Like the day before, yesterday was warm and
bright. After a hesitant start the sun seemed to
be shining most of the time. During the afternoon
it sometimes seemed like half the sky was not
blue, but I can't really remember any particular
time when the sun went behind a cloud. Maybe it
did it while my view of the sky was covered by
trees or something. With an afternoon temperature
of 25° C it was very pleasantly warm, and it
continued as a very mild night.
Almost no sunshine is expected
today according to this very early edition of
the weather forecast. There is no sign that
there was any rain earlier this morning, and
so maybe the forecast is not as bad as it
looks. It seems today will be overcast -
sometimes quite lightly, and for most of the
afternoon very heavily. With a maximum
temperature of 19° C it is not going to feel
very warm today. Tomorrow should see the
return of almost non stop sunshine, but for
all that it may struggle to reach 21° C.
It seemed to take a long time before I
was ready to go out for a walk yesterday. The
sun hadn't fully broken though the cloud when
I set out at just gone midday, but I hadn't
got very far before I was bathed in warm
sunshine. It seemed to last for my entire
walk, and then for the rest of daylight hours
- and that despite seeing lots of cloud in the
sky.
I was not hopeful I would walk very far
when I set out. I felt out of practice after 6
days of not walking further than to the shops.
My legs felt stiff, and bits of me, including
my chest, ached. I was pretty certain my chest
ache was the usual surface
muscles/ligaments/sinews complaining rather
than anything serious. It was still annoying
though, and I think I triggered it while
washing under my arm while having a shower. I
recall a definite "twinge" when doing so.
I think I began to feel better about
three quarters of a mile into the walk - about
when crossing the fire singed foot bridge
across the river in the Rive Pool Linear Park.
It was after crossing that when I ended up
getting bold. The two rivers, The Ravensbourne
and Pool meet there. The River Pool flows
right though the linear park, but The
Ravensbourne enters the park at this point. It
runs in a concrete channel, and is often very
shallow. That seemed to set me up to walk much
further.
In the past I have been tempted to walk
through the shallow water (often little more
than an inch or two deep), and see what lies
beyond the railway bridge it flows under.
Yesterday I finally realised that ambition,
but only as far as going just beyond the
railway bridge. Some day I will continue my
exploration up stream a bit further. One map
suggests that there is a very small wood that
may be accessible a little further upstream,
and accessible in no other way. Whether it is
feasible to walk that far, and whether there
is any means of getting out the river at that
point, remains to be seen.
I
took very few pictures during my
walk, but I did shoot lots of short
video clips of what I saw in various
places, and I provided some
commentary on how far I walked, and
"would I dare to walk further".
Evidently I would because I walked
6.3 miles. That is the longest walk
I have done since a 7.14 mile walk
back in 2012 when I walked from
Broadstairs station to Margate
station.
If it were not for the compulsory
masks on empty trains I would love to
consolidate this long walk with more long
coastal walks, but I guess that is just
not going to happen this year, and maybe
even later than next summer. I shall have
to find some places to visit that are
walkable from home.
My feet were definitely complaining
after as little as 2 miles, but not much.
After 4 miles they were feeling sore, but
I have felt far worse. After 5 miles my
legs were complaining a bit, but
ultimately I arrived home feeling far
better than I expected. I was definitely
feeling good enough to stop at
Poundstretcher and fill my rucksack with a
few more stores to help keep me out of the
shops when masks become compulsory on the
24th. I also stopped at the Sainsbury's
Local store to buy a tub of reduced
calorie/sugar ice cream.
It is quite difficult to describe
how I felt when I finally got home. I was
definitely glad to get my boots off, but I
think the elation of managing such a long
walk offset how tired I felt. I spent
maybe an hour in front of my PC screen
before laying on my bed to read, and to
have a siesta. For most of the time it
felt like I would not have a snooze, but
eventually I dropped off to sleep. I don't
think I slept for very long, maybe just 5
or 10 minutes, but it could have been
longer. The first I knew was that it was
almost 4pm, and time to take my afternoon
pills.
The next thing I did was to edit
the video that I hope is playable on
whatever you read this stuff on. It is
quite a long video made from lots of
little snippets of video. I also had to
edit the maps I added to one of my videos
for the first time, so you can see where I
was when shooting those snippets. I also
had a look at the dozen pictures I took,
and realised most were either crap or
pointless. I think I had another snooze
while a higher resolution version of the
video rendered. That took about 40
minutes.
It didn't seem to be that long
before it was dinner time. I cooked myself
a nice healthy meal of grilled chicken
thighs on a bed of salad leaves. This time
I seasoned the chicken with nothing more
than chilli sauce. Instead of drowning the
salad under mayonnaise I dressed it in, if
I can recall correctly, soy, ginger and
something salad dressing. It was possibly
a healthier option than mayonnaise.
I thought I would be looking
forward to bed last night, and I did try
to go to bed fairly early - certainly
before sunset - but I found it very hard
to fall asleep, and very hard to stay
asleep. It was a warm/mild night - enough
to not need any covering while asleep,
even with the window open, but only just.
However, at around 2am, maybe 3am, I was
feeling warm enough to consider turning a
fan on. I knew that doing so would be a
mistake, and it must have been something
internal that made me feel too warm. Maybe
it was an "anti-fever". It didn't last
long, and by 4am I was wondering if I
should pull the empty duvet cover over me.
By 6am it seemed like I would not be able
to get to sleep again.
There is good and bad news this
morning. My weight, even without having a
poo, has fallen back to what it was a few
weeks ago, but my blood glucose is still
high (8.3mmol/l). It seems that my weight
and blood glucose level is not tracking
like I think it should, and seemingly has
done so in the past. I can't recall
anything in particular that I have eaten
recently that might raise my blood
glucose. Maybe it is time to shock my
pancreas into action again by eating
something it can get it's teeth into -
maybe some sandwiches.
This morning I feel better than I
expected after that long walk, but that
doesn't mean I feel that good. Sitting
here at my PC is making my right knee very
painful, and I'll have to stand up, and
take a few paces around the house to free
it up. Other bits of my have very mild
aches by comparison. Perhaps some bits
don't ache at all ! I definitely feel
tired still, and I may go back to bed once
I have finished this.
I am in two minds as to what to do
today. I feel that another walk, maybe
just a few miles, would be good for me,
and yet it is not very appealing under a
grey sky. I think it is likely that I will
do some gardening today - and there is a
lot I could, and should do. I suspect the
most accurate prediction I can make is
that I will make it up as I go along !
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