It's a year since I abandoned my attempt at Couch to 5k after falling over and spraining my wrist, and decided to go for walks before work instead. I haven't been for a walk every day since then: some days I've chosen to start work early so I can take time for a swim later on; a few times last summer I went for early swims at Port Meadow instead; there have been a few days when it has just been too wet; and for some of Michaelmas Term I was in the office a couple of days a week, and although I parked in Summertown and walked from there, commute-walking isn't the same as walk-walking. I have, however, tracked more than 200 walks in Runkeeper; last year I clocked up just over 500 miles and this year I've already done almost 250 in three and a half months.

There aren't a lot of options for 3-4 mile walks starting from my front door. Down the canal towpath to the nature reserve and back. Up the canal towpath to the Jolly Boatman, through the woods to Thrupp and back along the towpath. Across the fields or along the cycle path to Begbroke, along the bridleway and back via Yarnton; across the fields or along the cycle path to Begbroke, up to the top of the hill and back the way I didn't come; across the fields or along the cycle path to Begbroke, up to the top of the hill and down the other way and back via Yarnton (that is one of my favourites, and is the one where you can just see Oxford, but it's actually four and a half miles so needs a bit of extra time). Through the streets to the church and back via the fields and the canal towpath (you can go either side of the fields, and with a bit of extra time you can go across the meadows and through the woods instead); through the streets to the church and down to the river (though that's my least favourite, as you have to go back through the streets which tend to be getting busier by then, so I've only tended to do that one when it's meant I was walking towards a stunning sunrise rather than having my back to it). I must have done each of these dozens of times in the last twelve months, and yet I haven't got bored, because there's always something new to see.



I've learnt the lay of my few square miles of countryside in a way I never thought I would. I've been surprised to realise just how few walks there are where I can't see the church spire at all, or the Forest Hill transmitter. I've found the one spot where you can see the spires of the city centre, which I haven't seen from closer to since last March. I've watched the seasons move through a full cycle; I've learnt to recognise far more plants and trees than I could before, and I've seen wildlife both expected (deer, muntjacs, hares, skylarks, red kites) and unexpected (otters!). I've taken a lot of photos, and I think I've got much better at it.