Although it’s pretty rare that I listen to the radio or any kind of music when out on the hills, having something to occupy my brain on my early morning walks into town and back is essential. Not only does a good podcast or radio show drown out the traffic and make the time go a bit faster, but it gives me a chance to catch up on the news and reviews I may have missed. Now that I’ve upgraded my phone to a Blackberry Bold (wooohooo) I’ve lost the FM radio that came with my previous mobile (boo) but I’m catching up with an even wider range of podcasts which is a GOOD THING. Here are ten of my current favourites:

1. Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo’s Film Reviews – Radio 5

Unmissable weekly film review from the good Doctor and Mr Mayo. I’m not much of a film goer but I haven’t missed a episode of this in 2 years and it’s a treat I look forward to every Friday.

2. Collings and Herrin Podcast

This is a brilliant but quite extraordinarily rude weekly show by journalist Andrew Collins and comedian Richard Herring. If you think swearing is funny (which I do) then this round up of UK news and celeb gossip is a must.

3. Pods and Blogs – Radio 5

“The week’s news as seen by bloggers, podcasters and citizen journalists” says the website and I couldn’t have put it better myself.

4. Excess Baggage – Radio 4

Travel show – perfect listening on a grim Yorkshire morning.

5. Ramblings with Clare Balding – Radio 4

Different walks around the UK – much more interesting than I’m making it sound here.

6. Speechification

Not a podcast as such but a collection of Radio 4 shows on mp3 – some absolute gems including comedies and documentaries.

7. Stephen Fry’s Podgrams

Too few and too far between but a wonderful treat

8. 606 Football Phone-in – Radio 5

Especially when the incomparable Danny Baker is in the chair.

9. The Outdoors Station

Excellent podcasts about backpacking, hiking etc in the UK. Bob Cartwright is a legend!

10. Countryfile

Informative podcast about the UK countryside and the happenings within it.

I’d be very interested in hearing your recommendations

After a hair raising few hours (due to a lack of technical ability on my part) I’ve managed to upgrade this blog from Wordpress.com to Wordpress 2.7 – and I’m really pleased with the results. I particularly wanted to use this theme (Frozenage) as I absolutely adore the winter and walking in snow is one of my most favourite things to do in the whole world. Hope you like it!

OK, back to business. I’ve had quite a few comments/emails regarding the walking for 2 hours a day thing. Consensus seems to be it’s a great thing to aim for but a little over-ambitious and, well, frankly extreme. As I mentioned before I’m lucky enough to work from home so I can fit in a long but very early morning walk without panicking about showering and catching the train into the city. However, even if I have to get up at 5am to fit in a walk I’ll just have to grit my teeth and do it. Walking everyday is a must but unless I give myself a goal that stretches me day in and day out I’m afraid I’ll slip back into old habits – missing the odd day, then the odd week, then the odd year…..

It was this article http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/21472/hours-fat-fit that made me sit up and take notice. I’m not diabetic but I’m absolutely on the way to being one if I carry on eating the crap that I do, I know that. Walking for 2 hours a day and eating a healthy diet can only improve my health and hopefully reverse some of the damage I’ve done to myself and it’s something that I know I can do and something I can stick at.  All the naturally slim people I know walk everywhere and eat good quality food only when they are hungry – I think that speaks volumes.

As another New Year approaches, millions of people are yet again gearing up to lose weight as one of their resolutions. I too am hideously guilty of this but only because a) I’ll just be fighting a losing battle over Christmas and will end up binge eating for the sake of it and b) being the OCD-lite kinda gal that I am, I want to be able to achieve all of the weight loss in 2009. I also like the idea of being the one who bucks the trend and sticks to what they set out to do – nothing better for wiping the smile off the smug faces that say it’s not possible. I gave up smoking on New Year’s Day four years ago and haven’t touched a cigarette since which I’m pretty chuffed about considering I was up to 40 a day at that point. So it can be done – all it takes is as much motivation and perseverance as it would at any other time of the year

Because I feel I need to get it right from the very start i.e. 1st January, I’ll do my first 2 hour flat walk on NYE so I can start the New Year with a proper hill walk (I won’t really blog about the flat walks unless something extraordinary happens as there’s only so much you can say about a walk into town and back).  I fancy a really good walk along the Rochdale canal on New Year’s Eve – either from Sowerby Bridge to Todmorden (which actually takes me about 3.5 hours to do but what the hell) or Tod to Littleborough or Rochdale.  I never used to take much notice of the canal until I came across this brilliant site http://ealees.com/walks/hebden.html which made me smile so much I started to incorporate a canal bank walk into my schedule every 3 weeks or so.

With a good flat walk under my belt I can then start the New Year with a hike up a hill. Living where I do I’m ridiculously spoilt for choice – an hour or so in the car and I can be in the Southern Lakes or the Peak District, half an hour will get me to the Forest of Bowland or Saddleworth Moor.  Better still, a 30 second walk from my little terraced house will get me onto the foothills of the Southern Pennines from where I can hike for hours and hours in pretty much all directions.  I’ll have to see how the weather is and how achey I am from the day before but I really fancy a walk up Pendle Hill as it’s not *too* much of a challenge but will certainly get the flood flowing – especially if it’s a blowy, rainy day (which, being Lancashire, it will be).

It’s almost a cliche now that walking 10,000 steps a day will do wonders for your health and waistline. I was stunned to recently discover this wasn’t based on extensive medical research at the time but was a business concept used to promote and sell Japanese pedometers. Even more stunning was the discovery that 10000 steps may be ok to maintain good health but you need to do nearer to 17000 steps a day to achieve a decent rate of weight loss. Blimey.

10000 steps a day apparently equates to around 5 miles – I seem to average 7000 steps in 3 miles (can’t quite work out whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing) so a 2 hour walk should amount to 140000 steps. However, that’s 14000 continuous steps which is, apparently, even more beneficial than spreading the exercise out over the day. Whatever. I’ve found it too easy to get obsessed by counting steps in the past, to the point where I’ve given up any intention of doing any exercise because I’ve forgotten to hook the pedometer on the second I got out of bed.  Counting steps on a hill walk is a bit of a waste of time too I find as it really doesn’t reflect the effort in climbing a bugger of a steep hill or negotiating a boggy field.

Having said that, I do have a fantastic pedometer which I love as it’s wonderfully accurate and user friendly. I’ll use it to measure how many steps I’m taking on a ‘flat’ walk on the first day of every month. That way I can see whether my pace is improving as the weight (hopefully) drops off.

Channel 4 have just finished showing this (at stupid o’clock in the morning so I missed the first 3 or 4 episodes unfortunately). I think it’s probably a year or so old but it was the first time I’d seen or heard of it so I still found it hugely entertaining.

Fat March USA

The idea of the series was to take a bunch of very, VERY, overweight people and get them to walk from (I think) Boston to Washington over the course of (I think) 10 weeks.  Like I said, I missed the beginning of the run so I’m fuzzy on the details but I believe the contestants needed to cover a distance of roughly 500 miles on foot in order to finish and win some lovely money.

Being a reality show there was the usual tantrums and playing up to the camera but I was pretty impressed that the focus of each show was on just getting up each morning, putting those trainers on and putting one foot in front of another until another 10 or so miles were crossed off the list.  The weight losses were pretty astounding (an average of 50lbs per contestant if my maths is anything to go by) and the six contestants that finished the course all looked so bloody healthy and alive. I believe the show has come in for a bit of stick for pushing the contestants beyond what experts thought were their capabilities, but there can be no doubt just how life changing it’s been for those who took part.

Um, well, I’ll concede that it certainly sounds crazy, yes……..

But here’s the thing – I hate the gym. I really, really loathe it and the way I feel so out of place there. I’ve tried going to different classes and I’ve tried the running machines and I’ve tried just going for a swim and a sauna but I can’t quite shake off the feeling that I shouldn’t really be there.  It’s more than just the weight thing, it’s the feeling of being ‘forced’ to do something at a time that suits the aerobics teacher or leisure centre manager rather than when it suits me. It’s the absurdity of jumping in the car, trying to find a parking space, handing over (a not inconsiderable amount of) money, finding a locker, getting changed, bouncing around for 50 minutes to some bloody awful music, negotiating a lukewarm shower, getting changed back into the clothes you came in and then driving home. Life is too short, surely?

Not that I love walking with a huge amount of passion either, it is after all e.x.e.r.c.i.s.e. I love the idea of it very much though, especially when I’m flicking through ‘Country Walking’ or ‘Trail’ or dreaming about frosty winter mornings on the summit of one of the Wainwrights, hot chocolate in one hand and flapjack in the other as a reward for all the effort of the climb. However, actually getting out of the house (or even out of bed) and just walking is something that has seemingly been beyond me for a good two years now.  It’s ridiculous really because regular walking (both hill and on the flat) does do wonders for me. I lose weight, my skin feels great, I look younger (hurrah!) and just getting out there seems to make me, well, a better person. I know in my heart of hearts that it’s walking will get me fit, both mentally and physically – I just need to put on my walking boots again and start using them.

So, the two hour a day thing – bit extreme, no? Yes, but I do have a lot of weight to lose and as I am in the extremely fortunate position of being able to work from home then I can just about spare that two hours a day (which I just waste in front of the tv at the moment).  At my current pace, two hours equals approx 6 miles which is a round trip into town and back.  If I can aim for 5 days of walking that 6 miles plus two days of hill walking (I live 30 secs from the South Pennine Hills, literally) then that should give me a kick start for the first 3 or 4 months. Also, although I am (I swear to God) going to cut out crisps, chocolate and diet coke I don’t really want to have to cut down too much on food as dieting just makes me want to kill everyone around me. Two hours of moderate to fast walking a day plus a sensible diet (based very loosely on WW Core) seems pretty achievable to me, and it’s certainly worked in the past.

Roll on Jan 01 2009.