Use it or Lose it!

I walked around 12 miles a day during the Ride2stride Festival in April, much of it in the snow.

Ride2stride 2016

In May I tackled 90 miles of the Cape Wrath Trail with my worldly goods on my back. 

Cape Wrath Trail

In June I walked from Hebden Bridge to Horton-in-Ribblesdale on the Heart of the Pennine Way. 

Pen-y-ghent on the Pennine Way

Not bad eh!

But since then I've been under house arrest, tethered to home by a series of domestic responsibilities so when Tony suggested a couple of days away this week I couldn't get my boots on quickly enough. We walked from Macclesfield to Edale following the Cestrian Link path - a route created in 1983 by John N.Davenport to join the northern end of Offa's Dyke to the start of the Pennine Way. Tony has walked his own updated version of it as part of his End to End project and this 25 mile section was the last leg.

We got the train to Macclesfield and set off along the canal towpath then climbed up through the Macclesfield Forest. 

The climb through the forest

By 400 metres I was knackered - done for. Shamefully after 2 months of making tea for builders and sharing their hobnobs I was so out of condition I could barely crawl up a tourist trail. Clearly a daily trot around Robert's Park with my elderly dog wasn't quite the exercise I had kidded myself it was.

Lesson learned! Whatever is going on at home, whatever the weather, I'm going to make sure I get onto those hills this winter. Use it or lose it is an old cliche but so, so true!

Heading into Castleton

PS The trip was fantastic, especially day 2 which ended with a sunny climb from Castleton over to Edale with spectacular views of the Pennine range and the Pennine Way ahead.

Edale and the Pennine Way ahead