The walk

Another scorcher of a day.

Went out this morning, before it got too hot, and went for a walk from Lolworth, through Childerley, Knapwell and Boxworth back to Lolworth. Even at that time the heat was very intense.

This was a beautiful walk, just the right mix of country and village areas, gently undulating paths through enclosed, tree-lined routes and open fields. If I was into ranking things, I’d give it an eight out of ten.

It took about three hours which seems to be my ideal length, I find my hips start hurting quite a lot after that – not sure what that’s all about, it’s one of those things that you’re not quite sure is normal or if there is a genuine medical problem.

The self-analysis

I’ve always had this pain. I remember I used to go for long walks around London and when I was on solo holidays. When I was on my own I didn’t seem to be able to regulate myself, I would just walk, and walk, and walk. And a number of times I would get back in such pain.

I used to have this thing about turning around on a journey – I just couldn’t do it. If I was walking somewhere I’d get really self-conscious about the point at which I’d think “right, that’s enough, time to go back”, I couldn’t just stop and turn around and retrace my steps, I had to find a way to go on a round trip with no overlap. I think I felt that people would think I was odd, just stopping and turning around.

On a related note to the hips thing, I really hurt my ankles one time walking around Padua. I knew I was hurting, but I just wouldn’t stop. I guess I just didn’t feel safe stopping. I didn’t have a map and I’d walked out of the part of the town I knew and into a suburban area on the edge of the town, so I was feeling kind of out of place. I had to just keep walking until I found my way back to an area I recognized.

I still have this problem with turning around, actually, although I’ve now developed a ploy of making a show of stopping, checking my watch or phone or something, to make it look as if I’ve remembered something, or I’ve just got a message, something that would be a good reason to turn around.

That’s insecurity, right? Because I can’t do anything without thinking of what other people would think.

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