I thought you all would love to hear about my first walk in the English hillside... or should I say that to me for my first time it looked like a bloody mountain.
Tom kept threatening me all week that we would go for a nice walk on Sunday to get some fresh air... I tried everything to persuade him that we needed to get some chores done around the house while I had him at home... but he is a very stuborn man you see. Either I went with him, or he would go alone... I decided to accept my fate on Sunday morning when he told me to go get dressed for a walk.
Upstairs, I searched through my belongings and boxes to find whatever warm clothes I could...it was a whopping 35 degrees outside... After a few boxes, I came across my hats and gloves and felt a bit more at ease for this nice easy walk he promised me in Thurton woods. All dressed up, I slumbered downstairs with my hiking boots, heavy socks and padding to apply to parts of my feet that give me problems.
After finding every excuse and taking my time to prepare my feet, I was reluctantly ready to leave at 11:15 for this refreshing walk that left me excited to get out, yet weary from my lack of physical condition of the last several months.
It was a bright sunny day with a crisp nip in the air. The blanket of frost on the ground was fighting with the sun to keep its place... We drove about 8 miles before we came over a hill and all I could see in front of me were a range of very high hills... The cheviot's; a mountain range in the Northeast... the only difference from western Maryland was that they were not covered with trees...but still just as tall.
My knees started to quiver as I asked Tom which of these mountains we would be taking this nice easy stroll on. He laughed a little trying to tell me they were not mountains...but hills and the one we would walk around was the first one I saw in front of us. What I was looking at I figured, compared to the others, not too bad... and Tom said we would just be walking around it... The top of it had a cliff of rocks hanging down the face... called "Craigs" here... but I figured we would not be heading up there. Not so bad, I thought to myself...this should be ok...
We parked along the side of the entrance way on a small side road and Tom handed me his walking stick that I insisted on bringing... and off we went...
The first hurdle I encountered were these little steps that you needed to climb over a fence with... not too bad, but very slippery with frost... The path was very pretty with pine trees covering both sides... as we walked I looked back and forth on both sides through the trees and was in awe with all of the beautifully bright green moss growing on the wooded floor. The perfect place to come in spring to base my hanging plants with...
Oh, I guess we walked about 100 yards when I felt the need to stop and catch my breath... I was not tired, but my lungs were not accustomed to the wet cold air... and I was trying to explain to Tom that I needed to breath a bit to try and get them adjusted... of course smoking as of late for the past couple months was not a help either... and all I could think of was damn those cigs... I must quit again and real soon.
We started off again and I had managed to do a few good deep breaths to get myself aclimatized to the air...
If you looked in front of you all you could see was woods and a path with a bend up ahead... and once you turned that bend, there was another bend ahead of that... all the while I was noticing that we were on a gradual uphill grade... then around one bend I saw a hill to climb for a path... my heart sank knowing I was not in shape anymore for this...but I knew I had to press on or ruin Tom's day... I stopped for a minute and caught my breathing again... the walking stick was no longer a nusance in hand, but a needed tool for my knees to make it any further... So we climbed and rounded another bend and climbed some more... this bloody path was never ending... it was pretty... but gawd... I was still climbing...
I began to find every excuse to stop for a moment... Oh Tom, what type of plant is this... or look at these paw tracks Tom, what do you think it is... Oh and what are those wooden things lined up on that opening (birdwatching stands)Shhhhh, Stop Tom...do you hear that? It is a babbling brook Michele...come on...
Suddenly Tom decided that the path was going to take forever and he decided we should take a shortcut up through the fields of heather to get to the top..."THE TOP!, we are going to the TOP...I thought this was just a nice easy stroll for my first walk"... "It is Michele, Grandmothers walk up here for picnics"... That was enough to keep the challenge going...so with my walking stick firmly placed in front of me...up the side of the hill we went.
The field of heather was lovely and I could only imagine its beauty in the springtime with its purple colouring... Although, it was not that fun to walk through...it is very thick and the ground below it was covered in moss... so you were very unsure of exactly where you were stepping... my walking stick now was being used as my eyes as I whisped the heather back and forth to see exactly where my next step would be...
Suddenly we were at the top...and in a little distance to the right, was the cliff of rocks I figured I would never have to climb to... we crossed a nice sized path and Tom stated that we would be going down the other side of the hill a little so we could get to the small path that went to the Craigs...(cliffs). This caused a new fear in me...as I have a fear of going down from a fall I had many years back that landed me in a cast for 6 weeks... plus, we would be going down through the heather that seemed very slippery and unsteady for me... but on we went.
After a few steps, I felt my left knee wrench and my padding on right foot had slipped from its place from stepping on a rock...and I could feel the sharp pain of my bone spur on one toe. This was no longer fun for me...I hate going down hills... especially when before me I could see were it would drop off to the valley below... but I could not supress the joy of the view... it was beautiful up there... and I proceeded forward with a bit of a limp and a hobble...
Finally we got to the little path and started uphill again to the Craigs... I was no longer walking with renewed faith of fitness... slowly I climbed and looked forward to having a sit on the rocks to adjust my foot padding... Tom was sympathetic to my new stance...but he continued to tease me about it being a stroll and that Grandmothers walked up here all the time...
We made it to the top...finally at the craigs...it was very pretty...and the view of the Cheviots in front of us was amazing... I realized then that even though I was out of shape and in pain...I was very happy to be there...making a solemn promise to myself and to Tom that I will be back in shape by springtime to be able to go on this walk and others more difficult in the future. But I made it...and that felt great...
We had a little sit on the top of the craigs...and I fixed the padding on my foot and massaged my knee a bit before we needed to start back down again...it was bloody cold up there...the wind was whipping about... as we watched a group of mountain bikers pass us on their own trail of fun...(Not)
We started back, going a different way...a shortcut so to say down to the main walking path... back down through the heather...but this time it was a nice gradual decend and I had a renewed strenght for the task... down and down we went until we met back up with the main path...once there... my body pretty much had decided that it no longer wanted to walk... I just wanted to drop where I was and not move another step... my walking stick then became my 3rd leg as I continued to follow Tom back towards the car... going around bend after bend waiting hopefully to see the end after each one... We passed a few others on their nice little stroll with their dogs...they looked refreshed and ready...while I am sure I looked like a beaten woman ready to collapse... suddenly we went around a bend and up over a little hill and I spotted the road... the excitement in me gave a burst of energy and I was getting ready for a sprint... the end was near and I could feel it in my bones... a deer ran across the path in front of us hopping about with her white tail bouncing back into the woods...I saw it as a blessing of my journey...the spirits being proud of my courage for this lovely little easy stroll.
As I dropped into the seat of the car, I felt a nice warm flow of joy run through my body... ready to challenge the world...
So'k that was my first walk in England... who is ready to visit us first?
Love
Shel
