Ok, enough of the song butchery and apologies to The Proclaimers, but seriously … could I walk 1000 miles?
I used to get out walking every weekend. Sometimes on both days. I’d spend a lot of my holidays walking too. 1000 miles over the course of a year was easily achievable. But over the last few years, life has got in the way and my walking has got less and less. Now I rarely walk at the weekend and I’ve been doing less of it in my holidays (apart from my long walk in the Arctic last summer, that is).
When I walked regularly I really noticed the benefits. As well as being a generally enjoyable activity, I was fitter, less stressed and felt like I had more energy. I also felt more in tune with the time of year as I noticed the subtle changes as the seasons morphed from one to the next. It didn’t matter whether I walked alone or with others, each had its additional benefits. Walking alone gave me time to think; walking with a friend or two gave me time for chit-chat and enabled us to catch up with each other’s lives; walking in a group was sociable with lots of light-hearted banter. I miss all of this and really want to get this important part of my life back.
Last year Country Walking magazine challenged readers to walk 1000 miles over the course of the year. To ensure this wasn’t too easy a challenge it could only include proper walks and not strolls up and down the aisles of Tesco. It doesn’t have to be done in one epic hike but can be walks fitted in at lunchtimes and at weekends. I had too much going on at the beginning of last year to even think about taking on something like this, but as a strong believer in the philosophy of ‘better late than never’, I’m going to challenge myself to do it this year.
For it to be a proper challenge, I need a few rules. Here are the ones I’ve come up with so far. I may need to adapt them or add to them as I go along.
1) I will include walks of 2 miles and above so long as it’s a continuous walk and not 2 miles over the course of a whole day, in which I’m stopping and starting all the time. To monitor this I will set the time limit of 2 hours for a 2 mile walk. This may seem like a long time, but it will allow for walks in which I walk a mile to get to somewhere interesting, spend some time exploring and then walk a mile back. For walks over 6 miles I won’t set a time limit so long as it is completed within the same day.
2) No bonus points for hills or tricky terrain. Clocking up the miles is the only thing that counts.
3) City walks can be included as long as they are proper walks such as circumambulating the city walls, taking part in a guided walk or following a themed trail (e.g. a Dickens’ trail in London).Wandering round the shops does not count.
4) Pounding the treadmill in the gym doesn’t count.
And, well, that’s it really. Simple.
1000 miles shouldn’t be difficult to achieve physically. My problems are usually with time, but having a goal to aim for will hopefully make me prioritise walking and give me some extra incentive.
Here are some maths:
1000 / 52 = 19.2 miles per week
1000 / 12 = 83.3 miles per month
On an average weekend I should be able to walk on at least one day. If I do a 10 mile walk that leaves another 9.2 miles to be walked during the week. I could try to walk 2 miles each day, or try two mid-week 5 mile walks. Of course there will be weeks when I can’t do this, but as long as I achieve it most weeks, then the slack can be taken up on holidays when I’m more likely to walk every day.
I’ll set up a spreadsheet to note down each walk and for extra incentive I’ll include a countdown column.
I’m going to make a good start by kicking off the new year with a walk on New Year’s Day. Better stop messing about on my computer and get those maps out and start plotting and planning.
You can find the link to the original challenge here.
I’d bought a 3 day Stockholm Pass which had been really good value as it had covered the cost of my last three days sightseeing and my public transport. The SkyView gondolas are included in the Pass and wanting to well and truly get my money’s worth was another reason for squeezing this last activity into my itinerary.
From the ground to the top of the Globe, 130m above, the journey takes about 10 minutes. Overall, the experience lasts about 20 minutes.
The views over Stockholm were great. I don’t think Stockholm is the prettiest city I’ve seen from above, but it was still lovely to see.
And I loved the feeling the feeling of being on top of world. Sorry, I mean on top of the sun!
I shouldn’t have been surprised as it’s no secret.
Art in the stations began in the 1950s as a way of making culture accessible to all. Throughout the intervening decades more art has been added with the art from each decade encapsulating the hopes and fears of the time.
I didn’t get to visit many stations, but next time I’m in Stockhom I’m going to work out a route so I get to see as many as possible.
The 3 day Stockholm Pass I’d bought had a scenic boat tour included and so early(ish) on my last morning I was standing in line for the first trip of the day.
Having spent the last three days racing around trying to do as much as possible, I was quite tired and was looking forward to starting my last day chilling out on a boat for an hour or so.
It was another lovely morning and would have been nice to sit out on deck, but the only seating was inside. I suppose this is practical for most of the year, but it was a shame that it couldn’t be opened up on such a nice day.
The tour itself was worth doing despite the lack of fresh air and dodgy photos. The boat was comfortable and each seat came with a multi-lingual headset, so I was able to hear the commentary in English.
We saw lots, including some places I recognised – 
It was a good way to start the morning though and by the time the tour was over, I’d woken up enough to race around making the most of my last day.
How wonderful is this study? I want one just like it.
Paintings pictured different aspects of the culture and daily life. There were some great ones of the mine in Falun.
Dala horses are iconic images of this region. They have been made and sold since the 17th century. Even today the genuine articles are still hand-carved and hand-painted in the traditional colours.
The horses are decorated in a folk art style known as kurbits. This style was used on material, walls, crockery … just about everything that could be painted or printed really.
At the time of the tour there were almost as many female as male MPs, though this has dropped somewhat since September’s general election.
Leaving the modern building we headed downstairs to the older parts of the building. This was very different in style.
Everyone seemed in a jolly mood and the ice cream shops were doing a roaring trade.
St Gertrude’s is known as the German Church because of the number of Germans who lived in this area during the Middle Ages. As St Gertrude is patron saint to travellers and cats I decided I liked her.
Outside the church was a small cafe, shaded by trees. I sat for a while with a coffee. It was so peaceful and even the temperature felt quite pleasant.
Feeling rejuvenated, I headed back into the tourist melee that is Gamla Stan, for a last look around before heading back to the hostel to collect my backpack and catch the train to the Arctic. Surely it would be cooler up there?
There was a monument inside the church dedicated to René Descartes.
And also one dedicated to Sven Hedin; explorer, geographer and map-maker extraordinaire. He travelled extensively in Central Asia during the 1800s becoming an expert on Tibet, mapping the Great Wall of China, uncovering buried Buddhist cities in China and publishing the first atlas on Central Asia.
Leaving the interior of the church, I wandered around the surrounding gardens and graveyard and found what I’d come to see.
The simple stone memorial with his signature carved into it was so much nicer than a big elaborate monument would have been.