The halfway point! My aim was to complete the first 500 miles by the time we fly to Norway on the 1st July, and I managed to get there with over two weeks to spare.
Hitting the halfway point is a fairly obvious time to reflect on how I’ve found the challenge over the last six months, and I think it’s fair to say that so far I have no complaints.
Some aspects of the challenge haven’t been anything out of the ordinary – Sam and I have always enjoyed walking and our weekends for the past few years have generally been taken up with long walks, so that’s nothing new to us, but it’s the shorter walks in the evenings that are proving more challenging.
Although we’re both well ahead of target, I’m conscious of how much more difficult it will be to keep ahead of the curve as the year progresses, so it’s really important to us to notch up as many as possible in the next couple of months while the light is so good.
I quite often find that once I’m home from work and have eaten I really don’t want to strap on my boots and head out the door – but I suppose it wouldn’t be a challenge if it were all easy! Once I’m outside though, I never regret being there, and many of the evening walks have actually been the most interesting.
Just some of the things that we’ve spotted over the last month of evening walking: a barn owl hunting in the fields along the Downs Link, the goslings growing up rapidly, a kingfisher flitting amongst the dragonflies, deer quietly grazing in the fields behind the house, and (my favourite) two otters playing in the Adur.
Goslings prove to be much easier to photograph than otters…
We’ve also enjoyed watching spring turn into summer, and have been making the most of the brilliant weather we’ve been having.
It’s possible that setting out on a long walk in 30 degree heat wasn’t the best idea we’ve ever had, so what better way to cool down than with some homemade whinberry ice cream?
This was made using the last bag of whinberries in the freezer, left over from last year’s pickings – now there’s room to add more in a few weeks time!
Foraging is something that I absolutely love to do – I enjoy stumbling across something growing wild and being able to take it home to make something tasty, all the while covering off more miles. This year we’ve branched out from our usual fruit, nuts, and berries and have recently made elderflower cordial (followed very quickly by elderflower sorbet – can anybody tell we’ve bought a new ice cream maker?!). Mmm.
I must admit that I’m a bit clueless about all of the hundreds of other wild plants that I could be enjoying, so I’ve just bought myself this book to educate myself and I can’t wait to try it out!
The #walk1000miles challenge is definitely encouraging my foraging, but it has led us to neglect our garden quite significantly. Never ones to do things by halves, Sam and I have also taken up vegetable gardening this year having never grown anything before. Although we really haven’t had quite as much time to dedicate to it as we’d like, so far we’ve been fairly disaster free and are enjoying the early crops of courgettes, as well as the never-ending salad leaves and herbs.
The first ‘Burgess Vine’ squash has appeared, quickly followed by several more
The ‘Golden California Wonder’ pepper has started to set (one) fruit
After a slow start, the aubergine is now so big that I had to remove it from the greenhouse to get a decent photo
I haven’t forgotten about the rest of my New Year’s Resolutions either, although many of them link into other quite nicely – I doubt we’d have made our new ‘food’ of elderflower cordial had we not spotted the flowers while walking one evening for example. Sam’s in charge of this month’s ‘special’ weekend so I’m waiting to see what he has planned (I’m betting on it involving my walking boots…).
I love how much time I’m spending outdoors and it has been lovely to discover new places, both close to home and further afield. This half of the year has flown by, and I’m thoroughly enjoying myself – here’s to the next six!
The extra hour of light in the evening is definitely helping, as is the beautiful weather we’ve had over the last couple of weeks. I’ve always loved this time of year; there’s something so special about watching plants that have lain dormant for months suddenly spring to life, and in many ways this really feels like the actual beginning of the year.
The light levels seemed really odd, and the camera has made my photos very dark and gloomy although it didn’t seem particularly dull when we were out (I am reminded at this point about a saying about a workman and his tools..!). As a result, I don’t have a great selection to choose from, although in all honesty I didn’t take a huge amount, being content to wander and simply take in the scenery.
The noise soon disappeared as we dropped onto the other side of the hill and joined the Monarch’s Way back towards Bramber, leaving us to walk across the downland and enjoy the sound of two larks high above.
In other exciting garden news, the first shoot of rhubarb has emerged which I’m thrilled about. I wasn’t 100% sure that I’d planted the crown the right way up, and I’d forgotten to mark where I’d put it, so it’s somewhat of a relief that a) it’s the right way up, and b) it’s roughly where I thought it was!
Inspired by the turn in the weather, I may have got a little carried away online with my seed purchasing. I bought from 
