Jan-u-a-ry

Earworms

That’s the problem with this month. At least in the UK it is typically unremittingly grey, cold and dreary, it contains the day which is apparently the most depressing of any year (the third Monday in the month). If that weren’t already enough, it’s the title of an earworm song.

“January” by Scottish band Pilot is – so they say – named after a girl, not a month, but they released it at the very beginning of January 1975, so it cannot help being connected forever. If you haven’t heard it be very careful – one YouTube and it will stick in your head for hours, even days.

It has been plaguing my head as I get back into my stride – literally – with this month’s strolling. Mile after mile, Jan-u-a-ry, Jan-u-a-ry…

Lucky cold

If earworms weren’t enough I have also been knocked back by a classic winter cold, one of the reasons why I have been silent on here for so many days. I count myself lucky, all the same, because family and friends have this month been hit by a much nastier viral thing, not flu exactly, but just as debilitating.

Ramping up slowly

Despite all that I have started to escalate my walking activities, adding roughly an extra mile to each day’s little jaunts, and throwing in an 8-10 mile circuit each week so far. This is partly to move up a gear in overall activity, and partly to experiment with different combinations of socks and footwear. An unfortunate mismatch – right shoes, very wrong socks - about four weeks ago left me with a tender spot which is only slowly recovering. You live and learn.

Theoretical planning

In the background I got on with booking the accommodation locations for my planned big trek across England and Wales later this year. For some places it is critical to do this now, as there are very few options for accommodation at all in some of the villages along the way: I did not want to be adding long diversions to the route just to find a bed for the night. I’m indebted to the main reservation sites – booking.com, laterooms.com and expedia.co.uk – for allowing me to take these steps without so far spending any money, and to Google and Tripadvisor for helping me pick the best where there are options.

With the locations fixed, I went back to my electronic large-scale mapping and reworked the entire 240-mile route in detail. The third iteration of that task gives a good insight into exactly what the journey will look like.

Now all I have to do is get on and walk it!