Walking & happiness.

January is notoriously considered an unhappy month, I had booked a ticket to attend a reading of Nigel Jones’s book Walking Back to Happiness.

With some difficulty, I mustered up the energy to get up and go to Club Soda in Drury Lane, Covent Garden. It was a heavy rainy evening, black, bleak and cold.  Arriving at Club Soda soaked, I plonked myself at the back of the room and enjoyed an alcohol-free G and T.

 

As it is Dry January I thought it was worth a go and was cheered that like me he got energised by walking a lot. HE QUIT THE BOOZE and found an energy unknown to him before!) walking is fundamental to just keeping well and on top of things.

I frequently walk the long way round to walk via Ruskin Park, this helps me wake up before work. I like his motivational 9kam by 9 am idea http://www.9kmby9am it’s not something I can realistically manage before work in the winter.

The most I can manage, is  3- 5 miles a day, depending on the workload and in particular the short days and unpredictable weather. My longer walks are at the weekend. One interesting new app Nigel talked about is called Walk the Distance/Virtual Walks.

https://www.walkthedistanceapp.com

starting a virtual walk, along the Camino de Santiago.

I have encountered these hikers so many times in France and vowed to do this someday. Another amazing walk is the Pacific Crest Trail.

Using the app, You start the walk alongside your daily walks and it will start the route of the specific chosen walk. It’s magic.

While I’m currently looking into this Pilgrimage on YouTube I have noted there are various routes to try. The Portuguese sea route sounds the best so far.

Wild -Cheryl Strayed

Any of you who have read my older posts might remember me writing about the author Cheryl Strayed. Her adventure of walking the Pacific Crest Trail. As they say in America, Awesome.

A walk on the wild side 

Walking the PCT

 

EAST GRINSTEAD

Thinking of East Grinstead, what images come to mind? Anything or nothing? it is tempting to think of Grim as in Grimsby,  instead of Grinstead. I needed a brisk winter walk in the new year and saw a 10-mile circular walk, on The South Bank Ramblers timetable. It was a fairly early start for a Saturday morning.

I was standing on the platform and when I pressed the button to open the train door, it pulled away. Just 24 seconds too late!  What to do now? so I waited for the next train and texted the leader to see if there was a meeting place where I could perhaps hook up with them during the walk further down the line.

To cut a long story short

There was the option to meet them at Lunchtime in Forest Row. This was my first visit, so I browsed about. Interestingly with an hour to spare I decided to visit East Grinstead Museum. (free entry). Towns always become more interesting when you come across a historical interest.

East Grinstead Museum.

THE GUINEA PIG CLUB

It’s always great to learn something new and that is partly why I like to go to different towns. The museum in the main paid reverence to a pioneering surgeon who worked there during the 2nd world War, and developed a new surgery.

The Guinea pigs were Royal Air Force soldiers, Queen Elizabeth Hospital East Grinstead was the hospital where they performed facial reconstruction among other surgeries.

The human aspect that surgeon Archibold Mcindow showed was ensuring that post-war patients were integrated into the community. Often marrying nurses and always regarded with respect. The strap line for East Grinstead was interesting called.

THE TOWN THAT DOESNT’ STARE

A VERSE FROM THE GUINEA PIGS ANTHEM.

We are McIndoe’s army,
We are his Guinea Pigs.
With dermatomes and pedicles,
Glass eyes, false teeth and wigs.
And when we get our discharge
We’ll shout with all our might:
“Per ardua ad astra”
We’d rather drink than fight.

A Cold Winter Day in East Grinstead.

After my education on a cold winter, Saturday morning, I found my way out of the town to Forest Row. A long path through a wood, popular with dog walkers and cyclists. How I managed to walk 10 miles that day, I don’t know,  as I missed the first 6-mile hike along the Sussex Border and Vanguard Way.

 

I skipped lunch and headed to a cycling shop for a pot of tea and to read my book before joining the group to walk back the way I came! Awesome!!

January to February

I have no planned walks as yet, but a few events in February are coming up.

The travel show at Olympia will no doubt throw a load of exciting possibilities my way for the coming year.https://www.destinationsshow.com/london

I managed to get out for a couple of hours midweek for a magical winter stroll from Teddington to Richmond.

 

 

A recent article in The Brixton Bugle identified that “Brixton Breathes a year of deadly No 2 in only 7 days.”

It is essential to make that extra effort, walk through the park instead of alongside a main road, and get out at weekends, when possible.

http://airaware.substack.com

City Life.

I was out on one of my city jaunts recently, strolling down to Victoria from Euston  I got to Gower Street and visited Waterstones, (the oldest Bookshops in Europe) the last time I was there was in the early 90s with an old friend where we met the writer Ian Rankin.

Previous to that I used to see all the great punk bands at ULU (student union bar/venue) University of London Gower Street.

I saw The Fall, Sonic Youth, and Henry Rollins, I also met  & chatted with Jeffery Lee Pierce & his girlfriend bass player, (lead singer ) of the Gun Club.  The good old days.

Swooning with good vibes from my bookshop visit, I then made my way back to Victoria via St James Park and came across a pack of Pelicans!

 

 

Until next time keep on keeping on.

 

 

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