My name is Aurélie and I like walking.

Here. I’ve said it! 🙂
Plenty of people enjoy walking and there are tons of fab blogs out there about hiking and walking so you may wonder why I feel the need to write publicly about my small (mostly) local adventures.

First, I feel that I would like to share my walks and get tips and advice on future walks too, from more experienced walkers.
I’ve completed a few ultra-marathon walks with the Threshold trail series: Race to the Stones (twice), Race to the Tower and Race to the King. They are amazing, well-supported events, which I very much recommend. I have also walked along the Ridgeway a few times, and done part of the North Cornwall coastal path which is absolutely beautiful! I walk mostly solo or in organised walks so my kit does vary and so far, although I’m not adverse to camping, I’ve only ever stayed in booked accommodations on my walks (apart from one night in a tent on Race to the Stones, the very first time) so I’m still a beginner hiker and I have a lot to learn.
I do sometimes walk with the family too. My partner and I have five children between us. We are also long-term dog-sitting currently so we sometimes walk with beautiful Missy, super cute Schnauzer (you’ll see pictures of her in a blog post soon).
I’m inspired by a lot of other hikers and one of my inspiration is my friend Jen who walked LEJOG solo a few years back.

I have also had a few questions from friends recently regarding planning days-out (solo, in groups and as a family) as well as longer walks so I thought I’d share my own tips and hope to share downloadable checklists and kit lists soon, too. I’d like to connect with other walkers and get recommendations from you all too, so I hope you feel you can comment on the posts or email me to suggest future topics or questions you have.

Another reason is that I talk a lot. I mean A LOT! This way, writing about my walks channels my narrative and saves my friends and family from my ramblings (see what I did, here?).

Finally, I’ve decided to try a DSLR camera (I’m borrowing this from my boyfriend) and although I’m not good at photography, I thought I’d use it to document my walks as I’m planning longer walks. I’ll also share photos taken on my phone (iPhone 12 Pro Max).

I hope to keep up the blogging so I can share my Thames Path adventures over the next few months, as I’m planning to walk the Thames Path upstream, over a dozen walking days or so. I have planned a ‘Walk Across Wiltshire’ 3-day walk that I couldn’t do last year so I’m hoping to share this with you, too, soon.
I’m going to start the blog with sharing retrospectively a couple of shorter but lovely recent walks and posting about my preparation for the Thames Path walk.