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ladyofastolatThree years ago, I made some posts about a project I was starting: to walk every single official Right of Way on the Isle of Wight (footpaths and bridlepaths). I haven't mentioned it here for over two years (yes, let's be honest: I haven't mentioned much of anything) but I was still working at it in the background, as and when lockdowns and winter squelch allows.
I have now finished! Three years and two months since I started, I have now walked every single official Right of Way on the island, barring those that are still shown on the map but have actually fallen into the sea, or (in one case) been under water since 1954. (Why is that one still on the map?) I'd have finished it a little earlier without lockdowns, I expect, but would still probably have paused it every winter, when I prefer to walk high chalk downlands or paved cycle paths.
It's certainly brought me to some lovely new places, ones which I will try to incorporate into my repertoire of walks. After every walk I shaded in every path I'd done on my OS map, but it only occurred to me very near the end that I should have used different colours, to distinguish between lovely paths I wanted to walk again, and Never Again! paths.
It's hard work. I don't plan the route ahead, but print out the OS map of the broad area and spend a lot of my walk poring over it while on the move, trying to work out the best way to negotiate the complex spiderweb of intersecting paths without TOO much doubling back and without leaving stray orphan paths in the middle of nowhere, which have to be returned to at great effort later. It produces confusing walks that look like this, and prompt "are you lost?" questions from farmers and slow ramblers as I pass them for the fourth time from a different direction each time. ("WHY?" they sometimes say, when I explain what I'm doing.)
It's also sometimes quite stressful, when a path leads into a field of bullocks, a thicket of brambles, a building site or a swamp, or goes right across a busy golf course or even through someone's back garden, and I have to follow it come what may. I hate being where I shouldn't, so find it very stressful when I lose a path.
So it will be relief to be able to walk in straight lines, and if a path looks stressful, just change the walk to avoid it. It will be a relief to be able to spend the day walking an old favourite walk without thinking, "I should really be walking new paths somewhere else." And today, with hot weather and a day off, it's a relief to be able to do NO WALK AT ALL and actually have a day off at home - my first in weeks.
I have now finished! Three years and two months since I started, I have now walked every single official Right of Way on the island, barring those that are still shown on the map but have actually fallen into the sea, or (in one case) been under water since 1954. (Why is that one still on the map?) I'd have finished it a little earlier without lockdowns, I expect, but would still probably have paused it every winter, when I prefer to walk high chalk downlands or paved cycle paths.
It's certainly brought me to some lovely new places, ones which I will try to incorporate into my repertoire of walks. After every walk I shaded in every path I'd done on my OS map, but it only occurred to me very near the end that I should have used different colours, to distinguish between lovely paths I wanted to walk again, and Never Again! paths.
It's hard work. I don't plan the route ahead, but print out the OS map of the broad area and spend a lot of my walk poring over it while on the move, trying to work out the best way to negotiate the complex spiderweb of intersecting paths without TOO much doubling back and without leaving stray orphan paths in the middle of nowhere, which have to be returned to at great effort later. It produces confusing walks that look like this, and prompt "are you lost?" questions from farmers and slow ramblers as I pass them for the fourth time from a different direction each time. ("WHY?" they sometimes say, when I explain what I'm doing.)
It's also sometimes quite stressful, when a path leads into a field of bullocks, a thicket of brambles, a building site or a swamp, or goes right across a busy golf course or even through someone's back garden, and I have to follow it come what may. I hate being where I shouldn't, so find it very stressful when I lose a path.
So it will be relief to be able to walk in straight lines, and if a path looks stressful, just change the walk to avoid it. It will be a relief to be able to spend the day walking an old favourite walk without thinking, "I should really be walking new paths somewhere else." And today, with hot weather and a day off, it's a relief to be able to do NO WALK AT ALL and actually have a day off at home - my first in weeks.
