Well would you look at that, we have survived January! Mind you as Januarys go, that one wasn’t bad. Work is still crazy but I’ve learnt to accept that while I can try and have a positive affect on the things I can control, the stuff that is out of my hands I survive by finding the funny. Outside of work I’ve been enjoying more longer walks, not that I ever fell out of love with strolling but at the end of the year with short, dark days and lots going on I either lacked the time or the energy for ambling.

Thankfully January arrived with more opportunities for walks, some purely for pleasure but also some more longer walks as an alternative transport option. In my previous post I spoke about my new tradition (that sounds like an oxymoron?) of visiting the Wilmington Yew, well in the end I was lucky enough to have two visits to this ancient beauty. The joy of walking as a hobby is that even if the route is the same, the experience never is. That first visit to the yew was a lovely bit of me-time but on the second visit I was joined by my mum & it was a great way to share quality time together. On the less scenic portions we were able to chat about anything and everything, catching up on the incidentals of life. As the scenery improved we took it in turns to admire the landscape, spotting the chalk figure of the Long Man and delighting in seeing the first signs of warmer weather as we saw daffodils (which resulted in a cry of “Daffs!”) and dainty snowdrops. We also heard plenty of happy chirps and tweets even if we couldn’t always spot the source.

Arriving at the Wilmington Yew it was great to see that Mum was as impressed with this tree as I was. We also enjoyed a relaxing sit in the peaceful churchyard before wandering off to the pub for a warming pint of local ale. As we’d seen the Long Man chalk figure and were sat in the Long Man Inn, I simply had to order a pint of Long Man beer – their warming, winter brew Old Man perfectly hit the spot on a chilly January afternoon.

Janaury not only saw me walking for pleasure but also increasing my walks as a form of transport. As well as my regualr walk to the office I also included a longer walk to the other side of the city for a meeting and I opted to travel on foot instead of by tube on my last trip to the capital. Retutning to work after the festive break I was dismayed to discover that I had been signed up to attend a full day’s training in London, normally I’m happy to learn something new but I felt this excursion was going to teach me nothing new. At first I was annoyed, particularly as the session was taking place in a part of London I wasn’t familair with and so it looked like I would have to get the train and then on to the tube or perhaps a bus. I wasn’t happy about the day’s excursion and even more annoyed about having to spend time on public transport, cramped full of other people. I looked again at the maps and realised that there was another option. In spite of the fact that I was heading to a part of London I was not familiar with, the walking route seemed to be idiot-proof. The first part took me through Hyde Park which I love, not just because parks are always lovely – they are full of trees, what’s not to love? But I also love that Hyde Park seems to be a portal to the city, a way of easing me into the madness of the capital. All this and it’s full of parakeets.

So I had no issues with the first part of the walk, I just needed to get from Victoria to Hyde Park, something I had done several times before. I then needed to exit the park via Marble Arch, find Edgeware Road and that was it, just keep walking straight up that one road. All up it was about 3.5 miles but that’s fine, walking I can do, directions I cannot but even I can remember to walk onwards. And so that’s what I did, in fact in the end the only issue was that I was too fast. Google had estimated the walk would take an hour and a half. My train was due in around ten past eight, registration for the confernece was from 9.30 with the session starting at 10.00, so I figured I shoud be there shortly after registration opened but I had a bit of a buffer. On the day I was marching along and realised that I was ahead of schedule, perhaps I was wlaking faster as it was not a particularly scenic route, whatever the reason, even with telling myself to slow down I still arrived about 9.15. Oh well it beats being late!

I am aware that I am in a privileged postion, not only to be physically able to walk several miles rather than being cooped up with sweaty commuters on a tube. Also being a naturally fast walker means that I can usually find the time to add in a walk as part of my travel options without drasitcally extending my journey time. I do appreciate I am fortunate & I don’t take this for granted. Even so for those who couldn’t walk all the way I hope we can find ways to encourage people to at least consider walking part of the way. Once I realised walking was an option, my mood improved. I ended up enjoying the day, the training was still a waste of time but I always feel good travelling under my own steam. It was great to stretch out my legs and definitely preferable to relying on public transport.

We are creatures of habit however we can soon adapt, for example, I had got into the habit of getting the train to end into town. However the walks I did over the past month for meetings and across London, reminded me that I enjoy walking as transport as well as for fun. That’s why this weekend as I was planning to visit Mum, I instinctively went to check the train timetable but as the sunlight started to pour into the room I realised that there was no reason to get the train. There was no time pressure and the weather was brighter than forecast so why shouldn’t I walk? So that’s exactly what I did.

If January is any indication of what this year holds then it looks like I’ll be doing a lot more strolling this year both for leisure and for practical purposes. And that sounds like a good year to me.

That’s how I stroll.