Preparing For A Walk

Because I usually leave the house quite early to get to the railway station on time I need to do most of my preparations for the walk the day before.

My usual procedure:

Using online mapping I choose my walk. If it's not in an area which is covered by my Ordnance Survey maps I'll then need to print off a copy.

As late as I'm able to do I check the weather forecast. This is usually by watching the weather forecast on TV or going to a suitable website. I don't have an internet capable mobile phone and so rely on my desktop computer; I usually don't have time to boot it up on the morning of a walk though.

If I can use my maps I need to fold them to the correct configuration; not as easy as it might seem...I've actually pulled a muscle doing this.

Prepare my sandwiches, although quite often, especially when it's a last minute decision to go walking, I will buy sandwiches, or sausage rolls, or maybe a pork pie, from the shop.

Fill up my water bottles - it's never water though; usually still orange or diet cola of some description; on cold winter days I might take some soup or rice pudding in my flask. Yet again, sometimes I might need to buy something from the shop.

Check that I know the departure times of the buses; timetables I've printed off the internet...or just written the times on a piece of paper.

Selected my boots: I have different pairs for walking in the Dark Park and the White Peak areas of the Peak District. I wear some older boots when going on local walks...I have a few pairs which I refuse to throw away.

Make sure everything is already packed in my rucksack.

Check that my camera and mobile phone are fully charged.

Have my coat or fleece hung up with what I require already placed in the pockets.

Have my tablets ready for swallowing first thing in the morning, and check that my metformin tablets for my diabetes [which I need to take with food] are tucked into my wallet. Apart from the metformin I also take vitamin D tablets, anti-diarrhoea tablets [just precautionary these days...this used to be a real problem before my diagnosis of severe vitamin D deficiency] and ranitidine as a precautionary measure against acid reflux...this too is much less of a problem since my diagnosis, and subsequently losing over six stones in weight. Sometimes I also take a multivitamin tablet and a tablet for my hayfever.

So...everything else being fine I'm ready to set off for my walk. Of course there are still many things that can go wrong, and have done so.