Monday 24th April 2023
I am continuing with my daily one mile walk from home and breathlessness is improving slightly. I had a follow-up appointment last week from my stay in hospital last January and the consultant was encouraging. I think it will be a long haul and I have doubts about tackling much serious ascent in future.------------------------------------
Below is an extract from my blog during the coast to coast grid line walk I did with Bowland Climber back in 2020 which presciently foretold of an article on the BBC News website the other day copied below and which I welcome as they think along the same lines as I have for some time.
ISunday 12th January 2020 - Skipwith Common to Froggathorpe (SE 755 373)
If Skipwith Common had been the best part so far our next two and a half kilometres of road walking on the A 163 to Bubwith was the worst. There was only a narrow grass verge and a fair amount of traffic but thankfully it was not as intimidating as we had been anticipating.
From Bubwith we were able to follow the disused railway track which was much more attractive than many I have walked on. North West tonight a few evenings ago had an item announcing the improvement to the planned round England coastal path. I have walked on most of the section they described from Morecambe up to Arnside and beyond and apart from one or two short missing links I see no need to spend lots of money unnecessarily "improving" existing ancient tracks which seemed to be implied. Much better to seek out sections of our country where at the moment there is no alternative but to walk long distances on busy roads and so provide alternatives enabling linking of paths providing for longer continuous routes. This adoption of the railway track is a good example to follow along with negotiating permissive paths with landowners and the like.
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| The green footpath is the old railway line used here to good advantage. |
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| This is the section we had to walk uncomfortably on a main A road, the sort of place where effort put in may have negotiated a permissive path through the fields. CLICK HERE to read about a new path in the Lake District provided along the lines I am advocating. ------------------------------------------- I am well on with a new model. The Hellcat was finished to a reasonable standard but I jibbed on the possibility of an aircraft carrier deck presentation. The fairly detailed engine, featured in the photos below, is not seen when the model is completed but I see little point in going to the effort of making a good job of it for it not to be seen and I have plans. I don't intend to include the field gun but will likely make it up later as a separate item. |
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| The chassis appears to be a bit foreshortened by the camera. It still has the rusty exhaust to be fitted and the tyres and outer wheels to be attached |
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Ford V8, side valve, water cooled, petrol, 85h.p. 4 x forward, 1x reverse. |
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| Just to show the scale against a highly reflective 50p piece |
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That's interesting about re-routing paths away from main roads. Many a time as lorries thundered past me have I had that thought. One of course needs sympathetic landowners. On The Thames Way, a National Trail, we were left to a stretch of busy road because of fishermen's guardianship of "their" piece of water.
ReplyDeleteIn National Parks there should be enough clout and no doubt financial inducement for off-road paths to be developed.
The article on the Penrith path is of use as once I am back to full days one of the first routes I have in mind is The Ullswater Way.
BC - 'm also fighting back. Just got back in from a slightly more strenuous 1.5 miles with definite noticeable, but small improvement, beong able to control to some extent my breathing on steepish uphill woodland path.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was one of your tenets that even hidden detail had to be perfect. Also, is trying to control your breathing a good thing?
ReplyDeleteRR - My attitude to hidden detail has changed a little, one is allowed to change one's mind. I will generally complete the detail but perhaps with some labour saving. For example the cockpit module of an aircraft can be fully assembled then painted the uniform cockpit green as a whole, then small details requiring different colours painted in situ. That is not as precise as painting everything individually before assembly, but it does avoid painting painted parts leading to a more messy fixing because the glue is intended to work directly on raw plastic by melting and fusing it together similar to a weld.
ReplyDeleteAs for controlling breath I am sure that is something you will be familiar with from your erstwhile swimming. It's not easy to explain but I find I can impose a sort of rhythm on my breathing combined with adjustment to pace over the ground and decreasing or increasing the measure of my stride, particularly when going uphill. People not familiar with strenuous walking or running activity tend to rush at hills at the start and run out of breath quickly thereby needing to take more frequent rests. You may have posed the question as rhetorical, or in humour, but I felt the need to elaborate on this matter which has been something I have been conscious of over the years.