#walk1000miles 2018

Welcome to my second #walk1000miles post!

2018 has been the second year I’ve participated in the initiative by Country Walking Magazine. My story was even a feature for their 2018 campaign. You can read all about the positive affects of walking on mental health by reading my post here.

For the past 12 months, I’ve been busy counting my miles daily and tallying my weekly totals. I’ve counted workouts on the cross-trainer, walks to work, exercising the family dog, Riley and of course holidays and days out with David! My overall mileage for 2018 has been a wonderful 1,871 miles. Beating my 2017 total, by over 500 miles!

As in 2017‘s post, I’ve split the year into seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter, and give the miles for each of the three months. It will be good to see how different my mileage accumulates over the year and how it differs per season and against 2017’s totals.

So without further ado, let’s begin with my favourite season of all, spring!

Spring: (March, April and May)

I don’t know about you, but 2018 has simply flown! Spring seems such a long time ago!  However I can still remember the excitement I felt when the first buds in the yarden began to sprout and the days lengthened. During this quarter there were many days out to the Lake District. As well as walking Riley at local parks and nature reserves. I even completed my 500 miles by April!

David and Christine at Castle Crag

Riley and Bennie

Reaching 500 miles

David and Riley at mere Sands Wood

View from a hide – Pennington Flash

Latrigg

Total miles for spring= 481. That’s 150 miles more than the spring of 2017! Riley accompanied me on 133 miles this quarter.

Summer: (June, July and August)

Summer 2018 was simply fantastic! I had so much fun! I saw and shared with David (and you) so many diverse experiences. June for me is always about The Wildlife Trusts‘ 30 Days Wild, and what a wild month it was! David and I visited many new nature reserves and even managed to fit in a few days holiday to the Lake District. I swam in cold tarns and walked alpacas. In July, David and I saw art trails of robins and bees in Nottingham and Manchester. I completed the #walk1000miles challenge and my friend Jennifer visited from California.

David and Riley at Port Sunlight River Park

#walk1000miles

At Derwentwater

Stickle Tarn swim

Robin Hood and Christine

Selfie Time!

The Birds and the Bees

Total miles for summer= 442.

I was surprised that 2018’s summer miles were lower than spring’s! However my overall total for summer was higher than 2017’s. I probably would have achieved more miles if it wasn’t for the heat. 2018 saw the NW of England roast under a heatwave for about two months (May-July). It was glorious to feel the heat and sunshine whilst sunbathing, but not good for walking! I really need better footwear for the summer months. Many blisters are not conducive to walking miles!

Autumn: (September, October and November)

Though I’d completed this years #walk1000miles by the 13th July, I decided to continue to count my miles and see what mileage I’d achieve by December 31st. Autumn is a beautiful season and I managed to enjoy the changing colours by getting out more. I got off the bus earlier, then walked 40+ minutes to work. I took Riley on more walks to the local park and spent four days touring the Highlands of Scotland.

Getting changed, Loch Etive

David at Glenfinnan Viaduct

The Old Man of Storr

Giants in Liverpool

Loughrigg Tarn

Paddling

Total miles for autumn= 479 miles.

I manged to walk 100+ miles more than Autumn 2017! Perhaps walking the two miles to work everyday helped? I also discovered that the totals for spring/autumn were once again similar both in 2017 and 2018!

Winter: (December, January and February)

I was determined to make the most of the daylight hours come winter. A 10 mile walk around Derwentwater in February helped kick start my #walk1000miles! David and I also went on many dog walks with Riley. Over the course of the year Riley clocked up a total of 285 miles, not bad for a 9 nine year old! Perhaps he can make 500 miles in 2019?

Night walk and new jacket

Low Brandelhow

Japanese Gardens

David looking wet

Total miles for winter = 469 miles. Surprisingly better than summer’s total!

Annual Total = 1,871 miles!

Achieving #walk1000miles in a year is greatly satisfying. My certificate and medal have pride of place on my gym’s wall.

2018 – Certificate and medal

Name

#walk1000miles has a wonderful, supportive Facebook group. Through participation in this group my name was among the many others on the We Did 1000 Miles page of the January 2019 edition of Country walking Magazine. I also discovered that my story which featured as part of their website to advertise 2018’s challenge is still on their website for 2019 under the happiness tab. Which makes me happy indeed. 🙂

I was unsure whether to sign up for 2019’s challenge, however I decided to once again see how far I can walk in a year. Walking is such an easy, free activity, much underrated if you ask me. I will continue walking the miles I do and see how I go. How about you? Do you feel inspired to give the challenge a go?

If you fancy signing up, click the link below and join me and thousands more, walking that little bit more than we did last year!

https://www.walk1000miles.co.uk/

Thanks for reading, Christine x

30 Days Wild 2018 – Day Eighteen

Day 18: For today’s Close Up Monday, the animal (I believe) most synonymous with the Lake District, is the Herdwick. Their name stems from the Old Norse, Herdwyck, meaning sheep pasture. Herdwick sheep are the most hardy of Britain’s hill sheep. They can roam some 3,000ft around the central and western fells, and territoriality keep to their heaf, which is a learnéd bit of fell they graze.

Info taken from Herdy® states that, Lake District Herdwick farms are granted commoner grazing rights, which set the number of sheep on any given common by the grazing capacity of the fell.

Herdwick Sheep

Each farm has its own way of identifying straying herdwicks. Lug marks are small notches on the sheep’s ear, whereas smit marks are coloured marks on the sheep’s fleece.

The herdwick’s body has evolved to withstand the extreme winters of the Lake District. They also have resistance to diseases and ticks. They are primarily bread for meat.

The lambs are born black, but within a year they turn brown (at this stage they are called hogglets/hoggs). After their first sheering their fleece lightens to grey.

Their grazing of heather and grass, keeps bracken and scrub under control, which in turn helps keep the Lake District look.

Their wool is best suited to carpet wool and is a good insulator.

What animal do you think is synonymous with the Lake District?

Thanks for reading, and keep wild!

Christine x

30 Days Wild 2018 – Day Sixteen

Day 16: This Saturday we decided to head to Claremont Farm, Wirral to pick our own strawberries.

Last year the weather was gorgeous! A blissful summers day. Today however the weather was changeable but we spent a leisurely time walking the field and picking the juiciest of fruits.

Strawberry Field

Picking strawberries

Picking strawberries

Picking strawberries

Harvest

Have you picked your own fruit? What is your favourite?

Thanks for reading, and stay wild!

Christine x

30 Days Wild 2018 – Day Thirteen

Day 13: This Wednesday I had time to sit down with pen and paper and plan a wild adventure!

There’s something exiting about planning for a forthcoming trip. There’s what activities to do, sights to see, places to eat; the possibilities are endless!

This latest trip to the Lake District has been rather impromptu, (not that I’m complaining!) 😀

I don’t know about you, but I like to make a list of all the places to visit, opening times, prices (if applicable). I print out all the relevant booking information and also trail maps and an itinerary. Even if plans go awry, I like to have a back up plan re: wet weather, late arrivals etc.

Planning a trip

My intention is to organise swim/walks, lakeside jaunts and perhaps sunset vistas (depending on the weather). So with Google at the ready I am poised to plan a really wild adventure!

Where in the Lake District do you think I should venture too?

Have you planned a wild adventure? If so where?

Thanks for reading, and stay wild!

Christine x

Sunday Sevens #50

I wasn’t going to do a Sunday Sevens (devised by Natalie at Threads and bobbins). I haven’t taken that many pictures this week, but I thought I would give it a try and see what I could come up with.

Beauty:

Among a bunch of flowers I bought this week, were some yellow roses. I thought how pretty the folds of petals looked.

Yellow Rose

Dan Brown’s Origin

Book I am reading:

I’m currently enjoying Dan Brown’s latest Robert Langdon offering, Origin. Though it’s punctuated with endless lectures on the many geographical and historical places in the novel. I am looking forward to finding out the true reason for Winston!

#walk1000miles:

A quick update on my weeks mileage, which has been 33. Bringing my annual total to 643 miles.

Yarden:

This Saturday, David and I took a visit to my favourite garden centre, Lady Green. We went in the hope of getting (shade loving) rockery plants for around the pond, but ended up getting the wrong type (sun loving). However the mistake was a blessing as the phlox I bought ended up in the main yarden around David’s recently moved acer. In total we bought five plants, and all have now got new homes. 🙂

Bee Sculpture

I also fell in love with some funky art for the yarden. These funny bee sculptures really do brighten the yarden up and at £3.99, weren’t too expensive either. 🙂

Riley Walks:

This Bank Holiday weekend has been unprecedented. The NW of England has been blessed with wall to wall sunshine and temperatures hitting 24°C. It truly has been a lovely Bank Holiday. On Sunday David and I took a hot Riley to a local nature reserve, Lunt Meadows. We visited Lunt last year as part of my 30 days Wild, so decided to go for another 4.5 mile walk around the reserve.

Christine and Riley

David and Riley

Lunt Nature Reserve

Greylag Geese

The sun was hot even at 10am! Peregrines soared before a cloudless blue sky, while greylag geese eyed us wearily. Bees buzzed among orchids and there were innumerous bird songs, most I could not identify. Speckled woods fluttered in nearby woodland. Orange tips, small tortoiseshells and peacocks, were all too fast for us to take a picture! Our leisurely morning walk flew by. Riley, though hot seemed to enjoy the different smells and sounds of the lovely nature reserve.

What have you been up to this Bank Holiday?

That was my week, how was yours?

Thanks for reading,

Christine x

Sunday Sevens #46

I love sharing my weekly news with you in the form of a Sunday Sevens. 🙂 Thanks to Natalie at Threads and bobbins for creating the series. This week has been rather uneventful so hopefully I’ve managed to scrape enough pictures together to keep you interested.

A few days off work:

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t great on the days David and I took off work this week. It simply rained all day Monday. Despite this we took Riley on a 4.6 miles walk around Sefton Park. It may have been wet and dreary but we enjoyed the exercise and being outside. There were many crows flying about, tufted ducks on the lake and crocus and daffodils brightened up the gloominess.

David and Riley at Sefton Park

Riley at Formby Beach

Tuesday dawned in much the same light as Monday, however as we drove to Formby the clouds cleared and a warm spring sun came out. It was lovely on the beach. The air held the hope of warmer days to come. Riley enjoyed his run and loved the freedom of the beach.

I calculated that Riley has walked/ran 13 miles this week!

Which brings me nicely to my #walk1000miles. I’ve managed to walk 36 miles this week, bringing my annual total to 398 miles! If you are joining in the challenge, how are you doing?

Colour my 1000 miles

Crocus

Spring:

Though it doesn’t seem like spring has arrived for most. This week in the NW of England it has felt very springlike. David and I spotted some lovely crocus flowering in Newsham Park. How gorgeous are those blooms?

Music:

Last week I was approached by Kerry Andrew who kindly asked if she could use a clip of my Buttermere swim in a music video she was creating. I agreed. The completed video went live a week later.

You are Wolf (where Kerry is vocalist/composer) have created a video that evokes the essence of memory and of a time gone by. I was surprised at how much of my clip she used and in hindsight I could have offered her much more. It seems Kerry is a keen wild swimmer herself! While writing this post, I did some research and discovered that You are Wolf create Alt Folk music and Kerry has performed pieces from the recent, Robert McFarlane book, The Lost Words. This book with beautiful illustrations by Jackie Morris, is one I am looking forward to reading. I particularity liked Kerry’s rendition of Bluebell.

Kerry has also written her debut novel Swansong which I have added to my list of books to read!

Swansong

The Famished Road – Okri

Book I am reading:

This week I have embarking on Ben Okri’s Booker Prize novel The Famished Road. I discovered Ben’s poetry when he featured in the enjoyable Future Learn course Literature and Mental Health. The novel looks a big read. Have you read it? Let me know what to expect!

Baking:

Chocolate ganache

Chocolate cake

This weekend David baked a cake. He cooked a chocolate sponge with a filling of half peanut butter and half chocolate, with a chocolate ganache covering. The cake was very sweet.

So, that was my week, how was yours?

Thanks for reading,

Christine x

 

Candlemas

Candlemas

This Friday was Candlemas – Festival of light. Candlemas has many connotations. For the Christian’s, it represents Mary’s presentation of the young Jesus at the temple of Jerusalem. To others it’s Imbolc, a Gaelic festival signalling the beginning of spring, and since 1886 the day has also been known as Groundhog Day. Whatever your beliefs, the season of spring does seem to be close at hand.

For the past few weeks I have been looking for signs of spring. Thanks to the Woodland Trust‘s Nature Detectives, I have spotted my first blooming willow catkins and snowdrops.

Willow Catkins

Snowdrops (Candlemas Bells)

However there seems to be many superstitions regarding this time of year between the Shortest Day and the March equinox. Of the Christian saying:

If Candlemas Day be fair and bright
Winter will have another fight.
If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain,
Winter will not come again.

This belief means that if the day of Candlemas is bright and sunny, then superstition would determine that winter hasn’t ended for the season. This is also the reasoning behind the Pennsylvania tradition of Punxsutawney Phil. If, (groundhog) Phil see’s his shadow (on a sunny day) then the poor rodent, will predict another six weeks of winter.

This year, both Candlemas was a sunny, fair day here in the NW of England and Punxsutawney Phil (in Philadelphia, U.S.A) did indeed see his shadow. Meaning there could be another six weeks of winter.

Punxsutawney Phil 

I on the other hand don’t believe in these superstitions. I can’t ignore nature. There is so much blossoming around me. From Hellebores and irises, to daffodils (in parks) and crocuses in my yarden. Even in the grasp of winter there is life, all around.

Hellebore

Iris

Riley and Daffodils

Orange Crocus?

This weekend I have also spotted the visiting chiffchaff to my yarden. He/she is always spotted around this time, flitting about the yarden. This year I was amazed at how brash the chiffchaff was, fluttering at the dinning room window and landing in the window boxes. I’ve managed to get some new footage of this seasonal visitor. We tend to only see the chiffchaff around wintertime.

So whether you think spring is around the corner or six weeks away. Spring will be here in no time, and then fast on its heels will be summer. The seasons of the years go so fast. We need to savour the passing of time.

Enchanted Forest Mug

While I was watching the wildlife outside my window. I enjoyed a cup of tea from my recently bought mug. It is of the same design as my Enchanted Forest plates. I love it!

What signs of spring have you seen? Let me know.

Thanks for reading,

Christine x

RSPB – Leighton Moss

Itching to go out walking again, I was looking for ideas for places to go to this weekend. I don’t know why but sightings of bearded tits at RSPB Leighton Moss popped up on my Facebook wall. So I decided to look at their website and planned on taking a few hours walking along their trails of woodland and reed-bed habitats.

Leighton Moss is the largest reed-bed in the NW of England. They have breeding bitterns and is the only home to bearded tits in the region.

We visited after a 1.5h drive, on a cloudy mid-September afternoon. Unfortunately too late to see the bearded tits on the grit feeders. However we did manage to see plenty of other wildlife, predominantly garden and woodland birds.

Among the many feeding stations we passed, we managed to spot hungry blue, great and long tail tits. A friendly robin sang to us for food but we had none. There were many chaffinches having squabbles, but the stars of the day (for us) was a small marsh tit and surprisingly bold nuthatches!

Marsh Tit

Nuthatch

We also saw goldcrests flittering about the trees, but they were so fast that David couldn’t get a picture! Maybe, one day!

Leighton Moss has many walking trails to choose from. David and I did them all save the salt-marshes as they were not on the main reserve. For the three hours we were there, we put in a reasonable four miles of walking.

Woodland walk

reed-bed walk

We stopped for lunch at a bench on the Causeway path, and watched as house martins swooped overhead and red and blue dragonflies darted about. Even the odd speckled wood butterfly made an appearance.

Of the many hides on the reserve I was very impressed with Lilian’s hide. It looked newly made and was very spacious, with bowed windows looking out towards the reed-beds and comfy seating. David snapped a good photo from here of a grey heron.

From Lilian’s Hide

Lilian’s Hide

Grey Heron

Not far from Lilian’s hide is the nine metres tall skytower, which gives unparalleled views over the reed-bed towards Morecambe Bay.

The path leading from Grisedale hide offered us two wildlife experiences. The first was on noticing something moving inconspicuously in the reeds, we looked a little closer to find a tiny field vole. He was so cute!

Field Vole

Further along the path we were surprised by a sudden splash of water! We did not see what made the noise but there are otters residing in the area. I’d like to think we startled one as we made our way along the path.

Overall, I enjoyed our visit to Leighton Moss. At first the £7 per person admission fee for non members seems a little steep but there is free car parking, a shop and cafe in the visitor centre, with the reserve open from dawn to dusk. So £7 for the whole day is good value for money especially as you can walk around the paths as many times as you like and rest a while in the hides.

Membership at £4 a month would be viable if we visited these places more often, but alas only every now and again do we visit an RSPB site. Perhaps that is something to be rectified in the future?

Have you visited Leighton Moss reserve? What were your impressions?

Thanks for reading,

Christine x

Sunday Sevens #31

I really enjoy collating pictures from the week and writing a summary in the form of a Sunday Sevens, devised by Natalie, however this post is slightly later than usual. Oops!

This week, David and I have spent more time in the yarden due to the weather being glorious! Most of the week in the NW of England saw temperatures soar to 28°C. It was a taster of what summer could be like if the winds are favourable.

Recently we have been talking about getting a watering hole for the resident birds during the summer months. This week saw David came home with a big box! It took me totally by surprise. David had visited his staff shop and acquired a bargain. He’d bought a Bernini fountain for £10, it should have been £100! As you can imagine with the weather hotting up this week, the fountain has been a welcome addition to the yarden!

The yarden continues to amaze. I noticed some foam that looked like eggs. I Googled it and found that the foam is a cover against predators by an aphid like insect called a spittlebug. They are classed as garden pests, but I think I’ll let this one be.

 

Spittlebug

Silver Y Moth

I also snapped this picture of a striking silver y moth, though it can be confused with a ni moth. Any moth aficionados, do let me know if you think I have the wrong identification!

Bees: This week I received my Friends of the Earth, Bee Saver Kit. For a small donation you get this lovely pack, with a handy bee identification wall chart and a small pack of wildflower meadow seeds. I have recently been inundated with wildflower seeds! 😀

 

Friends of the Earth Bee Saver Kit

Red Tailed Bumblebee

The wall chart helped me ID a bee visiting my chives. It was a first sighting for 2017 of the red tailed bumblebee.

Book I’m reading: I have recently picked up Khaled Hosseini’s ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns‘. It is by the same author of the wonderful emotive Kite Runner, so I have high hopes it’ll be a good read!

 

Bowscale Tarn

Wild Swimming: A day off work on Friday coincided with some beautiful weather. So I planned on anther swim/walk. This time David and I headed for Bowscale Tarn. With a lovely one hour walk to the secluded tarn and off the tourist track, it made for a wonderful day, even if I did catch mild heat stroke!

 

#walk1000miles

Riley

#walk1000miles: I’ve become a Proclaimer! Somewhere around Bowscale I reached the 500 mile mark! The mileage for this week has been a very healthy 28 miles. Bringing my overall total to 507 miles! I think walks with Riley have helped enormously!

So, that was my week, how was yours?

Until the next Sunday Sevens!

Christine x

Tarn of the Immortal Fish

Bowscale Tarn was the clear winner of my public vote on where my first swim of 2017 should be. Despite that accolade finally going to Crummock Water, I decided Bowscale would be my second!

As featured in William Wordsworth’s 1888, Song, at the Feast of Brougham Castle. Folklore states that Bowscale Tarn is home to two immortal fish, one with the gift of speech. With the weather forecasting sunshine and temperatures reaching the late 20°C’s, there was nothing else for it but to go in search of these immortal fish!

We got to the hamlet of Bowscale at 9.30am after a two hour drive up the M6 to Penrith and then the A66 to Mungrisedale. As we seem to be visiting the area a lot recently, we didn’t even need the help of the SatNav!

There are only a few cottages in Bowscale and it was by these cottages that we parked the car, parking was free! As the road bends right, there is a public bridleway sign pointing towards the tarn. The path was established by the Victorians who would flock to Bowscale Tarn much more than people do now. The path was very quiet and we only saw one other person with his two dogs.

The walk to the tarn took one hour. The pathway was well defined, gravelly underfoot but there was no worry of getting lost! The sun was blazing hot, even at 10am! The sparkling blue of Bowscale Tarn appeared like a mirage, it was a welcome sight!

Bowscale Tarn

Bowscale Tarn

A good few hours was spent at Bowscale, picnicking and sunbathing, before sliding my sun kissed body into the cool waters of the tarn. I found the shallows to be very muddy and my feet easily got sucked down into the vegetation. It was a feeling I did not like!

Occasionally a mean wind wiped over the tarn and the water glistened like there were a myriad of tiny stars dancing on the surface. The silence of the place was only broken by the chatter of pipits nesting in the heath-land.

And of the immortal fish? I never seen head nor tail of them, other than wrestling with a rubber trout I had brought along for the fun of being silly!

Have you visited Bowscale Tarn? Been lucky enough to see the immortal fish? I’d love to hear of your stories attached to this place.

Thanks for reading,

Christine x