Rest day reflections

My cousin Emily asked the other day whether I was actually enjoying the walking, and I’ve had plenty of time to think about it.

I’m enjoying being on a journey, crossing the demarcations of the M5, the Severn, the line where we are west of Cardiff. We’ve passed through places that were just names on road signs, and many I’d never heard of. Areas that are geared towards tourists and areas which are rarely visited, especially by anyone walking. We’ve enjoyed telling people what we are doing, and getting responses ranging from disinterest to bewilderment to disbelief to enthusiasm to envy (not much of the latter).

I’m enjoying knowing that I have the stamina and strength (strong and stable?) to cope with the mileages we are doing, in spite of having been completely unsporty for  all of my life. I’m delighted that my hay fever has abated as I’ve got older (I’m using a nasal spray when I remember, but I’ve walked through freshly cut hay with no problem), and that my vision is perfect after surgery last year and I no longer need contact lenses or reading glasses.

Some of the walks have been dull or difficult, some have been beautiful, but there is always something interesting or unexpected. The accommodation has been varied but usually friendly, and the nightly game of Hunt the Hairdryer continues, not always successfully. Breakfast continues to challenge me.

But am I enjoying physically having to lift each foot over 10,000 times a day to move well over 12 stone of me and bag forward – or worse, uphill? After I made that calculation I had to sit down for a rest! Perhaps I will have an answer to that one after the next hundred miles or so.

Brecon Cathedral

High altar

River Honddu