Lunch Time Canal Walk

Bashful and I walked out to the Buckinghamshire Golf Course and back, about 10 km. Amidst signs advertising a corporate golf tournament, there were flights of four playing in the heat oblivious to the woodpeckers and other industrious birds trying to make ends meet. We saw the aggregate conveyor being fixed - this after months of inactivity despite all the adds about how road metal would go by canal not motorway. We talked about rambling things like blisters and sunburn while the new snatch-purse (Chancellor of the Exchequer) was elsewhere announcing how he would be picking rich pockets for years to come. It's funny how you buy spinach in a bag and it's ready to use but if you buy a bagged shirt you have to wash it to remove the creases. It seems to me that the roles of Treasury and government are similarly inverted. You might say the 'elect me again' Dracula of government gets to play with the sovereign's Blood Bank.

I seem to have lost (the plot and) a walk somewhere in the blogging past but no matter. This was the 39th (or maybe 40th) training outing and brought me to a grand total of 463 km or 71% of my promise. Time is running out: just 24 days left, 167 km to walk, so you can see I have a challenge.

WANTED: SPONSOR FOR 10 KM

Buckinghamshire Golf Again

Six set out at noon lead by Snow White. Three of the South Downs walking team including Bashful and me joined by M, T and S. Lots of good chat provided me with an eye opening understanding of the wealth in Denham where I also noticed the plaque on the home of John Mills, peaking out from under the wisteria.

We covererd 10.5 km in an extended lunch period. WalkMeter guesses I burned 600 calories which means I earned a healthy lunch.


Time for some statistics. It was my 25th walk taking me to 277 km (42%) of the 650 km training walking I planned. It means I have to average over 7 km for each of the remaining 51 days.

SPONSOR WANTED: 10.5 KM

Buckinghamshire Golf Club

Grumpy and I headed up the Frays and across to Buckinghamshire Golf Club. An overcast, humid day, our progress impeded by the nettles and dock along the river. A herd of calves ran from us between the canal and Denham Park. Herons, squirrels, woodpeckers, stag beetles and ducklings were all around to see. The annual gift of wisteria has transformed Denham. All quite rustic once you pass under the M40.

Grumpy was excited by the golf course, retelling adventures from the recent past including playing it while his house was being burgled (an unhappy coincidence). Without Grumpy, I wouldn't have recognised John O'Leary sitting chatting in a golf buggy.

The common woes of shin splints and policeman's heel were shared without resolution as we trudged our disappointing 7 km distance in an otherwise very pleasant walk. I took some comfort from finally breaking the 200 km mark; only 450 to go.


Sponsor wanted: 7km

Buckinghamshire Golf Course

We set out at noon and went along the canal and into Buckinghamshire Golf Course, through to Denham rail station and back along the canal. Five of us, including Snow White, Bashful, helperT, M and me. It was cold for May but a pleasant surprise was the number Redwood trees I noticed. Our pace over the 9 km suggested we could complete the 100 km in 17.5 hours, an unlikely outcome.

I need to redouble the sponsorship effort since there are now just two of the seventeen completed walks that are sponsored.

Sponsor wanted: 9km