Halfway Mark

Today I reached the halfway mark...well, sort of. I did three circuits of Draycote Water, 15 miles in all, half of what I will be expected to do each day in July.

The walk went really well, I kept up a great pace throughout and am still consistently on 4 miles per hour. The weather was overcast and I started off with a fleece and a woolly hat (to protect my bonce). After one lap I was well warm , so the hat had long since come off and then so too did the fleece, so I walked the next 10 miles in just a t-shirt, well not just, but you know what I mean.

The first lap was a bit stressful though as I had arrived and started off on the walk before the visitor centre opened. As I hadn't got any change I hadn't been able to buy a car park ticket. I usually get one from the visitor centre, so I walked the first five miles hoping I hadn't been given a ticket. Problem solved though as the centre was open when I completed the lap and a ticket was bought.

It's a good place for doing multi-laps as each lap is long enough thaqt it doesn't become boring; plus there are only two long straights, which also helps to reduce any boredom.

I didn't use the iPod on lap 1 but did on the other two. I had a trip down memory lane as I listened to Bob Seger, the Eagles, Elton John and a little bit of Fleetwood Mac. Pure magic. I've come to the conclusion that, much as I love classical music, I can't walk to it, so it has to be my non-Classic collection on these walks.

I've been monitoring the Nijmegen website and registrations appear to have slowed, there are about 24,000 people registered so far so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.