A two-tone dog and a 60 miles in a week challenge!
With a full week off, I decided to set myself the challenge of walking 60 miles over the course of the week between school drop off and pick up hours. Some of the miles would be completed alone, some with Lily and Henry, some with my daughter and some altogether. I worked out that I would need to cover around 8.6 miles each day so I planned to walk along the Canal at Wigan with Lily and Henry to begin with.
Despite it being beautifully warm and sunny, there was an awful lot of mud for Lily and Henry to enjoy and at one point I ended up with a two-tone dog. Thankfully there are lots of streams and even a stretch of the river for them to swim in and clean up a little! You may notice I have more photographs of Henry than I have of Lily; this isn't through favourtism or choice, it is simply that Lily turns her head away as she sees the camera, or will bark midshot. Aiming for 60 miles, by the time I got into bed on Monday I had walked 10.43 miles.
After their fun on Monday, Lily and Henry had a shorter walk on Tuesday whereas I took on the challenge of walking along the Old Tramroad into town to complete a few errands. The walk follows a beautiful tree-lined path all the way up to a bridge that crosses the River Ribble and takes you into the park. It is a lovely walk all year round, but at the moment it is full of green and the singing of birds. I was lucky enough to spot a Nuthatch as well as a Bullfinch darting between the trees but my camera on my phone is not as good as I would have liked it to be. By the time Tuesday came to a close, I had walked another 13.07 miles, which put me ahead of my target of 8.6 miles a day.
Wednesday was another warm and sunny day, a little too warm for Lily and Henry so I decided that we would do a longer evening walk for a change. Once I had checked on google for the dog friendly zones, I collected my little one from school and we all headed up to the seaside for a run along the deserted beach from Marshide to Southport Pier. We had a rest at the Pier before walking to the Marina where we had chippy tea, with Lily and Henry both waiting ever so patiently for a couple of cold chips. Including the walking I had completed during the day on my own, my daily mileage was 11.1 miles and I was well on my way to achieve the 60 miles target I had set myself.
Having recently lost over 7 and a half stone, I am starting to enjoy walking in the sunshine whereas previously it was just not nice. Waking up to another sunny morning on Thursday, I went for a little wander with a friend locally to have a catch up and get in a few miles. Later, I took Lily and Henry down to the stream to cool off and swim where Henry found himself another giant stick to carry around with him. Whilst syncing my fitbit, I found that I had walked another 11.27 miles over the course of the day, and the people in my Workweek Hustle group had started asking why on earth my step count was so high!
Friday brought more sunshine and an eager Lily and Henry went straight to their lead hanger once I returned home from the school run, tails wagging furiously. We had a little walk around the fields and local country lanes, Henry stopping as often as he could to have a giant sniff of everything and Lily walking alongside with her tongue hanging out and her tail wagging. After all of my walking this week, I can see why Labradors enjoy being out and about as it is very relaxing and after five minutes or so walking whatever mood you're in has been replaced by a more positive feel.
The weekend walks always depend on where we are going, the mood of the children and the weather, but as I had told my family that my challenge was to walk 60 miles we set off up to Beacon Fell for a walk through the woodland, over the hills and along the country lanes. Although Lily and Henry stayed at home due to the heat, they had a quiet little walk later on once it had cooled and the same again on Sunday.
Are you still there? I appreciate this is a long post so I will make it quick! So, how did I do? Did I manage to achieve my target? Over the course of the week, I walked 72.41 miles, which is 180,395 steps and my personal best. Will I ever achieve more? I don't know, but for now I am putting my feet up and having a rest!
Walk 1000 miles for 2018 Challenge
Week 20= 72.41 miles
Total miles since 1st January 2018 = 925.26 miles