Hi, I'm Dean and I've been living in Rowley Regis in the West Midlands since Christmas.
I'm originally from Oldham on the edge of the Pennines, and spent the last ten years living in Derby.
About this time last year, I did a few solo walks in the Peak District, trying out walks from books. I really enjoyed it but didn't stick to it when work got in the way.
A couple of weeks ago I decided to try and get back into it. I did a 6.5 mile group walk with a local ramblers group, really enjoyed it but found it a bit slow and easy. A couple of days ago I did a 12 mile walk as part of the Dudley trail annual may day walk. I found the first ten miles easy but the last couple of miles were harder. But I'm glad I was able to complete it in 3 hours 50 minutes, and it helped that I could go at a decent pace.
I'm planning to carry on with more group walks, and build up my stamina. I'm lucky that I now have a 25 minute walk to the station as part of my work commute, it should help clock up the miles.
