What happened to August?

Any regular reader of my walks blog must be wondering what happened to me. No, I did not drop off the face of the earth. I was busy doing a whole heap of things.

On 12 August Trevor and I flew to Boston. We returned home on 16 September. Our exploits in the US and Canada have been documented on Return of 2 Ws blog. We had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the time we were away. I did manage to get in some decent walks and also climbed a number of mountains.

So what happened in the first part of August?

I managed to cram in quite a bit of walking before heading off to the US.

On Friday 1 I had an extra PT session so this allowed me to clock up just over 12km by walking to the gym and home. We went to A Bite to Eat at Chifley for lunch and I walked home via the top of Mt Taylor. Doesn't everyone climb the mountain when presented with the opportunity?

The ACT Winter Short Course Championships fell on 2 & 3 August. The meet was huge and I spent the weekend out at the AIS pool. By the time I got home it was already dark and I had a heap of followup processing to do so no walking.

Late Monday afternoon (august 4) I headed off and did one of my Mt Taylor climbs. The down section and return home was done in the gloom/dark. All up the walk tallied 11.35km with a good climb thrown in.

On Tuesday we had Astrid over for the day. The only walking I managed was a slow walk to the Village and back.

Wednesday (August 6) was a fine sunny day after a cool night. Once again I walked to the gym and back with my PT session in the middle. At lunch time we went out to check out what was available at Torrens, a small shopping centre on the other side of Mt Taylor to us. They did have a take away food outlet but I doubt if we will bother going there again. After lunch I returned home over Mt Taylor.

Thursdays always limit my walking. By the time I do my session at the family history centre and get home the day is pretty much over. I did squeeze in a 4km walk by driving to Mt Taylor. This circuit starts at the informal carpark on Sulwood Drive above Mannheim Street. I walk anti clockwise around the base of Taylor, up the Richmond Fellowship track and then to the carpark on the Mannheim track.

Friday I walked to the gym and back with another PT session thrown in.

On Saturday (August 9) I headed off to Cooleman Court in the early afternoon as I had a couple of things I needed for the trip. On the walk home I climbed up to the Mt Arawang trig point. I was surprised to see a mirror like area to my north west and realised that it was light reflecting off the surface of the Cotter Dam. I certainly had not noticed it before. Perhaps it was just fuller or the higher dam wall changed the perspective. Now I see it whenever I am up on the top of Arawang.

Light reflecting off the surface of the Cotter dam

On Sunday we lunched at Brothers Oven and I walked home from Tuggeranong. Later I did my long Mt Taylor circuit - the one starting from home to Mt Taylor, around to the Richmond Track, up to the summit and home.

Wattle in bloom beside the track at the edge of the Mt Taylor reserve

Some of the wattle species were out and providing a great display.

On Monday (August 11) I did a 6km walk up to the Mt Arawang summit.

On the 12th we were off to the US and Canada.

August statistics:
Distance walked: 252km with a daily average of a mere 8.15km
Elevation gain: 6561m which was a good daily average of 212m ... those mountain climbs in the US helped!
Steps: 678555 with an average of 21889 per day.