One does not simply walk...
For a while now, Facebook has been giving me adverts for a Walking to Mordor virtual challenge, and I've been very tempted, but put off by the ridiculously high price. However, half way through January, I decided to give it a go. Ever since I finished my Walking All The Paths project a couple of years ago, I've done rather less walking than I used to do (although still quite a lot) and I was keen to encourage myself to do more. I'm very, VERY motivated by challenges like this.
(TOO motivated, really. There was that time when I resolved to walk 1000 miles in a year. Lazily refusing to spend even two seconds working out the actual monthly average, I thought, "that's about 100 a month," which quickly became "I have to do at least 100 miles every month, or I have Failed," which quickly became, "I need to get to 100 miles as early as possible in the month, so I reassure myself that I won't fail," and quickly saw me doggedly striding around Cowes at all hours, come hell or high water, determined to get my miles in. I'd reached 1000 miles by early July, if I remember correctly.)
Anyway... Justifying it by the fact that we always do Dry January and February, so were spending less, I bought all five challenges for the price of 4. (The Shire to Mordor is broken up into 5 stages, each one sold separately.) I'm now nearing Rivendell.
It is indeed ridiculously expensive, and I'm not that sure what you get with the money. You get an app, but it doesn't live track your walking; that has to be entered manually, or else by synching with other exercise apps. I'd kind of hoped that I'd be out walking and my phone would ping me to point out that I'd just escaped being eaten by a murderous willow tree, or something, but the synching only happens at the end of a walk. You can engage with a community, but I don't want to do that. Every now and then you get "postcards," but they're just stills from the movie, with a new sentences of description. (The same company does loads of real-world virtual challenges, too - Land's End to John o'Groats etc. - so I guess postcards from the real world places you were "visiting" would be more interesting.)
But, even so, I am enjoying it a lot, and it's definitely getting me out walking a lot more. I reached Bree (140 miles or so) and got my first medal, then moved on to Challenge 2: Bree to the Doors of Moria. This is when it got odd. Since I was walking, it put me in "story mode" - 90 miles, in which you walk a few miles on either side of a key location, then teleport a hundred miles on to walk a few more. This was not at all in the spirit of "walking to Mordor," so I switched to "long mode (recommended for cyclists)" and was promptly hit with a 680 mile challenge instead. Cue a LOT of extra walking. I've started doing a mile before work and a mile straight after, as well as the mile at lunch I was already doing, but I think that's quite a good thing for me, really. And I guess it means I'm getting more of my money's worth, since the whole thing will take a lot longer.
The medals are undoubtedly lovely, though. The first one is large and shaped like a hobbit hole surrounded by green scenery. On the other side is a metal envelope with a hinged metal flap, beneath which is a little hidey-hole that contains a real One Ring. :-D
And, yes, if you're wondering if I've learnt the lessons of my Walk 1000 Mile obsessive behaviour, and have learnt how to be rather more measured this time... Of course I haven't! "Got to get that Ring a little closer to Mordor," I say as I head off into torrential rain at lunch, determined to get that mile in OR ELSE. (Although, to be fair, I'd planned to walk a quick 2 mile circuit round the block this morning, before heading off to an afternoon of dancing (we're walking there and back - 5.5 miles each way) but am writing this instead, so perhaps there's hope for me yet.
It's just a shame that the countryside is full of unmitigated squelch and all the interesting paths have fallen into the sea over the winter. I'm getting rather fed up of cycle paths, old railways and pavements.
(TOO motivated, really. There was that time when I resolved to walk 1000 miles in a year. Lazily refusing to spend even two seconds working out the actual monthly average, I thought, "that's about 100 a month," which quickly became "I have to do at least 100 miles every month, or I have Failed," which quickly became, "I need to get to 100 miles as early as possible in the month, so I reassure myself that I won't fail," and quickly saw me doggedly striding around Cowes at all hours, come hell or high water, determined to get my miles in. I'd reached 1000 miles by early July, if I remember correctly.)
Anyway... Justifying it by the fact that we always do Dry January and February, so were spending less, I bought all five challenges for the price of 4. (The Shire to Mordor is broken up into 5 stages, each one sold separately.) I'm now nearing Rivendell.
It is indeed ridiculously expensive, and I'm not that sure what you get with the money. You get an app, but it doesn't live track your walking; that has to be entered manually, or else by synching with other exercise apps. I'd kind of hoped that I'd be out walking and my phone would ping me to point out that I'd just escaped being eaten by a murderous willow tree, or something, but the synching only happens at the end of a walk. You can engage with a community, but I don't want to do that. Every now and then you get "postcards," but they're just stills from the movie, with a new sentences of description. (The same company does loads of real-world virtual challenges, too - Land's End to John o'Groats etc. - so I guess postcards from the real world places you were "visiting" would be more interesting.)
But, even so, I am enjoying it a lot, and it's definitely getting me out walking a lot more. I reached Bree (140 miles or so) and got my first medal, then moved on to Challenge 2: Bree to the Doors of Moria. This is when it got odd. Since I was walking, it put me in "story mode" - 90 miles, in which you walk a few miles on either side of a key location, then teleport a hundred miles on to walk a few more. This was not at all in the spirit of "walking to Mordor," so I switched to "long mode (recommended for cyclists)" and was promptly hit with a 680 mile challenge instead. Cue a LOT of extra walking. I've started doing a mile before work and a mile straight after, as well as the mile at lunch I was already doing, but I think that's quite a good thing for me, really. And I guess it means I'm getting more of my money's worth, since the whole thing will take a lot longer.
The medals are undoubtedly lovely, though. The first one is large and shaped like a hobbit hole surrounded by green scenery. On the other side is a metal envelope with a hinged metal flap, beneath which is a little hidey-hole that contains a real One Ring. :-D
And, yes, if you're wondering if I've learnt the lessons of my Walk 1000 Mile obsessive behaviour, and have learnt how to be rather more measured this time... Of course I haven't! "Got to get that Ring a little closer to Mordor," I say as I head off into torrential rain at lunch, determined to get that mile in OR ELSE. (Although, to be fair, I'd planned to walk a quick 2 mile circuit round the block this morning, before heading off to an afternoon of dancing (we're walking there and back - 5.5 miles each way) but am writing this instead, so perhaps there's hope for me yet.
It's just a shame that the countryside is full of unmitigated squelch and all the interesting paths have fallen into the sea over the winter. I'm getting rather fed up of cycle paths, old railways and pavements.