Re: Bob's Bits.

As I'm sat here in my kitchen eating porridge and catching up with Over 50's Forum, the sun is streaming through the window, and I hope it's the same for you as you prepare for your walk. Hope it goes well.
Thanks for the offer Alice, should I ever visit your neck of the woods, I would love to join your walking club maybe as a guest.

Re: Bob's Bits.

Good morning Robert . Well, we're not going the planned walk today. My partner is loaded with the cold. We will go out later and have a shorter walk. That walk will come round again. The Gleniffer Braes are a couple of miles from me and I've a notion to go there later. The views over the town are great. Yes, if you're ever in this neck of the woods then please join us and we'll treat you to a beer at the end ;- . Next weekend we're going to Lochearnhead for two nights and there promises to be fantastic walks in that beautiful area. I'm really looking forward to it and I'll post pics. Have a nice day Robert

Re: Bob's Bits.

Brilliant as always. You're a great advocate for a healthy lifestyle........

Do you write up notes as you go or is all from memory?

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Thanks Anzac, appreciate your comments.
Sometimes during a walk I'll dictate into my phone, only when I'm on my own though. Occasionally after a good run it gets a bit emotional, and words come easy.

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Robert, I'm not a runner, but a walk does get emotional. The whole experience, the effort, the scenery, the feeling of being out there. At the end of it there is no feeling like it. I don't know how i'd have coped without it. My friends still talk about when I first joined the walking group. At my lowest I'd go to work Monday to Friday, then know I was walking with the group on a Saturday. Got prepared on the Friday evening, then up early Saturday morning. Followed the programme every Saturday. Then a glass of wine afterwards with the group, then home to a ready meal curry, which I put in the oven, whilst having a bath. Then I'd devour it, have another glass of wine, then zonk into bed! Waken on a Sunday morning and felt great. It was a routine for me, which I loved. Everyone at work asks me each week where my walk is, even to this day. So I can understand how you feel about it.

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Entry:-220215
7:10 am and it’s broad daylight outside and I quietly jog out along the drive for my Sunday morning helping of LSD [Long Slow Distance] not much breeze to speak of, but what there is, was Icey cold, like a thousand needles pricking my face and legs. It didn’t look cold through the window, but patches of frost on the pavements and some frozen puddles convinced me otherwise. I tried to be careful adjusting my pace this morning as I made my way to the village boundary, I had got something special planned. I passed over the Railway level crossing and out into the country where I made my escape. My mind disengaged, and I let it wonder. A Magpie strutted across the road ahead, such a proud chap as he stuck his white chest out and walked one leg in front of the other [most birds hop] Magpies get a lot of bad press, but I love them, they look so dominant as they strut about, ‘attitude’ that’s what I admire, cats also posses it [mine does anyway] Something else white attracted my attention, as I grew closer I could see it was a discarded Fridge on the verge with other assorted waste items. I will not get angry, anger is a negative emotion and there is no room for it on this run. I shrug it off and continue. I cross over the canal bridge and take the towpath down the side, this will make my run longer than usual, I hope my early pace adjustments were correct; it’s a long walk home if not.
Not so much a tarmac path, more a grassy track and the frozen blades of grass crunch under my feet. The canal lies flat and shiny, like a narrow mirror disappearing round a faraway bend, and my destination. The rough ground gives way to a well trodden dirt track, which then exits through a gap in the wall and I pop out onto a road. I have arrived on the outskirts of the next village. I was born and brought up in this village, I lived here until at twenty one, Mum and Dad had saved enough for a deposit on their own bungalow in the next village where I now reside. I pass a small row of terraced houses at the side of the river, Sandra lived here: One of my first loves, we danced together in the school gym during dance classes [it was compulsory in those days] her long auburn hair tucked back over her shoulder, and her wire rimmed spectacles actually added to her beauty. Where had she gone? What does she look like now? Would she still recognise me? As I snap back into reality I’m jogging along deserted country roads, plastic pop bottles and beer cans litter the verges; it wasn’t always like this, beer and pop came in glass bottles, there was money to be had on the empties, so were rarely discarded. Beer was mainly drunk in the pub with friends and work colleagues, and could only be purchased from the off licence at the pub where the landlord knew your Dad, and also, he knew your age.
Running is easy, pacing was perfect, I sail along on a plateu, in the zone, no discomfort or tiredness, a glance at the GPS tells me I’ve run seven and a half miles, I make the call……….no answer…… O/H is out walking with her friends, she will be too engrossed in conversation to hear her mobile phone. I press on, puddles are still frozen as I enter the village and there are a few more people about, not many though, the wind is still very cold so they are either well wrapped up walking dogs, or in cars going to collect the morning papers. I come to a halt on the drive and stop the GPS. Nine and a Half miles, the most I’ve run for over a year, I feel so good, I sit in my chair at the computer and write a report waiting for the tide of wellness to flood over me. It soon comes…….All is well with the world…..Let Sunday Begin…….

Re: Bob's Bits.

Well done Robert! You deserve a nice leisurely Sunday after that

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Congrats on that distance Rob, your tactics on the run paid off !!

Interesting hearing about the village where you grew up too, re the fly tipping, hate to see that, it's not just a lack of concern for the environment but an insult to the people who live in the area.
I know what you mean about plastic bottles etc too. Discarded rubbish spoils so much of our road sides and paths.

Anyway well done again and hope you are having a nice afternoon.

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Well done OGF, hope you've still got some energy left to help with Sunday lunch!!

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Thanks everyone, after consuming a mammoth Sunday dinner, I slept it off on the sofa.....Just helped with the pots though.