Side Note: Woods and Whales

Life has been really busy lately. I haven't been doing much walking though and I'm missing it like crazy. I have, however, been reading about walking: Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods.



The book describes the author's walk along the Appalachian Trail in the US. The trail extends approximately 3500km (wow!) from Georgia to Maine. I love Bryson's books; like his others, this one is light and amusing reading, but also full on interesting information and insights. Highly recommended.

While I'm unlikely to ever tackle something as ambitious as the AT I have been wanting to do an overnight or multi-day hike for some time now. I got great news this week... a chance to join a group doing the Whale Trail next year. Several of my friends have done the trail and they all had a fabulous time so it's top of my list of must-do walks. I'm so lucky. Yippee, can't wait!

The Whale Trail is a five-day hike, 55km long, through De Hoop Nature Reserve. We won't see whales in March (they are along the coast June to December) but we will be walking through lovely fynbos and along a spectacular stretch of coastline. It will be summer, so we're sure to be doing lots of swimming too.

I need to train. In the next few months I'm going to try to walk a bit longer and harder and more often than I've been doing recently. I want to get a bit fitter and hopefully drop the kilogram or two (or five) I put on over winter. I've got four months til the hike. I can do it.
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