The Great Outdoors

At lunchtime today I braced the bitter cold wind and took a 1.6 mile walk up into the estate parkland.

I've not had a chance to take a proper walk this week as it's been so busy in the office so it was liberating to escape to the great outdoors and clear my head.

I took a few photographs of the beautiful black swans on the way past the Great Water and captured them calling each other on video. Their cute hooting call is the most adorable sound and it just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. See my video here: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153089181627363

I've become so fond of these beautiful birds and love watching them in such an idyllic setting. I am so pleased I'll be able to drive a short 10 mins from my home office to visit them once I finish my contract here at Leeds Castle at the end of next week.

I checked out my stats on Runkeeper and discovered that I'd walked 17.2 miles across 8 walks, averaging 40 minute activities in January. I burned 1,640 calories and a total elevation of 1,241ft in 11 hours 40 minutes.

I am determined to keep up my walks throughout the year and hope to get some more longer walks in too. There has to be some benefits to freelancing working and I will not fall in the trap of being shut in my office for days on end as I made the mistake of doing in the past.

The weather forecast is high winds and sleet for the next couple of days in Kent so I'm not sure if I'll be braving the great outdoors or not...watch this space!