A few weekends ago, I started walking along the canal. At first it was just an excuse to do something other than watch telly on a weekend afternoon. I just walked and thought about things; it was quite nice.

After I walked 10km from Bradford-on-Avon to Avoncliff and back on a whim (okay, okay, I got lost trying to get to Freshford), I realized walking was quite fun and discovered that I didn’t want to stop there.

Unfortunately, a thunderstorm was brewing, so I cut that walk short and vowed to try it again the next weekend.

August 14th: the next weekend had arrived, and this time I had RunKeeper on my side. Let me just say that I’m obsessed with this app, k. The lady announces my stats every 5 minutes and, as Chris pointed out, she kind of sounds like Amy Farrah Fowler.

Here’s the map of my Aug 14 walk from Bradford-on-Avon to Bath along the canal. You wouldn’t believe that such a scenic walk is literally the walk from my house to my work, but it is, and it is even more gorgeous than my photos depict.

This is the view from Bradford-on-Avon (why would anyone leave?!):

It’s gorgeous, right?! Just past Avoncliff, I found myself on the same path as the week previous. The bit between Avoncliff and Limpley Stoke is absolutely my favourite. It’s so calm and secluded that I always manage to get some good thinking in.

I soon arrived at Limpley Stoke, specifically on top of the Dundas Aqueduct. I’ve seen the Avoncliff Aqueduct many times, but this one takes the cake.

Carrying on towards Bath, I started to feel so privileged to live in such a beautiful area. I actually had to resist the urge to take photos of every barge I saw.

Here’s the view en route to Claverton.

It was around this point that I realized it was going to take me another 1.5 hours to get to Bath. When that settled in, my hunger became more and more irritating. My water bottle was almost done and my stomach began to growl. What would I do?!?

Oh right, wild blackberries! I seriously filled up on fresh, ripe blackberries and simultaneously wished I had brought a container to collect some in!

I swear, I actually got a few funny looks for stopping to eat these blackberries. What the heck!

I marched on and finally hit the 2 hour mark where I allowed myself a short sit-down and facebook status update. I had entered a quiet part of the canal that was just on the edge of Bath. There were a lot of farms nearby and I witnessed a bull sharing the river with ducks:

It was so nice here; the sun was getting lower in the sky and making pretty shapes with the landscaping.

It was almost hard to force myself to continue! I pressed on and, before I knew it, I was in Batheaston! It was just as gorgeous as one would expect.

As nice as Batheaston was, I was getting impatient. I had been walking for what seemed like FOREVER and I just wanted to be done with it all. Half an hour more and this view made it all worth my while, though.

As I was so close to my destination at that point, I realized that I had a very short while to up my average speed. I basically speed-walked the rest of the way and couldn’t be bothered to take photos – sorry!

Anyways, I made it: all 196 minutes of it and I enjoyed every second. It’s a lovely walk; I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a nice, long afternoon walk!

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Well, technically it’s been one week and two days, but who’s counting?

I’m proud to announce that I have now stuck with my diet and exercise regime for a week. According to the gym scale, I’ve lost some weight (approx 3-4 pounds). More importantly, I’ve gained some self confidence and determination. Here are some other things I’ve learned:

• I’m better with portion control if I know exactly how many calories are sitting on my plate. It makes me more inclined to stop when I’m full enough and save some for later!
• I push myself harder if there is a random stranger on the cardio machine next to me, particularly if they are givin’er
• I push myself harder if I am angry or stressed
• It’s not being at the gym that sucks, it’s the waking up early and making myself go.
• In the past I’ve used my asthma as too much of an excuse not to exercise.
• My social life is inevitably going to take a beating. If you want to meet me for a drink, ok, but I’m going to shoot vodka!
• About 12 minutes into my cardio workout, the endorphins reach my brain and everything becomes easier.
• I can still have peanut butter every day, just not as much of it.
• I’m doing this so I can be happier with myself and not to impress anybody else.
• Rowing machine near the beginning of my workout isn’t a wise idea yet.
• The cardio machines that face the weights room have the best view
• I’m going to have to have a gym membership forever if I want to stay healthy

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