A Sampler Walk

Time to go back

6 November 2025

Apart from a couple of visits to the supermarket and a walk from the church to the cemetery at a recent funeral, I have not walked anywhere for three weeks. On my last visit to Glasgow 5 weeks ago, I was hobbling along shouting "Wait for me" like Dustin Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy, as I walked with friends from the bus station to the theatre. 

It was November and raining, the skies were a darker shade of grey; I needed to escape from the house. Hills were out of the question, so I drove to the nearest forest and walked on what I remembered as a relatively flat trail. I was soon climbing a small rise that I had never noticed before, and the narrow path that crossed two gurgling burns had some steep bits. I checked my watch, I had walked a kilometre, time to turn round and limp back. Job done, the exercise was thankfully over; only five weeks before the new hip arrives.