Cynwyd, Moel Fferna, Carrog and Corwen

The next chapter of this very intermittent training schedule is from North Wales where we're having a short break that is intended to include some walks. So far I've been quite slothful, reading, eating, gazing at the rain and the like, but today was different. Today was an energetic 14 mile walk up onto, across and down from the minor hills on the south side of the Dee valley above Corwen. I say 'minor' but I managed a respectable distance and a sensible amount of up and down, all at a commendable pace.

I won't bore you with the details - it was just a hillwalk after all, but it nicely complemented the muddy slog through Oxfordshire a couple of weeks ago (or was it more than that?) The greatest pleasure was the variety of walking closely followed by the fact that, once I got out of the village at the foot of the hill I met no-one. The world was mine - I just had hills and sheep as far as the eye could see, with a distant and slightly hazy view of Snowdon. Just for a few hours I owned a few hundred square miles of Wales (but I've given it back now - I don't want my tyres let down).

I really do value the isolation though I don't always use it wisely. I suspect that I should be thinking lofty thoughts but the reality is that, for much of the time, I dwell on trivia or worry about the state of my knees and feet. I think that, over the period of the 2012 walk I did get my mind under control, at least to some extent. How pilgrims manage it I really don't know - perhaps they practice very hard and, perhaps, perform some sort of mental (or physical) flagellation when they catch their thoughts straying.

I now have only about 6 weeks to go before the start of this year's walk and I don't feel at all well prepared. I have begun to worry about the money-raising for Christian Aid which seems to be going terribly slowly. When I get back home next week I must have a blitz on everything and everybody so that I at least leave for Scotland with a decent amount already in hand.

I have now sorted a few pictures from the walk - nothing startling but there's the River Dee at the top, then damaged forestry as I climbed, the remains of mining close to where I lunched (cheese and pickle sandwiches, of course) and, below, the amazingly lush and green Dee valley as I approached Corwen towards the end of the walk. Then another walk was to follow later in the week.

PS. Just before I left home I was told by a gleeful member of our local WI that a line on my website referred to "soaring rates of maternal morality" so, in the dead of night, I inserted the missing 't' and will admit to nothing.