The first eighteen months
We started walking 18 months ago for general health and to lose weight, starting slowly, by walking into town weekly – a fiveor six-mile round trip.
Sue joined a slimming club she walked to, and I would walk to meet her for the return journey. That took us to about fifteen miles a week. We both started to lose weight. After a few weeks, when we walked we no longer ached and weren’t soaked in sweat, and the weight kept dropping off.
Country Walking came into our lives when we were looking for information on walking equipment but we soon subscribed, and read it avidly each month.
Now we were totally hooked, and being retired were out and about several times a week. We joined the National Trust for more places to walk and then had our first walking holiday at Windermere. It rained every day, but it didn’t matter – we did 80 miles that week!
We started our 2017 walks early, walking to the viewpoint on Mousehold Heath above Norwich, watching the fireworks to see in the new year, and by the time we went to bed on New Year’s Day we had already done a few miles.
This year we had both passed the 1000-mile mark by the middle of July. We have another two holidays booked, and will walk Hadrian’s Wall next year.
We recently repeated one of our first ‘proper’ walks at Blickling Hall, and when we finished, not in the least tired, we saw that what we had once seen as a long walk was now just a stroll for us.
We’ve recently bought small books on insects and birds, to better understand the wildlife we see and hear.
You know when you’re hooked when the car is parked fifty yards away, yet you walk two and half miles the wrong way round a lake to get to it. Walking is still our hobby, but it’s also now a way of life. Dave & Sue Goldsmith, Email Dave wins socks