Next week we have an appointment at the vets for Simba, my King Charles Spaniel. It is a regular visit to have his nails clipped but he now requires sedating before the appointment because he has a severe aversion to his feet being handled which causes him considerable stress.

So Tuesday morning I went with mum to pick the tablets up, not owning a car we went by bus which took us about 5 minutes. After collecting the sedatives we knew we would have to wait another hour before another bus could take us home and as the clinic was the only place in easy walking distance we had nothing to occupy our time. So we thought it might be a nice idea to walk home. We thought we knew what we were doing and how far we would be walking but we did not fully realise just how far it really was or quite how hot the day would turn out to be. The sign on the junction outside the vets informed us it would be 3 miles, though I have a suspicion we walked a longer distance than that in the end as we also thought it would be a good idea to take 2 detours from the straight road home. First we took ourselves off the busier straight main road onto a quieter country lane which did in fact take us out further back the way we came before curving the way we wanted to go (though a nicer view and less chance of being run over) and then we thought it would be quicker if we took a detour across the fields via a public footway only to be unable to find where it lead out to and had to retrace our steps back to the roadway. In the end the journey back took us 2 hours and 20 minutes. Had we waited for the bus we would have been home at least an hour before less tired and less hot but then we would have missed out on the fun of getting a little lost, nearly getting run over, finding 2p on the roadside and me looking like a mad person, wearing a long sleeved rollneck top in the baking heat and taking photos of absolutely everything in sight

If your wondering whose silly idea this was it was mine and it really was not a sensible one. I had set out knowing full well that I would at some point, probably in the next week, pay for this little outing as I exceeded the activity level I can currently cope with without causing an onset of symptoms.
So I am now resting up hoping to minimise the damage

I think it was worth it though as its been too long since I have been able to walk this far out of the village or anywhere near this distance. As a child I walked this far and further frequently, as a family we often took a picnic and spent a whole day out walking the back fields and roads. But then when I became ill at 14 even walking for 5 minutes was too painful and exhausting, for many years I thought I’d never be able to enjoy walking again so to manage this and pain free as well felt really great