Maigold.

The sunny morning and afternoon have passed and the evening is cloudy with a haar coming down the hill.  It's been a day for thinking although I have cleaned the bathroom, put a meal into the slow cooker, washed clothes and done some weeding.  But you can do things and think at the same time and I've decided I can't go on struggling with my walking.  I've spent about ten years trying to improve it.  There have been good patches. Things do improve but then they fall back to where they were before.  And it causes a lot of pain and frustration.  So, for the moment, I'm giving up.  I will do exercises, try to keep my weight down and my legs as strong as I can.  But I'll walk when I feel like it and the distance won't matter.  My Fitbit has been put in a drawer.  Where I hope it will stay.   It's going to be rather like stopping smoking.   I've been wearing pedometers and Fitbits for at least twenty years.  Slogging up Munros, walking the West Highland Way,  striding out all over London and Paris.  It connects me to my childhood.  My parents were both walkers.  My father was a Clydebank shipyard worker at the time of the Red Clyde.  Out of work in the 30's he and his mates spent the summer in tents at Balloch  and once working again went back at the weekend to walk and climb.  So walking's important to me and I'm grateful  for what I can still do  but I've unintentionally turned it into a bit of a chore.   Time I think to climb out of my rut, start afresh and explore a different path