I like the new me

Following this CW route brought back memories of a time when we’d just started walking for a hobby, before we’d first read the magazine. On that day our walk took us up the same steep slope, and by the time we got to the top we were totally exhausted (I was then in my early sixties). Now in my late sixties and a regular reader of Country Walking, having benefitted from years of advice and thousands of miles walked (egged on by signing up to #walk1000miles every year), late-sixties me would walk up that slope and be sat in the car enjoying a coffee, while early-sixties me would still be less than half-way up. Without a doubt I am lighter, healthier, have more stamina, a much lower resting heart rate, and can walk longer distances at a faster rate without feeling worn out at the end of the day. And I have a hobby that never leaves me thinking ‘What can I do today?’.

Dave Goldsmith, by email