As you can see, I’ve not been very consistent lately. It isn’t quite as bad as it looks because I joined a gym, so I’ve been doing ellipticals and strength exercies and a bit of treadmill. If you use Fitocracy, feel free to add me!

However, I have decided that I’d like to be walking more. I’m spending a lot of time in Swansea at the moment and really, I’d like to see more of the Gower Peninsula. So I’ve decided that I’d like to walk the Gower Coast Road and the Gower Way – or something approximating it, anyway – starting from the Swansea marina.

I started today: First Leg

As you can see, I meandered a bit. I went into town to buy a sandwich to have as a picnic lunch. Then I went into Clyne Gardens (Interesting Features of Clyne Gardens – City and County of Swansea) to eat said sandwich in the rain.

Meanwhile, in The Hobbit, the Eagles have arrived to rescue the party from the wargs. Bilbo Baggins is currently sleeping in the eagles’ eyrie. The next leg is 52 miles which Bilbo will fly (well, be flown) and I have to walk. That seems rather unfair!

Today’s image of Bilbo and the Eagle was by JRR Tolkien himself.

30 miles in 50 days. Ouch, I suck. I’ve really been bad lately about walking – partially just because I’ve been busy and partially because the weather isn’t quite so nice in November in Wales. But I’m supposed to at least keep up a ratio of a mile a day and I haven’t even done that. And then I wonder why I put so much weight on lately. ARGH!

December will be different. I promise.

Meanwhile, the route to Lonely Mountain is full of adventure! The dwarves threatened to leave Bilbo behind but he snuck up wearing the magic ring and they were so impressed at his sneakiness and Tookishness that they felt bad for ever doubting him (although Gandalf certainly suspected that something was up). And then…

“Clearing. Hear wolves. Climb trees. WARG ATTACK. Eagles Rescue.”

I love the eagle scene – in fact I can’t wait to see how they do that in the film. Woohoo! I’m flying! The next few miles should be easy, right?

I found today’s image by “Jackdaw” on ImagineFX – Winners of the Weekly MYFX Forum Challenges. It was the winner of the MYFX Challenge #72 “The Hobbit” in 2008.

Still a very long way to go.

I’ve been a bit sporadic with my walking but still getting a decent distance when I do go. Clearly the main issue is just finding the time to get out the door. I need to prioritise exercise more as I’ve completely stopped losing weight. Also, I need to stop expecting perfect weather and just go out when it is time to go out, rather than hopefully waiting for the sun to come out (which can take weeks!).

The past 25 miles have been particularly exciting as Bilbo and the dwarves have been deep down in the goblin tunnels of the Misty Mountains.

Take a look at the final 11 miles:

Go, Bilbo, Go!

Today’s lovely sketch is by J. Liberatore, an animation major at Brigham Young University in Utah. See the original at full size on her blogpost: Imaginative Ink: Bravest Little Hobbit of Them All

As you can see, I’m walking almost every day now. It’s a big time hit and that’s somewhat problematic but I’m trying to persevere. It helps that I don’t like driving and that Swansea is pretty easy to navigate on foot.

Meanwhile, things are heating up for Bilbo Baggins. They’ve climbed up into the Misty Mountains and sheltered in a cave from the Thunder-battle. Goblins capture the party and take them for questioning in the Great Goblin’s Cavern. I shall have to update more frequently if I don’t want to miss all the good images in the Goblin caves!

Today’s beautiful watercolur is Over the Misty Mountains by David Wenzel and available to purchase as a print on his website.

I started off well and then came down with a horrible cold that knocked the wind out of my sails. I’m feeling much better now and looking at some interesting “Walking by Bus” routes in the Swansea Bay area. I found the leaflets at the Tourist Information Centre which includes the bus route, a circular walk with a list of highlights and information about refreshments at the location. What a great idea!

Meanwhile, Bilbo and the dwarves have left fair Rivendell and are following Gandalf into the Misty Mountains. Bilbo is on a pony so he has a definite advantage. The party have been travelling at a rate of four miles per day and I’ve been trying to keep up with them. They have passed the foothills and are climbing steadily. Soon, the thunder will begin and they will seek shelter in a cave.

Today’s image is called Far over the Misty Mountains and was done by by Leonid Kozienko who is on deviantART as agnidevi

Total mileage: 411 miles
Total time: 471 days

Total distance to Rivendell: 397 miles

So, I’ve been busy and although I was noting my mileage, I didn’t have a chance to update the website. I completed my challenge almost two weeks ago but I have only just got around to updating the website.

THE HOBBIT: Bag End to Rivendell (397 Miles) has been a great motivator for tracking my mileage over five countries and helping me to see how it all adds up. So I’d like to continue it. I’ll count my final miles as quiet walks around the Last Homely House and start tomorrow at zero.

The next walk is 570 Miles, the distance that Bilbo travelled from from Rivendell to Lonely Mountain. Eowyn’s Challenge will remain my guide and I hope to complete this walk in less than 570 days!

Today’s image is fan art based on stills from the Lord of the Rings films which I found on Fanpop.com.

Only a week since my last update but I’ve walked over half of the remaining distance to Rivendell. I will be travelling next week so I don’t know that I’ll match the distance from last week, but I am getting very close to my goal. Of course, Bilbo Baggins did half of that journey in a single day:

Today’s picture is “Disturber of the Peace,” by Weta Workshop concept artist Ben Wootten, who worked on the Lord of the Rings films. You can purchase a print for $35.00 plus shipping.

When I started this, it was easy to check for the waypoints and update the blog when the adventurer party had stopped to camp. Lately, I’ve been finding it much more difficult and I’ve been very frustrated that I always seem to be a couple of miles ahead or behind of the next clear update point. Only today have I realised that this is a direct result of my walking more. I was generally walking a mile, maybe two a day and it was easy to link up to the The Hobbit: Bag End to Rivendell mileage chart.

Now, when I walk it tends to be for three or four miles and I’m much more unlikely to land directly at one of the camp spots from the book.

I have enough stupid things in my life to stress about without this. I’m going to stop trying to match my mileage updates to an exact point on the route of the Hobbit and accept that I’m in the right general area for a campsite.

Although I am pretty excited at how close I am to my goal! Bilbo and Co have left the Trollshaws behind them and are going east through the woods. Bilbo doesn’t know it yet, but he will discover his own version of paradise within a couple of days. Based on previous updates, it will take me a couple of weeks. This entire journey has taken a lot longer than I expected (my original goal was to complete the walk in a year by averaging just over a mile a day) but it has been a fun way of tracking my walking over time, when it would otherwise have felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere.

Fili and Kili Revealed in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – ComingSoon.net This image is one of the pre-release photos from the filming of The Hobbit. I always knew that Fili and Kili were much younger than the other dwarves, a generation apart. But I never really thought about what a young dwarf might look like. I think I might be a little bit in love with Kili (on the right) although he does have a slightly Elvish look to him, don’t you think?

Mileage: 88.11
Total distance: 335.8 miles
Distance remaining to Rivendell: 61 miles

My god, when did that happen. I knew I’d been a bit lax about updating but suddenly I’ve passed a number of my landmarks and less only 60 miles to go!

I need to pay more attention. I’m missing lots of opportunities for great images.

Meanwhile, Bilbo Baggins has started having serious adventures. They’ve crossed the Last Bridge and Gandalf is missing and the pony bolted into the river and lost their food and then the entire company (except Gandalf, thank goodness) were captured by trolls.

Gandalf and company follow trail to Troll-hole. Find swords for Thorin and Gandalf. Bilbo takes blade. Collect gold. Return to fire.

The image today is by Douglas Carrel. I know we’ve already passed the trolls but it is one of my favourites and I would have hated to skip it!

Mileage: 18.2
Total distance: 282.93 miles
Distance remaining to Rivendell: 114 miles

It has taken me some time to get back into the swing of things and I spent a week near death suffering with a cold so progress isn’t as good as I’d like.

It’s good to see that I walked 18 miles over 18 days, which puts me back in line with my original goal. Unfortunately with the time I lost, I don’t think I’ll ever get the journey back on track for to one mile per day again on average.

But I am making headway. It is strangely exciting as I compare my progress to Bilbo Baggins in the book.

He’s in wild country but the weather is good. According to The Hobbit: Bag End to Rivendell it is the 24th of May and he’s been following the dwarves for 28 days.

If I continue this past Rivendell, I’d love to match my next destination with the season in the book. But there’s no real point: they are ranging between 4 and 9 miles a day and it’s taken me just over a year to walk what they did in a month.

Mile 282: Continue east. Behind, Weather Hills have almost disappeared. Ahead, dark wooded hills appear higher. Camp.

The image is by Alan Lee.

Many of his Middle Earth prints are available at Artists UK.