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Whisby here we come

Last weekend I had the pleasure of walking to Woodhall Spa with son Tom. It was an 18 miler and we were both fairly pooped by the end of it. Today son Joe came with me to Whisby Nature Reserve. We walked mostly off road to get there and clocked up 10 miles. It took us 3 hours 45 minutes so we (I) don’t appear to be getting any faster. My left foot is still giving gyp. I fear that it will take the next size up boot to sort it. An expensive decision which I will make tomorrow en route to pick up Hannah from Durham.

The photo illustrates the problem. My right foot is size 8 and you can see from the insole that the toes don’t come anywhere near the front of the boot (which is  9 ½). The left foot on the other hand is a size 9 and after the foot has swollen a little when walking (which is normal) you can see that the toes are very near to the front of the boot.

Otherwise after a hot bath I am far less stiff today than last week, bearing in mind the walk was 8 miles shorter but even so it shows that the body is slowly getting used to the exercise. I am looking forward to the day when the boots are perfectly moulded to the feet and I am able to walk up mountains with nonchalant ease.

The other success today concerns some of the purchases I made yesterday. The bottom of my Berghaus fleece was dripping wet. Initially I thought my camelback must have been leaking but now I think this is the merino base layer and the fleece working together to “wick” away the copious amounts of perspiration I am still generating whilst walking. It’s working really well.

We were somewhat later setting off today than I had planned and in consequence arrived at Whisby for quite a late lunch at around 2.20. Anne picked us up shortly after 3pm fair play.

After a nice soak in a hot bath we got an enquiry for Anne’s Vans through the Camperbug website. Fingers crossed eh?

Now I’m just whiling away some time before the roast pork dinner is ready. I will be on gravy making duty as usual.