It’s not that often that I get to walk with friends from outside of the Ramblers group. Between working hours, days and our independent lives, our schedules don’t always align for convenience.
But it was great to be able to being 2019 on a walk with two friends I hadn’t walked with since the end of September. Furthermore, we would be travelling down to Exmoor for the day.
I like to think that a great proportion of the British public are already aware that the infamous toll charges for crossing the River Severn in to Wales have now been scrapped. Where a car would’ve recently had to pay £5.60 for the privilege of a day’s walk in the Brecon Beacons, we can all now make that journey without that added expense.
On the day before this significant event, I drove up to South Gloucestershire for a familiar walk along the Severn Way and above the active toll booths for one final time.
One of my final walks of 2018 concerned an overdue return to the Black Mountains of South Wales. With the tolls for both of the Severn Bridge crossings having been scrapped earlier in December, there was less of an excuse not to travel towards the Brecon Beacons.
I drove to Bristol and met up with my friend Dave, who I’m be car-sharing and walking with.
I’ve been saying this all year but, I had no intention of walking the full one-thousand miles this year. My aim was purely to walk as often as would seem reasonable and to see, out of curiosity, how many miles I could cover within an average year.
Well, that hunger probably took over – aided by several months of unemployment, lots of free time and the ambition to complete my first National Trail. I have many good memories from 2018 and I look forward to walking my way through 2019…
Again, I won’t be setting out to reach any target but I’ll probably complete this challenge for a third successive year!
I thought I would spend some time looking towards outdoors-related events I have coming up for this year and share it all with you in this post.
I don’t do too many walks in the eastern half of Somerset. It’s really not that far from home but, each time I do head out that way, I either come home having lost something or find myself frustrated by a flurry of footpath obstructions.
Having just purchased a book at the time, titled Beyond Bristol Walks, I decided to head out and follow one of Robin Tetlow’s routes.
Following on from a recent post in which I shared with you seven of my hiking mistakes, I’m now going to reveal some of my personal successes that have made this year a memorable. Even though it’s not quite over yet and there is still time for more.
