Walking

I walk, a lot. It's something I've always done and it's something almost I rely on. Luckily, I live in a sleepy town called Winchcombe which is famous for its walking routes. I also have a few go-to routes that I came up with myself.

The main reason I love walking—aside from the exercise—is that I do a lot of thinking and general processing of what's going on in my life. As it stands there's a tonne happening, with our new baby due at any moment and some professional turmoil that's taking a bit out of me too. Because I get this time to walk on my own, in the beautiful Cotswolds countryside, I feel I can deal with this stuff a lot better than I have previously in a bustling city environment.

It's not all doom and gloom though. A lot of the ideas that I have happen on these walks. I came up with My Browser because I went for a reasonably “angry” walk after a testing exchange with a client over a tricky bug. When I came home, my mind was buzzing with ideas, rather than negative thoughts.

I also make a lot of life decisions on a walk and there's a lot of that going on right now, so I've found I'm doing much longer walks. I've just got back in after a 4.5 mile slog, but I feel really good. So good, that I decided to write a post.

If you live around Winchcombe, you'll probably spot me during the week, at around lunchtime on one of my walks. Soon though, they won't be solitary walks anymore—but instead—with our second child as I show her my favourite routes from her stroller.