Time for thinking in an alien landscape

RED January
DAY 2: 6k (3.7m)

ALIEN LANDSCAPE: Frost on a cold car roof.

FLOATING lights, shadowy figures and the panting of invisible dogs.

These were some of the delights encountered on my second walk for RED January, the campaign to get people active and raise funds for Mind, the mental health charity.

MYSTERIOUS SHADOWS: Sculpture in the park.

I decided this morning to follow my usual parkrun course in Coventry’s War Memorial Park.

It was a strange experience. I’m usually either running around the route or marshalling on it. As I passed each marshal location in darkness – it was around 6.30am – I could imagine people there, like ghostly figures in some flickering old movie.

There were plenty of dog walkers. Some, along with their dogs, wore ‘safety lights’ for visibility: white, green, red, yellow.

From a distance, you could see neither people nor animals – just the coloured lights, appearing to float mysteriously in the air, moving in sometimes calm, sometimes erratic ways.

As you drew closer, there were chirpy ‘Good Morning, Happy New Year’ greetings, but they emanated from the looming shapes. There were still no faces visible. And then they were gone; brief encounters with shadows in the night.

TO THE FALLEN: Part of the Beech
 Leaves sculpture in the Coventry park.

Occasionally, the dogs would run ahead of their owners, or follow other walkers for a short distance, still barely visible, but filling the air with their excitable, disembodied panting. (Or was that just me?).

Later, one or two runners entered the scene, the steady soft rhythm of their steps heralding their approach, before fading again as they passed and disappeared back into the twilight surroundings.

Darkness turns the familiar into an alien, sometimes eerie and unsettling, landscape – yet there’s also something comforting and magical about it. The thin blanket of this morning’s sparkling frost added to the effect.

As I offered a cheery ‘good morning’ to one walker, she replied: ‘Sorry, I was deep in thought.’

Her comment raised a good point.

For many, running or walking can be, as one runner put it, their ‘secret weapon’ beyond simply physical health and wellness.

You can clear your head, sort out ideas, work on problems, make plans.

TWILIGHT ZONE: Memorial in early morning
light at Coventry War Memorial park.

The steady, natural, rhythm of your body as you move forward seems to assist the process, as if you’ve been transported into some sort of meditative state.

Your mind can wander wherever it likes, of course, with no particular direction or coherence. It can simply 'roam!'

Wherever your thoughts go, the darkness enhances the experience.

You can, almost literally, shut off from the familiar, everyday world and, for a short while at least, enjoy some quiet ‘me time,’ with no additional demands, lost in your own musings, completely free from other distractions – apart, that is, from looming shadowy figures and the occasional playful canine!

FUND NOTE: If you would like to donate to Mind, you can access my JustGiving page here.

Thank you.

QUIET SEAT: Bench under the lamp-light.

NIGHT LIGHT: Above and below - Visitor Centre at Coventry War Memorial Park.

RED JANUARY: Sun rises on a new day.

First steps for RED January

RED January
DAY 1: 5.7k (3.5m)

MORNING LIGHT: Early morning street scene
near the start of my first RED January walk.

WELL, if nothing else I've achieved one goal this morning - to be out 'doing something' on Day One of the New Year. I've taken my first steps in the RED January project.

Last year, on January 1, I was staring at a cold wet uphill road in Coventry about to begin training for the city's Half Marathon.

HI VIZ: Seen in the dark!

I was hoping to have done the same this year, but a hamstring injury followed by an insect bite behind my right knee on the same leg, which became infected, have scuppered all running and walking for several weeks.

I've become more couch potato than runner bean! (Groan!)

SEEING THE LIGHT: Street lamp
shines on the starting point.

One thing I wanted to do, though, was to walk, run - crawl if necessary - on the first day of the year.

I'm still having treatment for both hamstring and insect bite. The hamstring physio has been put on hold until the bite wound has fully healed. So there'll be no running any time soon! And I have to be 'sensible' - however challenging that might be! I can't afford to overdo it, and risk creating even longer-term problems.

However, the RED January project provides an ideal opportunity to ease back into physical activity and raise money for Mind, the Mental Health Charity, at the same time.

I must confess, I signed up to RED January with a more optimistic than realistic assessment of how the healing would be progressing. Inevitably, although doing well and going in the right direction, it's not happening as quickly as I was hoping. You can't rush these things!

ALL SET: Lamp post marks the start of the walk.

For a while after signing up, I did think: 'Oh heck, what have I done?' as I weighed up the reality -and feasibility - of actually honoring the commitment. Yet at the same time, it's an opportunity to build exercise into what I'm regarding as my 'fitness rehab,' and support a good cause at the same time.

I also learned last night that a very dear, lifelong friend has passed away. He's around the same age as me. His passing was unexpected and has been a shock. It gave me even more incentive to get out and get moving this morning.

My RED January, which I had inwardly dedicated to a late brother, has now also become a tribute to my friend.

So, my goal is to complete a minimum of 200 miles by the end of the month. Most will probably be walking, although I hope to be back into running at least later in the project. An additional twist is the cycling! I haven't ridden a bike for decades, but my son has given me his (very nice) old one after investing in a newer model.

I don't yet possess a helmet, and as for understanding the gears, I might as well be trying to crochet with tinned spaghetti!

But that's the point. RED January is about getting out and being active each day. It's a new project, for a new year, and an opportunity to take on new challenges.

For me that will be mostly walking, hopefully some running - and, with luck, re-learning how to push those pedals (and change those gears!).

ON COURSE: Don't think I'll try for London on this occasion.

So Day 1 activity is completed, now just 30 left to do!

If you would like to donate to Mind, and support my 200-mile challenge, then please visit my (Just Giving page (here) and hit the donate button.

Thank you - and Happy New Year!

Now then, where can I buy a good helmet . . . and do you push those levers down to go uphill or up to go downhill . . . oh, and where's the brake?

SAFE CROSSING; Keeping an eye on the road.

FEELING GOOD: Click here to donate to

Mind, the Mental Health Charity.

DAY 1: First walk of the RED January project.

Running hurts more than walking - but I'm hooked!

Reflected walkers in the mist

THE Route Walk blog has taken a bit of a back seat lately, partly because I’ve started running.

I joined the Massey Ferguson RaceFit running course in Coventry 10 weeks ago, and will be signing up to their main club (Massey Ferguson Runners) tomorrow.

I’ll be starting a companion blog – Can Run Will Run – shortly.

The question over walking/running injury has cropped up, and painfully! In his book Walking, Casey Meyers, argues that ‘. . . the only thing running can give you that walking doesn’t is injury!’

So far, in my case, he’s been proved absolutely right! In all the walking I've done, I haven’t suffered so much as a single blister. In less than 10 weeks of running, I’ve already sported a black eye and knee/muscle problems that have reduced me to a hobble. To be fair, the black eye wasn’t a result of the running as such, but a slight ‘connection’ with someone’s head during an exercise. Ouch!

But Meyers also says that although he was an exercise runner for nearly three years, there was ‘not one time’ that he ‘truly enjoyed’ running as much as he does his daily walks.

That’s where we differ. I like walking, but also thoroughly enjoy running. My 10-week course has been fantastic. For motivation and mutual support, a walking or running club can't be beaten. It's a great way to share experience with like-minded enthusiasts, and improve your performance.

But you have to be sensible with whatever physical activity you do.

Preparation and prevention are better than pain and enforced immobility. In my case, I'll have to see how things go . . .

In the meantime, I had an enforced walk last week when my car broke down one evening at traffic lights on a dual carriageway. I managed to push it across the highway on to an island.

My broken-down car after I'd pushed it off the highway. Above, traffic whizzes
behind it. Below, light trails from vehicles passing in front of it. Yikes!

The walk came the following morning. The car had been towed to the dealer’s. To get there, and to avoid hanging around at bus stops etc, I walked.

I'd imagined short cuts and alleyways. How wrong can you be? There weren’t any, so it took a wee bit longer than anticipated.

But, despite a hot and sweaty arrival at the dealer's, it was good to take a 'different' route. There’ll be more walking to come, though  – as the car’s not quite ready for collecting yet!

Here are pictures from recent, more 'scenic,' walks in Coventry War Memorial Park:

Looks like this dog's happy to go for walkies all by himself!

Climbing frame silhouetted against the evening sky.

Beautiful delicacy of branches in the mist.

Silhouetted trees on a misty morning.

Children's playground after a touch of frost.

Shapes and structures - the tree and the climbing frame!

Swapping city for sea, sun and sand

Gull on guard! Overlooking Woolacombe beach in North Devon.

A MINI-BREAK over the weekend provided a dramatic change of scenery – swapping a city environment for the coastal delights of Ilfracombe, in North Devon.

Ilfracombe is a small resort dating back to the Iron Age. Hillsborough Hill, the site of an Iron Age settlement, overlooks the compact, traditional harbour. The resort is rich in history, but a recent controversy has been the gift of a statue - Verity - by artist Damien Hirst, who lives in the area.

Truth will out! Silhouette of the Damien
Hirst sculpture in Ilfracombe.

Verity is a 66-foot, stainless steel and bronze statue of a naked pregnant woman holding a sword aloft. Situated at the harbour entrance, she stands astride a pile of law books and holds an off-balance ‘scales of justice’ behind her.

The sculpture, on a 20-year loan to the town, is intended as ‘an allegory for truth and justice’ and her stance is modelled on ‘Little Dancer of Fourteen Years’ (c. 1881) by Edgar Degas.

What raised more than a few eyebrows when it was first installed is that half the statue reveals the internal anatomy of the woman, with the unborn baby clearly visible.

Unsurprisingly, it provoked heated reactions, ranging from ‘wonderful,’ ‘beautiful’ and ‘What’s not to like?’ to ‘obscene,’ ‘offensive,’ ‘disgusting’ and ‘makes me sick!’ Nothing like a bit of Damien Hirst to get the crowd going!

If anything, I found it quite ‘cartoony’- but certainly dramatic. And despite the initial hostile reaction from some quarters, it didn’t put relaxed holidaymakers off their chips or ice cream. In fact, it now seems to have become 'part of the scene' and a popular focal point – and will undoubtedly feature in thousands of holiday snapshots.

The nearby resort of  Woolacombe was a real gem. Three miles of beautiful, family-friendly sands, with gentle sloping beach, where even little kids can splash about safely in the

Scales of Justice: Detail on
the Verity statute.

sea. A haven for surfers, too!

If I’m honest, my walking was more ‘lazy mooching around’ than ‘pounding the pavements,’ but it’s good to vary your pace now and again!

A quick visit to friends who run a smallholding – and a bit more walking around apple trees and pig pens - in the rolling Devon countryside rounded off a satisfying few days.

Back home in Coventry, my regular off-road routes have become overgrown, and the predominant colours of white and yellow flowers in May and June have been replaced largely by pale purple and pink.

So even on familiar routes, the scenery is ever-changing!

For the record, I stayed with my wife at Wildercombe House, a former 19^th-century ‘gentleman’s residence’ nestled on the hillside slopes overlooking Ilfracombe. It’s now a family-run guest house owned by Barry and Anne-Marie Marsh. Very relaxed, friendly – and absolutely spotless!

I feel some more walking in Ilfracombe coming on!

Long sword of the law: Verity figure
stands astride a pile of law books.

Elegant residence: Wildercombe House, a friendly 
family-run guest house in Ilfracombe.

Relaxed outlook. Overlooking the beautiful, family-friendly
beach at Woolacombe.

Gull watch: but don't be fooled - they're only after your chips.

No head for heights? Beware the headless ones
 - they can be trouble!

Sunshine and colour: Traditional family fun
on Woolacombe beach.

Roadside delight in full bloom

Meadow flowers down the centre of the dual carriageway.

Vibrant colours on the roadside.

WHAT with Ofsted inspectors in at college, mountains of marking and one thing and another, there hasn’t exactly been time for keeping up a walking blog. 

The walking bit’s been there (time, motivation and energy permitting!), but the writing bit’s been, erm, rather lax!

But this morning I thought I’d get out and take some snaps of meadow flowers that have been planted down the central reservation on a stretch of road near where I live.

They’ve been there for a while, and I didn’t want to miss them before they started to die off. 

They’re a gorgeous sight. So my walk this today was up to the dual carriageway!

It turns out the flowers weren’t the easiest things to photograph – with road lanes and traffic either side (with the inevitable tooting of a car horn now and again!), and there was more of a breeze than I’d anticipated. But there were enough blooms ‘within reach’ to get some shots and I’ve popped some on here.

Millennium Way

On a different note, I also met Roger Shrimpton recently. Roger is involved in the Millennium Way walk, and takes pictures for its website.

The Millennium Way – billed as ‘a gem of a long-distance path,’  takes  in 100 miles of ‘diverse, delightful and historic’ countryside in the Heart of England. The route extends from Pershore, Worcestershire, in the west to Middleton Cheney, Northamptonshire in the east.

The route has been cleared and waymarked over a number of years by enthusiasts from Solihull 41 Club, together with other 41 Clubs, to make the route accessible to a growing number of walkers and ramblers.

You could do the whole walk in one go – if inspiration (and a hearty breakfast!) strikes – or via 44 circular walks, ranging  between about three and 10 miles.

So if you fancy a leisurely stroll or two in the very centre of England this summer, this could be the route for you. To find out more, click on this link:  Millenium Way. 

For me, I’m afraid, it’s going to have to be the dual carriageway and back to the grindstone! Never mind, at least I had chance to enjoy some delightful wild flowers, despite the passing traffic!

Above and below: flowers add a splash of
colour to the carriageway.