Well so much better than last Sunday then. In that event it was a case of getting out of bed at 0730 for the IVC walk, only to fall back under the covers by 0740 feeling completely shagged out. Having recovered later I decided to do a rucksack walk in the afternoon, only to rip my left calf muscle (from a long dormant running injury) some three miles in. The cause of all this grief being the three (Run)/Walks I had done in the prior ten days, which had physically ground me into the dirt, and tightened both calves to the point of no return. So my question to myself therefore is when am I going to learn:
1 – That I am not capable of running anymore, precisely for this sort of reason.
2 – That walking is meant to be a healthy outdoor enjoyable activity, not a slog your guts out exercise through which I try to recapture former glories (ditto cycling: healthy mode of transport not a …………. oh you get the idea).
So anyway despite a week of walking to work and back, and standing up whilst watching TV, all as a desperate form of self rehab., I would be doing this walk with a limp and a certain amount of pain (but then again I am something of a hero).
It was nice to get the feel of Spring in the air as our party set off from Milford station, and for a day when I was mainly bringing up the rear, this was one of the few occasions when the walk’s leader was setting a cracking pace. Thus by the time I had caught the leader and the majority of the group up, they would have swigged from their drinks bottles and be on their way again. Part of this swift pace however was down to her booking a table for six at the pub for 1330, to avoid the Mothers Day trade, and not wanting to miss that particular slot. That said I was doing a fair bit of chin wagging at the back about the OU and other assorted topics and thus finding myself falling off the pace and struggling (with the injury) to catch up.
There was a fair amount of up and downs until we found ourselves walking mainly along pine mono-culture type forest pathways, which turned out to be the Greensand Way, which me and Helen covered part of during the Leith Hill excursions. By this time I had picked up a very large stick and was using it as a walking pole for my left leg. So when we arrived at the White Horse pub in Hascombe, I placed it carefully out of view outside for use again during the second half.
Whilst not outrageously priced, this was not one of your cheaper food pubs either, so the cheeseburger and chips looked the best bet for a tenner, and we were asked how well we wanted the burger (locally sourced organic Aberdeen Angus apparently) done. Certainly you don’t normally get asked that when you order a Big Mac and Fries, but then that’s only a third of the price. So despite all the Mother’s Day kerfuffle the pub was busy but not imposible, although the over abundance of toddlers told one that this wasn’t a normal Sunday. Unfortunately I can’t speak for the puddings as our leader told us quite firmly that none of us had the time to order one. So having barely digested the burger, it was time to reassemble outside and retrieve my stick.
Now I have to say my stick was quite useful in taking the pressure off my left calf, especially in the sense of pushing off with it. The downside however was it was quite heavy, and was also starting to make my left shoulder sore. So eventually I ended up chucking it, round about the time when the small dog appeared (although I am almost certain, the stick itself hadn’t turned into a dog). Anyway this tiny Jack Russell doggie/thing had become very much part of our group, save for the fact that it didn’t like the pace we were walking at, and kept running on ahead of us. Eventually however a lad caught up with us on his mountain bike, although he said that it wasn’t his dog but it actually belonged to his neighbours. Unfortunately the more he tried to run after the dog to retrieve it, the more the dog thought what a brilliant game it was to keep running away, and this was one fast dog. Finally the lad thought sod it and proceeded to walk off, at which point having seen the game was now over, said dog surrendered itself to one of our party. This of course meant that we then had to go chasing after the young lad to get him to come and collect it (well not me of course, as I have a bad leg doncha know).
Our next interesting four legged encounter was with some sort of pot bellied pig/boar thing that kept snorting at us from the other side of a fence. He certainly seemed friendly enough (although those teeth looked sharp) but he obviously had some sort of sinus problem that really needs to be dealt with. His missus meanwhile was happy to stay in the middle of the pen and ignore us. By this time two of our party were getting restless and were wanting to break off and drop out at Godalming (one train stop down the line), and thus save themselves a whole mile’s worth of walking. In the event they missed the hourly train by exactly two minutes, and ended up getting on the one we caught at Milford. For our part we arrived at Milford station by 1715, which meant there was considerable time to kill before the 1752 put in an appearance. At this point serious questions began to be asked as to why we couldn’t stay on for the Banoffee at the pub instead of being rushed out. However our leader placated us all with a shortcake biscuit, and thus we will say no more in these parts about it.
1 – That I am not capable of running anymore, precisely for this sort of reason.
2 – That walking is meant to be a healthy outdoor enjoyable activity, not a slog your guts out exercise through which I try to recapture former glories (ditto cycling: healthy mode of transport not a …………. oh you get the idea).
So anyway despite a week of walking to work and back, and standing up whilst watching TV, all as a desperate form of self rehab., I would be doing this walk with a limp and a certain amount of pain (but then again I am something of a hero).
It was nice to get the feel of Spring in the air as our party set off from Milford station, and for a day when I was mainly bringing up the rear, this was one of the few occasions when the walk’s leader was setting a cracking pace. Thus by the time I had caught the leader and the majority of the group up, they would have swigged from their drinks bottles and be on their way again. Part of this swift pace however was down to her booking a table for six at the pub for 1330, to avoid the Mothers Day trade, and not wanting to miss that particular slot. That said I was doing a fair bit of chin wagging at the back about the OU and other assorted topics and thus finding myself falling off the pace and struggling (with the injury) to catch up.
There was a fair amount of up and downs until we found ourselves walking mainly along pine mono-culture type forest pathways, which turned out to be the Greensand Way, which me and Helen covered part of during the Leith Hill excursions. By this time I had picked up a very large stick and was using it as a walking pole for my left leg. So when we arrived at the White Horse pub in Hascombe, I placed it carefully out of view outside for use again during the second half.
Whilst not outrageously priced, this was not one of your cheaper food pubs either, so the cheeseburger and chips looked the best bet for a tenner, and we were asked how well we wanted the burger (locally sourced organic Aberdeen Angus apparently) done. Certainly you don’t normally get asked that when you order a Big Mac and Fries, but then that’s only a third of the price. So despite all the Mother’s Day kerfuffle the pub was busy but not imposible, although the over abundance of toddlers told one that this wasn’t a normal Sunday. Unfortunately I can’t speak for the puddings as our leader told us quite firmly that none of us had the time to order one. So having barely digested the burger, it was time to reassemble outside and retrieve my stick.
Now I have to say my stick was quite useful in taking the pressure off my left calf, especially in the sense of pushing off with it. The downside however was it was quite heavy, and was also starting to make my left shoulder sore. So eventually I ended up chucking it, round about the time when the small dog appeared (although I am almost certain, the stick itself hadn’t turned into a dog). Anyway this tiny Jack Russell doggie/thing had become very much part of our group, save for the fact that it didn’t like the pace we were walking at, and kept running on ahead of us. Eventually however a lad caught up with us on his mountain bike, although he said that it wasn’t his dog but it actually belonged to his neighbours. Unfortunately the more he tried to run after the dog to retrieve it, the more the dog thought what a brilliant game it was to keep running away, and this was one fast dog. Finally the lad thought sod it and proceeded to walk off, at which point having seen the game was now over, said dog surrendered itself to one of our party. This of course meant that we then had to go chasing after the young lad to get him to come and collect it (well not me of course, as I have a bad leg doncha know).
Our next interesting four legged encounter was with some sort of pot bellied pig/boar thing that kept snorting at us from the other side of a fence. He certainly seemed friendly enough (although those teeth looked sharp) but he obviously had some sort of sinus problem that really needs to be dealt with. His missus meanwhile was happy to stay in the middle of the pen and ignore us. By this time two of our party were getting restless and were wanting to break off and drop out at Godalming (one train stop down the line), and thus save themselves a whole mile’s worth of walking. In the event they missed the hourly train by exactly two minutes, and ended up getting on the one we caught at Milford. For our part we arrived at Milford station by 1715, which meant there was considerable time to kill before the 1752 put in an appearance. At this point serious questions began to be asked as to why we couldn’t stay on for the Banoffee at the pub instead of being rushed out. However our leader placated us all with a shortcake biscuit, and thus we will say no more in these parts about it.
Walks since last blog entry:
(Run) Walks
2 x 6 Miles – Grand Union Canal / Osterley Park
1 x 6 Miles – Osterley Park / Grand Union Canal
(Rucksack 9kg) Walks.1 x 4 miles – Putney to Barnes Bridge (incomplete).
Hi Naveed
ReplyDeleteI am glad you are enjoying it, and expect some new updates over the next week or so.
Are you a regular walker yourself, and whereabouts do you walk ?
Mike