Fitness Journey, 25 February

 

Today's walk ended up being completely different from what I'd planned - I thought at first I'd just head down to the windmill and back, as I know that's a nice distance for me just now.  But I also thought that instead of going straight down Branksome Road and back up Strathleven Road, which looks rather phallic when traced, I'd go down Hayter Road and then Branksome Road to get to Lambert Road.  However, half way long Hayter Road, I saw this lovely elderflower tree in blossom: 

and that reminded me I'd meant to go out on to Brixton Hill to see whether there were any crocuses on Rush Common.  As it turned out, I couldn't get across the road to have a look, as there is building work which has closed the nearest crossing, so I walked back up towards Brixton and then up Porden Road to Acre Lane.  I then realised that if I went straight home, I wouldn't have walked nearly far enough, so decided to do a loop round some of the streets on the far side of Acre Lane, and, as it's ages since I've been that way, I forgot that Santley Street was a cul-de-sac past the 7th Day Adventist Church, so I had to retrace my steps slightly.  Which actually gave me a walk of almost exactly the right distance!  Very pleasing.  There were also daffodils in the street boxes on Hayter Road, and, a bit further along, children learning to ride mountain bikes over a jump!  Which I didn't photo, but did stop to applaud.

Music: Evita: songs from the musical

Fitness Journey, 23 February

 

A longer walk today, because someone on Facebook said that Gail's Bakery did the most delicious Chelsea Buns.  So I discovered that my nearest Gail's was well within my current walking distance, and headed out there this afternoon - only to find, when I got there, that they didn't sell them, never had, never heard of them, didn't know what I was talking about, no demand for those, Madam.... bugger!

I could have walked home, but had already done almost 2k by that stage, so decided to head on down to the 355 bus stop, which was actually slightly further than I thought it was, but not far enough to worry me.  Bus came at once, and I turned off the tracker, but did go into Lidl when I got back, very briefly. 

Music: Evita. Songs from the Musicals.

Fitness Journey, 22 February

 

It was not a nice day today.  With hindsight, I should have got up and gone out when the Swan Whisperer did, about 8:00 as the sun was shining then.  But by the time I'd had breakfast, it had clouded over completely, and was raining, so I went to sleep instead!  However, the rain went away towards the end of the afternoon, so I went out for a brisk leg-stretch and into Lidl to get one or two things I wanted from there.  Not as far as some days, and of course shopping brings my average speed down, but I'm glad I went out!

Music: Tapestry, by Carole King, followed by songs from Evita

Fitness Journey, 20 February

Today's walk - and yes, I have managed 4 walks this week, go me - is a singularly unfortunate shape.  Oh well, that's just the way the route to Windmill Gardens and back is,  until I can make it a little longer.  Which I won't until I'm walking a little faster - 16 minutes per kilometer is still far too slow.  But it will come.

I like walking to Windmill Gardens because there are benches when I get there, and I can sit down for a few minutes to get my second wind.  The daffodils are coming, but the grass in the main part of the park is still a sea of mud.  Oddly where the children play football is much greener (no photos, because they were playing!).  

Music: Tapestry, Carole King.

 

Fitness Journey, 19 February

 

Not the walk I wanted!  I wanted to go into Brixton, which, as you can see, I did, but as it was a shopping walk I took my handbag, and I was also carrying a shopping bag as I had the little paper bag full of empty blister packs for recycling.  I don't know whether it was that, but my back was aching before I was half way down Acre Lane!  And I stopped to take a photo of someone's daffs, and just as my camera was coming up, the tenant came out with her dog, who promptly weed all over said daffs!  So I didn't take the photo, after all.

It's not really a good idea to shop in the afternoon in Brixton - I had to queue outside Holland & Barrett, only for a couple of minutes, and then I didn't buy anything.  Then I had to queue for what felt like hours outside Superdrug, but I did get what I wanted in there, and got rid of my blister packs.  I thought at first that the box where you put them was just advertising, but no!  

I really had had enough by then, but I did still want za'atar and also some more Dunn's River seasoning, so I thought I would investigate Nour Cash and Carry, which has a really good rep in Brixton for such things, and sure enough they had all I wanted in the way of seasoning!  Will definitely go back when I want more than just parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.... 

And then I came back to the main road and there was a 35, so I called it a walk!  It looks slower than it actually was, as the workout didn't pause itself while I was queueing, which it should have done.  But Active 10 says I did 19 minutes of brisk walking, so I'll call that a win.

Not sure whether to try to up things next week or not; I did go out yesterday, but only round Lidl (800 steps, and 2 brisk minutes not really worth counting).... I'll see.  If it's fine over the weekend I might go down to Windmill Gardens again.  

Fitness journey, 17 February

 

I never know whether to keep the tracker on while I shop - which adds to the distance and time, but slows the average pace - or to turn it off, which speeds up the average pace, but keeps distance and time shorter.  All very difficult.  

Anyway, today I'd meant to go for my walk after breakfast and before the Ash Wednesday service at 11, but - er - fell asleep, so as soon as the service was over I went out.  Checked the nearest little playground to see if it was open,

which it was, and then walked down past King's Acre and the entrance to the Estate to where used to be an adventure playground back in the day.  These days it's a little grassy space with a sports court in it - the grassy space was open but the sports court wasn't.  Thinking about it, probably only community groups or recognised teams have access, and are keyholders.  Anyway, I did try to take a photo, but it didn't come out, for some reason.

Walked back into the Estate, past where the Daughter's primary school used to be (how often I did that walk, back in the day!) and up Branksome Road to get to Lidl.

Music: Agnus Dei - Classical music for reflection and meditation (well, it is Ash Wednesday, after all!).

Fitness Journey, 15 February

 I don't know what Huawei Health thought it was playing at, but I certainly didn't start my walk where it says I did - I may have pressed "start" too quickly before it found the GPS.  Anyway, for the purposes of the walk, I started where I finished, if that makes sense.

I really wasn't feeling it today, but I knew that if I didn't go out, this fitness journey would have ended before it started, so once I had finished Sunday's sermon, I made myself walk down to Windmill Gardens (we have been here before!), where at least I could sit on a bench for a few minutes and try to make my bluetooth headband work - for some reason it simply wouldn't, so no music today and I'd been looking forward to listening to Carol King's "Tapestry", which I believe is now 50 years old.  Anyway, no joy, and sitting on the hard bench made my sciatica, or whatever it is, flare up, so I came back through the Estate.  Still no signs of spring, even though the recent cold spell does seem to be over.  

So not quite as far as it says, so slower than it should have been!  Ah well....