Yesterday turned out to be better than my
interpretation of the weather forecast. There
seemed to be far more sunshine. There were sunny
spells in the latter half of the morning, and long
sunny spells in the afternoon (with only short
gaps between them). At about 2pm it did seem to
get quite cloudy for a while, and I thought I felt
one or two drops of rain hot my face. It seemed to
be a warm day, and the forecast 24° C was probably
about right.
I'm not sure if it was sunny at 6
and 7am this morning. I think it was more like
it is now - bright but mostly overcast. The
latest revision to the forecast allows for a
few scattered sunny spells today, but more of
the day may be overcast. It will probably stay
dry this afternoon (when the clouds will be
thicker), and the afternoon temperature should
reach 24° C again. At the moment tomorrow is
forecast to be 100% grey, but it should still
reach 23° C.
Yesterday morning started with a
shopping trip to Tesco to stock up on more
stuff to help extend my shopping embargo.
Maybe with the help of buying some fresh stuff
from outdoor market stalls, and maybe stuff
bought online, I hope to be able to keep out
of the shops for at least two months -
starting tomorrow when face masks become
compulsory in shops.
With my shopping out the way I felt
ready to tackle another long walk. It might
have ended up even longer than 4.798 miles if
I hadn't ended up in so much pain. My main
target was to have a better look around
Brookmill Park in Deptford. I had visited it
on my 5 mile walk to Greenwich a couple of
months ago. On that occasion I walked through
the park fairly quickly as I concentrated on
reaching Greenwich.
Having now looked around it I now think
of it as smaller than I had originally
thought. Like the River Pool Linear park it is
mostly quite narrow. I guess that is obvious
from the map, but I had thought that there
were paths both sides of the river. Apparently
not, and while in places there are two
parallel paths, it is mostly just one long
strip of land between the river and the road.
I was particularly interested in seeing
what the river was like as it would through
the park. That was my downfall. I had two
accidents that left me in quite a lot of pain
- pain that continues today unless I take the
weight off my legs by laying down. Even then a
few bits are a bit tender.
My first accident happened here. To
start walking down these steps it is necessary
to step over a low wall. I somehow stumbled,
and ended up coming down on the wall rather
hard. It was the same action as sitting on the
wall, but I did it at high speed with no
control. At the time I was more concerned with
trying to make it look like I wanted to do it
to save bruising my ego. Later on I concluded
I had almost bruised one of my buttocks.
After getting back on my feet I walked
down the wooden steps with no problem, and I
was delighted to see some rocks in the river.
They are not as good as my favourite rocks in
the River Pool Linear Park, and I didn't feel
brave enough to go out to them. The water
looks shallow in this photo, but I didn't
fancy taking chances when so far from home. Of
course the silly thing is that I was only just
over 2 miles from home. It felt like it
was far further to here than it is to my
favourite rocks in the Linear Park, and they
are just under 2 miles away. It is odd
that they now don't feel as if they are that
far away.
I followed a mud path along the bank
but it was getting more and more overgrown. I
think that after my bare legs (I was wearing
shorts) had been stung by nettles twice I
decided to get back on the main path. It
seemed easy enough to go up the bank, and
clamber over the 2ft high wall at the top. It
would have been easy - but for one thing. I
stepped awkwardly to avoid getting my legs
stung again, and my right foot found a tree
root. I fell flat on my face !
My first worry was that I had damaged
my camera that was in my right hand, on, and
with the lens open. Before I did anything else
I blew any dust off the lens, and turned it
off before putting it in my pocket. I then
managed to stand up again, and finish going up
the bank, and over the wall. It was some time
before I realised the damage, and in fact I
was still finding new bits well after getting
home. I was determined to reach the far end of
the park before turning around and heading
home.
There
are three entrances to the park from
Brookmill Road. I visited all three,
but it was the middle one that is
most interesting. I show it at the
end of the video. The entrance gate
shows the original name of the park
- Ravensbourne Park, and the opening
date of 1953.
I didn't actually take
any pictures on the way home because I was
in pain, and concentrating on trying to
get home as fast as possible - which was
not very fast at all ! By showing two
other pictures I took on the outward leg
in reverse order it looks like I might
have taken pictures on the way back. I'm
pretty certain I have showed this picture
before. It is painted on one of the bridge
abutments of the railway bridge above on
the railway line between Ladywell and
Lewisham.
It is rather
amazing that this sign is still so clearly
visible considering it would have been
painted during WW2. It points to some
steps going down to voids under the
railway bridge that were used as shelters
during the second world war.
It seemed a long walk home, but in
fact, despite my discomfort I managed to
keep up a reasonable pace. An average
speed of 2.66 mph is actually slightly
faster than some of my more recent long
walks, although on those walks I probably
spent a bit more time taking pictures or
video. Once I got home it was wonderful to
take off my boots, and street clothes. The
first thing I did once I was stripped to
my underpants was to get on the scales. I
was a bit disappointed to see that I was
still 300gm heavier than my all time low
(all time as in the last 12 to 24 months).
Yesterday was not such a hot day, and so I
guess I was less dehydrated when I got
home.
The next thing I did was to take a
strong analgesic. In this case it was in
liquid form - neat Scotch Whisky. After
one large glass equivalent to about 5 pub
measures, and half a similar sized glass,
I began to feel OK. I felt even better
after a snooze. By early evening I was
feeling fine provided I kept resting my
right leg (It was the right leg, knee,
ankle, and buttock that was most painful).
I had drank the whisky on an empty
stomach, or to look at it another way, I
didn't have any lunch. I thought that
deserved a more substantial dinner. I had
oven cooked, almost, but not quite grilled
sausages and mushrooms, plus some peas.
After eating I had the energy to go
through the pictures and video that I
shot. I also tried to watch a bit of TV,
but sitting upright was too painful for
long periods, and I effectively ended up
going to bed quite early. I may have ended
up reading in bed for well over an hour
before I turned out the light. It was
while in bed that I realised that I had
also grazed my elbow. I hadn't noticed it
was sore before that. I also found that my
right buttock was still very sensitive,
and if I lay on my right hand side in a
certain way it was rather painful.
Obviously I tried not to lay that way.
I seemed to get a fair night's
sleep, and if I have any complaint it was
waking up earlier than I would have liked.
It wasn't fully light when I woke up the
first time. By first time I am ignoring
those times when I just wake up for a pee,
and fall asleep again as soon as I get
back from the toilet. I managed to get
back to sleep again, but only for about an
hour. Then it was time to try and assess
how I felt.
When freshly out of bed I didn't
feel too bad, but it took little effort to
revive some aches and pains. The better
news was that my weight was still fairly
low, and it still seems I am over a hump,
and losing weight again even if it is far
slower than I would wish for. This time
even my blood glucose had dropped to a far
saner figure. It did seem that the
majority of my body was in fair working
order,
When I had a shower I felt quite
good except when hot water trickled over
my left knee cap. That probably has the
worst graze, and the hot water stung a
bit. After my shower I dressed, and put on
an old pair of trainers that I wouldn't
use for long walks, but I hoped would be
more comfortable than boots for a quick
walk to the shops - a walk that wasn't as
quick as I hoped.
It was an uncomfortable walk to
Iceland. I went there on this last day
when masks are not required to see what I
could buy to top my stocks up. Mostly I
bought Pepsi Max and Diet Coke, but I also
bought a couple of ready meals. I have no
room in the freezer for them, and I will
probably have a feast of crap today...sort
of curry like crap ! I also bought a small
tub of very high sugar ice cream. Iceland
do not seem to do any low calorie/sugar
ice cream, and it was quite an eye opener
to see the full strength stuff. I had that
tub for breakfast as a sort of stupid
reward for putting up with the pain of
walking to and from Iceland. Together with
the junk convenience food I am going to
regret it tomorrow morning, but I shall
enjoy it while I can.
I think I just have two things on
the agenda today. I have already started
some laundry by putting 3 t-shirts and
some underwear into soak in detergent.
I'll finish that washing off soon. Later
on, possibly about 6pm, I'll limp along to
the corner shop to see if the latest New
Scientist has arrived. If It hasn't I'll
have to go there tomorrow and see of I can
buy it before anyone notices I haven't got
a mask on ! Other than that, I will
probably spend a lot of the day laying on
my bed reading and snoozing. Hopefully I
will able to be more active tomorrow.
1
