The second of our training hikes together, the first being along half of the Malvern Hills.

So this was a route I’d planned – the intention was to go through Bradgate Park, over Old John, then through the woods to Woodhouse Eaves, from there up and around Beacon Hill, before returning to Bradgate Park via Swithland Wood. It went without a single hitch, if one can count a half mile detour as “without a single hitch”. I confess I wasn’t paying proper attention to my map reading, and, having never been up Beacon Hill, mistook the similarly sized Broombriggs Hill for the same. It was a worthwhile diversion, once I’d realised the error, as it added half a mile or so to our route and gave us some much needed practise at walking up hills.

It’s fair to say that the day hasn’t been without pain though. Last night I made the ridiculous decision to ram the little toe of my right foot into the leg of my sofa while walking around in bare feet. This morning I found I was only capable of a slow limp. Luckily the pain subsided into a dull ache for most of the walk, and was in any case supplanted by the usual aches and pains of walking reasonable distances while being chronically unfit.

 

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