One Year From Now ...

... I will have completed the first 30 kms of VBW, which will be the walk from Puivert to Mirepoix. This is a path I have followed many times, albeit in reverse. After Mirepoix, I will be in uncharted territory, where my feet have never trod.

15th May, 2010, is the scheduled start date. By this time of day I will have finished the day's walking. I hope the weather will be very much better than it is today. When I set out today from Lavelanet the temperature was 8 degrees Centigrade.

The first 14 of today's 22 kms are on the Voie Verte, the old railway line. I boarded the ghost train at Lavelanet station, and exited onto the road just before Chalabre. When I walk this same line from the other end, starting in Mirepoix, I can reach Chalabre (21 kms)without seeing a single person and rarely see more than two. It is usually a different story from Lavelanet. This end of the line passes close to many more habitations and I normally see several sets of dog-walkers and even one or two who can manage a walk without having something on a leash. Today was different. I had been on my own for 10 kms before I saw a solitary jogger, and that was the only person I saw before I reached home (barring some I saw whizzing past in cars or trucks). Is the recession affecting people's ability or willingness to walk?

I arrived home much quicker than I have done when walking this same route before. I must have been really pushing myself along, possibly in an unconscious desire to keep warm, although the last time was during the winter when it was even colder. It did make me realise that I normally do these long walks without a pause or a rest. I don't know whether that is a good or a bad thing, but I like to get the kilometres out of the way so I can live a normal life for the rest of the day. For instance, at the moment I am struggling with our French tax returns, which have to be submitted by the 29th of this month. Not forgetting the second set of forms, which are due on June 15th. I suppose I shall have to do them all a bit earlier next year.