100 miles more
Valerie Alsford, Winslow WI, ‘As soon as I heard about the challenge and read up about the walks suggested I wanted to get started. I had completed the BFWI End to End walk in 2005 and remembered how circumstances got in the way of planned walking days; how right I was, none of us could have predicted the havoc wrought by Covid-19. I aimed to include walks done with the local ramblers if over 3 miles and if close to the recommended routes. During October and November 2019 I completed 33 miles, touching on Walk 16 the Chilterns, Walk 23 Stoke Hammond and Walk 6a Mentmore. Other walks included - beside the River Ouse at Stony Stratford, along the canal from Cosgrove to Wolverton, around Furzton Lakes and close to the little airfield at Hinton-in-the-Hedges. The next 48 miles took in only two recommended walks: Walk 14 Waddesdon Manor, Walk 22 Thornborough, Nash and Singleborough. I circuited Stowe Gardens and drove to Aston Clinton to walk through Buckland Wharf and Halton. North again took me to Whittlebury and Silverstone alongside another private airfield. During February and March prior to lockdown I completed Haddenham, Tattenhoe Park, Milton Keynes, Swanbourne, Hillesden via Padbury Brook and Little Linford, MK along the canal and beside small lakes. Milton Keynes provides ideal walks for wintertime when one may benefit from the network of red ways which link green areas within the city. Even here one can be challenged by flooded paths and fallen trees which happened to our party on 14 March with dramatic photos of ramblers clinging to branches and up to their knees in mud. The next 12 walks were undertaken during lockdown; we rarely met any other walker or repeated a whole walk, sometimes doing them in reverse, averaging 20 miles per week but walking kept us sane. There were other bonuses too, like charting the progress of spring in the farming year, time to notice leaves growing, blossom flowering, birds singing, deer at play and observe the East-West rail progress. By mid May I had completed my 100 miles (143 to be exact). Thanks to this 100 Mile Challenge I have emerged from lockdown fitter in mind and body, and that wasn’t the original purpose of the challenge was it?’
