The Joy of 12 Kilometres

 OK, it's only 2 kms more than what I have been doing every Saturday since the beginning of September, but it was amazing....because...

I walked these 12 kms on a Thursday morning. I usually walk 10 kms every Saturday, but I decided to up the ante and do an extra walk mid-week - partly because it was going to rain on the weekend, and partly because I wanted to walk the east half of the David Balfour loop to find out where I had lost the path last Sunday. I also wanted to walk to The Brickworks from another direction. I was hoping the trail would be longer - I was aiming for 15kms. Well, 12kms will have to do.

Unfortunately, the east side of the DB loop was closed, so I had to double back and walk the west side again. Not a problem because it is a real work out - lots of ups and downs on very challenging terrain. The rest of the trail on the east side of Mt. Pleasant is almost too easy!!

Fortunately, the cafe´ at The Brickworks was open and I could get a coffee, a blueberry scone and a much needed rest. I finished my walk up Mud Creek and into work by 11:30am.

When I compare all the ways, I used to travel to work over the years, this one has to be the most unusual. In fact, when I called upstairs to tell my daughter I was heading out for my walk, she said, "But it's Thursday." I said, "It's OK. The city said I could walk on a Thursday." I've got this thing, any day of the week!

 
Other Joys this week were...

1. My book, "On Pilgrimage" by Jennifer Lash arrived. It's another perspective on The Walk.

2. I had to buy a huge bag of Basmati rice at Metro because, I was not going to pay almost $10.00 for 500g of rice, when for $15.00 I could get 4 kilos. In fact when I got to the check out, I had another surprise. The shelf price was wrong. That 4 kilo bag cost me just $9.00. The Joy of a deal!

3. I'm getting closer to buying a lighter backpack. (I have 4 backpacks; they are all either too heavy or too small - sigh!) Luckily, I found a site that rated backpacks. I was close to buying a 35 litre one from Gossamer Gear which weighed a mere 12oz and was called "Murmur." I might have bought it for its name alone, except that it was rated only 5 out of 10 - not sure why. Obviously back to the drawing board. My Joy here was in actually finding a site that rated backpacks!!

4. One of the groups I follow on FB listed a few books to read while travelling. I now have a new list from some of my favourite authors:

Barbara Kingsolver - Demon Copperhead
JR Moehringer - Open (OK Spare too, but I would never read it)
Rosamunde Pilcher - Coming Home - ordered it from the library.

Reading is always a Joy.

5. I walked another 12kms on Saturday. OK I did my usual 10 kms to the Brickworks and back. I also put some extra weight in my backpack to keep the pressure on. I might not have added the extra 2kms later in the day, but I was planning to make Penne a la Vodka for dinner and, you guessed it, I was out of Vodka! I could have just made the sauce without the spirits, (I have eaten spiritless sauces before....hmm) but someone would have noticed. Plus I decided that I needed another book to read, as I was almost finished "On Pilgrimage." The walk to Yonge Eg & back is 2 kms and Demon Copperhead is over 500 pages - how I measure my days.

The picture? The Joy of Mud Creek!

My Joy for the Joy Jar this week has to be the extended walking - love it.

Have an awesome week.