Walking Shoes - Walking and Other Exercise

[Guest_1055]

Hey to anyone reading this.

Last night I had an idea about starting a new thread about exercise especially walking. I am aware that walking is very beneficial for our mental, emotional and physical well being. And by actually doing it....well it can make a huge difference to how we cope with the storms that we face in life.

OK, I am not real good at disciplining myself to walk, and have to really push myself to do it. And sometimes it is even hard to leave this bedroom. Anyway I am not a beginner walker, as I have stuck to sort of a plan before. So I know that it does make me feel somewhat better. But I only stayed on the plan for a couple of months, then gave up.....for whatever reason. So here I am again wanting desperately to not fail this time.

So I guess this thread is for anyone that does walk, anyone that is struggling to walk because of depression or anxiety issues. And anyone else really......

I am unsure of the outcome of all this. But my ideas included: Sharing about things we have found out about exercise especially about walking. Writing down the reasons that one would chose to walk ( like something to help motivate). Being accountable in same way. Sharing about the places where we actually do walk, like the beach, gym, around the block, with the dog, out to the clothesline and back. And any other useful tips that could help others. So here we go......

[Guest_1055]

Hahaha.. Loved watching Mary Poppins. We saw a live performance of it.

Do you walk to church then Mrs D?

[Guest_1055]

Ah a very Good Morning to anyone reading.

Yesterday I visited an old town. I walked up the main shopping street. Walked into a few op shops that were close together. The salvos being the first one. Noticed a huge collection of dolls sitting on a shelf. They just stood out, because there were so many of them. They were dressed in elegant looking dresses. I was looking for any clothing though that I liked, some kind of basket for our kitty to sleep in. And of course books. I didn't buy anything from that shop or the others.

Earlier I had walked around the shopping centre that was there

[Doolhof]

Hi Shell and All reading,

The Church I attend is almost 20 kilometres from where we live. I went for a walk near home and then went off to Church and work after changing.

Yesterday's walk was along a dirt road, it was extremely windy so I was thankful for a little rain the night before to settled the dirt. In the afternoon we did have a dust storm, so I guess the soil had dried out again.

During the walk, I stopped to watch some lambs frolicking, they are so cute.

Not sure I will have time for a walk today. We are having a Cancer Council Morning Tea at work so I am going to join in with that, do some volunteering and then work.

I'm thinking of going out for a drive on Thursday to a different area for a walk and a picnic lunch. Depends on the weather as to where I go.

Hope you all have a good day.

[Doolhof]

Hi Elizabeth and All,

I like your story about being soaked in the UK. We were in an Asian country out walking and we caught in a tropical down pour. The umbrellas were absolutely useless in such a deluge.

We struggles to find a taxi that would stop for 2 soaked tourists. Eventually one took pity on us and drove us back to our hotel.

Upon entering the foyer, there was a stand with a huge sign asking people to place their wet umbrellas in the plastic bags provided so water did not drip on the floor.

We proceeded to do just that, meanwhile creating pools of water around us as we were literally dripping wet. Our umbrellas were the least of our problems as we squelched across the floor to the lifts. It was such a ridiculous situation I couldn't stop laughing.

Cheers all from Dools

[Guest_1055]

Ah that is funny Mrs D

[Elizabeth CP]

Talking about getting soaked. We were in NZ camping near a lake. We noticed a sign warning that the lake could rise quickly in a storm but we thought we were a decent distance away and it was perfect weather. Half way through the night the rain started. Then I heard other campers getting up & cars driving off. It was still pitch black so I tried to ignore the situation until I gave in and put my hand outside the tent to feel a few inches of water. I then got up took my stuff to the car and sat in the car watching the situation. My daughters were still asleep. As soon as it started getting light I woke them up and passed plastic bags to them to put the bedding in to carry it to the car. We threw the wet tent in without attempting to fold it. We stopped near a shelter for breakfast watching massive waves crashing over the rocks and then headed up a mountain pass. There was so much water coming down the cliffs beside the road it felt like driving through a car wash. We stopped to see a waterfall. We dressed in waterproof clothes and started trying to avoid the puddles but after a while gave up as we were soaked to the skin anyway. The waterfall was incredible due to the volume of water. We stooped at a few other places which were also exciting due to the heavy rain. We were so wet it no longer mattered. On returning to the car after one stop we noticed the car in front stopped by the police. After they left back the way we came the police stopped us to say the bridge ahead was washed away. The alternative route involved going back were we'd come days before 500+km out of our way. We stopped near the lake were we'd camp. The tables and chairs we'd camped near were 50-100m from the waters edge. We ended up staying in a cabin. Every single thing in the car was soaked even things that we hadn't taken outside. The water must have been forced into the boot due to the pressure of the water we drove through. My daughter commented that they at least got a chance at a real west coast adventure. Thankfully the bridge was repaired so we could get through the next day safely!!!

[Guest_1055]

I am out sitting on comfy rock at the very end of breakwater path. My face is cold, just how I like it, from the chilly air out here.. No one else at the end, nice and quite except for the waves breaking on the rocks below me. I am watching them now.....ah yeah just heard a deep roar then whoosh they crash and that white foam water sort of swirls around. The deeper the roar sound the larger the splash. It is more calmer now. The ocean is a greeny gray colour.

About to walk back now....

[Guest_1055]

This afternoon I walked with my sister in that historical town. Such a beautiful town with cobble stone path store fronts.

One of the first things we noticed was masses and masses of yellow/light orange leaves covering the path. You could hardly see the path. The tree.. the one losing them was growing in someone's front yard. Their lawn was covered with the same mass. You could harldly see the grass. Incredible. A few leaves even gentle fluttered down to us. Further on we walked through a pile of crunchy leaves from some other type of tree. We bent down too to smell people's roses. Some with scents some not.

We walked right to the end of this street. Then started hearing bellowing from cows. Then we saw them on a bit of a hill in a paddock. A paddock with an electric fence. We walked around a corner and some kind of water bird with tall skinny legs was casually walking across the road.

Looking across and they were looking at us too. Were 3 alpacas or llamas. We were not sure which. Such unusual looking animals. One had a fringe of light wavy hair. The fringe was long making him look cute and funny...funny as in the way he was trying to see us through his fringe.

After talking with them a while we kept walking. A few dogs were barking at us from their yards. And right at the end of our walk, we sat down on the old bathtub seats and chatted a while. It was night time now..... Then Woof Woof woof! A dog with a deep watchdog bark barked at us. He was in the back of a ute. The ute was driving around the corner. We jumped.

Enjoyed this walk.

[Guest_1055]

Usual breakwall walk today.

[Elizabeth CP]

Today was really heavy rain but my 23mth old grandson wanted to go for a walk so I walked near my son & his youngest sons. Not allowed to walk together in lockdown so I kept at least the legal distance away. Noone else stupid enough to walk!!! We followed the path nr the creek which had turned into a raging torrent. My grandsons merrily splashed through every puddle with their gumboots filling with water. It was impossible to avoid the puddles because they covered the path. We arrived at the spot the kids like to play in the river and we normally cross via some logs. The water poured over the logs in a waterfall. I held the youngest so my son could take a photo of the creek because if my grandson went near the water as he loves to do he could slip in before we could grab him and once in the water the chances of us rescuing him was very low. because the water was too fast. He had plenty of time to splash through puddles so he didn't object to being kept away from the creek. We returned home soaked. I've just had a shower & changed into dry clothes. It was interesting listening to the almost 7 year old talking to his dad asking lots of questions with my son doing his best to answer. He wanted to know about water purification, why do floods occur, How do anesthetics work. That last was very difficult to answer because he wanted the precise details of how they stop the signals to the brain. That was my adventure today