Hello?

At the request of @fawcylad, here’s a new blog, and the first of a series of two.

The best thing about my blog is how I post frequent updates about my weight loss journey, which engage and inspire others.

Well, I don’t do that, but it was my plan. However, the truth of the matter is I’m simply not disciplined enough to regularly update it. I will try to do it more than once every five months though.

Six months or more ago, when I was blogging more frequently, I talked about running. I did a lot of running last year and I quite enjoyed it – most of the time. Some of the time I didn’t really, probably because I am not a natural.

This summer season (does it sound impressive when I call it that?!) I haven’t really ran, and I was a bit disappointed with myself for that, but I have done a lot of other exercise, and have achieved a few things that I might not have expected previously.

These are:

1) I completed the Keswick to Barrow walk. This is a 40 mile road walk (though some run it) from one town to the other. This feels like quite a while ago now, not least because the weather was glorious, and this summer hasn’t been quite like that since.

The walk was a challenge. It started quite well, but after 30 miles, my legs and feet weren’t interested any more. I had blisters on top of blisters and some of those even had blisters on them too! Well you get the picture anyway.

My mate completed the walk many years earlier and he hated every minute of it. He got a rainy day, which made for a long slog. I remember thinking that I’d have felt the same in those circumstances (and we shall come back to that).

2) I completed the C2C (coast to coast) cycle ride from Whitehaven to Tynemouth. This is a 140 mile cycle which crosses the Northern Pennies.

I have wanted to do this for many years, so was delighted to finally get round to it, and to have achieved it.

For those of you who have undertook the ride, or who are interested in doing it, here’s the lowdown:

• There were three of us.
• We did it in three days.
• We stopped at Penrith on day one.
• We stopped at Rookhope on day two.
• If I did it again, I would try for two days. The final day is relatively easy in comparison to the first and second days, so that feels achievable.
• We had support in the form of our partners, which meant no need for panniers and rucksacks. 
• We stayed in guest houses rather than camping.