I walk to keep me living. It’s that simple. The reality is, it has become the one thing I need to do to help me function at my best.
Walking is not only great exercise but it gives me an opportunity to clear my head and just find silence.
I have written about walking before on the blog, about it's benefits and about how much I like it. I have also talked about it lots on Instagram sharing almost daily walk pictures and also lots of videos from out and about on my journeys.
Most of the time my walks are mundane. Very normal to most people, either across some fields or just out to town but whether I am walking country style or urban I feel it gives me everything I need to push forward.
Yep, walking can feel like a chore especially when my main drive is the dog, but most of the time this gives the perfect excuse to have to get out and go.
My sister took some time off work this week and suggested we go off for a good walk somewhere. The peak district is a few hours away from us and with a school run to do it doesn't actually give me that much time to get there and back. The Lincolnshire Wolds is also a very famous walking district but I genuinely just don't know where to start so we ended up deciding on a coastal walk and drove the hour to Skegness, one of the largest seaside towns on the Lincolnshire Coast.
If you head north of Skegness you can follow a more official coastal path all the way up the coastline going past a sew of the smaller and quite popular beaches; Anderby Creek, Sutton On Sea, Sandilands and onto bigger places like Mablethorpe and eventually Cleethorps.
We however were a bit unsure so headed south to the end of the paved promenade and onto the beach where we headed for Gibralta point which takes you into the top of the nook on the bottom right of the map of the UK. We pretty much stood across the water from Hunstanton and the Norfolk coastline (a bit of geography for all of us)!
Sticking between the water line and the dune line we decided that we would simply walk for a hour in that direction and turn around and walk back.
Our feet carried us as did the conversation and the quiet. And the dog, well, she was having a blast. Ginny has been to the beach before but only when we have been surfing so we kind of just stayed in one place. This was something completely different and she ran up and down the whole time!
On the way back I started thinking about a book I had just listed to. It was called The Salt Path by Raynor Winn and it is about her and her husbands journey of homelessness where they end up living on the south west costal path. It's a fantastic story, I won't go into too much detail as I would encourage you to read it, but they discover that after being diagnosed with a terminal illness, Moth (the husband) actually begins to get well from walking. From putting one foot in front of the other they end up discovering the wealth of good things that comes from walking and being in nature. They discover its medicine. 
For so long I have also known the secret. The one that many health care professionals won't tell you about but they need to. If you can discover the outdoors and have it as a part of your life you will change. Aches may leave you, energy levels will rise and you will get a resounding sense of peace. It doesn't just come, like magic, but it is there, present and waiting for you to recognise it.
Walking is an easy way to step into the outdoors. There is no pressure to perform, just move. Walk and mean it. Don't doordle, don't have your phone in your hand "checking in" places. Just walk, forward and with purpose.
I have a fast walk. It is strong, it is a pace, it is a stomp sometimes. I walk with passion and I walk to keep me fit which means I have to feel my lungs workings and my heart pumping. You don't need to walk fast so you collapse or even get a wiggle on like a speed walker but get those lungs going, use the body you have.
Sometimes I walk with an audio book, sometimes music if I want to go really fast but I have learn't to walk in silence too as it is so peaceful. This walk was a perfect mix, time for talking but also time to just listen. Hearing the wind and the waves is inspiring.
This thing with walking is, I know it works for me and as it is such a pleasant way to exercise. I would encourage any reader to do it also as it seems like the simplest way to get moving and create a more active and healthy lifestyle. Obviously it's not all about that, it's not an exercise focus but that is the wonderful by-product of movement. You get your exercise for your body but you also get release for your mind.
I decided that I would try to get a beach walk in once a month. It's a long journey to the Skeg and we have wonderful walks around us already but I think this escape would do me some good too. It offers a different visual treat and when it gets warmer the water will be so inviting. As always, any walking is good just getting out to do some is all that matters.
Emily xx
