Blockley circular, 6.4 miles

I'd been looking forward to this walk. Having not been walking all week, my legs were itching for some action and the weather forecast looked somewhat promising, with sunshine in the morning and scattered heavy showers in the afternoon. I woke early and after a while the sun was blazing into my room, filling me with pleasure and anticipation.

Unfortunately, as soon as we left the car just after 10am, the rain started and didn't really relent for the first three miles. We started with a long descent into the village, skirting it slightly and heading for a long ascent up a muddy wooded track to a plateau, then another long downhill to stop for coffee while the rain abated. A few more ups and downs and another torrential rain shower, we climbed a great long hill up and found a sheltered spot out of the wind to enjoy a spot of lunch and an experiment in time-lapse photography, taking fifteen shots of the clouds and rain moving across the landscape over fifteen minutes. The end result wasn't great and could have done with being longer and having frames taken every ten or fifteen seconds, but it's a limitation of the camera unfortunately.

During lunch we had three or four long-tailed tits and a blue tit join us on a nearby bush. I've never seen long-tails so close but here they were, flitting rapidly from branch to branch, stopping occasionally to check us out but only very briefly.

It was lovely, really, apart from the persistent rain and the cold, vicious wind towards the end. The scenery, the hills, the wildlife, the occasional massive views all give this walk promise for a much brighter day. The going was heavily muddy and hard work underfoot, making the 6.4 miles total seem like much further. The whole walk consisted of ups and downs, fields and grass, mud and marsh. Everywhere, even the tops of hills, was sodden and sticky and squelchy. If we get much more rain, there'll be floods - fortunately the forecast is reasonably good.

I'd quite like to get out for another walk to two this week. I may be busy for much of the end of the week, so I'll perhaps try to take advantage of the evenings in the early week and get out there for a few miles and a little head-space.

Snowshill, Stanway, Stanton circular, 8 miles

Before this walk had even begun, we were lucky enough to spot a buzzard in a field not far from the car. We passed it, stopped, reversed and it flew off, only to circle round and pose on a post in front of the car. We approached it slowly and it looked right into the car and only took to the wing when we were three or four metres away. None of us had ever seen one so close-up before and I was struck by how colourful it seemed close-up. Obviously, when in flight they're generally seen against a bright sky which contrasts their feathers heavily, but my goodness he was pretty, his eyes were bright and true and his beak curved and strong.

We parked in the free car park at Snowshill which is, by no small statement, one of the most beautiful villages I've ever been through. Striking Cotswold stone, no street signs or lamps, traditional house-name plates, well-kept gardens and a gorgeous church on a hill in the square in the middle of the village surrounded by houses. I'll be going back there again. Very soon after we left the village we were greeted by a very gregarious tit - marsh or willow we couldn't say - but it sat in a bush and jabbered sweet whistles until we carried on. A robin treated us to a similar display a few minutes later.

Much of the first two kilometres was steadily uphill, reaching a walk peak of 300m before heading down through Lidcombe and Longpark woods on a stony track cut into the hillside, past a hydraulic ram making wonderful rhythms and pumping bright, sparkling freshwater over stones tinged turquoise-blue with natural copper. I took one such stone for my collection. The amount of water running off this hillside surprised me, but in retrospect we'd had a fair amount of rain over the preceding few weeks.

Along the road to Stanway with its stunning Manor House and interesting wall sections in the graveyard. Follow the contours with slight ups and downs all the way to Stanton and through the village which, I think, was nice but unremarkable as I can't really remember too much about it. Here began a steady climb from 105m to 200m, then a brief rest, then a long, steep, non-stop slogging climb up to 300m and the settlement at the top for lunch. This was the longest and most challenging hill I've done since the cliff walk last summer and I hope to do many more like it this year. I only questioned my sanity once during the ascent which, compared to the cliff walk, isn't anywhere near enough for me to consider it "hard".

We extended this walk north a kilometre then east and south and east back to the car park. The final section was another long-down followed by a long-up although less challenging than the earlier climb. All in all, a bloody brilliant walk with hardly any flat and a good, humming buzz to carry into the week.

Buckingham to Marsh Gibbon linear, 9 miles

Stunning walk, this. I always enjoy it. Especially when it's to my friend's little boy's birthday party. The route is varied, although this time it was tragically muddy in places, so much so I was often dragging my feet along for the weight of the loam clumping on my boots. Blazing sunshine mixed with gentle showers and wind. Towards the end a red kite was kind enough to jump from the ground into the breeze not thirty metres away and offer its wings for a couple of good shots with the zoom.

A week of walking

My walking year seems to have kicked off in reasonably good style. I've done a couple of walks here and there during 2011 before this week, one with my folks and a few shorter ones with Tess. This past week, I did 26.2 miles in four walks over six days. I'm very, very pleased with myself.

I've been so utterly rubbish at updating my walking log, so I've been through my Facebook status updates and picked out walks I've mentioned. I think there's one or two missing, and the average weekly mileage is quite low because of the shorter winter days and things like Christmas and holidays and house moves getting in the way of regular walking. However, I'm pleased to finally get this updated and get my mileage count relatively up-to-date.

I also regularly walk 1km to work and 1km back again, probably seven to ten kilometres a week. I love this little walk, it's simple, uphill in the afternoon, I get to listen to two or three songs on my phone and it's a good way of winding-down after work. As the weather improves I'll be increasing this to nine or ten kilometres a week.

I'm determined to lose all my body fat this year. By October, I'll not have a gut. Mark my words. I've not really got one now, but I'm aware there's some fat on my belly and above my hips and I want to shift it. I've got no means of weighing myself any more - my brother took his Wii back and Wii Fit was how I tracked my weight loss last year - so my target is to shift my fat and see what's underneath. If I manage to get a flat stomach, I'll start doing stomach exercises to increase my muscle a little, get my weight to a more reasonable level because I know fundamentally I'm a bit skinny under all this belly.

So, to the walks.

Shalstone, Wood Green, Dadford, Stowe, Chackmore, Buckingham linear, 7.7 miles, 3.5mph
A post-work walk, the aim was to get as many miles under my belt and get home before it got dark. I got in at exactly 6pm and there was still a glimmer of light blue from the sunset as I approached the flat. It was lovely out, beautifully sunny after a few weeks of almost complete grey, not windy generally but quite cold. I saw a large fallen branch from the recent winds and noted that some of the buds had started to split and furry little leaf edges were apparent. I pulled off a twig of sprouting buds and it's currently on the windowsill at home in a glass of water, starting to sprout. So, Feb 8, Sophie's birthday, the first signs of trees leafing in 2010.

The Astons and Upper Heyford circular, 7.2 miles, 2.8mph
A very windy day, my first flowered flowers of 2011 in the form of snowdrops. A nice walk along the canal and rivers near the Upper Heyford disused air force base, spoiled only by a howling wind.

Buckingham, Chackmore, Radclive, Gawcott, Buckingham circular, 6.1 miles, 3.7mph
Another post-work walk, battery ran out on my phone so no music, just dark getting to ind est

Buckingham, Akeley, Foscote, Maids Moreton circular, 5.2 miles, 3.7mph
My staple walk, a good one to get my walking year underway. This was my first solo walk in 2011 and my first solo walk since about October I believe.

Oakridge in the Frome Valley near Stroud and Cirencester, 1.5 miles
An exploratory walk with Tess because the area looked good on the map. Man, it was hilly! Wonderful countryside, up and down all along the valley with the river following the vallet floor. I'm definitely coming back here for walking one day, it's purely gorgeous.

Thames Source walk, 2.5 miles
A fantastic walk to the source of the Thames from a bridge just outside the village of Kemble. Walking there and back along the river gives you a real sense of what's to come. Tess and I followed the river all the way out to the sea, and paddled in both the source and the sea. This was a fantastic adventure and one I'd repeat in an instant, possibly programming-in more walks along the way.

Buckingham, Maids Moreton, Foscote, Akeley circular, 5.1 miles
Tess and I did my staple route in the crisp sunshine. The long downhill field from Akeley towards Maids Moreton was perhaps the muddiest I've ever seen it and we were caked when we stopped for a rest at the bottom.

Blenheim Palace circular, 7.5 miles
A lovely, very windy walk with my parents. The grounds of Blenheim Palace itself are spectacular, much like Stowe Landscape Gardens but on a bigger scale. Next time I'd like an opportunity to wander up to the Palace itself, as from afar it looks intriguing but a little underwhemling.

Long Compton circular, 9 miles
Big, hilly walk into dusk with my folks. I think it included a section of the hills I did with Tracey early last year. This one was a cracker!

Glyme Valley circular, 7.8 miles
A lovely walk up, down and along a valley, visiting the source of the river Glyme along the way. This walk was the inspiration for the Thames Source-to-Sea adventure Tess and I did in January.

Whiteleaf Hill circular, 7 miles
Spectacular views from two points on this one, and a few brilliant hills. Loved it.

Whychwood circular, 9 miles
This was a gorgeous autumnal walk, proper deep autumn colours with leaves everywhere and still some greenery. Plenty of fungi too.

‎Adstock, Steeple Claydon, Hillesden, Lenborough and Buckingham linear, 8.75 miles at a steady 3mph, Walking for Wellbeing client catch-up walk
A beautiful day, it was completely dark by the time we got in, but what an orange moon!

Shalstone, Wood Green, Dadford, Stowe, Chackmore, Maids Moreton, Buckingham linear, 10.4 miles, 3.4mph
A big one to round off a summer of long walks. I fully intend on getting these kinds of miles under my belt once the days get a little longer.

Now, I wonder if I can keep this updated with my walks from now on...?