Walking Journal and Walking Stories

Thank you for the wonderful walking tour Margo.

OK - so I'm down the coast, at a friend's place in Kiama, a beach town south of Sydney. It's a long weekend, and it's winter....

The town looks totally different in winter - no crowds.

main street:


The rock pool:


The beach:


There's football on the oval (which isn't oval, but rectangular!). In true country town style (and this is a country town in winter!) - spectators park their cars right around the ground and stay in them - to escape from the wind, blowing straight from the Antarctic:


There's some sort of crane hunting for food on the harbour front:


Another bird drying his wings, on a fishing boat:


There's only a small crowd around the Blowhole - and some of them are getting wet, as the wind's from the south:


There's some rock fishermen - aka "temporary Australians":


This is to the south:


Here's part of the expanse of Seven Mile Beach - a beautifully clear day and not a soul in sight:


I've been striding out every day (but head home this morning ).
As long as you're rugged up against the wind, it's just fantastic.

(photos taken with the little camera - so some of the quality isn't brilliant!)

Thanks for the walking tour, Margo!

the weather here's been pretty rainy for more than a week. Both of the last two weekends were full of rain. The mid-week hike last week was canceled. It's been a long time since I got a good walk in. I have done a couple smaller nature walks. One day last week on my way to work I saw several herons, all separate, flying to the lakes near work. I drove over after school as I had happened to remember my camera. I never saw any herons, but I did see bunnies, a cardinal, ducks, swans, and a hawk eating either a rat or a snake. All I could see of it was a long, hairless tail.

The Middlesex Fells has 2,575 acres of land, so you’d think there would be
enough room for all. But between bikers, hikers, and dog walkers, it seems
like everyone wants a piece of the park

Hmm, this gives me an idea. I've done several photo series of my walking tours. I won't be back immediately with the photos and descriptions, but will keep them in mind.

Thanks, K, and tsar, above.

Yes, I saw that. And said a silent curse to boston.com. Some days there doesn't seem to be enough room at all. But, who am I to complain - I lead 20+ people through in a clump. And that sign.... the photographer didn't even have to get out of the car to take it (pffft).

Hi margo. Thanks for the Kiama walking tour. I've never been there before. Now I feel like I have!

Kiama is Wilso territory, isn't it? You didn't happen to run into him on your visit, did you?

Wilso lives about 30 minutes north of here closer to Wollongong. I drive past his turn-off on the highway down here, but haven't stopped for a while.

Thanks for the comments/. I love it down here and have a squillion photos.
(Did you see my post on the G&G thread? Yuk.)

On a whim, I walked from the Apple Store on W14th St. and 8th Avenue and walked home via the Williamsburg Bridge.

About 9.1 miles. Got to see more of Brooklyn... parts of which I have never seen before.

Williamsburg is quite nice.

Holy mackerel, tsar - that's a decent walk for a lad!

Yes, I did, margo. Yuk.

Today, I readily topped myself by walking at least 12+ miles:


I walked from work at W17th and 7th. Left work at 15:35 EST and went to SOHO to see the painting exhibit at the Swiss Institute at Broome and Broadway. Got a little turned around in Soho and may have walked 15 minutes longer in this stage of my sojourn.

After walking around the gallery, I strolled around SOHO for a bit (30 to 40 minutes) then headed down through Chinatown and stumbled upon the Manhattan Bridge.

Myrtle Avenue is quite a culture shock. I never seen so many Hasidic Jews in all my life then in this neighborhood of Brooklyn. I felt like a stranger in a strange land.

Finally walked back home and broke the string of endless weeks without my long footed sojourns home.

This time I had a friend walk with me. Took the short way home (via the 59th St. Bridge) with our eyes toward the sky ... ever vigilant for the possible rain from the completely cloud covered sky.

His walk was slightly shorter then mine as he got off the trip at Queensborough Plaza.

I continued on and stopped at 5 Napkin Burger for an early dinner of a lamb kofta burger and an oddball appetizer of fried pickle and pastrami on a bed of sauerkraut, topped with a spicy mustard sauce. I then proceeded to see the 19:15 showing of Scott Pilgram vs. the World. A highly energetic comic book flick I can't recommend highly enough if you're looking for a laugh and some good old kick-ass fights!

It took me quite some effort to find this thread again. (You've started so many threads, tsar! I had to sort my way through all the threads in your profile.)

Anyway, I've just returned home from a 1 hour & 40 minute walk (I timed it). My first super duper walk in ages! I figured it being spring (though not exactly reflected in the weather) it was time to emerge from my cocoon & start walking again. The fact that I have gained a few pounds over the winter - a bit over my usual size, but not really into the next one .. yet! ... spurred me on to get started again. Do I want to be Ms Flabby Person this summer?: No. Do I want to have to go out & buy a whole new summer wardrobe?: No. Can't afford that, either. So time to start walking again, with vengeance!

As it was so late in the afternoon, there was no point in doing the Sydney Road walk. All the shops (apart from the eateries) would be shutting up for the weekend soon, so not very interesting. So I decided to head north, instead of south, in the direction of my friend, C's place. I wasn't sure if she'd be home from her trip to the country yet (she wasn't) , but that didn't matter. Starting walking again is what did!

So I took a number of meandering shortcuts through the back streets on my way to C's place. A much more "mixed" commercial/industrial/residential area .. one that I wasn't all that familiar with. Auto repair shops, small factories of a number of varieties, sprinkled here & there with rather forlorn looking, down at heel homes. All a bit spooky & weird on a late Sunday afternoon. Not many people about. In fact, it felt quite deserted. Walk faster, Olga!
I thought I was heading in the right direction, but thought I'd better check, so I asked a man, one of the few people I saw in this somewhat depressing setting, for directions. Which way to S Street? Was I heading in the right direction? No? A couple of kilometers back the other way? Streuth! I have the worst sense of direction of anyone I know. If I think I'm heading north (in unknown territory) I've inevitably been heading south. (Is there a proper name for this affliction/"condition"/handicap? I've been this way all my life! )

Anyway, back in the right direction, with no loss of speed. Galloping all the way! On discovering that C was not yet home, I wasted no time in heading off back home. Keeping to familiar roads this time. You wouldn't want to be caught in some mysterious maze with it beginning to get a bit dark, would you? No!

Back home & planning another walk tomorrow morning. Early this time, I think. I'll set my alarm clock. It's school holiday time here & a good, strenuous walk every day would be a terrific thing to do!

So what about the rest of you? Everyone still walking?

Ah, spring!

I am looking forward to a cool crisp autumn to restart my homeward walks from work. Hopefully I will be able to make the cross Brooklyn Bridge journey this walking season!

Whenever I work in Northampton, I take a post-work walk (better written than pronounced) but it is in the small city and nothing special.

Walked home from work two days in a row. No pressure on keeping time or anything.

Today, I wandered around Chelsea for an extra half hour while I listened to the last 30 minutes of my The Girl Who Played With Fire audiobook. When it was finished I walked home the short way over the 59th St. bridge.

It was neat when I started walking up the pedestrian ramp seeing a massive German Shepard in a side car of a motorcycle. The driver was on the exit ramp of the 59th Street bridge and he was waiting for the traffic to move. I swear it was the biggest German Shepard I have seen in my life. Didn't have my cell phone in the ready so I couldn't snap a photo. Feisty big devil he or she was as well. Had to give the driver the thumbs up! Cool pooch!

Hmm, I wonder if that is the cyclist's usual route and time..
I have a soft sport for dogs facing forward in vehicles. I want to go hug them.