Fog in the park

This year has been a bit of a one for weather, hasn’t it? And it keeps on coming.  The latest instalment was a bit of a pea-souper, or fog if you’ve no idea what I mean, and it made yesterday’s walk to work through Greenwich Park just a little bit more tranquil, and mysterious, than normal.  So much so that I couldn’t help but pause, just for a moment and capture it with my trusty iPhone. 

Somehow the fog makes the trees look more delicate, and more beautiful than they would against the usual morning sky, don’t you think?

As my route took me through the park I was curious to see how the fog had enveloped it, hugging it’s contours and softening the distant views. 

But, even so, it’s still not what I’d call cold, and that’s something I’ll happily take, but just so you know weather, colder isn’t needed, and nor is any more of your extremes, if that’s ok... 

Walking comfortably on my commute

It's funny how sometimes life can throw up happy coincidences isn't it?  That happened for me towards the end of last year.  A friend got in touch to ask if I could help out one of my old teams as they were short. Now it's been a while since I played Korfball (or Netball to be honest) and my fitness levels are lower than they once were, but for once this wasn't uppermost in my mind. My first thought was if I had any trainers I could wear, and then I caught myself as not only was it ridiculous that I was considering playing (see fitness levels admission above), but of course I would have trainers, wouldn't I?

It turns out I did, my old much-used netball trainers had made way after almost walking themselves to the bin, but I still had my very underused running trainers, I was sure. Somewhere.  But then that happy coincidence happened as Vionic shoes and offered me a pair of trainers to review, or sneakers as they call them on their site.

You'll remember that MOH picked them up from the Post Office for me before Christmas, and took some convincing that there were trainers in the box as it was so light. And it's true, they are light - even lighter than my underused running shoes, but they're comfortable and I love how they don't look like trainers, as while these are from the active range I'd earmarked them for use on my walking commute.

IT WAS PURE COINCIDENCE THAT I MANAGED TO MATCH MY VIONIC TRAINERS TO MY OUTFIT

I chose the Sierra active trainers, in Navy. It seems the Navy is no longer available but there are black (charcoal), a white and black, a dark purple pink and pink to choose from. I liked the detail when I saw them on the website, and in real life I liked it just as much.

I'M NOT APOLOGISING FOR THE MUD - IT'S MUDDY OUT THERE AND I'VE BEEN MAKING GOOD USE OF THESE!

Vionic shoes have been designed with technology to support our natural alignment to reduce discomfort, and this, they say makes them a good choice for people who suffer from plantar fasciitis (heel pain) or those looking for extra support as it improves posture and reduces pain in the knees, back and neck. 

Many netballers will know the knee pain that playing a sport they love can bring - I do too - and that's why with an almost half-hour walk each way, I'm keen to have good shoes for that. It really does make a difference.  I've found these extremely comfortable and apart from the day that it really chucked it down (when I opted for boots - not wellies, although they would also have been a good choice) I've worn these every day I've been back at work, and at weekends too.  The colour and design helps, I'm not usually a trainers at the weekend kind of girl, unless there's sport involved.

I DO LIKE THE 'KNIT EFFECT' DETAIL

Walking though is one of the easiest forms of exercise, since I've been walking to work - and around the offices - I regularly clock up over 10,000 steps each day, which as apparently we spend "up to 60% of our waking hours in a sedentary state" I'm pleased to be able to make a small change.  

I've noticed a difference too, not immediately of course, but over time. I'm walking more quickly, getting less out of breath walking back up the hill, but it's when I'm cycling that I notice the difference the most. And while I still don't fly up the hills (sadly) my leg strength is much increased, and I get further up the hills before I need to stop for a break!

What I'm finding myself doing now is challenging myself further, we've all done that "race" against others haven't we? You know, where you choose a person in front of you and walk to catch them up - of course they don't know, so no whooping as you reach them please, they'd rightly give you a strange look.  I've done that, tell me you have too, but it's not much fun when they don't know is it?

I realised today that another way to stretch myself is to lengthen my stride. It's amazing how stretching out a little bit uses other muscles, and so that's my challenge for the next few weeks or so and it'll be interesting to see what improvements that brings. 

I've seen a few Nordic walkers out in Greenwich Park, sticks and all - I'm not about to join them - but I can see the advantages of combining it with an upper body workout.  My handbag acts as part of that, but mostly that's just a workout for my left shoulder...

TRAINERS TOP 

AND BOTTOM

And if you're stuck trying to work out how to get 10,000 steps into your day, remember:

• it burns around 400 calories, more the faster you go
• It's approximately 5 miles and
• generally it only takes around 10 minutes to walk a 1000 steps, and you don't need to do the 10,000 steps in one go.

What tips do you have to get to your 10,000 steps a day?

* This is a collaborative post and I received these shoes for the purposes of this review. All views and opinions are my own.

A walk around Burnham Beeches

A couple of weeks ago we were booked in for lunch at Brasserie Blanc and anticipating a good lunch we prepared with a walk around Burnham Beeches in Buckinghamshire. It's somewhere I'd heard of but not been before and it was a great prelude to a large lunch. We ate well at Brasserie Blanc - another first visit - and having a walk beforehand was a good move as we really weren't up for much afterwards.

It's a space that covers 540 acres and is around 25 miles for London. It was bought by the City of London Corporation in 1880 to protect it as a public open space and wildlife reserve. Can you just imagine what it would have become if that hadn't have happened?

It's thought there has been woodland here since the last ice age, but the landscape today was created by people and there's evidence that the area was inhabited as early as the Iron Age. Today there's a mix of ancient woodland, wood pasture, coppice, ponds and streams, grassland, mire and heathland.

As well as gnarly looking trees to admire, I also remembered to look up.  Beautiful.

It's popular too, with 585,000 visits a year; people come to walk, cycle, picnic, enjoy nature or just walk the dog - and if you were local why wouldn't you do this on a regular basis.

The heather was just about still out for our visit and it was a welcome sight amongst the greens and browns of the trees. Although they were trying their best to vie for our attention. I mean, just look. 

It wasn't long before we looped down to the pond, how calm and yet energising does it look?

Then we headed back towards the car and onto the delights that Raymond Blanc's team had to offer us. A walk around the Beeches set us up for a great start to our day.