My Old Boots
Hey! I’m back. I know, it’s been a while. I have no excuse, I just couldn’t find (make) time to step away from this crazy place I call my desk and breathe some proper fresh Scottish air – with my boots on.
I even bought myself new boots six weeks ago after my old ones finally requested retirement due to ill health. No amount of hints to Sports Direct about sponsoring my new pair would get me my replacements so I took my pennies off to the shop and bought some. It was an emotional moment. Hell, my old ones had become my buddies. We have walked well over 550 miles together. Seen sun, sea, sand (lots), rain and snow! Jumped rivers together. Climbed a mountain. I am still thinking of ways to preserve them forever. I can’t simply throw them away. Yet here I am with a new pair and so still no motivation to walk. Then at the back end of last week a wee shout goes out across a friends network here in Glenlivet. Anyone fancy a walk? Me, me, me. And so the date was set. Morinsh Wood here we come. Continue reading
I drive around these roads all the time but it’s only when you get from behind the wheel and put on your boots do you really “see” how lucky we are to be surrounded by such beautiful scenery in Speyside.
Ok I confess I am not one for organised activities. By that I mean hoards of people, random people, strangers, corralled into taking part in something. Anything. But way back we often talked of doing the Six Harbour Walks as a training day but never made it. Weather. Diaries. Opposing preferences. “How far?” Each played a part and so the Sahara Trek came and went and we never did it. So here we are, back in the UK climate and missing walking with good company, by the sea. And then the Six Harbour Walks made a timely appearance. Time to pull on my big girl pants and face my nemesis. The organised walk! 
And we’re off. Garmouth to Covesea and we opted for a car at each end. I start to think about the bits of the Moray Coast Trail I have completed and realise – I have only got as far as Spey Bay. I did walk to Spey Bay from Fochabers (and back) last spring. I had only just begun my training. It was an unseasonably hot evening and a relatively short time window. The result was a very sore back from a new airflow frame daysack and a pace which resulted in my boots giving me 
This Easter sees me finally handover my fundraising to two charities. I will have raised in excess of £4000 including Gift Aid, with over £2500 going to Moray Women’sAid and the rest to WaterAid. After a year of walking well over a million boot steps, that is over 500 miles, and taking myself well out of my comfort zone by agreeing to walk some of those steps in the Sahara, that challenge is done!