Walk1000Miles 2017

[Pauline]

Walking is an important part of traveling in Europe. Walking to the top of hilltowns, walking through narrow streets, walking in the cities, walking in the countryside. Some of us are retired and able to do more travel now that we have more time, and we have to keep ourselves fit to enjoy that travel.

Last year on January 1st a group of us took the walk1000miles challenge from Country Walking, a UK magazine. We have a forum here (only visible to those who joined) where we posted our weekly totals. 20 miles per week gets you to 1000 miles in a year.

We started off as a walking group of 13 and a few dropped out after a few months leaving a nine of us. We each set our goal based on what we could do and what other activities we do. We also decided between counting steps all day or only counting miles when out walking on footpaths, trails or around the neighborhood.

The nine of us counted our miles every day and week and we all met our goals! Congratulations to all of us!

If anyone is interested in putting together a group like this for 2018, post here. I am happy to continue hosting the forum and posting my miles.

If any of our group wants to post how their walking year went, please post below. Thanks for taking part!

 

[Pauline]

I did my walk1000miles with my husband Steve. We have always loved walking and hiking and tried to do as much as possible over the years, but when we retired and moved to England in 2010 we were able to spend a lot more time walking. One of the reasons we moved to England is because of the great walking.

We made it over 1200 miles this year and in doing so we realized that since 2010 we have probably been walking 1000 miles a year. The challenge made us walk on more days than usual and when the weather was not perfect. Even our holidays this year focused on walking (Basilicata, Umbria, Brittany, Cotswolds, Cornwall, Amalfi Coast). We don't do any other sports, so it was easy for us to do a lot of walking.

Doing this concentrated walking made me realize how much I love to be outside and how much I love where we live. Needing to "get our miles" made us walk into town more often (3.5 easy miles) to get small amounts of groceries and I feel like I know Bridport more because of that. We did not use our car much this year.

I injured my foot this summer (plantar faciitis) so we stopped doing 10 miles walks and kept to a more reasonable 5 - 7 miles. It mostly healed after 3 months.

We fell in love with the Amalfi Coast, for all of its difficulties, because of the magnificent walking trails.

This year I used a mapping ap (ViewRanger) to track my miles. I bought a FitBit for next year because I like how the software keeps totals by day/week/month/year. I won't have to keep a spreadsheet. I don't like wearing the FitBit so will only put it on when we leave the house for a walk.

Next year I will aim for 1000 miles because I think that is a good amount. We walk less each week in the winter and more in the summer. We are in a slow period now (cold, windy, muddy) and I am looking forward to spring and summer to do longer walks!

Steve, Pauline, Bryan, and Valerie in Bomerano at the start of the Path of the Gods. November 2017. (Valerie has her eyes closed but the rest of us are wearing sunglasses, so maybe ours are closed too!)

 

[Valerie]

I was resting before the hike
Hope to meet up with you two someplace for more walks this year!