I Would Walk 500 Miles...

Since April, I've been working on a goal from The List that really got me out in the fresh air!

028. Walk at least 3 times a week for 3 months

As I wrote when I first blogged about this goal (over a month after I started, because I did so rather unwittingly), I decided to start my weeks on a Tuesday, as that's how my walks fitted in best.

Some weeks I've managed to walk almost daily; other weeks I've only just squeezed in the required three.
But I did it!

Green = Days Walked

Unfortunately I didn't manage to track all of my walks, so I don't have data on distance, time and calories for all of them.
However, I can safely say that in the past three months, I've walked over 200 miles, burning off a good 12,000 calories!

Though some of my walks have been around residential areas or cities, most of my walking adventures have been out in the beautiful Sussex countryside.
I've seen the tiniest lambs grow larger with each passing week, I've seen wild rabbits, horses, cows, and of course good old alpacas.

Despite all this walking, I've still yet to explore all the local footpaths, and several of my walking plans haven't yet come to fruition. Weather and bad health have got in the way of those, but eventually, I will walk all the places I'd planned to!

But now, I can tick this goal off the list, and put my feet up.

Nothing Makes A Walk Quite Like...

Something I am absolutely blessed with is the area I live in. Okay, so it's a pain in the ass to get anywhere and public transport is non-existent on a Sunday, but what we do have is a lot of public footpaths that meander across the countryside.

And what does the countryside mean? Animals! On a single walk, I can encounter sheep (with lambs!), horses, cows and alpacas! (And a goat, which you can see in the picture above.)

What could be more awesome than an alpaca, you ask?

Free Art and Lots of Walking

Yesterday, I met up in Brighton with my friend, Victoria, and we braved the rain and rumbling skies to See Some Art (and, as it turned out, Do A Lot Of Walking).

First off we headed to Fabrica to see Luminary by Ron Haselden (shown above). The artist works with LED light rope and likes to work from the drawings of people considered 'less visible' in society, such as the elderly, children, and prisoners. Luminary works from the drawings of older people in particular.

Taken from Fabrica's website:

"[The exhibition] combines two ideas in one: literally that the artwork itself emits light, and metaphorically that older people bring important knowledge and a longer perspective to the rest of society."

I'll admit that I had to look up the meaning behind this piece, as it really wasn't obvious to me, and I didn't read the information displayed on the wall (I rarely do when I go to art exhibitions, because I want to see rather than read).

I found it interesting how the different sections of Luminary overlapped when viewed from different angles, but the meaning was pretty much lost on me! (I really struggle with a lot of contemporary art!)


After leaving Fabrica, Victoria and I wandered through the soggy Pavilion Gardens and headed for the University of Brighton Gallery, which we reached just as the storms really started and the rain became torrential!

The current exhibition at the gallery is Turner Prize-winner Gillian Wearing's piece, A Room With Your Views, and is a co-commission between House Festival 2016 and Brighton Festival 2016.

The piece takes the form of a film made from video snapshots of the view from rooms around the world, each one submitted following simple guidelines.

Shown in a house-shaped room built in the gallery itself, visitors can settle down on beanbags to watch the videos of views across the globe (or in the case of a lot of other visitors, stand at the back and hope somebody moves soon!)
I found this work interesting in the way it connects people around the world, and it appealed to my curiosity of what other people look out on from their homes, but I wasn't engaged enough to stand through the whole thing.

The last art that we saw was happened upon by accident after the weather had dried up. We found this 'Street Gallery' on Ann Street, between Ransom's and St Batholemew's Church.

This 'Street Gallery' is currently set up on the boarding around a building site, and showcases a number of surreal images.

Obviously, being in the middle of the street, some of the images have been subject to acts of vandalism. It's bound to happen, but I would have liked to have seen all of the original images!

I don't know anything about these pictures, not even an artist or anything: the only information visible is what you can see in the photos: the image titles, and 'Street Gallery - Open: Anytime - Admission: Free - Owned By The Public'.

A lot of people walked straight past these pictures (maybe the images have been there a while?) which is a shame because of all the art that we saw yesterday, these were the ones I liked the best!

As for the walking, well...

There is definitely a reason I was exhausted after this day out!
I'm counting yesterday as one of my 3 weekly walks, because nearly 19k steps and over 9 miles is significantly more than I usually do, as you can see from the screenshot!

I'll update more about my walks when I have more to tell (it may be a case of, 'Look at these cute animals I saw!')

For more of the museums/galleries/exhibitions I've seen, check out the tag for goal 10!

Walking in the Countryside

Somewhat unwittingly, I started on another goal from The List:

028. Walk at least 3 times a week for 3 months 

Good, right?

You'd think it would be easy enough to simply get up and go for a walk three times each week, but honestly, it wasn't until I had that proverbial carrot dangled under my nose that I started actually doing it.
Said carrot is in the form of Bounts, an app that rewards you with points for selected tracked exercises, reaching 7,000 steps per day, and checking in at a gym. You can trade these points in for Items of Monetary Value, such as shopping vouchers. I like shopping...

In case you're wondering, this is not a sponsored post. I'm just telling you how I got moving!

I'm actually already halfway through completing this goal, because I started at the beginning of April. Thursday 7th, to be exact--but I'm considering the start of each 'week' as a Tuesday.
Mainly because my walks so far fit a Tues-Mon week better than the standard Mon-Sun. I briefly contemplated whether this is cheating, but decided that provided I do at least three walks within each set of seven days, it doesn't matter what day my walking weeks start on.
Besides, my music challenge weeks start on a Friday, so why wouldn't I go against convention?

When I started on this goal, I went out in long sleeves and a coat, and for the most part kept to walking along residential streets and paved footpaths. Which was kind of boring, but I managed to stick at it!

Of course, once we'd had a long enough dry spell, I could get onto the more picturesque, interesting footpaths, and I frequently end up roasting in jeans and a T-shirt!

Honestly, walking at this time of year has helped me to really appreciate the area I live in. I'm really fortunate to have so much countryside more or less on my doorstep. Tree-lined avenues, bluebell-filled woods, fluffy lambs, butterflies, grazing cows, bubbling streams and of course vast blue skies are among the delights I've been able to enjoy so far.

As this goal progresses, I might go further afield and try to walk in more new places. I've already explored some footpaths that I'd not walked before, and there are still many more to go!