With the arrival of September, our thoughts often turn to that of autumn, a chill in the air and the final passing of a summer that probably wasn’t as wet or miserable as we might choose to remember.
Two-thirds of the year complete. Let’s take a look at August.
01/08 – 4.75 miles – Crook Peak, Mendip Hills
03/08 – 11.5 miles – Porlock Weir to Lynmouth (SWCP)
05/08 – 7.25 miles – Black Down, Mendip Hills
11/08 – 11 miles – Marshfield Meander (Brunel Walking Group)
18/08 – 9 miles – East Harptree (Brunel Walking Group)
19/08 – 12 miles – Ysgyryd Fawr and Bryn Arw
24/08 – 3.75 miles – Wick St. Lawrence, North Somerset
25/08 – 12 miles – Llanthony Loop, Black Mountains
26/08 – 4.5 miles – Wick St. Lawrence, North Somerset
Total for August 2019 = 75.75 miles
While I’ve managed to make two trips across the Severn and in to the Black Mountains of South Wales (on successive weekends as well), I’ve also managed to cram in a reasonable number of more local walks.
One of the biggest achievements has to be concluding the ‘Somerset Coast Path’ saga that I began with my friend Anna all the way back in 2015. We spent our final day on this trail, walking the SWCP between Porlock Weir and Lynmouth. We’ve already discussed future challenges but you’ll have to wait and see, probably sometime in 2020.
While the walking group’s programme has been a little bit ‘light’ in terms of events lately, I managed to get out and tag along with two group walks last month.
Another personal highlight was my first time climbing ‘The Skirrid’ (Ysgyryd Fawr) in South Wales. I don’t know how many times I’d driven past it, up and down the A465, always looking on with wonder…
My idea was to create an eleven-mile circular route that would also take in another hill (Bryn Arw) – you’ll have to wait for the next post to know how that went. One of the reasons I’d often avoided Ysgyryd Fawr is that it appears to sit alone from the rest of the Black Mountains’ range, with the A465 running down one side.
Less than a week later, I was back in the same area but further along and across to the other side of the road. Another 11-12 mile route that you’ll be able to read about soon.
It’s been a busy month and I have a few plans to keep me occupied through much of September. I don’t intend to give up or deeply cut back on walking but I am feeling a need for variation; something that could occupy my many spare evenings. With the longer hours of darkness soon to draw in, the prospect of spending too much time outdoors post-work will be less appealing.
All going as according to plan, I should have one more camping trip to follow before the year is over and my first solo camping trip since… I think it was June last year!
Current total for 2019 = 748.5 miles
As far as the quest to walk one-thousand miles goes, I now have three months to cover a quarter of a Century. September could take a chunk from that, meaning that I could complete it by the end of November, if I should choose to.
This time last year, I’d walked more than one-hundred miles within the same month but was a good fifty miles and more off from my running total as it stands today.
Thanks for reading.
Walks With Olly 