Malvern Trek...Endurance Training - Indy & Parve

I met Indy at Frankly services, M5 Jn 4ish at 10:10 this morning. I pulled up behind his Volvo just as he was getting off the phone. It was a crisp bright sunny day, not a cloud to be seen for miles around. This was going to be nice.

After a quick sit rep we jumped in the cars and I followed him down to Jn.7 where we exited and made our way into Malvern Town centre and found a parking spot.We donned our gear and I grabbed my camera and we made a move.

The town is a quaint little place with quite a few visitors meandering around, and several who had come to walk for the day. It had lots of photo opportunities.

It was a marvelous refreshing walk up the hills with all sorts of terrain. On the way up there was remnants of the night's frost and the wind nipped around our necks. The air was clean and fresh and at various points along the trek I was either taking layers off or putting them on. But at one point near the peak despite the sun it was bloody cold because of the wind.

We passed many ramblers, young , old, lovers on a romantic walk and families taking the cute kids and a marvelous variety of dogs for a stroll.

The scenery was breathtaking and Indy and I paused from time to time to take in the view and take some snaps. In between we talked about hobbies, work, ambitions and our respective bucket lists. We got to the main peak and took in the view before walking along the ridge and over the other peaks...

We came across a group that were parascending.. the myriad of colours of parachutes peppering the hills and sky.. "you should add that to your bucket list" Said Indy - offering to have a go with me...hmmm that's a possibility.... !! Alongside the parachutes were the extreme sports guys preparing to take of in their hand gliders..(no I saw no women !!)

Despite still having a runny nose, I was glad I came, it was refreshing, exhilarating, enjoyable and bloody good exercise.I might even have got a tan...

I was also braking in the hiking boots and they were fabulous, very comfortable and they had very good grip. I'm glad I paid a bit extra to get a good quality pair of boots. After 7 miles of walking over 5 hours I suffered no blisters or discomfort. I experienced a bit of jarring of the knees on the way down but nothing to worry about. No aches or pains as of yet, so that's a good sign. We will have to push the limits further next time.

We got back down to the town centre and unloaded the gear before going off to find a pub in town. I settled for a nice hot cheese burger chips and cold beer ..hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm that was nice. Then we jumped into our cars, and made our way home.

I got back for five, had a nice hot shower, changed into something comfortable and had a lovely cuppa. Now I feel fabulous. I must have worked off at least 1500 calories.

I'm looking forward to the next trek..

Thanks Indy - it was a fine day !!