Oops, not sure what happened. Looks like my last post managed to post twice. Sorry... [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

Posting from the Gaffer's computer--had to adjust settings a bit to enable cookies for the Forum before I could post [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]. Made it past the Watchers on Monday and caught a ride from the Eagles to this portion of my journey. I see I've been given credit for 20 miles already, but in honesty must confess I'm only up to 10.5 so far (in 4 days, though, and did 4 yesterday). My pack was so heavy, owing to the cast iron cookery Sam insisted on packing for me, that my back is a little strained, so I've had to take it easy at first. This particular Green Hill country is quite lovely--very bright even when the sun is behind clouds---and nearby is a trail built where an Earthbound Dragon used to run, long ago. It's now used by walkers, riders, and Elves who go by so quickly their feet don't seem to touch the ground! Hope to reach the first campsite in the next couple of days [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img].

*sighs*

Well, no need to tell how far I've gotten, you can see below where I'm 'From.' It is truly amazing how much time life takes up, and I'm just beginning to realize it. Now that life calms down, I start walking more.

Bywater, Astron 28
===========================
We managed to walk 1.75 miles today, giving us a total of 12 miles. When we reached the Dragon most of the company just disappeared. Now it's just me and Frodo(1). There was still some snow on the ground but it wasn't so deep that it was hard to walk through. The weather was cloudy and chilly but still enjoyable. My sturdy walking stick was of great assistance when Frodo and I decided to climb a large rock(2). We looked forward to tomorrow's trip.

(1) Frodo is the name of the family dog.
(2) The rock was covered with moss that had, in the snow, rain, and hail, grown quite slippery and hard to walk upon.

Yes, its power is overwhelming. I fear that poor Eglantine Banks (if I'm Pippin, she'll be my mum, right?) will suffer from a heart attack one of these days. Seeing me outdoors, dragging my lazy dog behind me on long walks seems to shock her..
EDIT: Would you look at that, I've become a Shade!

[ April 20, 2003: Message edited by: vanwalossien ]

Hurray, I've reached Crickhollow! Not much time for a bath and rest, though; like Frodo and his companions, I must hurry on. I am leaving my comfortable hobbit hole in real life, taking a journey that will lead me away from communication with my friends here. I will keep on walking to Rivendell, but I won't be able to share my progress with all of you until I get back in several weeks. I will miss you all! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Thank you for the full text of that song, Alatariel. It's my favourite but I always forget the first verse, I keep thinking it starts with "To Rivendell..."

Alatáriël,

Great walking song ;D Nice way to celebrate the arrival at Crickhollow! Do you have a tune you use for it?

You can delete a post by using the edit function and checking the Delete Post box.

Cheers, mark12_30

I have a tune from the BBC radio version of FOTR- Ian Holm as Frodo!- for the song, if anyone has heard it?

No, no specific tune. Just a kind of monotone chant.

I haven't heard the BBC, but I have the Ron Inglis' Hobbit & LotR. I've only listened to part of the Hobbit, and he does sing the songs there, so maybe I'll hear it when I listen to LotR.

Oh my! Aleia has certainly been held up! She has reached Stock--58 miles--and is wiped out. Sometimes that rogue dog walks with her--the one from a few posts back--and it might just be following along. In case it coes back, she's decided to name it Rogue.

I wish Ron Inglis, as well as the BBC, would publish Just The Songs on CDs. I'd love to have them. I bought the BBC thirteen-disc set just for the music-- not cheap!-- and half the songs are only done halfway, or fade off halfway through and you can't hear the end of the tune... argh! And I just priced the Ron Inglis version; upwards of $90 for the whole set. Yeow.

It's enough to make me wish somebody would "rip" the CDs and post a set of MP3s online. I did pick up the Swann song-set online, and that was a start. Then I hunted and found a few midis.

Still, it irks me to know that those songs are out there, but not readily available at a reasonable price just for the songs.

Meanwhile I guess I'll keep using celtic tunes... I've discovered "The Lea Rig" also works for The Road goes ever on.

I've heard both the BBC and the Robert Inglis CDs and I must say I prefer the BBC tunes more. Of course that's obviously because I've been listening to the BBC versions many years now and I only recently heard the RI versions. For Upon The Hearth I just took the beginning tune and applied it to the rest of the song.

Another thing I find fun to do as I'm walking is sing Irish songs (of course not now, when I have a cough). The Rocky Road to Dublin is one, and then others that aren't really walking songs, like Danny Boy and Red is the Rose. Then there is translating them into Elvish and singing them that way, though the tune doesn't always work as well then.

Recently I've just been singing any hobbit walking song that comes into my head: all of them original, as well. I usually end up repeating the same thing due to not thinking about what I'm singing, but it doesn't matter, really.

Perhaps I could gather up a collection of lyrics to good walking songs, whether LotR or not, and put them on a webpage? LotR songs, definitely, though that would be quite unnecessary, seeing as we all probably own the books; a few Irish songs, mostly walking songs; and compose a few of my own, and other walkers could as well, if they'd be willing. For newly created songs we could just apply whatever tune we liked, unless someone were thorough enough to give a tune, as well. And not just LotR, Irish, and original songs. Does anyone have any favorite walking songs, or even non-walking songs that they enjoy singing while walking?

Snowing a blizzard here with a great big fog, making it near impossible to go walking without getting hopelessly lost in the woods. I don't dare risk it.

Hello, everybody! Just wanted to let you know that I'm still out here, walking.
O, the cruelty of my older sister. She makes me get up in the morning, to face the bitter cold (this is Texas, by the way), to walk rather than sleep.
Seriously, we've been having fun and I'm getting to know my older sister much better.

Dang, still in Green Hill country. But only 8 more miles to Woody End!! Maybe I'll make it to Rivendell by Christmas....


Helen: I got my Ron Inglis set on ebay about a month ago for $66, the Silmarillion unabridged for $41 & the Ron Inglis Hobbit for $11.50. I monitored and bid for a couple of weeks before I actually won the auction. Keep checking. You can find it cheaper than $90. I've been listening to the Martin Shaw Silmarillion in the car, and I'm really impressed with his reading.

---------------------------------------
"Well, that's that," he said. "Now I'm off!"
Bilbo chose his favorite stick from the stand; then he whistled. Three dwarves came out of different rooms where they had been busy.
"Is everything ready?" asked Bilbo. "Everything packed and labelled?"
"Everything," they answered.
"Well, let's start then!" He stepped out of the front door.
It was a fine night, and the black sky was dotted with stars. He looked up, sniffing the air. "What fun! What fun to be off again, off on the road with dwarves! This is what I have really been longing for, for years! Good-bye!" he said, looking at his old home and bowing to the door. "Good-bye, Gandalf!"
"Good-bye, for the present, Bilbo. Take care of yourself! You are old enough, and perhaps wise enough."
"Take care! I don't care. Don't you worry about me! I am as happy now as I have ever been, and that is saying a great deal. But the time has come. I am being swept off my feet at last," he added.....
Then without another word he turned away from the lights and voices in the fields and tents, and followed by his three companions went round into his garden, and trotted down the long sloping path. He jumped over a low place in the hedge at the bottom, and took to the meadows, passing into the night like a ristle of wind in the grass.

I don't imagine very many hobbits would be inclined towards much tramping through snow and cold.

When winter first begins to bite
and stones crack in the frosty night
When pools are black and trees are bare
'Tis evil in the wild to fare.

...and not much better when the nipping, biting, and bareness of trees isn't quite over yet! But soon the trees will leaf out, and walking will have more appeal. Courage!

Alatariel, I love the passages of Bilbo (and Frodo) leaving Bag-End; so sad, and so mysterious, and so alike. I've always loved how Frodo followed (if only he had known it) Bilbo down that garden path aand over that hedge! I wonder how many times Bilbo and Frodo had gone that way together, on their way to Woody End looking for Wood-elves.

Earendil sent me a note; she is walking (40 km, attahobbit!) Also heard from Lyra Greenleaf, Eruwen, & Esty.

[ April 22, 2003: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]

Walkers,

I've made a journal page where you can write down your adventures. Be Hobbit, Elf, Dwarf, Man!

WtR Journal

The idea for this was when I found a journal on the official WtR site, but it wasn't really a journal journal. It was just to keep track of all the walking, etc. that you did.

Enjoy!

Hello all! Yes I'm still walking, though very slowly. I'm not counting the amount walked in school, so I'm way behind.

On Saturday, myself, my family and a family friend went for a short hike/walk. We walked rather leisurely, mostly because of the sudden proliferation of crocuses that were sprouting. The only other fellow travellers that we encountered were a group of hobbit children climbing a local large rock. So our walk was neither adventuresome or dangerous, as it was much too sunny for the Black Riders to be out and about. We have had extraordinarily warm weather, almost summer like.

I just wanted to let you all know, Sophia's still with you [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] (She's talking in third person for a reason unknown to even herself, but...) 22 miles is all I've thus far accomplished, but considering finals are rapidly approaching, it's not too bad [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

Sophia

Because she's describing her hobbit-alter-ego. Or is it an elf?

Helen, You are doing so well! I'm very proud of you. I'm glad to see you've made it past that old, nasty Barrow Wight. Did you sing the song yourself to escape, or did you have to call on Tom to save you? [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

alaklondewen, thanks! But I haven't gotten to the Barrow-Downs yet, have I? I'm still on the way there; I think I have three miles left-- hang on I'll check. I've been going by The Barrow Wight's, which puts me not at the Barrow yet, but the other one puts me past it. Hmmm, there are some discrepancies between The Barrow-Wight's version and Ranger Jewel's version...

"Oh, Golly, a Configuration Management Nightmare!" [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

Well, whatever; it's been huge fun, and looks still to be. I'm either listening to Goldberry sing or I'm on the way to Bree. ...Sam? Where am I? And where in Middle-Earth is Gandalf, I'd like to know?

And if I did get past the Barrow-Wight, did I have to sing to do it? Or am I still on my way to-- Sam??? Sam-- where are you???

[ April 22, 2003: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]

Ok, the Green Hill country was beautiful when I first got here, but I'm ready to leave now. Still 5 miles to Woody End. Hey...my hobbit character on another website RPG is from Woody End. That means I'll be able to sleep in a real bed again! Oh yeah!!! [img]smilies/cool.gif[/img]

------------------------
Home is behind, the world ahead,
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadows to the edge of night,
Until the stars are all alight,
Then world behind and home ahead,
We'll wander back to home and bed.
Mist and twilight, cloud and shade,
Away shall fade! Away shall fade!
Fire and lamp, and meat and bread,
And then to bed! And then to bed!
------------------------

I've had an injury but I'm still tromping along at a snail's pace (or an injured elf's pace).

Been doing more gardening than walking, but good news! My hubby said he was going to try to run in the morning, too! I didn't think he'd EVER see that belly...

[ April 22, 2003: Message edited by: Raefindel ]

Rae, this thing does seem contagious.

I've arrived at "Home Sweet Home" [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]

They heard of the Great Barrows, and the green mounds, and the stone-rings upon the hills and in the hollows among the hills. Sheep were bleating in flocks. Green walls and white walls rose. There were fortresses on the heights. Kings of little kingdoms fought together, and the young Sun shone like fire on the red metal of their new and greedy swords. There was victory and defeat; and towers fell, fortresses were burned, and flames went up into the sky. Gold was piled on the biers of dead kings and queens; and mounds covered them, and the stone doors were shut; and the grass grew over all. Sheep walked for a while biting the grass, but soon the hills were empty again. A shadow came out of dark places far away, and the bones were stirred in the mounds. Barrow-wights walked in the hollow places with a clink of rings on cold fingers, and gold chains in the wind.' Stone rings grinned out of the ground like broken teeth in the moonlight.

OOoo! Ya scared me! Brrrrr...

Ok so I have not been on for a while but don’t get me wrong I have been walking and walking, walking, walking, walking oh and running! Did I mention walking? And my boyfriend took me up Mount Everest! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] he did... well sort of, it was a high mountain what can I say?

Well, I'm still walking, too! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
The only problem is that I haven't been able to "recruit" anyone to walk with me and walking alone isn't so much fun...Frodo was very lucky to have Sam with him!!
By the way, I did the "Location Finder"-test the other day and the place where I'd be most likely to live is...Rivendell!
At least I'm heading for the right direction...

Almost made it to a real bed tonight. I watched Elijah in "Huckleberry Finn" as I walked this evening. It's incredible how much Frodo I saw in Huck...or is it how much Huck I see in Frodo? My 9 year old granddaughter & I watched it this past weekend, and about five minutes into the film, she said "Grandma, that looks like Frodo!"

---------------------
"O! Wanderers in the shadowed land
despair not! For though dark they stand,
all woods there be must end at last,
and see the open sun go past:
the setting sun, the rising sun,
the day's end, or the day begun.
For east or west all woods must fail..."

I got a huge kick out of watching "young Frodo" in Huck Finn. (Edit-- no, it wasn't Huck Finn, it was Flipper! Oh, it's funny anyway.) It seemed to me that he put on a real growth spurt during the filming-- I don't think it was all camera angles. And you know how they shoot things out of sequence sometimes. So all the while I was watching "young Frodo" interacting with dolphins, other kids and Crocodile Dundee, I kept thinking... "He's twelve!" "He's sixteen!" "He's twelve!" "He's sixteen!" Hilarious.

[ April 24, 2003: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]

Wooohooo!! Woody End at last!! Only 5 more miles to Stock.

---------------------
But at that moment there came a sound like mingled song and laughter. Clear voices rose and fell in the starlit air. The black shadow straightened up and retreated. It climbed on to the shadowy horse and seemed to vanish across the lane into the darkness on the other side. Frodo breathed again.

"Elves!" exclaimed Sam in a hoarse whisper. "Elves, sir!" He would have burst out of the trees and dashed off towards the voices, if they had not pulled him back.

"Yes, it is Elves," saif Frodo. "One can meet them sometimes in the Woody End. They don't live in the Shire, but they wander into it in Spring and Autumn, out of their own lands away beyond the Tower Hills. I am thankful that they do!"

I've reached Stock, and I'm currently sitting in the Golden Perch drinking some ale to celebrate. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] Maybe someone else in the area will join me.

Aaah, I think she's a Maia. Who else gets to fling around thunderbolts at random? Such fun... Maybe she's related to Osse.

By the way, this Thunder Mistress has trudged a total of thirty seven miles! *fanfare* (A long weekend of walking about in Chicago will do it...)

Sophia

Well, I guess the older sister can defend herself. The two of us walking was completely Tinuviel's idea, so she can't complain. We're up to 28 miles (it'll be 30 in a few hours when I get her up again. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] )

This is most definately easier with someone, Tinuviel doesn't get up every time and I've walked alone a couple times.

Heh, heh, heh-- so we get to watch the duel of wits and wills between Dûrlossiel and Tinuviel? I didn't know that Luthien had a sister, or is Tinuviel named after Luthien...? This sounds like the makings of a story in itself. (Hint, hint.)

One of my little Elves had a birthday so I've been busy and not on the Downs. (She got a hampster and is ecestatic.)

I'ts funny, this end of the Old forest looks the same as the other side. In fact the whole tirp seems to look the same. This Elf is ready for some change!

Argh! Just when I'm getting within sight of the next landmark, in the nice +20 degrees C here, yesterday it started raining and didn't go over +10, and today it starts snowing! Snowing? What is with the weather? I think 2 inches have fallen since eleven (our time) last night. I can't even bike to school on Monday, because I hate riding on both snow and gravel, and hiking is our of the question because at our usual hiking spot, the snow is knee deep! If this weather continues this way, then I'll never get to Rivendell.

Hurrah! only 3 miles to the second campsite.

Had an interesting encounter the other day. I passed an old gaffer sitting by the roadside with his pony, so I greeted him and asked why he was looking so dejected. "I'm not feeling well," he replied. "This pony is too strong for me to ride today, and I'm too tired to walk home." I offered to see him there, so up he went into the saddle with me in front to control the stubborn beast. All went well till we came to a little downhill run ending in a stone wall--and didn't that pony take the bit in its teeth and gallop off, clearing the wall nicely! I managed to pull him up, and neither of us fell off. But then next I heard a great hallooing behind me--a Shirrif, on ponyback himself! He gave me a great scolding about reckless riding and endangerment, and hinted he might have to take me into custody, but the old gaffer spoke up and explained I was doing a good turn, that it wasn't even my pony and--here he whispered: "We always take this stretch at a gallop, and the pony knows it! but don't tell my wife or she'll have my head."
So after that the Shirrif let us ride on.

I have only passed one Black Rider--he barked in an unfriendly manner, but let me by nonetheless without giving chase.

Vardamar was very stupid. After staying the night at farmer Maggots, Vardamar prepared to set out on his journey. Before leaving Mrs. Maggot told Vardamar to make sure to wear his coat saying that while it might seem warm, it was cooler then he thought. Vardamar being young and thinking himself very tough, said it was a beautiful day, and went on in a T-Shirt. Needless to say, Vardamar became very sick, and did not move at all for a week. Now the sickness has passed, and Vardamar is building up his strength. He ran another two miles, and has reached Crickhollow (73 miles). He does remember to wear his jacket though.

Spent most of the day at a Hobbit t-ball game and working the concession stand. With all those little hungry Hobbits, we were busier than a hive of Beorn's honeybees. Decided to walk when I got back to my hobbit-hole and I finally made it to Stock. At this rate, I might actually make it to Bucklebury Ferry by the end of next week.

--------------------
Wonderful folk, Elves, sir! Wonderful!"...."Do you feel any need to leave the Shire now--now that your wish to see them has come true already?" he asked.
"Yes, sir. I don't know how to say it, but after last night I feel different. I seem to see ahead, in a kind of way. I know we are going to take a very long road, into darkness; but I know I can't turn back. It isn't to see Elves now, nor dragons, nor mountains, that I want--I don't rightly know what I want: but I have something to do before the end, and it lies ahead, not in the Shire. I must see it through, sir, if you understand me."
"I don't altogether. But I understand that Gandalf chose me a good companion. I am content. We will go together."

I've reached Frodo's first campsite at 18 miles by walking 2 miles this morning. And I plan to walk 2 more later in the day to make it a 20. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

There was a bit of an adventure today. Frodo (the dog) and I. As we were coming to a ridge we saw two Black Riders on top of it, heading down. I knew Frodo would make a big fuss about Black Riders (*cough*other dogs*cough*), so we darted into the forest silently, not daring to crack a twig. Frodo was quite upset at it and threatened to make a lot of noise, so I had to literally clamp his mouth shout with his hand. I don't think we were spotted. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Still searching the WtR site, trying to find the page that told how many miles you'd have to walk each week if you were to start now...