I never expected after major surgery in Feb 2022 that I would be asking myself if I would ever walk properly again. When you are faced with this, something in you changes, and after hard work to get it back, once you regain full ability to walk as you did before you treasure it.
Here is my story…
‘Powerful, Uplifting, Personal Journey of a Woman who overcomes life’s challenges with Walking’
Hi my name is Vicki, I am from Midhurst, West Sussex woman, , I am now 48 and I found that walking in nature around the South Downs gave me not only a positive energy, but new self-confidence, inner strength and a stronger passion for walking.
After overcoming the trauma of life changing surgery which left me relearning to walk, I share with you in my new book Coat On Coat Off Wet Feet my emotional heart warming journey about how I fought my physical and mental demons, through my diagnosis, to my road to recovery as well as how I trained and completed 2 Ultra Marathons, a 800 mile Arctic Virtual Challenge and hundreds of training miles whilst raising money and awareness for charities within 14 months.
My adventures started 1 year after my pelvic organ surgery as I challenged myself to completing 10 miles in the beautiful countryside, proving to myself that I had done the right thing for my body in undergoing major surgery. From that day, I have never looked back. I have discovered how walking in nature has helped me to heal, how I have became more productive in my day and how I dealt with life’s challenges including looking after my family, running a small business (The Tall Dog Small Business Services), dealing with my mums Ovarian Cancer diagnosis as well as the loss of both my grandparents, Dementia and my own daily health battles with EDS and Raynaud’s Syndrome.
I take you on my most memorable walks, and I relive them with you, sharing my experiences, memories, the sights, and the sounds, encouraging you to get out in nature and experience what being outdoors in the countryside offers you. Reinforcing that you can, even when times are tough and seem impossible, with sheer strength and determination, you can push your boundaries to points you never thought were possible. Never give up, put one foot in front of the other and you can achieve such remarkable things.
EXCITING NEWS FOR MARCH 2025
For me now as I have explored so many wonderful places walking around the Southdowns National Park, Hampshire and Surrey and continue to explore more of the amazing routes and paths we have in the local area I want to take this one step further.
Therefore alongside my book you can also join me on my walks with my New Walking Group starting on Tuesday March 4th at 10.00am 2025 where we will be going on both 3 mile walks once a week rotating on different days of the week (Tuesday/Wednesday or Thursday) and then on the 4th Week a 6 mile plus option
Coat On Coat Off Wellbeing Walks
Coat On Coat Off Wet Feet Book Now available on Audible
Also available as Paperback, Hardback and Kindle on Amazon
Enjoy Walking with Vicki in Colour
Helping Others to Get Back to Walking…
Knowing I have made a difference to a whole family through my walking makes everything I have done and do worthwhile. My sole intention of my new book is to simply encourage everyone to get out into nature, even just for 5 minutes and get out for a walk to help you experience what nature and walking has to offer you and all its wonderful benefits. This beautiful testimonial/story simply captures this all and has certainly made my day.
“Vicki has been such an inspiration to me with her walking. My children and I used to go on walks a lot but for the last few years we all use every excuse to not do it. Biggest excuse was the weather, seeing Vicki head out on her walks in all weathers made me realise that we’re missing out because it may rain. At the end of the day we have coats and wellies.
Going out for long walks together is really beneficial for us as a family, nature is incredible when you take the time to appreciate it. I myself can be very busy but going for a walk no matter what allows me to turn off the busy just for a moment. Seeing Vicki’s Facebook posts literally was the reason I made us all get on our shoes and get out, away from the tech and the million chores of the house.
We lost our love of exploring by accident but have now found it again and I have Vicki’s walking posts to thank for that! What I’ve taken from it is that there is always a reason to not go but how we feel during and after that walk trumps anything.” AA Midhurst