Fighting back: baby steps

          As I mentioned in the first blog, the reason I am writing these is to chart the progress of the return to my adventurous spirit, as it has been quite a few years since I have done anything adventurous I knew I would have to start small to regain my fitness without pushing myself to the point where I would likely give up. I had originally planned to walk from where I live to Wrabness train station, not a long walk by any means but long enough, the walk would have seen me use the Essex way, the part I had intended to use however runs along the shoreline of the river Stour and local weather and flood alerts meant that it would probably not be such a good idea, so I had to change my route to a much more local one.

Today`s equipment

As this was going to be a short walk I didn`t want to overburden myself with things I really didn`t need.

so all I took was my Osprey Flare 25 rucksack

Montane waterproof jacket and trousers

Mountain Hardwear gloves

Windstopper neck gaiter 

Asolo Piuma Mid boots

and Seal Skins waterproof sock (the boots aren`t waterproof)

I started out just before 10 am and started down the hill towards the maltings in bright sunshine, 

Although the Victorian buildings have been replaced with much more efficient methods of malting barley, it is said that the Victorian method produces a much better flavor, from a personal point of view the smell from the Victorian is far more evocative than the modern building.

          At the bottom of the hill are two local landmarks, the swan fountain and the Thorn, with the weather being as it was the swan wasn`t working today, normally water comes from the beak

opposite the swan and with a far more interesting history is the Thorn, this was once owned by the self appointed "Witchfinder General" Matthew Hopkins, who used to regularly use the basement to imprison and torture those women accused of witchcraft before sending them for execution.

slightly further on from here is the Mistley towers, these were once part of a church until the centre portion was condemned and pulled down, the church itself was replaced by St Mary`s and St Michael further up the road.

          From here I turned towards St Mary`s and up the very gradual incline, by this point my back was hurting and my hips were straining but I ignored it and carried on and I`m glad I did as I got to the top of the hill it was like my body suddenly realized that it remembered what it was doing, the pain went and I felt my pace increase, oxygen was flowing and I was starting to feel good about the day. I turned onto Green lane feeling much better and started letting my legs carry me at a pace I knew suited them.

being an un-tarmacked road meant that there were puddles everywhere, with water in them, water that had frozen over, I couldn`t help myself and let the kid in me break the ice on the surface , watching the ice crack underfoot. one last obstacle lay before me, a steep but short climb uphill before the gentle run back home.

total distance walked: 4 km

total time:45 mins

number of people with me: 0