Final week, and I was determined to up my average and go out on a high note. My pedometer thought otherwise and went out in the middle of the week. I persuaded it to recover but it played up for the rest of the time so I have had to go on walks where I know the step count which was a bit frustrating.  I realise however that without a pedometer it would be very easy to cheat and guess how far I've walked so I shall have to acquire another if I am to keep up this challenge.  If we all walked eastwards (see Juliettes last blog) would that make the world slow down? It is going far too fast and this may make it easier to catch up on things one doesn't have time to do!

My Italian friends have refused my offer to take them for early walks, horrified at the thought of getting up before ten o'clock.so once again it has been a routine week which is fine by me. Getting up early in the morning has been a joy on the whole. Just one or two mornings I have woken up and thought I'd rather stay in bed,but once out and walking I am always glad I made the effort.  If I stopped these early wanders who would keep an eye n the street cleaners who always say a cheery hello? Who would check thast the loo's are clean and tidy? (Wettons do a very good job) Who would check that the man with the metal detector scanning the sand pit on the fronts doing his job properly? Who would chase the seagulls away from black bags and tell them there is no breakfast THERE? Brighton wouldn't be the same without me to keep an eye on it.

The walk round Queens' Park with the Healthwalk group was a real pleasure, and the tea and cake at the end a just reward. The only trouble is that my "just rewards" have put on weight and probably spoiled the group statistics by making the average loss higher. Sorry folks. I'll try and do better from now on and go without my "just rewards" or my waistline will suffer. I shall still be at the Meeting Place on the seafront every Wednesday at 7.30 ish weather permitting so if anyone wants to join us there you will be welcome.  It has been a fun ten weeks and so good to meet a group of super people. I hope we can all carry on the challenge and improve our lives still further. Thanks to Allison and all the team for keeping us informed and organised, and looking forward to meeting you all on Thursday.

Shall we try meeting again next Wednesday or will that be a sure way to have another wet day!? I shall be there to sign autographs now I'm famous...does a photo in the Argus and an interview on local radio make a person famous? i like to think so!

The local radio gave me no indication of the questions that would be asked before the live transmission so I didn't get a chance to promote the website. I sent an Email afterwards to request that the website could be mentioned so I hope that was done.

This week has been so routine that it was almost boring. 10,000 steps are routine now, in fact it would feel odd not to do them, so here's hoping that sentiment will last forever.

My friend Dragisa was with me for a few days this time, so I carted her around Rottindean (with one eye on the pedometer to make sure we walked far enough. The lovely cream tea we had in the pretty little old tearooms rather cancelled out the benefit of walking from the weight loss point of view, but it was SCRUMPTIOUS!

We also explored more of Brighton and discovered some interesting little corners which sometimes get bypassed. The reward this time was tea and a rock cake....not quite so disastrous.  On my way back from a meeting in Eastbourne, I did the Cuckmere Valley walk which is beautiful at any time of the year, but particularly good right now. I came home quite heady with the scent of the new mown hay. 

Another interesting wander was from Lancing to Shoreham by Widewater where there are some fantastic wild flowers such as yellow horned poppy and sea spurrey that only survive in the salty conditions by the sea. I watched an egret fishing using quite a different technique to the herons.

I have some Italian friends coming to stay tomorrow, so they will be my captive walkers for the next few days. They WILL walk at least 5.000 steps with me as I show them round town. I don't think they will be at the Meeting Place at 7.15 on Wednesday. I shall be though....see you there?

Picture in the Argus (not very flattering) and an interview on local radio in the pipeline for next week. My!! I hope it doesn't all go to my head. Seriously though I hope by speaking from experience to be able to promote walking as a good thing for everyone to do.

This week has been a busy one as usual, but my step count is up. Distances seem to shrink as the weeks go by, and what seemed a long way a few weeks ago is now only an hours' walk. The Meeting Place cafe must be getting used to me having my early morning cuppa there. Would anyone like to join me one morning ....say Wednesday, unless it is blowing a gale or pouring with rain? I'll be there from7.20 ish to 8 ish.  I persuaded my daughter to meet me there for breakfast last week, and I hope this will be a regular date because we are both busy people who find it hard to get time together during the day.  It doesn't seem possible that we are nearing the end of our ten weeks already; perhaps we should extend it folks? !!

See you Wednesday.

What a lovely holiday! Just 100 yards from the little cottage we rented was the Staffordshire way, a long distance footpath. Each morning I visited Rudyard lake which was just over a mile along the path which followed an old railway line, lined with wild honeysuckle, roses, daisies, foxgloves, and so many wild flowers. At times the trees met overhead and at others the path opened out to reveal fields and streams chuckling away in the grass. Heaven !!! Weather wasn't too good, but heigh ho, it is England and you can't have everything can you?

A Croatian freind was my walker for the mini challenge. the journey planner took us a rather dull way from home to the West Pier, so I veered off on to my own "Join the green bits" route. Dragisa was very interested in comparing the different types of architecture of the modern buildings compared with the older properties nearer the sea, loved the parks and open spaces we encountered, and was fascinated by the demise and projected plans for the West Pier.  I was proud to show her our lovely city....and for all its' faults it IS a lovely city and some places I saw with new eyes as we walked around.

I have resolved to diet again after putting on a few pounds on holiday. With the medical checkup looming I don't want to weigh in at more than I was at the start!! Maybe I should up my step count?? Think I'll try cutting out the cake treats first!

It's been an odd week this week. On Tuesday I accompanied my daughter-in-law on a sponsored walk from Hove to the marina and back. This clocked up an amazing 26,000 steps. Then Friday evening I was helping with the Martlets midnight walk, so got to bed at a silly hour and missed my usual early morning trip which put me out for the rest of the day so I felt really tired AND there were only 3,600 on the clock for Saturday. Sunday found me at a boot sale selling for my chorus funds, so my routine was put out yet again as it started at 7.30 in Shoreham. I guess this is THE CHALLENGE bit.

Generally speaking I feel great, and a bonus is that my blood pressure has gone down so much that I shall see my doctor next week and ask if I can come off the prescription tablets. Hurray!!

I'm not losing any weight though.....prerhaps it is because I frequently reward myself with tea and cakes???

I hope this lovely weather continues for my holiday in Derbyshire next week. 

This challenge is getting much easier now, and isn't the weather glorious! My current favourite walk is up New England hill (boring but short) then joining up the green bits.....St Ann's Well Gardens, then down to Palmeira Square Gardens to the seafront. The Meeting Place supplies tea at 7 a.m. and breakfast too if you can face eating that early. It is so relaxing to sit with the warm sun on your back. sipping a cuppa whilst you check the pedometer to make sure it has registered the steps already taken. It does tend to vary by up to 500 but what's a few hundred steps here and there!

The walk back along the deserted prom to the bottom of East Street is so quiet at that time, and then it is through the Pavilion gardens and along that lovely strip of green that runs from the Steine to St Peter's church befrore the traffic really gets up steam to pollute the air, and home again for another tea and breakfast. This gives my step count a very good start.

The car got used for the first time for three weeks because I turned out the shed and had about ten tins of old paint and sundry other rusty items to dispose of at the tip; and I gave two friends a lift to Worthing Crem for a funeral. I've told the car it can have a rest until the end of next week when we go on holiday.

Not been able to do much for the mini challenge this time but working on it!

It has been harder this week! Having been a fast walker, I found that though I was used to walking the distance perhaps three times a week, doing it every day made me tired, so this week I concentrated on slowing down. This seemed to solve the problem, though if I do a very long stint I tend to weave a little!!  The pedometers ( I wear the first one which was issued but it played up, and now I wear the new one as well) seem to be more accurate now, though one day there was a difference of 800 steps....glad I wear both then I can log the higher step count! No it's not cheating ....really....it is always the same one that registers higher.  How those on the team with families and full time jobs find the time to do the 10,000 steps I really don't know. I work in a charity shop two days a week and a day centre another, and the steps don't register because I am mostly standing in one place. When I finish I never feel like walking out. That's why I do the early mornings. It is good to see the city coming to life each day and I can put about 4,00 steps under my belt before breakfast...that is until today when I was breakfasting on the Hove seafront at 7.15 in glorious sunshine.  If you chance to see a slightly inebriated lady on the London Road don't worry....it is only me completing my 10,0000 steps.

A few facts learned in the first week.
1. There IS such a time as 6.30 in the morning ( lost to me for years!)
2. It gets easier to leap (?) out of bed at this unearthly hour as the days go by.
3. The air is so fresh and unpolluted this early.
4. People are so cheerful and friendly in the park when walking their dog, or running around like a mad thing, clutching bottle of water and sweating profusely.Later in the day most are lost in their own little world and don't communicate.
5. It is a good start to the days' steps doing the 3.000+ steps before breakfast.
6. This is a most enjoyable challenge and walking 10,000 steps takes only a couple of hours.
Thanks to the person who suggested this challenge should start in May, the most beautiful month of the year. Looking forward to the mini challenge, and I hope all my fellow walkers are doing well.