Day 16 - An Eight Mile Sunday Stroll

We've been waiting on the completion of the boardwalk along the Timucuan multi use pathway and today was the day to check it out. 

For this walk we began at Sawpit boat ramp and took a four mile walk to Big Pine Trailhead. Ate our PB&J sandwiches and backtracked to the car for a total of eight miles. 

The boardwalk portion was only 1/2 miles but it gave us a beautiful view of the water. This is where the Nassau Sound dumps into the Atlantic Ocean. The tide was higher than I've ever seen it probably due to Hurricane Matthew that passed by the coast last week. 

After the boardwalk ended the trail was a nice even paved trail that made walking easy. Most of the trail was shaded by big beautiful Oak trees.

We took a side trip at The Bluffs Trailhead and enjoyed a view of the beach. This area is called the boneyard because of the dead and weathered trees that liter the sand. A beautiful sight but not really pretty because it's caused by erosion.

The view of the ocean was spectacular! You can't really tell in the picture below but it's about an eight foot drop down to the beach. Even though it's fenced off because of the erosion people still slide down the small cliff and walk the beach. 

About a third of the trail is in the open sun and boy was it hot! I mean for Pete's sake it's October and the temp is still in the eighties...Will cool weather ever come to Florida?

The walkway ends at Big Pine Trailhead. After lunch we turned around and headed back to the car. This made for an eight mile round trip walk along some of the most beautiful scenery around. 

Location

The Timucuan Multi Use Pathway is located in Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve. The Sawpit boat ramp is on the south end of the George Crady Bridge Fishing Pier State Park on A1A south of Fernandina Beach Florida.

To see my post on the George Crady Bridge Fishing Pier State Park click here.

Analysis of my walk:

Distance      8.0 miles

Duration      2:57:56              

Avg pace     22:15 (min/mile)

Steps           19335

Calories       900

(I burned 900 calories on this walk which I promptly ate at the Mexican restaurant!)

For the month of October I'm going to be writing everyday mostly about walking. I hope I might encourage someone to get outside and take a walk!

Day 11 - An Update on Our Miles Together

So I've been missing in action for the last two days. Sunday, day 9, was clean up day around our home. Hurricane Matthew took out two trees and dropped about twelve thousand sticks and small limbs that had to be gathered up. Maybe a slight exaggeration but it did seem like that many at the time.

A Tree down and part of our fence.
Thankfully Hurricane Matthew didn't cause us too much damage. Others didn't make out as well so we feel fortunate.

And then Monday, Day 10, there's really no excuse for not writing other than I went dress shopping which always causes a great deal of stress for me. Oh, for a personal shopper who would just deliver the perfect mother of the groom dress to my door...

The way my brain works is to either go back and try to make up the days I missed or to just forget the whole Write 31 thing and quit. I've decided to do neither and just start on day 11 and move forward. So here goes...

Miles Together Update

In my first post for Write 31 I wrote about how every year my husband and I set a goal to walk together during the year. (Day 1 - Walking Together) For 2016 our goal is to walk 600 miles. Now it's very important that these miles have to be walked together. We don't count any walking that we do individually because the goal of spending time together is just as important (maybe more important) than the actual walking.

As of Sunday, October 10 we've logged in 542 miles! Yippee! We're way ahead schedule with only 58 miles to go and a little over two months to finish. We can't allow ourselves to become complacent and we hope to finish the year with many more miles than just 600.

How have we gotten to this point?

1. We are committed! We both recognize the importance of this project to both our relationship and our health. 
2. Keep a log. We both use Map My Walk app on our phone to track the miles plus John keeps a log on an Excel file. We can see at a glance where we're at.( Day 3 - My Favorite Walking App)
3. Motivate and encourage one another. There are days when I don't want to go and days he doesn't. As long as we're both not in a funk on the same day we can motivate the other. Keeping an eye on the goal helps to get moving.
4. We try to make it fun. Geocaching is a great activity to get you moving and finding new places. (We're Not Lost We're Geocaching)
5. Make it interesting. We both look for new places to walk. State Parks, the beach, zoo, historic neighborhoods and cemeteries are all interesting and usually free. (An Outdoor Walk Through History)
6. We do a lot of walking while on vacation. In May we went to New York and walked the Great Saunter, an event that takes you 34 miles around the shoreline of Manhattan. (The Great Saunter - A Walk Around Manhattan)
7. We reward ourselves. Our reward is usually travel related but we've been know to burn 500 calories on a walk and then stop for ice cream. Hey everybody needs a treat once in a while!

Whether you have a walking partner or not setting a goal is great motivation. Keep a log, make it fun and interesting and give yourself a reward for a job well done! 

Your body will thank you.

For the month of October I'm going to be writing everyday mostly about walking. I hope I might encourage someone to get outside and take a walk!

Day 1 - Walking Together

Walking Together

Several years ago my husband and I found that busy work schedules, church and extended family obligations and a house full of people left little time for just the two of us. Wanting to not only spend time together but to improve our health we began looking for solutions. The solution presented itself in the form of a song- I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by the Proclaimers. That song encouraged us to set a goal of walking 500 miles together in a year's time.

The key is to walk together.  Just the two of us without any distractions. Time alone that we could spend talking, planning, dreaming. Sometimes hashing out problems but mostly just being together.

It takes time and effort to meet our goal each year and we have to encourage one another to keep going but the rewards are well worth it. We walk most nights and plan weekends and vacations around walking opportunities.The last two years we've upped the miles to 600 and we hope to keep going strong for years to come.

A Five Mile Walk Today

Woke up this morning to cool weather!

When we headed out early with the temp at 73 degrees I felt like I should get my sweater. We live in Florida and have been battling temps in the high 90's most days so 73 felt like a cold front had moved through!

The cool weather didn't last long and by lunch time summer was back in full swing. But that's OK we managed to get in a little over 5 miles on this walk burning 622 calories. Which I promptly ate at lunch!

One of the reasons I love to walk is that you can see things that you'd never see zooming by in a car. It's neat finding little treasures along the route. Today we found quiet a few buildings that were decorated with mosaic designs.

This is just one example...

For the month of October I'm going to be writing everyday mostly about walking. I hope I might encourage someone to get outside and take a walk!

Wednesday Walking - Our First 20 Mile Walk! Baldwin Rail to Trail

I like to walk but last year if anyone told me I'd walk 20 miles in one day I'd have had a good laugh!

But walk 20 miles we did! Whoop-Whoop!

This is all in preparation for our trip to New York next month. We'll be joining about a thousand other folks in  The Great Saunter a 32 mile walk around the shoreline of Manhattan.  

Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail

The Jacksonville-Baldwin Trail runs 14.5 miles between Imeson Road Trailhead and Brandy Branch Road Trailhead. There's several places to stop along the way including the Helsema Road trailhead, Baldwin Station and Camp Milton Historic Preserve.

Our walk started at the Helsema Road Trailhead on the Baldwin Rail to Trail. We walked 12 miles round trip to the Imeson trailhead, back to Helsema and then four miles towards Baldwin Station and four miles back to Helsema.

A total of 20 miles! 

The Baldwin Trail is a nice flat paved over railroad track that runs mostly through farm land.

This little black cow followed us for quite a ways on our walk.

We walked under a tunnel of sorts and there's even trail for horseback riders that runs along the side of the walking trail.

Our First Bike Encounter

There are no cars allowed but walkers and bikes share the trail. And on this walk we had our first run in with a bicyclist. Signs at the trailheads instruct everyone to stay on the right side of the trail. The idea being that faster traffic can pass on the left.
You can hear the bikes coming up behind you and most of the riders call out "passing on the left!" which is great. Unfortunately one woman on a bike didn't see us because the visor of her helmet was obscuring her vision and she plowed into us.
It's weird how things like that seem to go in slow motion. All of a sudden she was there falling to the ground between us.  Thank God she wasn't going very fast! She pretty much missed me but John caught it on the arm and foot. Poor lady she was so embarrassed and apologetic but we were none the worse for wear.
She got back on her bike and we went back to walking. But after that I was a little paranoid and couldn't help but turn around whenever I heard a bike coming up behind us.

A Few Tips For Long Distance Walking

1. Start by walking 1 -3 miles a day on most days.
2. After you're used to walking short distances daily begin adding a longer walk once a week. We did a few 6 miles walks then moved up to an 8 mile then 10, 17 and finally our 20 mile walk. 
3. Stay hydrated! Sweating and drinking plain water tends to wash the minerals out of your body so consider a sports drink. We take Lemon-Lime Gatorade in a 3 liter hydration system that's in John's Deuter backpack. Plus I carry powdered Gatorade and a water bottle as well. 
4. High energy salty snacks are a must. We take a snack mix of dried fruit, salty nuts and pretzels. We also take a few bananas and PBJ sandwiches are nice and portable. 
5. Think about eating a good (not heavy) meal at some point in a long walk. We stopped back at our car after 12 miles and ate the picnic I'd packed. Turkey, ham and cheese sub sandwiches with lettuce, pickles and black olives.  
6. Take frequent rest stops. At the beginning of the walk we stopped for about 10 -15 minutes after each 3 miles. The last three miles I think we stopped for about 5 minutes every mile. 
7. For ladies consider taking something like a P-Style along. We don't have the freedom to pee on a tree like the guys but there are products available that make it possible. Carrying something like the P-Style means you don't have to drop your drawers and squat behind a tree! When it's a two mile walk (that's forty minutes!)  to the nearest bathroom you'll be glad you've got one with you. 
8. For me I need a walking partner. If John wasn't encouraging me along the way I'd have stopped at 12 miles! 
9. Plan on a really good high calorie meal after your walk. Even if weight loss is your goal you need to replenish your body. I burned 2100 calories on this walk. 

You don't have to walk 20 miles but lace up and take a walk today!

Check out Maple Hill for other outdoor posts:

Walking Tips - Set Goals and Keep Track to Stay on Track

Have you ever wanted to get healthy, lose weight, or exercise more but you find the weeks go by and you're still saying the same things over and over?

I used to be like that. I knew I needed to start moving and lose weight in order to be my healthy best. But it was only after I set specific goals and started tracking my progress did I begin to have success. 

One way to set goals is to use the S.M.A.R.T. plan. You may have seen this before. 

I'll show you how my husband and I set our goal of walking 600 miles this year.

S.M.A.R.T.

To achieve a goal it must be specific and you must have a way to measure your progress. The goal should be something that pushes you but you can be successful and attain it. You must pick something that's relevant to your lifestyle and maybe the most important thing is to give yourself a certain amount of time to achieve the goal.

This is how John and I set our goal of walking 600 miles this year.

S = Specific - Instead of saying we need to get more exercise and spend more time together we were very specific. We decided to start walking together and that we'd walk 600 miles over the course of 1 year.  

M = Measurable- We keep very careful record of our walks. OK John takes care of recording the miles.He uses a pedometer app on his phone to measure our walks and a spreadsheet to keep track. If we miss a day we make it up on the weekend or if we really get behind we make it up on vacations. 

Simple Excel spreadsheet to measure progress.
The columns:
Day, Date, Goal for that day, Actual miles we walked that day , Total miles walked, difference
You can see on Oct 10 we are actually ahead 5 miles. Yippie!

A = Attainable- We knew the goal would have to be something that pushed us but also needed to be reasonable. Working long hours, business travel and family obligations make it difficult for us to walk together every night but we felt we could cover around 12 miles a week so 600 miles in a year is a figure we feel we can reach.

R = Relevant - The exercise we chose had to fit in with our life style. Walking does just that. We can walk just about anywhere and anytime, it doesn't require special equipment and it's FREE! 

T = Time bound - We wanted to develop a life long habit so  we set a goal of walking 600 miles together in 1 year. 

Setting a goal for walking and keeping track is working for us. This is our fifth year of  setting a goal of walking together. It really helps to have an accountability partner-someone who will pull you up off the couch and get you going out the door!

I'm just wondering, are you a goal setter or do you just wing it? 

Walking Wednesday - Black Rock Trail, Big Talbot Island State Park, Florida

A stretch of beach in the Big Talbot Island State Park is supposed to be littered with unusual black rocks. Not really rocks but compressed sand and decaying vegetation shaped by the waves to mimic rocks.

Where else to find black rocks than at Black Rock Trail? We parked at trail and headed towards the beach. We could hear the roar of the ocean as we approached and I was looking forward to a nice long stroll by the water.

Unfortunately it was high tide but not only that the trail abruptly ended at a small cliff. Straight down about 5 - 6 feet to the shore. Not a long ways down but far enough.  Getting down wouldn't have been too bad but getting back up would have proven to be difficult. Even if we could have figured out how to shimmy up and down there was no beach to walk on. High tide, made even higher by the full moon the night before.

The shore was eroded away. Only way to the beach was to jump down. 

The water and the waves were powerful and the trees that were laying over in the waves were

strangely beautiful. All due to the ugly face of erosion that is effecting much of the coast line. 

You can really understand the power of the ocean when you see these mighty trees bobbing in the waves. 

Even though we didn't see the black rocks or get to walk along the ocean it was a fun walk. I never get tired of looking at the ocean.


We're experimenting with video and this is our first try. Check it out and let me know what you think!

That was just a quick look at one of the favorite places I walked this week.

Travel Tuesday

31 Days of Walking 2015- An Introduction

If you went to the doctor and he said he was going to write you a prescription that would "combat ageing and premature death, prevent obesity and diabetes, lower the risk of some cancers, relieve depression and anxiety, increase mobility and reduce the risk of hip fractures by 40%" * would you take it?

Unfortunately most prescription drugs can only work on the symptoms and not actually cure the issue or illness. That's where walking comes in. Often taunted as a 'magic pill' walking just 30 minutes a day can help with these things and more.

My husband, John, and I have been serious walkers for the past several years. It started when we challenged one another to walk 500 miles together in a year. We wanted an activity that would offer some exercise that we could do together. Walking seemed to fit the bill and with a little effort we could work it into our busy schedule.

So we started walking together. After dinner most nights and on weekends. Vacations began to focus on places that were walkable and we never, ever park in the closest parking space at the mall!

In keeping with the theme of my blog I'll be writing on favorite places to walk, places we've traveled and where and what we eat along the way. Also a few posts with walking tips like keeping safe while walking and fun things to do. Each Sunday in October I'll share my thoughts on walking with God.

Walking hand and hand with my favorite guy!

I hope you'll pop in during the month and check out some of the posts. Walking is a great way to get some exercise and have fun. Almost anyone can walk so...

Lace up your sneakers and walk in October!

*Walking 30 Minutes a Day is Like a Magic Pill - The Lake Foundation (this article is no longer available)

         See all the posts in this series at 31 Days in October 2015

A Morning Walk - 4 Miles Through Old Ortega

It was actually cool on Sunday morning which was a good thing. We were suppose to get up early to beat the heat and get our walk in but someone overslept. (That would be me.) But it didn't matter because it was only in the seventies! Perfect walking weather.

We decided to go somewhere new and ended up walking in the Old Ortega area of west Jacksonville. We parked near the Chick-Fil-A and started our walk by crossing the Ortega river on the Roosevelt bridge. Then we meandered through the neighborhood crossed back over the river on the Ortega drawbridge. We were able to get in 4 miles of walking!

Drawbridge across the Ortega river

We saw lots of beautiful flowers along the way

A view of the downtown skyline

One of the many cute houses we saw. This one is tiny compared to others but still has charm.

Perfect weather and a beautiful neighborhood to walk. 

Is it an Emergency? (An Inside Joke)

Walking the Wall Around Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

Rothenburg ob der Tauber 

(Rothenburg on the Tauber River)

Rothenburg is a medieval town surrounded by a wonderful, well preserved town wall. The wall is about 2 miles long and you could walk it in less than an hour if it wasn't for the fact you'll be stopping every few minutes to take a picture or peer into back yards. For me the wall walk was the highlight our visit to this town. Well that and the Night Watchman guided walk, the window shopping and the food (especially the dessert). All and all I'd have to put this town on my list of favorites on our trek around Germany and Austria!

Even though it's definitely a tourist town Rothenburg has managed to maintain a small town atmosphere. We took the advice of Rick Steves and stayed  inside the town wall. Once the sun started to set and the tour buses left we almost had the town to ourselves.

One of the many sets of stairs around the town that will take you
 up to the wall

Tall People Beware!

Walking the wall gives you a different perspective of the town.

And gives you the opportunity to peer into backyards...

There are lots of little nooks and crannies along the wall...

and a lot of stairs allowing you to get up and down the wall...

Going up and down the stairs would be a great work out everyday. 

It's free! No entrance fee.

This was a small look at the wall that surrounds Rothenburg. I'll be posting later about the other sights and the food we enjoyed while staying in the lovely medieval town. 

So lace up you sneakers and go explore the world around you!




Linking up with

Walking on Travels - Friday Postcards

Lunch at the Florida Creamery and a Four Mile Walk

Well summer is officially here. Temperature wise at least. 

Because of the heat we walked at the mall yesterday but wanted to get outside today. My only stipulation was SHADE! So we went to Riverside hoping to have some shade and a breeze off the river. 

We walked a couple miles to Avondale and picked up a Geocache behind the Old School Barbershop.

Due to it's location this cache was appropriately called the Mustache Cache Stash and the hidden box contained fake mustaches. The owner requested finders to post a picture of themselves with a mustache so we accommodated...

John brought his own mustache!

Since we were in the shopping area of Avondale we decided to eat lunch at the Fox diner but we got sidetracked along the way. The Florida Creamery caught our eye and we stopped in for a quick bite to eat and a nostalgic trip to Florida in the fifties.

Florida Creamery on St. John's Avenue in Avondale

Old fashion candy and drinks

Just a sample on the Florida wall art

The menu is mostly ice cream. Yum!

Obviously this place focuses on ice-cream but they also serve a Nathan's hot dogs. The only non ice cream food on the menu. That makes ordering easy! We both had a hot dog with slaw and onions and shared a bottle of ginger beer and a bag of chips for ten bucks.

The hot dog was good and the slaw was tasty. Finely chopped like hot dog slaw should be with a hint of celery seeds and pepper. 

 I loved the Reed's Extra Ginger Brew it was not too sweet with a little kick of heat and made of real ingredients!

From the Reed's website:

Extra Ginger Brew

Ingredients: Sparkling Filtered Water (Sweetened by a blend of raw cane sugar, pineapple juice from concentrate and honey), Fresh Ginger Root, Lemon and Lime Juices from concentrate and spices. Non Alcoholic. Free of Preservatives, Caffeine, Gluten & GMO’s.

Just right to quench the thirst on a hot day!

I'd love to sample the ice cream but not today. We have more walking to do!

A few of the sights on our walk through Riverside and Avondale

There's the shade!

Standing guard

Loved this!
LittleFreeLibrary.org
Take a book, leave a book. Too bad I didn't have a book with me...

That was our day. Where did your feet take you this weekend?