Keep on truckin’

Walking isn’t glamorous.  And it certainly isn’t exciting.  Ally seems to like it though.  Me- not so much.  I feel like we are certainly into the boring part of our quest.  We aren’t fresh faced adventurers anymore.  We’ve lost that fire in our bellies.  It’s all about putting one foot in front of the other and just keeping on going, knowing that one day we’ll get there.

I’ve worked out that if we do 31km a week, that’s how we make it.  That’s made it a little easier, working it out weekly, as opposed to daily.  On the days where I work 12 hour shifts, I tend to beat myself up over the fact that I only did 2km in the morning (or sometimes none!).  But this way, it doesn’t matter because even if I don’t do my daily total, I can always make it up on other days when I have more time.

So we’re back on track!  I think SURELY we must be near Rivendell!  Maybe it’s in sight??

Pic via here

Upon studying my notes, I have actually breezed past Rivendell!  It is 732km away from Hobbiton… and I have now walked a grand total of 779km!  So- Elvish dinner at Rivendell coming up :)

Bree to Weathertop

This is the bit in the movie where those scary ghosty things catch up with the gang- because some of the hobbits decide to sit on the top of a hill and cook dinner- basically lighting the way for the ghosty things.

I got there a month or so ago, I didn’t post about it at the time.  It means I have walked 387km.  For dinner, in homage to the movie where they are cooking bacon and sausages, I decided to make one of my faves- pigs in a blanket!  However… they turned out looking more than a little phallic so I took a photo to send to my friend and then I deleted it off my phone, haha!  They tasted great though.

I went and visited my dad in Middle Earth aka New Zealand.  I walked his dog and snapped this picture.  His dog Jack is just a pup and isn’t built for massive walks (PLUS I WAS ON HOLIDAY AND IN LAZY MODE!) so I only ended up doing a short walk with him.

Our next stop is Rivendell and from all my research, it seems like those elves like leafy vegetables.  Gross.  Not looking forward to that meal!

It is now a quarter of the way through the challenge and I am WAY behind!  Winter is well and truly here and by the time I leave for work in the morning, the sun is only just in the sky.  Which means I have been terribly slack in walking my dog.  BUT winter usually means that I start taking up running so that I can exercise and not have to be out for as long.  Instead of 45 minutes to do 4km of walking, it takes 25 minutes.  And running tires Ally out a ton! 

I have become really bored with our usual walks.  And I’ve only been in this area a few months.  I’m trying to find new, fun places to walk.

Walking to Mordor… I made it to Bree!

Well I started this Walking to Mordor challenge.  I sadly relied on Internet intel and thought that if I walked 7km a day for a year, I could make the distance in a year.  When I worked it out for myself, It’s more like 8km.  And I started halfway through January… so basically it’s not going to happen.  But instead of packing it in like I normally would, I am going to keep going.  Considering I have to walk my dog every day anyway, I might as well keep a track of all my kilometres.  We do about 4km every day so I set a new standard of trying to reach Mordor in two years instead.  Sorry Frodo and co, you guys walk too darn fast!

And so I made it to the first stop.  From the Shire to Bree which is 218km.  And because I’m food motivated, I wanted to celebrate each milestone by having a special dinner that is representative of each place.

I FORGOT THAT I HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN TO THE START POINT OF THIS ADVENTURE!!!!  Here is a picture of me at the actual start point… Bilbo Baggins’ house in Hobbiton.



Bree is the town where the hobbits stop in at the pub, The Prancing Pony.  So I decided that a pub meal was in order.  I cooked sausages and mash and washed it down with a ginger ale.  I really should have had a pint of beer to be TRULY authentic but beer is gross.  The sausages were a special pork and apple sausage and were so yum!

(Do mashed potatoes ever look edible in photos??)

I have also decided to start an instagram for this challenge.  Why?  Why not?  It will mainly be selfies of me and my dog.  And maybe some scenery and the animals that we bump into.  WHY SO MANY WATER DRAGONS?!?!?!  So follow walktomordor for all your trekking needs…

Walking to Mordor

I decided on a new New Years Resolution.  I usually have vague ones like “Be Happier” or “Be More Assertive” but I found this one a few days ago and I really love it.

(And yes I know that this gif is from The Hobbit!)

In The Lord of The Rings, the distance from Hobbiton in the Shire to Mordor to drop off that pesky ring is 2683km (or 1779 miles for the others out there).  If you walk about 7km a day, in theory you will walk that distance in a year.  This was all worked out thanks to this site.  It’s old but some of the links are still clickable if you want a look.  I can’t imagine how much work it took to figure this all out, so thank you!

I’m trying to walk my dog more.  She is an active girl and we go for one big walk a day, but I’ve noticed she is much more settled and content on those rare occasions we get to go for two walks.  So I think this will be just the thing to get me out the door for that all important second walk of the day.  I won’t be adding any of my “steps for the day at work” or anything like that, the only kilometres that will be logged are when my Fellowship of Two go out together.

PLUS, because I have to make it even more goal orientated to keep myself interested, every time I reach a major point on the “map”, there will be a food party!  Because I have always identified with those hobbits for a reason after all!  The first stop will be at The Prancing Pony at Bree… in 218km!!  Oh dear, we only did 6km today and Ally and I are a week behind to start with. 

I have tried before to read the Lord of the Rings series but didn’t make it.  And I struggled through The Hobbit which is a KIDS BOOK!  But I feel like I would get a kick out of reading more into it.  And from what I remember, Tolkein loves describing Middle Earth scenery so it’ll be cool.  And since I’m not walking the whole way (just to Mount Doom), it’s ok if it takes me a year to read the first book (and a bit).

And to finish…

Yeah I know, Sean Bean.  But these fools are going to try!

(Terrible selfie taken into the sunlight)

Start As You Mean To Go On

I think that’s excellent advice for the first day of the New Year.  I get so excited and hopeful about new beginnings.  I am one of those people who do that tradition where you fill up a mason jar with nice things that happen to you throughout the year and then you open and reminisce on the last day of the year.

This year was different.  This year I was sick.  I had barely been able to keep my eyes open at work and then when I went home, I ate chips for dinner and then went to bed at 9.  I woke up in 2015 feeling much better for having slept through the night.  But still full of a cold.

But I had plans.  And I got to spend the first day of 2015 with friends and having fun.  Doing the important things.  Illness be damned!

I drove to see my friend Danielle, who lives only about an hour away from me but that is really far away when you are both grown ups and have to schedule hang out times.  We exchanged Christmas presents.  And she got me a One Direction advent calendar (because I will always be a tween at heart) and most importantly, a Doctor Who necklace.  She made me pizza which we ate before heading to the cinema.  Unfortunately the session to see The Hobbit was all sold out but we brought a ticket for the next showing in two hours time.

So we had two hours to kill.  We went to a cafe and on the way bumped into a friend of Danielle’s who I have become friends with thanks to social media.  It was one of those weird things where you meet someone who you have never met but it’s totally cool and you act like you’ve met each other a billion times.  We hugged like old friends and her husband was a bit confused that he had no idea who his wife’s clearly very good friend was.  I explained succinctly “We’re friends from the internet”.

It was a very cool moment because we’ve tried to meet up before but the plans have always fallen through, usually at the last minute.  And as Danielle pointed out, if we had gone to the original session of The Hobbit, we wouldn’t have met her.  So that made the meeting all the sweeter.

Danielle and I went on to the cafe and talked about lots of things and resolutions.  Important things and not important things.  All the sorts of things that you can talk about with best friends.

And then we saw The Hobbit and it was far too emotional.  I keep thinking about it at points during the day and feeling the wind go out of my sails just that little bit.

I drove home far too late and hung out with my dog, who is the best.

An excellent day and I hope to have many more like that this year.