now I'm heading down the river Dee.
I'm bearing up, mostly - three visits to the dentist to repair a cracked tooth were a bit uneccessary. Other than that there's just been the mahoosive blister during the first week and now a painful tendon underneath my right foot.
The rest of me feels fine, full of muscle and capability, it's just my foot that keeps me going slowly. I've been walking at a very gentle 5 to 8 miles a day for the last two weeks and I hope to be able to work up to 10 or 12.
I won't complete 3000 miles in 8 months, I know that for certain. The decision about what to do, whether to walk for longer or cut the route shorter can wait until the end of the summer.
I've been a bit up and down this week, hopefully it's temporary but at the moment I'm missing the feeling of staying in one place, the familiarity, the restfulness. It's hard to be on the move all the time, hard to keep washed and dry and in clean clothes, hard to meet new people every day and hard to carry your life on your back.
It feels strange to find a yearning for home creeping in amongst the buoyancy of all the interest, support and generosity I'm receiving; the stimulation of new places and faces, beautiful sights like a field of wheeling and snorting white horses or feeling a tickling on your neck and finding it's a delicate green lacewing having a rest.
I never used to feel like that - before I knew I was ill I was travelling around, living out of a rucksack, feeling free for almost three years.
Maybe age is changing me, or maybe it's the residue of having been through a life threatening illness. Or maybe I shouldn't underestimate the effect of being in mild pain all the time, that can be pretty wearing too.
I'm not going to stop, obviously. I'll complete this walk if I have to build a home and drag it behind me on wheels. It's just another new part of me to listen to and take into account. I'll probably feel completely differently next week, or even tomorrow.
Roll on summer and endless sunshine. Fingers crossed!
I've covered over 650 miles and have walked the lengths of the Severn Way, the Glyndwr's Way, the Offa's Dyke Path, the river Conwy and now I'm heading down the river Dee.
I'm bearing up, mostly - three visits to the dentist to repair a cracked tooth were a bit uneccessary. Other than that there's just been the mahoosive blister during the first week and now a painful tendon underneath my right foot.
The rest of me feels fine, full of muscle and capability, it's just my foot that keeps me going slowly. I've been walking at a very gentle 5 to 8 miles a day for the last two weeks and I hope to be able to work up to 10 or 12.
I won't complete 3000 miles in 8 months, I know that for certain. The decision about what to do, whether to walk for longer or cut the route shorter can wait until the end of the summer.
I've been a bit up and down this week, hopefully it's temporary but at the moment I'm missing the feeling of staying in one place, the familiarity, the restfulness. It's hard to be on the move all the time, hard to keep washed and dry and in clean clothes, hard to meet new people every day and hard to carry your life on your back.
It feels strange to find a yearning for home creeping in amongst the buoyancy of all the interest, support and generosity I'm receiving; the stimulation of new places and faces, beautiful sights like a field of wheeling and snorting white horses or feeling a tickling on your neck and finding it's a delicate green lacewing having a rest.
I never used to feel like that - before I knew I was ill I was travelling around, living out of a rucksack, feeling free for almost three years.
Maybe age is changing me, or maybe it's the residue of having been through a life threatening illness. Or maybe I shouldn't underestimate the effect of being in mild pain all the time, that can be pretty wearing too.
I'm not going to stop, obviously. I'll complete this walk if I have to build a home and drag it behind me on wheels. It's just another new part of me to listen to and take into account. I'll probably feel completely differently next week, or even tomorrow.
Roll on summer and endless sunshine. Fingers crossed!
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