by Idaho Dad on August 31, 2010
Walking across it wasn't easy
All good things must come to an end. And that would include the summary of my walk across England for charity.
The last two days of the walk were something of a letdown, at least with the scenery. The landscape had flattened out and the ancient wall was far behind us.
Day 5 began in the usual farm pastures, dodging cow patties and friendly ponies. The map showed 16 miles of Hadrian’s Wall Path ahead of us, but the trail looked reasonably flat most of the way into the city of Carlisle – our stop for the night.
Mind the pony
16 miles earlier in the week had me worried, but not now. After five days, and nearly 60 miles, of walking, I was starting to feel mentally confident and physically strong.
Also, my legs were swelling up, so I couldn’t feel them.
Everyone was looking strong that morning, and I quickly fell in with the usual crowd of slow walkers. Only, we were now the not-so-slow walkers. Our pace felt a little faster.
A freshly mowed path
My group was Arjan, Sherry, Steve, Ellie, and Jo, with occasional glimpses of Richard and Catherine. It was nice to have them to walk with, as the scenery wasn’t holding my attention. At the end of the day, I was shocked to see that I had snapped only 32 photos along the trail. Most other days I had taken over a hundred.
I’d love to write about the first ten miles of Day 5, but nothing about it really stood out. Cows, horses, and farms are pretty much all that come to mind.
I visited with Arjan much of the way, and learned more about Warhammer than I ever knew before.
A lovely country cottage
Soon the path was taking us through the suburbs of Carlisle, and we found ourselves literally walking through people’s yards. I imagine some of those folks weren’t too happy to learn there would be a national trail running through their backyard when the path was made official in 2003.
A few land owners have taken advantage of the situation by setting up snack shacks that work under the honor system. One of them was quite luxurious, with a toilet, picnic table, refrigerated drinks, and even a few souvenirs.
Click here to read the rest of my Day 5 & 6 adventure
by Idaho Dad on August 26, 2010
It’s time for a giveaway!
A delicious one.
I have one baseball-themed gift bag from a certain sub sandwich chain restaurant to reward to a lucky reader. It’s packed with goodies, including a $10 gift card.
You know you want to win this one for your kids (or just you).
Click on over to my giveaway page to find out the who, what, and when.
Did I just hear someone’s stomach growl?
I’ll pick a winner after the weekend.
by Idaho Dad on August 22, 2010
My kids have suddenly realized there are only two weeks before school starts and are now panicking over what to do with their last few days of summer.
They both made “End of Summer” lists, thinking they can pack three months worth of stuff they forgot to do into what little time they have left.
Not that we haven’t been busy. That’s just the problem. Summer has been a smorgasbord of fun.
A little too much fun, if you ask me. I’m ready to get back into a routine of school, chores, and projects. The latter two have suffered greatly around here.
So has my blog. Other than writing up my walk across England, I haven’t been paying much attention to posting any thoughts or news about being a dad.
By the end of the day, when I usually sit down at the computer to write, I’ve simply been too exhausted from doing things with the kids to think about composing a post.
Over the summer, several Daddy Bloggers announced they were ending their blogs. I’m not sure Dan counts, as he’s still merrily posting away after his big blog retirement. He’s worse than Brett Favre.
I contemplated joining them, but realized that I still enjoy passing on the odd note, news item, or review. Oh, and the giveaways… Do I have some giveaways coming up for you!
So, I’ll be around awhile longer. I still have a family, and we still like to run through stuff.
Now, back to the end-of-summer panic!
by Idaho Dad on August 17, 2010
Further up and further in
Day 4 of my walk across England was a curious day, filled with pleasant surprises and strange encounters.
It was also the day we had to make a deadline.
That night we would be staying in the village of Greenhead, which was only 8 miles away. Sounds like a nice, leisurely stroll, right? Unfortunately, that would turn Day 5 into a 20-mile death march.
So, in order to balance out the mileage, we would be walking right past that night’s accommodations in Greenhead and continue another four miles down the path to the village of Banks, where a bus would be picking us up at precisely 4:30pm to take us back to Greenhead. It would also return us to Banks in the morning so we wouldn’t miss out on a single step along the Hadrian’s Wall Path.
With that 4:30 deadline in mind, several slow walkers conferred over maps and breakfast cereal, deciding it would be best to start down the trail early. You know, in case of wrong turns, twisted ankles, or pagan abductions.
Oh, and by “several slow walkers” I really mean Martin and me.
Above Winshields Farm Camp
The steep climb from Winshields Farm Camp back to the wall path was invigorating, and it felt good to be ahead of the pack, even if I did feel a slight tinge of guilt over not helping take down tents.
Martin and I were determined not to miss that bus.
At the summit above the farm, I stopped for a breather and to take pictures of the countryside. Nearby sheep were mocking me with their nimble footwork on the rocky crags.
Hadrian's Wall Sheep
It was a minute, maybe two, of snapping photos and admiring the view, and then I turned back around to continue on the trail.
And Martin was gone!
It was deja vu all over again.
I was perplexed for a moment, and then I thought maybe he had simply picked up the pace and was over the next rise.
Click here to read the rest of my Day 4 adventure
