Hello and happy Monday! This week, before I get to my normal recap of last month, I thought I would do an update on my progress for the CBWC, and will be posting my normal recap later this week instead. As you may know, every April and October, Elisabeth invites us to join her in walking (or moving) at least 10 minutes every day of the month. She also kindly compiles and summarizes everyone's walks each week! Since 2024, I have happily participated in all of the October versions, but am hit and miss on April! You can find my posts about them here: October 2024, April 2025, October 2025.
This year I was happy that my JMT hike coincided with the challenge, as I knew that this meant the first half of the month would be easy to complete. However, I will admit that on some of the other days, especially the rainy, windy or cold ones, it was sometimes hard to get motivated. Of course, as always, I am happy once I go, but the getting out can sometimes be a challenge! Let's see where these walks took me!
Week 1 & 2: October 1 - 14
For the first couple of weeks of the month, I was hiking the JMT in the Sierra Nevada, and annoying Donatello by taking about 1.78 million photos per day. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but seriously, I think all in all I took about 4,000 photos over the 13 days we were on trail. That's over 300 per day! What will I do with all of them? Well, I will probably make you look at them from time to time... here are 9 of the 4,000.
Week 3: October 15-21
For the next week, I was still in the Sierra Nevada, but at a bit lower elevation. I went to my parents' house, said hi (and bye) to Cristof, packed up my stuff, and got ready to get on the road again. My daily walk or run was generally in my "regular" loop near their house. A couple of the walks even involved Broski (not pictured), and on one walk, Broski and I saw a naked man (not pictured, story to be told in next post)! I also found lots of happy faces! Don't laugh at the beer photo; I did walk to the grocery store to buy it!
Week 4: October 22-28
I spent some time with the girls (K, A & L), walked the dog a few times, and then headed to the UK, where I had some excellent walks through towns, near the ocean and along the river paths. First stop, Belfast. Lots of history here, plus I went to the Giants Causeway, which I guess is in Game of Thrones. I have never seen GOT, but the causeway reminded me a lot of the Devil's Postpile in California!
Bonus pics: Devil's Postpile vs Giant's Causeway
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| Devil's Postpile |
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| Giant's Causeway |
Week 5 (short but sweet!): October 29-31
I took a ship (and no, it was not a submarine, nor was it yellow) across the water to Liverpool, where I found four tall lads! Also, little did I know but there were two important matches on while I was there! Both Liverpool FC and Everton advanced to the quarter finals of the Carabao cup, so the city was packed with fans in both blue and red! Luckily I bought my lodging about three months ago! There was plenty to walk around and see though, plus I went running along the riverfront.
All in all, it was another successful walking month! Here are some final stats.
Total steps: 677,164
Average per day: 21,844
Day with < 10 minutes of movement: 0 🥳
# of runs: 4
Dog walks: 3
Days walked with friends: 15/31
Places walked: CA (multiple), MA (airport), Northern Ireland, England
Where did you walk in October? Did this year's rambles bring you to any new places ?
I love your photos, especially the happy faces you found! You walked in some amazing places, and 21,844 average steps per day is phenomenal! I just rambled around the ranch and on my treadmill. Nothing new, but I still enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michelle! I was excited by the happy faces too! In fact, I liked it so much I made one of my own! Rambling around the ranch sounds fun to me! Are you still able to walk around there, or is it getting snowy and cold now?
DeleteWell you know I LOVED this post. What an inspiration. And all the best on your next adventures. I know regardless of a walking challenge or not, you put on some serious miles every month. Happy travels <3
ReplyDeleteThanks Elisabeth! It is still nice to have a bit of a push sometimes, especially when the weather starts to get cooler and wetter! I love the chance to get out and about!
DeleteGreat photos, you got some great walks in. I walked in the streets where people escaping slavery were racing to get to freedom in Canada, as well as with some Cool Bloggers, also with Nance at her lake house, and at Niagara Falls. Then lots of boring walks around my neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteFascinating! I walked streets where slaves were brought from Africa in order to be shipped off to the Americas, so we basically had a link, albeit a sad one! You had a great month though, full of visits! I am so glad you had such a nice vacation, saw some wonderful people and such lovely colors too!
DeleteOh, I love this. The Sierra Nevada is so, so beautiful. This world we live in really is amazing, with too many wonderful places to be able to see all of them. I'm glad I have posts like these to give me a little peak. What a change of scenery for you from wilderness to UK cities.
ReplyDeleteThanks Melissa! Yes, it is a big change in scenery to go from the mountains to the old cities! Also the weather is a lot different too! However, there is beauty in everything. That is one thing I love about photos is that if you are intentional you can find the coolest things!
DeleteI have never completed the CBWC. I came close last year when I was off work on short term disability after the fire incident but I still missed a few days. You'd think fitting 10 min of walking in would be a cinch but it's not for me for some reason... but so it goes. Life is weird right now with demands at work, with kids, etc. I'm burning the candle at both ends.
ReplyDeleteMy direct report is a HUGE Liverpool fan! I saw him this summer when I was in Chicago for a work offsite. Liverpool was playing an exhibition game in Chicago and he saw 2 players at the restaurant where we had HH. He got so excited and yelled one of the guys names. I was like "what is going on?" because I had no idea who these people were. He was so so pumped about it which was very endearing to see.
I would not know a player if I saw one! Last year I was staying near Manchester near a town called Prestbury which apparently has a lot of famous players. I went there and walked around but who knows if I saw anyone famous or not! This is not UK specific; I may be a little better in the US, but still not that great, as in I still would probably not recognize them! I am sorry that you did not get a chance to complete the CWBC, but you are doing really well at Orange Theory, so your movement is just a little bit different, which is fine!!! Also, October is maybe just a busy travel month for you in general?
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