Pottering about

Still slightly knocked sideways by last weeks kidney infection I find that two or three miles was enough for me today. Still good to actually be back in my boots and looking forward to the Bank Holiday to get a longer couple of days in.
The marking pile is going down slowly and the donations and sponsorship are going up. Thank you one and all.
Tomorrow, the rowing machine! 2k with my arms, slowly.
If anyone wants to 'friend' me on Nike + to keep an eye on the training please feel free to do so.

On the map

So last week I decided to order a set of maps so I can see where I'm going at the end of June. Looking closely at the landscape it looks longer and steeper than I imagined but then again it's 100k what did I expect?
I've had a week of not being well and still feeling kitten weak but here I am planning the weekends walk. I have no plans to do anything too strenuous just to keep my legs moving.
I'm up to my ears on marking. (5 dissertations, 40 portfolios, 4 presentations, 28 reflections, and a heap of first year group reports...by the end of May) but I planned this year so the weekends are mine and I'm walking to work every day. I can't complain though I have a home and people around who support me. The young people who need the Albert Kennedy Trust don't. Your support means a lot so please just text BBSS61 £5 to 70070 that's only 5p a kilometre.

Gentle stroll

Well we did get the buggy out (it's a fantastic ATV affair) but ended up with a gentle stroll rather than a challenging test of my buggy pushing abilities. It was good to be out in the fresh air if only for a half hour or so.
I presume the antibiotics are doing their job as I'm feeling better. Hopefully I'll be back on track by the end of the week. I do seem to still have a weird nervous cough but the muscle weakness is largely gone.
Today my challenge is to mark some of my dissertation stack! It's marking month. Pretty much all I will be doing for the next four to six weeks is marking and walking.
I tend to be fairly grumpy during marking month, as Emma will witness, but if anyone fancies a stroll let me know. I could use the distraction.
Be careful out there.

Virus

Sadly this time not the computer kind. The antibiotics will kick in I'm sure but the reality is I am not fit to walk this weekend.
Still borrowed the baby though. Maybe his buggy will get some use tomorrow!

Sitting still is bad .....

Every joint aches. I have been doing a validation in Leicester which has involved two long train journeys and two long days of sitting still in a meeting. Sitting still is bad!
This weekend I have plans for a long walk which also involves my partner, a small child and a pram!
I have hit my daily target of 4000 Nike fuel points and then some. Almost made it the last two days.....maybe it should be 5000. What do you think?

The White Rose county

Today was a gentle but hilly stroll in the grounds at Hardcastle Crags Gibson's Mill in Hebden Bridge. Not equipped for the muddier paths we trod the main gravel trail for a couple of miles. My excuse was I did a lot yesterday and .... it wasn't raining when we left home. I can definitely feel the long but gentle hills on my thighs. Emma accompanied me and there was lunch if course! Last nights diner with friends on top of the Southport trip had left me more tired than I thought. Note to self....don't go out the night before the event and try to get an early night in your own bed the night before.

'Celebrity' endorsed!

Today was a slog from Ormskirk to Southport but at least the rain held off til
I arrived at Meols Cop Youthie. They're having an open day. When I arrived I was greeted by the lovely Emma and the one and only Captain Jack Sparrow! Now that's what I call celebrity endorsement!
Gonna spend some time here helping out with the fund raiser. Catch you soon enough.

Dental care...

Big thanks to Oak Dental Practice in Ormskirk this morning for putting up a sponsorship poster for me.
We're at around the 70 day mark now and I'm 40+ % into my sponsorship target. If anyone can spare even a fiver text BBSS61 £5 to 70070 to donate. Bigger sums and smaller sums are also welcome just change the amount after the pound sign. Thank you.

Just wanted to show you this!

Photo from lady week's excursion to Rivington!

Life's a beach

Well today the walk was a beach. Form by to be exact. Good to contribute to saving the red squirrels by paying the National Trust to park at Formby Point and a good day to hit the beach. Not to blustery and the tide on its way out so we had a good couple of hours squelching through wet sand. Flat but still stretching the muscular vocabulary.

Rivington Pike

Not an elegant climb in the snow at the top but wow! It was a great day out with Linda and the ex marines we hired to push us.....and they did push us. (Check them out at Monkey Boy Self Defence Boot Camp they are guns for hire and pleasant on the eye and mind....)
A gentle stroll past the Yarrow reservoir,across the tussocks of grass and up the snow face to the top of Winter Hill the hard way. Lunch. We'd been going three hours by now.
Back down via the cairns and, of course, the tower on Rivington Pike. Thought the secret gardens, round the old workhouse and the 7 arch bridge to the car and a warm down.
Five and a bit hours. Three hundred or so feet up. Warm bath and pasta on arrival home. TransPennine Challenge? Bring it on!

Stretchy bum

And indeed stretchy knees! I have acquired a pair of walking pants with these attributes. Looking forward to being walked ragged tomorrow by the lovely Mike (Photos to follow) in a four hour or more wander around Rivington Pike where team BBSS will be practising our hill climbing and advanced bladder control!