OneGuyFromBarlick

I just do what I am comfortable with and don't push the envelope. After all most people don't do even my limited walking, according to the research not even 20 minutes a week! I do an hour a day split into 3 walks...... 30 minutes maximum in morning and 2X15 minutes later plus shopping....

Been up Dark Hill again this morning with the Silsden grandchildren who have been with us on a sleep over. Ground is still frozen and there is still enough snow at that level for sledging which was the aim of the game. I came back via Cow Pasture and the stables to extend my walk a bit. The kids elected for the shorter route down Calf Hall, I got home before them. More or less the same walk as I did the other day so I'll not bother with the Endomondo track.

No sledging today!

Out via the stables and down over the stream. Through the orchard and up over the hill behind New House to above Raygill. Up the bridleway to Hollins then down the side path and through the stock holding area to Cow Pasture. Home via Calf Hall Lane and the Parrock. Weather dull and calm, plenty warm enough when walking.



I don't know why the Endomondo track got a maximum pace blip at 14.18 mph just past the mile marker, I was picking my way through clag at that point and definitely not running, couldn't do that if I tried at the moment, GPS or GLONASS brain fart.

Yesterdays walk took us out via Moorgate, Follly Lane and then into the fields over to Lower Standridge. Down to the bridge over Gillians Beck and over to Lane Bottoms. We crossed straight over and went up the hillside to the bottom of Lister Well, then down Tubber to Hodge Lane, King Hill and returned home via Kelbrook Road and the town centre.



Notice also that the GPS tracking on my phone chucked another blip in the track just before the mile marker this time, I managed to get up to 24.6 mph! American GPS degredation or Russian GLONASS plot to confuse?

You're showing steady progress Ian! Well done, proof of effort, you deserve all the improvement you get.

A bit of a reverse loop today. Out via the Parrock and Town Head, Esp Lane up to Hollins Lane, one end to the other then out into the field in front of Hollins Farm. Over to the Bridle Path and down towards Raygill. Right at the bottom and over the stile and up the hill to the boggy field. A bit of a diagonal her to pick up the stile in the stepped bottom corner of the field. Down under the trees to the orchard, over the beck and pick up the path to the stables. Back home via Priory Way and Valley Gardens. A nice warm afternoon, only needed a base layer T shirt and my light windproof jacket for it's pockets. I gave my new 0.7L foldable water bottle its first outing, it's fairly flat and fits in one of the inside pockets of my windproof, it has an integral carabina for clipping to a belt loop if required. It's just the job for a shorter walk. I take my hard bottles when I have my rucksack for waterproofs or butties. My near 19mph sprint GPS blip came near the end on this one. Nice loop, ready for a sit down before a quick shower.

Allow yourself a warm glow of satisfaction Ian. What a transformation in the last few weeks! All credit to your hard work.

Thanks Stanley.

I want to extend my routes slightly before an assault on Weets, so I think I will have to have a foray out around Stock next time I am out. Or I could do over the moor from Lane Bottom and a return via Higher View. That will take it up to about 4.5 miles. I do favour routes with climbs in the way. Once I get back on Weets proper via the trig there are loads of variable routes both on and off the hill.

No boots today on my walk, I decided to try something different. I kept my trainers on but went commando so to speak, no orthosis device. So I chose a loop suitable for the lighter footwear. Town Centre escape and then up Kelbrook Road past the school and down to the marina at Cockshott Bridge. I came along to Long Ing and needed a loo break so I called at Esse Cafe and stopped for a brew and a bit of a rest, I resisted their selection of cakes. I continued on as far as Coates Bridge and then came home up Skipton Road and Ash Grove. No terrain track on the Endomondo route as I didn't track it via GPS but just drew the route and timings in manually when I got home.



I was suited with how I got on with just my trainers and no extra support. No tendency to trip so I can tell that my drop foot is improving albeit slowly. I reckon my stepping was reasonably straight over the route as well. Slower pace than with my boots on but it was just a tester to see how I got on. Plenty warm enough out there today with a nice gentle breeze. Didn't get togged up as such as it was just a saunter around on hard track. Just my light nylon blouson on top of my T shirt.

It's attention to detail and experimenting like that that is making your recovery so remarkable! Keep doing it.....

Boots back on for my walk today. I decided to combine it in part with Sally's walk that she had set her heart on. Sally's normal pace is about 4.5mph and there is no way I can keep up with her at the moment. We tend to walk separately at the moment especially if Sally fancies a bit of a longer trek. She set of on a reverse Weets kind of route. Up to Hollins then over to Jack House, onto Brogden Lane to the junction with Gisburn Track and Coalpit Lane, she then took the track up onto the moor and onto Weet's Summit. I reckoned I could have ago at making the trig today so I set off about 35 minutes after Sally and made my normal exit out via Moorgate and Folly, up to Standridge then up the field to the Bronze Age bank out onto the ridge. I made it past the next two styles almost to the scar on the side of the hill but then got a call from Sally to say she was already on the way down. Realistically I had just about had enough so decided to sit down and wait for her on the descent. I was 2/3rds of the way to the summit but will save that for another day. I found a nice bit of dry banking and had a lie down to wait for her.



I was just nodding off in the afternoon sun when I heard Sally calling, she thought I had gone to join the "choir invisibule" as the parrot sketch would say, in fact I was genuinely just "resting" in this case.



Here's the Endomondo track, quite pleased with that, my best distance yet I think and the best part of the hill in the way and got the better of. Trig is mine now, probably week after next. Cant' do anything before Friday this next week and I should have an empty arm from blood donors to make up by then so probably not best to attack the summit the day after.

Weather dull and overcast but warm enough, bit of a breeze on the ridge but had to shed my top layer. Swapped out my lined winter walking pants for the lighter summer ones.

That's good Ian! Never mind about the summit, that will happen. I see you managed a spurt of 15mph......

Aye, satellite tracking is so accurate now that even a small recovery gallop from a potential trip is picked up as a world record attempt

The key is resting occasionally on my walks, stamina is my main challenge now. I have nowt to prove and I can take as long as I want. Trig is mine though, I have decided.

Well you do look a little bit dead Ian!

That's a new voice! Lovely. Welcome whoever you are..... Do you know Ian?

Indeed I do Stanley, I was at Bob and Carols yesterday helping with a bit of IT. Both had visited the site years ago, I think on the old platform but had forgotten their logon details. It was lot easier just to re register them.

On Saturday my friend and I set out on our mountain bikes to explore a big hill that we can see from my apartment. It is only just over 1000' high but it rises vertically from the valley floor, an exceptionally steep karst formation. It has two houses and several transmitter (?) masts on top. I've been planning this for a while but could never find the road to the top. Using Google Earth I worked out where we should start but as I couldn't see the road I assumed it was hidden by the trees. We rode our bikes to the local village and asked a some local people the way to Li Hua pointing to the sky! We were eventually shown where the path started. The path gave way to stone steps and we battled upwards pushing or carrying our bikes in 30C heat. We figured we'd gone up from the wrong side and the road must be down the other side of the hill, after all, you couldn't build houses without getting the materials to the site. Ages later we reached the summit. We went explored all around the summit. The two 'houses' turned out to be unmanned installations and my friend, an ex-signaller in the UK army in a previous life, reckoned that it was a military listening station with aerials stretching all the way to the valley floor below as well as antennae. The bad news was they had used a winch and a basket on wire cables to get the materials up there and there was no road down. At least our bikes have been to the top of Li Hua and back! Bet nobody else has had a bike up there. I'll try and post some pics.

Please do China. We get quite a few mountain bikers on Weets, easy access from Gisburn Old Road although the purists use the ridge or the continuation of the road into Gisburn Track and Coalpit Lane, Weets is 1300 ft, about a 600 - 700ft climb on foot depending where you set off from in town.

The "sugar loaf" hill in the middle. About 3 miles from us. We went up from the right hand side. That's my exercise for this year!



The goods lift! Powered by an electric winch.

All the way to the trig this time and a bit more.



Sally came the same way as me instead of going the opposite way round. Happy with my performance, just checked and this route only took 20 minutes longer than the last time I did it a few months before I was diagnosed. Good day for it, fine very calm overall, with a bit of breeze on the ridge, overcast and cloudy with sun breaking from the NW when we were on the top. Light jacket only required, we took our lunch with us. My pork and black pepper sausage sandwich was a good reward for reaching the trig.

Top job Ian. An impressive achievement

Thanks Kev, I'm having a nice sit down now with a brew.

Brilliant Ian.