These Boots Are Made For Walking

.... and that's just what they'll do!

Or, at least, they will if John and I successfully train enough. What for? Well you might ask!

Let me explain! I belong to All Saints church in Edmonton, North London. Yes, I realise we live in Cheshunt in Hertfordshire but we've only lived here around 8 years; for 23 years before that we lived in Edmonton. Despite moving, I still attend my old church which only takes 20 minutes to get to by car.

Anyhow ..... my John doesn't attend my church, but last year he did come with me on a Pilgrimmage walk between All Saints Church and St Pauls in London, a distance of about 12 miles, that was walked by some of the congregation. During that walk, my vicar, Father Stuart, got into conversation with John and I'm sure John told him that he likes walking.

Stuart mentioned that he was hoping to have a special Pilgrimmage walk in 2011 as part of All Saints' 875th Anniversary. His idea is to walk between All Saints and Saffron Walden. It was a group of monks from the monastery at Saffron Walden that founded All Saints, hence why he was thinking of walking there. However, this is a distance of 42 miles! Father Stuart, who is also a keen walker, recently did the walk and it took him 14 hours.

Well ....... John said to me that he is still up for doing it ....... and so I guess that means I'll be doing it as well!

Last Saturday was our first training walk. We thought we'd walk out for an hour and then come back and see how we got on. In the end, we were out for about 2.25 hours and we covered 7 miles. I haven't worn my walking boots for a long time ...... so a couple of large blisters under both heels ..... and a few aches on my thighs ..... but not too bad otherwise!

I might add, I do use an exercise bike five times a week for 30 minutes each session but walking actually uses other muscles! Still ..... think we might be able to do it. Mind you, I think it will be my knees that will suffer ..... so losing a bit (lot!) of weight will also have to fit in somewhere :)

Tomorrow we are aiming to walk to Ware (about 10 miles) and then get the train back home. I'll report back on how we get on :)