Lessons Learned #1

1. Sitting around in the sun all day (Fruitstock 2006) is exceptionally tiring ... Why is that?
   
   
2. I really should try & find myself a job where the Jimmy Choo people phone me up and ask for my shoe and dress size .... Just check out the "Classic Boots" and "Classic Shoes pages ... Sigh. (Note to Catster here) The best I manage is a free bottle of ropey red wine when I do the work Friday lunch order at the local Indian restaurant...
   
   
3. I'm never going out walking without a proper map and my compass again. The internet is great, but you can't trust the walk instructions some people post on some sites. For example
   
   

   "At the path junction go straight ahead and then take the left fork through a gate and along a wooded path"

   This should really have read
   
   

   "at the junction between the National trust Trail and the Greensand Way, take the National Trust path going right and then immediately left downhill along the sandy path of the Greensand Way. Keep heading straight ahead (first going downhill and then up and back down again) over four more path junctions until (after approx 1.5km) you come to a fork in the path. Take the left fork through a large gate and continue uphill along a wooded path ..."

   Little hints like "uphill" "downhill", "left" & "right" (left and right are no good of course if people don’t know which is which…) seem alien to some walk contributors ... Some seem more intent on describing a configuration of trees, plants/public signage as landmarks, whose noted configuration could quite possibly change, in the way that a slope upwards, or whole forest off to the right is unlikely to ... Why can’t they keep it simple rather than doing instructions that sound like they have more place in a dungeons and dragons game?
   
   Suffice it to say that that walk was not the most successful because I realised too late that it fell off the edge of my OS map ... Never go out without a map and compass! Consequently getting frustrated with bad instructions and having to keep retracing steps was my own fault for not having had the relevant map to refer to...
   
   As I say, lessons learned...