Comments on: Two Difficult Things by December

By: The 2013 Welsh Revival in Cwmbran, Wales: A Personal Report | Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 15:57:54 +0000

[…] rather than walk on the Via Francigena, the ancient pilgrim route from Canterbury to Rome (though I will be walking 71 miles on the Tuscany portion in […]

By: Anita Mathias

Anita Mathias — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 20:06:00 +0000

In reply to Jo Inglis. Thanks, Jo. I too am hoping it will be synergistic, but at the moment, am afraid the 5 mile daily hikes are cutting into my writing time. That's why I want to run--to do it more rapidly!

By: Anita Mathias

Anita Mathias — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 20:05:00 +0000

In reply to LA.

Do you have Rambler’s Clubs like we do here? Then you could combine hiking with meeting interesting people.
Or perhaps consider a walking holiday with Alternative Travel Group, Oxford which are organizing my September pilgrimage. They have lovely, strenuous walking holidays throughout historic or naturally beautiful regions of Europe which take 6 months of training. I am hoping to join them in April 2014, and will let you know which one. Perhaps you could come to–and you’d have a goal to train to?

By: LA

LA — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 12:33:00 +0000

Habit is such a good thing. Go Anita!! In my youth, 20 mile hikes in the mountains of Colorado and swimming laps was a staple of my diet…and I never considered it exercise. It was a hobby. Now that I’m all flabby around the edges, I kept trying to find time to “exercise” between work and hobbies. Then a friend from my youth reminded me that I never ever exercised back then, I just had a few relatively athletic “hobbies”…ah, a slight word change, but an oh, so important one. My friend said to me “why don’t you just rekindle your interest in your more athletic hobbies?” Indeed! That sounds more fun than “exercise”! And I am doing it!

By: Jo Inglis

Jo Inglis — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 23:27:00 +0000

Fantastic news about the book Anita, am sure the diet & exercise will help with that. Like Penelope nothing can inspire me to run – except being late for a train!

By: Anita Mathias

Anita Mathias — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 21:39:00 +0000

In reply to Penelope Swithinbank. Thank you, Penelope. Your challenge to come with you to Tuscany has immensely changed my life. I am so grateful--though I do realize I am going to need a mini-miracle to get fit by early September. Am planning to spend a week in the Swiss Alps in late July and hike as much as I can. (So/oh, help me God!)

By: Penelope Swithinbank

Penelope Swithinbank — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 21:18:00 +0000

GO ANITA! I love the freshness and enthusiasm (IN GOD, en theo) of this; not least because I am so thrilled you are coming to Italy with us! You are inspiring me to keep walking (SO much easier now it is not so freezingly, achingly bitter and cold) but I don’t think even you can inspire me to run!