Hi! I’m Georgie and I’m one of the team responsible for your aching legs and impressive step counts in the NHS Lanarkshire Walking Challenge.
As we reach the half-way point of the event, I’m reflecting on what a ride these past few weeks have been.
And I mean that literally, as I gave my first bike ride of the challenge a go and saw my steps shoot up. A weekend away in the Forest of Bowland was just what the doctor ordered to shrug off the lock-down blues. As I cycled and hiked my way through the mini-break I felt the endorphins rushing into action to clear my head and blow off the cobwebs.
My daily walks so far on my mission to 10,000 steps have taken me to an Alpaca farm, a brewery, my favourite ice cream van and of course to Morrisons on my almost daily ritual that sees me clocking up steps in the name of a nice pastry treat in the middle of it.
In an attempt to spice things up (lockdown’s been hard on us all…) I’ve taken to bringing my long-suffering cat on walks with me, too. I’ve got six, three-week-old kittens in the house at the moment thanks to a few timely meetings with a pregnant stray cat on several of my other walks, and much to my own cat’s displeasure. So she likes to get out of the house as much as me.
If anyone else fancies taking their cat for a walk, please send photos. Or for the more traditional among you, if you’ve been enjoying walking the dog lately, let us know how you’re getting on out there too.
I hope the next three weeks bring plenty more active animal-related outings, café-restaurant-pub-and-brewery-trips, supermarket- and school- runs and missions to collect tasty treats for you all.
Keep the steps coming and let us know how you’re getting on over on Twitter or Facebook with #NHSWalkingChallenge, or drop me a line at Georgie.Stuart@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk.
