Plan B

Now I no sooner mention the words ‘walking’ and ‘Hadrian’s Wall’ and the old left peg starts bleating and moaning – the ache below my knee I’m translating as ‘you’re absolutely stark raving mad if you think you’re going to drag me any further than about 8 miles a day – if you’re lucky’. And having done some research and then slept on it, and then seen the comments from my kind readers, I thought that actually, no, maybe I don’t have to ‘achieve’ something like that – maybe there’s something else, and yes, a plan is already hatching.

The problem with Hadrian’s Wall isn’t that it’s nastily hilly in some places (I am genetically incompatible with inclines), or that it’s not dog-friendly, or even that it’s so crowded you have to take your ticket from a deli counter ticket dispenser to get on in the first place (yes, I made that up but you get my drift), no, the problem is that, deep down, I just don’t think it’s me.

The Greeks had a little phrase – Know thyself – and after four decades I’m finally getting the hang of it. And knowing me as I do, I don’t honestly think I’d enjoy day after day of walking on my own, and I’m really not confident I’d cope physically. Another thing, as wonderful as the landscape is, I’m still not sure it’s enough, as for something that amounts to a personal challenge, I really feel I need another dimension, an extra ingredient that gives me a bit more purpose, that inspires and drives me on, that, in essence, taps into an existing passion – and then it came to me.

This is something that I can do in stages, over months or even years, it’s dog-friendly and A can join me on it when he fancies, it’s something that, critically, takes me way beyond a walk for the sake of it. And it still measures up to ‘achievement’ status…well, in my book in does. So, what is it? Answers on a postcard…