In the footsteps of the Bard

In the last week I have done some WiiFit exercise six times and gone for six walks. Five of those walks were about two miles long. The sixth I'll talk about later. I was also watching the calories this week and was rewarded by losing 4lb which is a real boost. If I can lose a couple more pounds I'll be confident of getting back into my work clothes. This is a good thing as I started my phased return to work last Wednesday by doing a half day in the office. Thankfully with the Easter break I'm not next in the office until Thursday! We can't rush these things!

So the sixth walk was one I did with my son on Saturday. We are very lucky in that we live only a half hour drive from Stratford-on-Avon, birthplace of William Shakespeare. A while ago I bought a set of short walks in and around Warwickshire. One of them was a two and a half mile walk around Stratford and that seemed like the ideal walk to do. Most of the walk was either along the river or the canal so very flat. I think it will take longer before I am ready for hills! I know of a place just outside the town where you can park for free. It's then just a short walk into the town. Despite it being Easter Saturday, we still managed to get parked mid-morning. 

We set off along the river path from the car park into town. Once in town we picked up the actual walk we were planning to do. This continued along the river passing the Swan Theatre on the other side of the river.

We also passed Holy Trinity church, where Shakespeare is buried.

We crossed over the river, walked along the other side and then went into the centre of the town. There are some lovely building in Stratford, The Falcon:

And the birthplace of some famous bloke! (We saw our first selfie-stick in action here!)

We then left the town and walked along the Stratford canal which eventually brought us back to the start of the walk.

While we were in Stratford we also indulged in another hobby of ours, geocaching. We found two geocaches, one along the canal and one in this unusual location:

When we decided it was time to go home, we walked back to the car and my son insisted on doing a spot of tree climbing!

When we got home I realised that the walk from where we parked into the town was a mile each way so we actually did four and a half miles in total! 

So a really good week for exercise and proving to myself that I can do this. 

Today (Easter Monday) we have gone out for a meal to celebrate the end of my treatment. I hope I haven't undone all the good work I did!