Genesis

We are back where it all began - Vic's Big Walk, that is.

We are in Alexandra, Central Otago, South Island, New Zealand. In the summer, very often the hottest place in the country. In the winter, sometimes the coldest.

It was while walking in this area, and particularly on the Otago Central Rail Trail, in 2008, that I had the idea for my epic walk from the French Pyrenees to the North of England.

And here we are, doing the same thing - this morning we walked from Alexandra to Clyde, along the river trail, paused after 16 kms for my breakfast of one date scone, in the Post Office cafe at Clyde, then walked a further 10 kms back to Alexandra along the first section of the Rail Trail which then continues another 150 kms or so to Middlemarch. We have cycled the full length of the trail in previous years.

In 2008 I did not regard myself as a walker, but as a runner recently retired through injury, and suffering from withdrawal symptoms. Since then, I have walked approximately 15,000 kms. So I suppose I am now a walker

The picture, borrowed from the Rail Trail website, is of Muttontown Bridge, which we walked over this morning as we left Clyde. We believe the bridge is sponsored by dentists, who must get a lot of business from cyclists who have ridden over the bridge and had all their fillings shaken loose.

Pole to Pole

After a week in Tasmania, we are back in Oamaru, New Zealand. While we were away, temperatures of over 40 degrees were recorded hereabouts. Now that we are back, we are gnashing our teeth because our favourite walks are blocked off because of logging activities.

Gay took the picture of these 300-metre vertical cliffs, which are on the southern edge of Tasmania. The boat we were in was the only thing between the cliffs and Antarctica, several thousand miles south.

We were accommodated in Hobart, the capital of the state. In Hobart they make much of being at 42 degrees south, as if that is near the pole. By a strange coincidence, our home is at 42 degrees north – that is near the French-Spanish border, which is not generally regarded as being in the Arctic regions.

Walk 6 Miles A Week And Keep Alzheimer's Away

Greetings from Hobart, Tasmania. We have popped over here for a week to meet Gay's sister Dana. Then we are back to New Zealand until the end of March.

This morning I received an e-mailed newsletter fro Go4awalk.com, which is a site you should look at if you are interested in walking.

One of the items in the newsletter is about extensive research, conducted over 20 years at the University of Pittsburgh, which seems to show pretty conclusively that regular walking, or other types of physical activity, will preserve brain volume and keep Alzheimer's at bay.

The complete article from go4awalk.com follows.

It's official - walking is good for your memory



It's official - walking is good for your memory

Researchers working at the University of Pittsburgh have studied 426 elderly individuals over 20 years to see if regular physical activity could preserve brain volume and so reduce the risk of Alzheimer's.

During the course of the study, Dr Cyrus Vance* from the Department of Radiology at the University of Pittsburgh investigated the relationship between physical activity and brain structure in two groups of adults. One of these groups was comprised of healthy adults with an average age of 78. The individuals in the second group were cognitively impaired with an average age of 81. The distance walked by each patient every week was recorded.

Brain volume - which shrinks in late adulthood leading to impaired memory and an increase in the risk of dementia - was measured for each participant using MRI scans. As well as this, each participant undertook a Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) which is used to screen cognitive function. Walking activity was then correlated with brain volume measurements and MMSE scores.

The results were very encouraging - the researchers found that in 300 individuals walking at least 6 miles a week preserved brain volume and reduced risk of Alzheimer's by 50%. Furthermore, in people who already had the disease, the progression of cognitive decline, brain degeneration and memory loss symptoms were reduced by 50% over 10 years.

The researchers have concluded that it is really important that people with Alzheimer's and ageing - but otherwise healthy individuals - engage in physical activity such as walking on a regular basis.

By way of explanation of these results, Dr Raji says there is an important ' mind-body' connection involved in this ....physical activity improves flow of blood to the brain so brain cells have more oxygen and nutrients that help them stay healthy.

In a slightly different study** undertaken by another team also at the University of Pittsburgh, researchers studied a slightly younger (60s) group of healthy individuals. In this study the researchers were also able to show an increase in the hippocampus (the area of the brain associated with memory) and an increase in performance in memory tests associated with regular walking for just 40 minutes a day, 3 days a week.

Given the scale of the problem envisaged as our ageing population grows and therefore the number of people potentially with Alzheimer's increases - it's vital that there is a way of slowing the progression of this cruel disease. These studies appear to show that activities such as walking are a safe, effective ... and economic way of achieving this. And that has to be good news!

* From an interview with Dr Cyrus Raji from the University of Pittsburgh first broadcast on the BBC World Service on 30 November 2010. Study subsequently reported in Radiological Society of North America (2011, January 2).

** Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, January 31 2011

The King's Speech

Just over 6 months ago, on the penultimate day of my big walk from the Pyrenees to Northern England, I walked past my old school, Baines’ Grammar. Of course this provoked many memories.

“Yappy” Yates was the Canadian who took us for PT and Hygiene. On February 6th, 1952, we had just finished a PT lesson. We were all in the changing room at the gym, in various stages of undress, some boys still in the shower. The school secretary, Mr Kirwin, came in and had a quiet word with Yappy (who was of course still dressed, in his white cricket trousers and a white t-shirt – the only t-shirt, at the time, that I had ever seen). They both looked shocked. Mr Kirwin then scurried off to pass the news on to another teacher. Yappy said, “Pay attention, boys. The news has just been announced that King George the Sixth passed away during the night. The King is dead, long live the Queen! You will all now stand to attention, and there will be two minutes silence.” Picture the sight of all these eleven and twelve year old boys, standing stock still, some dressed only in their socks; some still naked and shivering under the showers, which had of course been switched off as a sign of respect; some fully or almost dressed. And Yappy, dressed in the pseudo-athletic kit which he donned to watch others take exercise, rigidly at attention and holding in his stomach. Kings and Queens were still taken very seriously in those days.

The other day Gay and I went to see the film “The King’s Speech”, about the same king and his inability to speak in public. We came out of the cinema amazed at all the hype and the fact that this film has been nominated for numerous Oscars. It is a very average film. In the old days it would have been a “B” movie. In these days it should have gone straight to video. Save your money.

Last night we went to the wonderful small cinema at Akaroa here in New Zealand. The film was “The Ghost Writer”. We hadn’t heard much about this one but it was excellent. Much better than the other one. And the really good news is that Piers Brosnan was shot – something which should have happened when he tried to sing in “Mama Mia”.

It's A Mess

We are getting some good 14 or 15 kms walks in, here in Hokitika on the New Zealand South Island West coast.

Many people think NZ is just off the coast of Australia, and as we gaze out to sea here, Australia is the next stop. But it is roughly the same distance as Manchester to North Africa. Not many in Manchester think they are just off the coast of Tunisia, do they?

And what mayhem is going on over there, weather-wise? Not to mention that on the other side of this island, Christchurch is still rocking with the earthquakes which started on September 4th last year - about 4,000 of them so far. NZ is a land of many earthquakes but until that date, Christchurch thought it was immune. The north of NZ has just had a weekend of flooding, caused by torrential rains and "king tides". The northern hemisphere seems to have been buried under snow for much of the past few months. What is going on?

Exterminate!

We are now well-established in New Zealand, where, apart from a one-week trip to Tasmania, we shall be until the end of March.

On Friday we had our first cycle ride for about 18 months. While I was training for the big walk the cycles were surplus to requirements because, with several hours a day on foot, there didn’t seem to be much energy or time left for the bikes.

At over 30 kms, some of it quite hilly and half of it against a strong wind, the ride was a bit of an eye-opener.

As was this morning’s waterfall walk at Hanmer Springs. This takes about 3 hours, out and back, and rises from 340 metres to 800 metres, on pretty nadgery tracks. Our legs were fair wobbling on the way back. Last year, at about this same time, we did the waterfall walk every day for a week. I suppose that shows how fit we were then.

This is a land with no natural mammals, except for one type of bat. Of course since man, especially European man, came to stay, he has stocked the country with all sorts of domestic, farming, and predatory creatures. Most people associate New Zealand with sheep, but the animal which always catches our eye is the wapiti or American elk, which is farmed in large numbers here. Of course there are plenty of cows, a growing number of llamas and alpacas, but never before this week have we seen American bison. We haven’t even seen them in the US, where Buffalo Bill and his like reduced them from herds of multi-million animals to near extinction.

Unfortunately we didn’t get a picture of the bison because they were on the far side of a field, but we did get this snapshot of Dr Who’s Tardis and one of his Dalek arch-enemies, in Oxford.

Of course the Daleks and Buffalo Bill have battle-cry in common – “Exterminate!”

Step Change In Stepping Out

We are in transit, our annual migration to Down Under. We drove up through France and stayed overnight with Pam and Bob, who we met through VBW. The next evening, before boarding our ferry at Ouistreham, we had dinner with Dale and Thérèse, who we also met because of the walk.

We have made a few visits in UK, including a couple of days in Ambleside with my eldest daughter Karen and her husband Kenny - they live in Saudi Arabia so we have not seen them for months. Tomorrow morning we fly with Singapore Airlines and the above lovely ladies to Singapore on the way to New Zealand. In Singapore we shall exchange the current European temperatures of just above freezing for roughly 30 degrees and v.v. humid. By Sunday we shall be in Christchurch, where they are still experiencing big aftershocks from the recent earthquakes. All part of life's rich pattern, as Beryl Reid used to say.

Walking has been a bit limited lately by colds, bad backs, snow and ice, and travelling. We expect a step change in activity levels, very soon.