Hey Mob’ – Take a Walk on the Darkside….

Mobi-Babble

Last year I posted a selection of snaps on my blog which I had taken – on what was then a very short daily walk – no more than ten minutes max – usually up to the nearby 7/11  and back home again.  So I have decided that is time to publish a more  comprehensive pictorial narrative of the area in which I live and where I take my daily walks.

These days, our (my and Noo’s) daily exercise has expanded to encompass two, much longer, alternative routes for our daily walk. The first route takes us in a southerly direction, up to the 7/11 and then into the grounds of  Wat Khao Por Thong – which has some very attractive buildings and some lovely trees –  out the other side, to walk around the Lake to the Rendevous bar/restaurant complex. The return leg simply retraces our steps, and this walk probably takes us about 45 minutes.

The alternative route takes us briefly around the lake in a northerly direction before taking a right turn away from the Lake, then right again on a little lane, parallel to the lake along a pleasant, leafy traffic free- diversion, before once more joining the lakeside road again.

The outward leg finishes in the area where the long boats are stored, opposite the Lakeside Restaurant. The return leg takes us past the ‘Fishermans Rest’, and thence back home, a journey which, walking at quite a steady pace, takes us around 40 minutes.

Upon reaching our home, we collect the three dogs and take them for a 10- 15 minute walk around the village paved roads, so by the time we have completed our day’s exercise, we have been walking for nigh on an hour.

It has been a good work-out for me and I have now lost about 10 kilos in weight and feel a lot fitter. I know that the first tranche of weight loss is always the easiest and, as expected,  my weight is now stubbornly staying at around 90 kilos.  I would dearly love to lose at least another 8 kilos – ideally 10 – to get me back where I was some 10 years ago, but I know it is going to be tough.

I am ever more careful with my diet, but I am now coming to the conclusion that the next phase of my weight-reduction efforts will require me to start jogging. I found out many years ago that there is nothing like jogging to get the pounds off stubbornly tubby mid-riffs. You can try every type of diet/exercise plan till you are blue in the face; you can hire personal trainers and do all manner of aerobic exercise on all manner of high tech machines, but all that is really required is a daily jogging routine of at least 25 minutes and a sensible eating routine– no cakes, sweets, deserts etc, no sugared drinks, and avoiding excessive fat in food.

So next week I will try to do a bit of jogging, starting off with just a minute or two – intermingled with my daily walking – gradually trying to increase the jogging time. The last time I embarked on this path I was 54 years old, and now I am 65 so it might prove a bit more difficult to achieve, but I won’t know if I don’t try. Either way, I now accept that if I am to get fit and stay fit, I must allot an hour of each day to some form of exercise which hopefully I can continue to do, well into my old age.

Mobi’s Lakeside photos.

I took these pics below over a couple of days, and  hopefully it gives you a better idea of  why I have a particular fondness for this beautiful lake and for this little ‘neck of woods’.

Wat Khao Por Thong

and it’s magnificent tree…