A walk on the dark side

The partial lockdown that we are all under to contain coronavirus has, understandably, had quite an impact on my walking.

The main impact is that I am only allowed one exercise walk a day whereas I am used to doing several walks including at least one longish one of at least 90 minutes.

The second impact is on where and when I go and it has taken a few days to find some sort of routine that safely avoids crowds.

The big trick is to walk later at night, starting after 8pm, as there are a lot fewer people around then. Again, no surprise there as most people prefer to walk in daylight when they can see both the pretty things around them and where they are going.

I have also modified my walk to ignore the closest and most convenient bridge, at Teddington Lock, as this is long and narrow which makes it impossible to pass people safely. It is better after 10pm but I do not always want to walk that late!

So the new route takes me over both Kingston Bridge and Richmond Bridge, and through Hampton Wick, Teddington and Twickenham on the Middlesex side. As always there are many options on which roads I walk down, which I choose as the mood takes me, and on this day the route chosen came to almost 17km.

It is good to walk.