Walking

If I’d plotted it on a map - and Google does that for me - we took a big loop around the east of the Isle of Wight today. It started with a bus to Newport at 12:30am - following a nice quiet morning. We stopped for coffee. PY was looking for a branch of Peacocks that was shown on the map but, in reality, didn’t exist.  Then we took a bus out to Merstone to pick up the Red Squirrel trail where we left it a few weeks ago. This would be a, slightly longer, section to Sandown.  

In the end, my tracker told me I’d walked 6.2 miles.  It was a beautiful walk and not too wet underfoot which meant it was a lovely afternoon walking along the disused railway line, watching the wildlife.  Part way along, we stopped at the Pedallers Cafe where we had tea and scones before completing the rest of the journey into Sandown.  

I haven’t been feeling myself for the last week or so. I think a lot of it was to do with the discomfort in my shoulder and my inability to sleep through the night due to the pain.  Being out in the open for the day - enjoying the countryside and having no deadline - was a great tonic and I must recommend it to myself.

There was a very strange thing at the end of the trail.  A man was stood, just hidden, by the bushes before the path breaks into the open of Sandown’s residential area.  As we headed towards him, he approach and said, “My name’s Joseph and today is judgment day”.  It was very unnerving. I was tensed as I thought it might try to attack in someway. But that’s all he said. And we walked on feeling a bit strange until we emerged into an area where there were more people.

We picked up some extra items to go with dinner at Sainsbury’s before working out where the 3 departed so we could compete the loop back to Ryde.  Dinner was another fake-kebab. This time we used fish.  The aim was a fish-taco kind of thing. I am not sure worked.