About Me
OK so now you can see who I am I'm going to tell you a lttle about me, my background and what got me interested in walking, why I enjoy walking and possibly the most important, why I created my own website to tell you all about my love of walking!
Firstly about me. I was born in Hampstead (not the posh part I hasten to add), North London where I lived until moving to Watford, Hertfordshire with my wife and family in 1968. And there we have remained, apart from a couple of brief excursions to other locations but always returning to Watford, which we all regard as "home".
My working life was virtually all with computers starting in the very, very earliest days back in 1966 as a simple computer operator but spending the next 40+ years doing just about everything connected with the development and use of this magic thing we now call "IT". I worked mainly for large corporate banking groups and a major mobile phone operator.
But after 50 years of work I retired in April 2012, and now look forward to a long and happy life of leisure and relaxation - as long as the finances can cope!
So how come I'm mad about walking, perhaps "mad" is a bit strong but I have been keen on walking since my early twenties when, along with my wife and family we used to visit the in-laws in Norfolk and spend a lot of the weekend out and about in the forestry estates that are so profuse in that part of the world. Because all the forestry woods were laid out in nice neat rows it became somewhat boring after a while and I moved slightly further afield to the magnificent Thetford Forest, the largest lowland pine forest in Britain which is a patchwork of pines, heathland and broadleaved trees (owned by the Forestry Commision but more natural). I spent many, many weekends wandering around these lovely woods and I guess my love of the outdoors and all things associated with it really began then.
There are times when it's nice just to be by oneself for a few hours, to enjoy the quiet, the solitude sometimes and of course the fresh air. You note I don't include the weather here - how can you? It's one of the big problems for us walkers. My enjoyment comes from a combination of these first three things, ally this to the brilliant network of public footpaths, the myriad of routes and of course the giant national trails (which I do intend to have a go at sometime) and you just couldn't ask for anything more. But of course there is more, the fantastic scenery and the incredible variety of our birds and wildlife. It just doesn't really get any better, anywhere!
So finally, why am I doing this website? Well as you can see I enjoy walking but a couple of my other pastimes (I won't call them hobbies as I'm not much good at either of them really) is writing and photography. So I thought why not try and combine them all - walk a lot, take loads of pictures (on the premise that the more you take the better the chance of getting one worth having) then write about it, and that is what I'm planning to do here at "Glens Walks"
As I said above I am now retired so I have the time to indulge myself in this little enterprise. But I would ask for your patience as it takes an unbelievable amount of time to write the journals, sort out the pictures and draw the maps, plus of course having to complete the walks as well. So please bear with me and do check back regularly to see what I have been up to.
Finally, I hope you find this site interesting and maybe just a little inspiring, if so that will have made all this really worthwhile.
Happy reading.
Firstly about me. I was born in Hampstead (not the posh part I hasten to add), North London where I lived until moving to Watford, Hertfordshire with my wife and family in 1968. And there we have remained, apart from a couple of brief excursions to other locations but always returning to Watford, which we all regard as "home".
My working life was virtually all with computers starting in the very, very earliest days back in 1966 as a simple computer operator but spending the next 40+ years doing just about everything connected with the development and use of this magic thing we now call "IT". I worked mainly for large corporate banking groups and a major mobile phone operator.
But after 50 years of work I retired in April 2012, and now look forward to a long and happy life of leisure and relaxation - as long as the finances can cope!
So how come I'm mad about walking, perhaps "mad" is a bit strong but I have been keen on walking since my early twenties when, along with my wife and family we used to visit the in-laws in Norfolk and spend a lot of the weekend out and about in the forestry estates that are so profuse in that part of the world. Because all the forestry woods were laid out in nice neat rows it became somewhat boring after a while and I moved slightly further afield to the magnificent Thetford Forest, the largest lowland pine forest in Britain which is a patchwork of pines, heathland and broadleaved trees (owned by the Forestry Commision but more natural). I spent many, many weekends wandering around these lovely woods and I guess my love of the outdoors and all things associated with it really began then.
There are times when it's nice just to be by oneself for a few hours, to enjoy the quiet, the solitude sometimes and of course the fresh air. You note I don't include the weather here - how can you? It's one of the big problems for us walkers. My enjoyment comes from a combination of these first three things, ally this to the brilliant network of public footpaths, the myriad of routes and of course the giant national trails (which I do intend to have a go at sometime) and you just couldn't ask for anything more. But of course there is more, the fantastic scenery and the incredible variety of our birds and wildlife. It just doesn't really get any better, anywhere!
So finally, why am I doing this website? Well as you can see I enjoy walking but a couple of my other pastimes (I won't call them hobbies as I'm not much good at either of them really) is writing and photography. So I thought why not try and combine them all - walk a lot, take loads of pictures (on the premise that the more you take the better the chance of getting one worth having) then write about it, and that is what I'm planning to do here at "Glens Walks"
As I said above I am now retired so I have the time to indulge myself in this little enterprise. But I would ask for your patience as it takes an unbelievable amount of time to write the journals, sort out the pictures and draw the maps, plus of course having to complete the walks as well. So please bear with me and do check back regularly to see what I have been up to.
Finally, I hope you find this site interesting and maybe just a little inspiring, if so that will have made all this really worthwhile.
Happy reading.
