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Good Friday, Walk All Over Cancer Challenge.

Still On Track, Walk All Over Cancer.

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Two days left and I’m still on track … just! Since my last post about my brilliant walk with Ian two things have happened – first the blood blister on my heal has made walking very painful and secondly it rained … it rained a lot.

For anyone who doesn’t know, I’m doing the “Walk All Over Cancer” challenge to walk 10,000 steps every day during March.  I’m now slightly ahead of the target with just two days left. I’m not making a huge thing about sponsorship, I’m making a few   small donations to the charity as I go along, but if you would like to “raise a mug of tea” to my efforts then a couple of quid would be fantastic via my page PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Still on track

So Wednesday was walking where walking was required. I didn’t get out for a proper walk but managed to hobble around Ikea and to the shops for milk and ended up still on track.

Today the foot felt a lot better so after I’d done my work for the day I ventured out in the rain for an hour or so.

Still on track

As for the soundtrack, it was another Podcast day listening to Ken Dashow’s Beatles Revolution – highly recommend to music fans especially Beatles lovers. PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Two more days and I’m still on track – please keep everything crossed for me.

Still on track

 

Good Friday, Walk All Over Cancer Challenge.

Tonne Up ~ Walk All Over Cancer

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I can’t believe it, that’s the Tonne Up! A Tonne (or Tun) Up Kid was a biker who had done 100mph. Well, today I passed ONE HUNDRED MILES for the month in the Walk All Over Cancer Challenge!

AND I’m finally back ahead of schedule – that is to say I’ve now done over 270,000 steps in 27 days – BUT last time I boasted (I don’t think it was a boast, more a pat on the back) about being in control, it all went wrong. So as I type this, having just had a blood blister lanced, I’m really hoping these next four days go to plan and I can complete the challenge.

Tonne Up

The Tonne Up was a result of going out twice today. The weather was wet when I woke up so I had some breakfast and then headed out for a 45 minute starter which went well. I then completed a few chores round the house and items from my “to do” list before venturing out again – and just as I was putting on my coat the doorbell rang and there was my friend Ian who said “I’ll come with you”. Bless him, I think he dragged me around the last two miles heading home!

Ton Up

Following on from yesterdays radio show my Tonne Up soundtrack for the first walk of the day was Deaf School‘s album from last year “Let’s Do This Again Next Year”. Then Ian joined me for the second trip and we talked all the way around – and while we stopped for lunch at The Happy Cheese.

If you’d like to make a small donation to Cancer Research UK please click here to go to my page.

Tonne Up

  • By the way, I now have total respect for the Proclaimers. I used to think they were just a pair of funny Scottish blokes who could put a pop song together but walking 500 miles and then 500 more … flippin’ ‘eck!
Good Friday, Walk All Over Cancer Challenge.

The Long Weekend Walk All Over Cancer

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I’m back with my report from The Long Weekend. A lot has happened since Friday morning. I didn’t really get the chance to walk much more on Friday afternoon but I had already done my 10,000 steps in the morning.

Saturday was my first wedding of the year. Vicky and Rob actually got married in Canada earlier in the month, this was their party for all their friends and family having returned on Thursday. They chose the Bartley Lodge for their celebration and I must say the service they received was excellent. I’ll write a proper blog about the evening soon, suffice to say a great time was had by all … including me.  My step count for the day didn’t quite hit the 10,000 mark – but that’s not what was important, Vicky and Rob’s party was all the mattered.

The Long Weekend

Sunday started very well because the party finished at midnight and then I had to pack away so my steps started before I got to bed. The clocks went forward and I was still aching from Saturday but I managed to get out and put in a very respectable total. The weather was much warmer and I switched footwear from my trusty “DM’s” to lightweight trainers. 12,651 steps covering over 5 miles.

The Long Weekend

Today (Monday) I finally ventured into the Forest proper with a part of my walk taking me through Denny Lodge enclosure. Over 15,000 steps covering over 6 miles.

My soundtrack for the The Long Weekend… Saturday was all about Vicky and Rob’s wedding celebration party and the floor-fillers were “Stacy’s Mom” by Fountains Of Wayne, Naive by the Kooks and “Dakota” by The Stereophonics. The floor-killer was “Show Me Love” by Robin S.

Sunday I was listening to one of my “guilty pleasure” podcasts ~ My Favourite Murder. This is a NSFW, true crime, comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. It’s very funny, but once again please note the language is often very rude.

Today (Monday) it was yesterdays edition of Johnny Walker’s “Sounds of the Seventies” which featured an interview with Guy Chambers and included tracks by Deaf School, Bowie and two from “Tommy” by The Who.

The Long Weekend is done and the finish line is in my sights, the final push has started!  I am now under 5,000 steps behind which considering the snow, sickness and more snow I’ve encountered is pretty incredible. 54,686 steps to go in 5 days … fingers crossed!

The Long Weekend

Good Friday, Walk All Over Cancer Challenge.

Some Mothers Do ‘Ave A Busy Wednesday

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Some Mothers Do ‘Ave A Busy Wednesday was Day 21 of my Walk All Over Cancer challenge for me and Cancer Research UK. It is also It’s Down Syndrome Awareness week with the 21st being It’s Down Syndrome Awareness day and among the amazing things to do with this that turned up on my FaceBook timeline was a lovely little girl called Chloe who encouraged us to wear odd socks to celebrate with her – so I did – both thermal of course because it’s still cold here.

Some Mothers Do 'Ave A Busy Wednesday

Some Mothers Do ‘Ave A Busy Wednesday also marked “one month to my daughter’s wedding” and part of the reason I started this challenge was to get mobile and make sure my suit isn’t too tight come the big day. So in the morning when I went out we took the opportunity to have a phone chat about a few wedding related things.

That walk to took me to lunch with my friend Toni to talk about the latest updates o his Selfie Wizard that I’ve been helping to test. It’s now launched and I’m so pleased to see this brilliant idea become reality and doing very well.  I’ll be using it again at this Saturday nights Wedding party. Our lunch was at The Coach & Horses, I had the chicken, bacon and avocado wrap which was amazing and nothing like a “lite bite”.

Some Mothers Do 'Ave A Busy Wednesday

Some Mothers Do ‘Ave A Busy Wednesday continued with a trip to Portsmouth (I didn’t walk but it might have been quicker).

Some Mothers Do 'Ave A Busy WednesdayThis evening was originally planned back on “Black Friday” in November when we got a special deal on tickets to see Joe Pasquale in “Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em” at the lovely New Theatre Royal in Portsmouth.

I told my good friend (and excellent children’s entertainer) Richard (Party Time for Kids CLICK HERE) and he got tickets for himself and wife Cheryl so we arranged to go together and eat first.

Guess what’s next to The New Theatre Royal … only 7Bone Portsmouth!

What a great night! The show is excellent and we were amazed that it hadn’t sold out – so if you get a chance to go we heartily recommend it.

So that was day 21 with over 10,000 steps completed and a good time had by all. I’ll post the links to my page for the charity again next time – thanks for reading.

 

 

Good Friday, Walk All Over Cancer Challenge.

Can’t Find My Way Home ~ Walk All Over Cancer Day 20

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Can’t Find My Way Home … don’t panic, things are getting back to normal and I have found my way home. Can’t Find My Way Home was one of the tracks I was listening to on my walk this morning.

Can't Find My Way Home

Once again I set off down Fletchwood Road and on to Woodlands. This time I continued on to Ashurst and back through Foxhills, a total of over 12,000 steps with more to come later today hopefully. I can’t believe I’ve lived here for 30 years and not walked these routes before. I’m quite excited about exploring some of the footpaths and enclosures I’ve seen in the last week or so – once the ground has dried out… should be about July at this rate!

Can't Find My Way Home

Can’t Find My Way Home, Back In The High Life Again, Dear Mr Fantasy and While You See A Chance are just a few of the tracks from the excellent Steve Winwood Greatest Hits Live album which was released last year. I wasn’t a huge fan of Mr Winwood in his early years – I did have singles by The Spencer Davis Group and Traffic but never delved into the albums. I loved the solo albums and have been lucky to see him live a couple of times – both with brilliant views, once in the second row at Portsmouth Guildhall and the at The Wedgewood Rooms for a very intimate show. I really hope to get to see him again – he’s on the list!

Can't Find My Way Home

If you can spare a pound to support Cancer Research UK please click here to go to my page – thanks x

Good Friday, Walk All Over Cancer Challenge.

12th and 13th March, the Walk All Over Cancer continues.

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12th and 13th March, the Walk All Over Cancer continues, CLICK HERE if you want to support me with a couple of quid.

For the third week running Ce and I had a lunch appointment so I was out early again to get the week started. I made the decision to go with a lighter coat which worked out OK. I normally Skype with one of my colleagues on Monday mornings and he kindly agreed to switch to an old-school method of communication called the mobile phone which worked fine although the quality wasn’t as good – strange what you get used to!

I took a more rural route to start with but this involved walking down a lane and then coming back again. Then I did one of the regular local circuits and returned home after 90 minutes. Ce and I did a little walking in town to get to the restaurant for lunch with our friends and my total for the day was just over 11,000 steps – job done.

Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th March, the Walk All Over Cancer continues

Tuesday the weather was supposed to be better and in fairness in the afternoon for at least ten minutes it was! I went out in the morning and my walk included dropping some more shoes in the Salvation Army collection bin and posting some cards – living the high life.

Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th March, the Walk All Over Cancer continues

Monday and Tuesday 12th and 13th March, the Walk All Over Cancer continues with no real soundtrack on the Monday, just a chat with a good friend. Tuesday I started with The Chris Moyles show on the radio and finished with another of my guilty pleasure podcasts which I will tell you about before the end of this campaign.

That was 12th and 13th March, the Walk All Over Cancer continues tomorrow with the weather turning grim again and people talking about the return of The Beast From The East at the weekend!

To find out more about Cancer Research UK and their quest “Let’s Beat Cancer Sooner” please click here.

Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th March, the Walk All Over Cancer continues

 

Good Friday, Walk All Over Cancer Challenge.

Day 6 WAOC March 2018

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Day 6 WAOC March 2018… that’s day six of my Walk All Over Cancer challenge if you haven’t been paying attention.

Like far too many people our lives have been hit by cancer and I’m glad to add my support to the work done by Cancer Research UK.

Finding two hours in a day to walk is proving difficult especially with the recent weather but today (fanfare please) …
I finally managed it and have started to make inroads to the deficit that has built up over the first five days of the month.

I was out this morning earlier than previous days, did some work and dropped off a box of fliers to the PMN Wedding Fayres offices (CLICK HERE to find out more about their excellent fares where you’ll get my brilliant brochure in your goodie bag), saw my daughter and her fiancé, and then went out for another walk. Here are a couple of “out and about” snaps.

Day 6 WAOC March 2018

As for my listening, today was a podcast day and I listened to two of my favourites. I’m not going to talk about them today, I’ll save that for another time.

That’s Day 6 WAOC March 2018, the day I turned the corner … will tomorrow bring a U-turn, tune in and find out x

Day 6 WAOC March 2018

 

Good Friday, Walk All Over Cancer Challenge.

Monday 5th March ~ Day 5 of the Walk All Over Cancer challenge

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It’s Monday 5th March ~ Day 5 of the Walk All Over Cancer challenge.

This is the latest in a series of personal posts about my quest to walk 310,000 steps in March and give some support to Cancer Research UK. To find out more scroll up or down for the other “challenge” posts, they started HERE.

Things still aren’t going to plan and it’s very frustrating! I don’t think I’m going out again today and I’ve only done 7,500 steps – basically I was thwarted by the weather … and lunch, but it’s not the end of the world and tomorrow is another day.

I didn’t stop to take any pictures, it was grey and damp even before the rain came after lunch. The snow had all but disappeared and I didn’t really see many other walkers today, all the children were back at school. Talking of lunch, it was lovely to see Kath and Martyn and visit The Coach & Horses at Cadnam again where we had another great meal. CLICK HERE for the Coach & Horses FaceBook page.

It looks like the weather is going to follow a similar pattern over the next few days (my phone tells me 8 days!) so I’m going to have to “man up” if I’m to get back on track. PLEASE send me some good vibes.

Musically today was all about Shaun Escoffery’s “Evergreen” album which was originally released in September 2016.

Monday 5th March ~ Day 5 of the Walk All Over Cancer challenge

It’s a great album and I recommend it to anyone who likes classic soul singers. Today I was particularly taken with “Live Your Life” but as I can’t find a video of that track here’s “When The Love Is Gone” from the album.

So that was Monday 5th March ~ Day 5 of the Walk All Over Cancer challenge. My knees are aching a bit but I’ve been very sure footed across these first five days with no major slips or trips despite the challenging weather, that’s probably down to my Dr Marten shoes – my main footwear of choice for about ten years now. Fingers crossed for a better day tomorrow.

Good Friday, Walk All Over Cancer Challenge.

Walk All Over Cancer ~ Day 1

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Happy month everyone! Please excuse this series of rather self-indulgent posts, I’m blogging about this to strengthen my resolve to complete the Walk All Over Cancer challenge.

walk all over cancer

I signed up for the Cancer Research UK ‘Walk All Over Cancer ~ 10,000 steps every day this March’ campaign – and then the weather did THIS!

 

Don’t worry, I’m not going to pester you all for donations (well not every day, but I will post a link in future posts). I am going to try and get 310,000 steps done across the month. You can find out more about the excellent work Cancer Research do by clicking here.

I’ve also got this thing in my head about sharing what I’m listening to every day as I do the bulk of my walk – and then there was the FaceBook “post an album picture but don’t explain it” thing that Mark nominated me for!

 

That’s a Facebook thing so I thought I’d share a few notes about the album here on my blog. Ian Hunter’s “The truth, the whole truth and nothin’ but the truth” is an excellent live album recorded at The Astoria in London in 2004 and released in 2005 (CLICK HERE for more). Ian Hunter was one of my heroes when I was at college, I even based my A Level art project on a portrait of him. His book “Diary of a Rock N Roll Star’ (CLICK HERE) is one of my favourites and I was lucky to finally see him in June last year.

Anyway, I went out for a walk in the snow with the album playing on my phone, I stopped to take this picture of the stream and my phone shut down – so my steps weren’t actually recorded! I only got about four songs into the album so I’ll finish listening to it this afternoon.

I walked for about an hour, met another gentleman who walked with me for a while and saw Michelle and lots of children trying to find enough snow to really enjoy themselves. I’m home now and it’s started to come down heavier so we’ll see what tomorrow brings.