A couple of weeks ago my school reader volunteering didn’t go according to plan. It was careers day and the flow of children dried up so I called it a day. The weather was gorgeous and sunny so I chose to walk the long way home.

Surprisingly I met very view people along the way so I didn’t have many opportunities for a cheery hello. Whilst sitting on a bench enjoying the sunshine a dog carrying a large stick in its mouth bounded over to greet me much to the surprise of its owners. One of them passed a remark to the other ‘he never walks that way’. I suspect he was showing off his stick to me. The dog certainly brought a smile to my face.

Due to other commitments and unfavourable weather it took me a while to get around to a walk after my Tuesday afternoon volunteering shift at Attingham Park. My first walk of the year was a perfect opportunity for a ‘Listening’  walk. This time of year is filled with birdsong which is always a joy to hear. I was also treated to wind rustling through the leaves and the gentle sound of flowing water.

This chapter in the book mentions a study commissioned by the National Trust. Attingham Park, being a National Trust property was the perfect place for this walk. The study revealed that the following sounds bring us the greatest pleasure; birdsong, a running stream, rustling tree leaves, silence, twigs snapping underfoot, animal noises, wind whistling through the trees, rain falling on leaves, conkers hitting the ground and squelching mud.

I agree with all of them apart from squelching mud which has a sensory element to it that I find unpleasant.

The video below shows how beautiful the sounds were.

Click on picture to view video

Fitting my walks around commitments means I often walk alone. Walking alone is good for thinking and clearing my head but walking with others gives me a greater sense of wellbeing.

My most recent walk with others was to check out a route for a group-led walk for visitors to Attingham Park.

My sense of wellbeing started well before I arrived at Attingham. I left home in glorious sunshine which turned to mist as I drove past open fields. The sun was trying to break through the misty layers casting shadows on the ground. As I approached Attingham Park the house was completely concealed by the misty veil only partly revealing itself as I walked to the courtyard where I encountered the VR (Visitor Reception) manager and the group walk co-ordinator. We had a brief conversation and I found out that there was currently a problem with a power outage which they were trying to get fixed.

I headed to the meeting room above the courtyard where the other two walk volunteers were waiting. Both were a little confused as to why the office was empty, it seemed they hadn’t seen the group walk co-ordinator as they passed through the courtyard, although he must have seen them because he told me they were upstairs in the meeting room!

Once the problem was under control, James, the group walk co-ordinator joined us and we set off to walk the route we had mapped earlier in the week. The grounds were shrouded in mist.  As we entered the deer park the house was completely hidden and the trees appeared as dark shadowy shapes. Along the first stage of the route, I was able to point out a large nesting box (for owls?) that I had seen earlier in the year.

We left the deer park and entered one of the woodland paths that leads to the Berwick memorial. When we reached the memorial, James mentioned a tree that had been inscribed by WWII soldiers and prisoners of war. As we were discussing the location of the tree, a man arrived through the gate nearby and asked if we had seen the inscribed tree. Unbeknown to us we were standing next to it! He told us about the WWII connections and the inscriptions on the tree. Some of them are fascinating and I need to research some of the symbols on the tree.

We continued our walk along the pathway leading past the Repton Oak towards the mansion, pausing briefly to chat with a couple of volunteers that were collecting acorns from beneath the old oak tree. Deer, although obscured by mist, could by seen nearby as we continued our walk back to the deer park bridges and the mansion beyond.

On my way back to my car, my VR manager, Nicolas, was at secondary VR and wanted to know all about the walks and would I still be helping out on VR (Tuesdays). I reassured him I would; Tuesday afternoons are my commitment to VR. As I arrived back at main VR the sun emerged through the mist and I chatted to other colleagues before driving home.

This chapter discusses the benefits of walking with purpose as opposed to walking for leisure. Studies have found that when walking for a purpose people tend to walk faster. Some of the studies concluded this led to better health and wellbeing.

I don’t know about the conclusions to the studies I can only say how I feel after ‘walking with purpose’.

I walk faster when I have a destination in mind, I don’t want to be late. Having a goal boosts my mental state and feeling of wellbeing. I often set off later than I intend which means I have to walk faster to get to my destination on time.

During term time I have a weekly purposeful walk to a local school. I volunteer as a school reader providing one-to-one reading support for children helping them improve their reading skills and boost their confidence.

Returning home after a recent visit to the school I found that one of my favourite benches to ’sit and rest a while’ had been replaced over the summer holidays. Of course I chose to ’sit and rest a while’ and enjoy the view before returning home.

This chapter discusses the potential benefits of going for a short-measured walk (not a hike) before breakfast. It talks about recent scientific studies that have concluded a walk before breakfast whilst the body is still in fasting mode burns off more fat and improves the way the body reacts to insulin.

I would not normally have chosen to walk before breakfast but my car was booked in for a service on a drop-off-and-leave-it-there for the day basis. Unfortunately, due to Mr C’s car breaking down and the subsequent engine fire as the car was removed from the tow truck towards our driveway, he was unable to give me a lift.

This meant I had to resort to shanks pony and train to get home after the drop off and back again to pick up my car after servicing.

Mr C had told me of the pathway I needed to take to get to the railway station without crossing or walking down busy roads. As I walked along ‘motor mile’, I spotted a pathway and took it. I realised I was on the wrong pathway when I first walked over the railway and shortly afterwards the motorway.  However, before retracing my steps to find the correct pathway curiosity got the better of me, I couldn’t resist walking a little further to see where the path came out.

Once I was back on track, the path to the station was obvious because it was signposted. I found the pathway rather seedy and not a pleasant place to walk. At the station I purchased tickets from the ticket office and crossed the bridge to catch the train home. Only one stop.

Whilst I sat on a bench and waited, a couple asked me about purchasing tickets. I pointed them to where I thought the ticket machine on that platform was situated. The ticket office is across the bridge on the other platform.

A few minutes later the couple returned, they had located the ticket machine but unfortunately the machine had not printed off all the tickets, giving them a message to ‘seek help’ from the ticket office. The lady sat next to me on the bench whilst her husband crossed the bridge to try and sort out their tickets. The failure meant that they missed the train by minutes. It reminded me of a similar incident that I had many years ago. Some things never change!

Back in Wellington and walking home, a walking group caught up with me and we had a little chuckle that I was joining the group. The leader waited for the rest of her group and I continued to the pedestrian crossing, pressing the button. The group caught up with me and we bantered and chuckled, the walk leader joking that I had pressed the button for them.

I knew they would be walking as part of the Wellington Walking festival and found out that they were going to Dothill via the Wellington Loop to find out more about the trees in the Dothill nature reserve.

I continued walking home by the direct route. After no breakfast and just a cup of tea I was rather hungry when I got home and was looking forward to lunch.

Unusually, the garage phoned up just after lunch to say my car was ready. They don’t normally phone up until later in the afternoon. If I had known my car would be ready so quickly, I would not have gone home!

My second walk of the day led me back to the station for my return journey to the garage to pick up my car.

I picked this book up in 2024 with the intention of using it for weekly walks during 2025. With mum becoming ill again at the end of 2024 and not returning to her normal self I was so focused on her health that I totally forgot about my intention to do the walks one week at a time.

I was reminded of the book recently during my walk leader training at Attingham Park. One of the ladies on the course recommended this book and Annabel’s follow up book, The Walking Cure. Since then I have dipped in and out of the book but haven’t yet read it cover to cover. I have also purchased the follow up book which I will read after I have finished reading this one.

I have decided that I will approach the book differently than I had originally planned. I will address all the walk ideas as the mood takes me rather than in chapter order and not necessarily ‘One Week at a Time’.  Colouring is another of my hobbies (also neglected recently) so I will colour the chapter heading pictures as I go along.

My first walk from the book was today; ~Week 48~ Walk Hungry.

I will be writing about this walk soon.