Tricia walked 19 miles this week | 1033 miles to Mordor
Walking Across Middle-Earth
Week 32: I Made it to Caradhras!
When I made Walking Across Middle-Earth, I intentionally included some short journeys between milestones to counterbalance some of these massive distances (250 miles between Rivendell and Hollin!!). This was one of those short jaunts, because the poor Fellowship started up a mountain and then decided it was too hard. Relatable.
I had originally thought that I would hike the Grouse Grind during this section of the walk, but it’s cold and dreary here in Vancouver, so while that actually makes it perfect, I just couldn’t muster the energy or interest. The closest I got to representing Caradhras was accidentally being in Victoria when it snowed, which is, maybe, kind of treacherous.
Now I’m on working on 68 miles to Moria…will I treat myself by visiting a mine?
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If you want to join our Fellowship, let me know by emailing roarcatreads@gmail.com and I’ll add you to our What’s App group. It’s never too late to join in – we want there to be walkers at every stage of the journey!
Tricia walked 21 miles this week | 1092 miles to Mordor Rachel walked 21 miles this week | 1005 miles to Mordor
Walking Across Middle-Earth
Week 29: I Made it to Hollin!
Whew, what a slog! It was 250 miles from Rivendell to Hollin, and it took me TWO AND A HALF MONTHS to walk it.
‘Yes, and where then?’ asked Merry.
‘To the end of the journey — in the end,’ said Gandalf. ‘We cannot look too far ahead. Let us be glad that the first stage is safely over. I think we will rest here, not only today but tonight as well. There is a wholesome air about Hollin. Much evil must befall a country before it wholly forgets the Elves, if once they dwelt there.’
The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 2, Ch 3, The Ring Goes South
During this part of my journey, I was able to start working from home full-time. While this was great for my personal life, it meant I did not get transit steps every workday. For a while, my weekly miles were abysmally low, but a couple weeks ago I made a push to go outside more often. The real key to getting steps, however? Walking the circuit from kitchen to living room and back…for up to four miles, some days! I may have bruises from bumping against the table while trying to read and walk at the same time, but I made it to Hollin, and now all that stands before me is… Caradhras the Cruel.
Join the Fellowship
Download maps and spreadsheets for free at our Ko-Fi shop!
If you want to join our Fellowship, let me know by emailing roarcatreads@gmail.com and I’ll add you to our What’s App group. It’s never too late to join in – we want there to be walkers at every stage of the journey!
Tricia walked 20 miles this week | 1330 miles to Mordor Rachel walked 30 miles this week | 1315 miles to Mordor
Walking Across Middle-Earth
Week 18: I Made it to Rivendell!
This post is a little late. I got to Rivendell in mid-August, just in time to daydream about how I could incorporate Emerald City Comic Con into my celebration. Rachel had reached Rivendell in early July (she flies!) and we spent the majority of our ECCC experience wandering the Exhibitors and Artists Alley for the perfect LotR merch.
There were a lot of great options, and I ended up choosing a watercolour triptych with scenes from each movie in the trilogy balanced on a sword. Rachel got a bottle opener shaped like the shards of Narsil. Why the sword theme? Well, it’s in Rivendell that Bilbo gives Sting to Frodo, and in the books, Aragorn leaves the elven city equipped with Narsil’s shards reforged. Initially, Rachel wanted to get an actual sword, but ECCC only sold foam swords (probably smart), and in the end a real sword felt more like an End of the Journey reward.
We also ran into the Eye of Sauron at ECCC. We saw her from afar twice, and when we passed near her a third time, we knew we had to ask for a photo. As we thanked her and turned away, she said, “I have something for you,” and handed us each a plastic gold ring. “Don’t worry if you experience any side effects.”
AMAZING.
Tricia’s Tracker
Rachel’s Tracker
Join the Fellowship
If you want to join our Fellowship, let me know by emailing roarcatreads@gmail.com and I’ll add you to our What’s App group. It’s never too late to join in – we want there to be walkers at every stage of the journey!
Tricia walked 22 miles this week | 1350 miles to Mordor Rachel walked 12 miles this week | 1221 miles to Mordor
Walking Across Middle-Earth
Week 17: I Made it to the Stone Trolls!
It’s been over four months since we started this project, and I have to say I’m really proud of us for keeping it up. It has been really eye-opening, both in understanding my own walking habits but also in realizing just how much ground the hobbits covered in the first section of their journey. It’s a long way from the Shire to Rivendell, and they were half my size and without shoes!
When I reached the Stone Trolls (420 miles!), I knew exactly how I wanted to celebrate the milestone. Frodo and Sam were raised hearing Bilbo’s stories about the trolls, and here they realize their lives are intersecting with his adventures. One of my favorite movies plays with similar themes, but because it’s a tear jerker, Rachel won’t watch it unless it’s a special occasion (she does not find sobbing uncontrollably enjoyable in the way that I do).
Big Fish is a Tim Burton movie starring Ewan McGregor, and it’s all about a son trying to understand his father by separating fact from fiction before realizing it’s more complicated than he assumes. It’s absolutely excellent, and yes, we did sob uncontrollably. From CATHARSIS.
Tricia’s Tracker
Rachel’s Tracker
Join the Fellowship
Download maps and spreadsheets for free at our Ko-Fi shop!
If you want to join our Fellowship, let me know by emailing roarcatreads@gmail.com and I’ll add you to our What’s App group. It’s never too late to join in – we want there to be walkers at every stage of the journey!
Tricia walked 31 miles this week | 1549 miles to Mordor Rachel walked 30 miles this week | 1428 miles to Mordor
Walking Across Middle-Earth
Week 9: I Made it to Weathertop, Time to Get Stabbed!
I planned to celebrate my arrival at Weathertop (251 miles into my Middle-Earth journey!) by asking Rachel if she would care for me as though I’d been stabbed by a Morgul blade. This turned out to be more necessary than I’d intended, because I went to a full-body massage the same day and had one of the most embarrassing experiences of my life.
Some context: For the past six months or so, there have been chunks of time where I experience severe lower back pain when I first wake up. When I went for the massage (which I hoped would help with the lower back pain and with general carrying-anxiety-in-my-shoulders), the actual 60-minute session was lovely! I felt like a hot bowl of soup at the end, and the masseuse told me she would slip out while I got redressed. That’s when the horror began.
I tried to sit up, and my lower back spasmed, more painfully than it ever had before. I couldn’t move, it hurt so badly, and let me tell you: It is a unique terror to be naked and unable to move!! In desperation, I just kind of…rolled myself along the massage table to get nearer the chair full of my clothes. I tried to stand to reach them, but couldn’t. So I stretched my arm as far as it could go and nearly cried with relief as I managed to grab each piece of clothing and put it on. Next were my socks and shoes, but the floor was somehow further away from me than it had ever been before. I awkwardly threw myself to the ground so that I could reach them without bending over, put them on, and clawed myself upright.
By then, I had moved enough that my back was slightly less excruciating, and I was able to walk. However, I had taken far longer to get dressed than could be reasonably expected. When I opened the door for the masseuse to return, I said, “Um, my back hurt when I tried to get up, like…pretty bad.”
“Huh,” she said, “Well, try these stretches for your neck.”
“But I had a hard time standing up. It was like I described before the massage, how in the mornings my lower back hurts?”
“Hmm. You must have been so relaxed that when you try to move, your back spasms.”
“How can this…stop happening?”
The masseuse directed me to sit down in a chair and stand up while being conscious of using my core to do so. “Just do this today and help your body remember how to be a body.”
HELP MY BODY REMEMBER HOW TO BE A BODY? When did it forget?? No one told me that bodies could just forget how to perform basic functions!
“Haha, that’s uh, pretty embarrassing!” I said, shuffling toward my backpack so that I could make an exit out of this hellscape.
“Oh, don’t be embarrassed. Come back next month!”
Like heck I will, Witch-Queen of Massages! I hobbled to the skytrain station, and by the time I got home, the only thing that still hurt was my pride. I flopped onto the couch, and Rachel dutifully cared for my wounded spirit, which had left this plane of existence and was fully occupied with the horror of my 34-year-old body just…forgetting how to body with no real solution other than “sit while using your core for one day”!
Anyway, I made it to Weathertop.
Tricia’s Tracker
Massage horror aside, I’m pleased with my progress. I haven’t had any big weeks lately, but I’m happy with a slow-and-steady pace for now!
Rachel’s Tracker
Rachel is still going further than me each week, but with miles in the 30s it’s a breeze compared to her earlier records.
Join the Fellowship
If you want to join our Fellowship of five, let me know by emailing roarcatreads@gmail.com. It’s never too late to join in – we want there to be walkers at every stage of the journey!
Tag your social media photos and stories with
#rcrhobbitjourney to encourage each other!
Download maps and spreadsheets for free at our Ko-Fi shop!
Tricia walked 30 miles this week | 1663 miles to Mordor Rachel walked 38 miles this week | 1600 miles to Mordor
Walking Across Middle-Earth
Week Five: Second Milestone Reached, and I’m Feeling Over-Confident
Rachel arrived in Bree with her first steps of the week, and I arrived at the last minute, but it was enough to celebrate together! Rachel had the absolutely brilliant idea to mark our arrival at Bree with a wheel of Brie. This is why I’m going to marry her.
Tricia’s Tracker
This week really showed me how this conceit is inspiring me to walk more. I desperately wanted to get to Bree, so I made sure I walked when I didn’t want to in order to get the miles I needed! I wound up arriving with just one mile to spare, which feels exactly like the sort of pressure that drove the hobbits to their last hobbit-based destination.
Rachel’s Tracker
I think this is the last week in which it will appear that Rachel and I are in the same location. She’s only 41 miles away from Weathertop, and she’s disappearing over the horizon as I scarf down my second breakfast at the Prancing Pony.
Join the Fellowship
Download maps and spreadsheets for free at our Ko-Fi shop!
Join our Fellowship’s What’s App group message to send encouragements to each other as we pass through Hobbiton and beyond.
If you want to join us, let me know by emailing roarcatreads@gmail.com. It’s never too late to join in – we want there to be walkers at every stage of the journey!
Tricia walked 38 miles this week | 1693 miles to Mordor Rachel walked 42 miles this week | 1638 miles to Mordor
Walking Across Middle-Earth
Week Four: First Milestone Reached, and It Feels So Good
Since my last post, I stepped up my walking game and walked 29 miles in week three. That put me 29 miles away from the first WAM-E milestone…with a goal within reach, I power walked my way there (and further!) with 38 miles in week four!
Rachel had already reached the Tom Bombadil milestone in week three, but she waited for me to join her before celebrating. When I think of Tom Bombadil, I think of bright clothing, a beautiful lady (Tom’s wife, Goldberry), and lots of singing. Naturally, the way we celebrated was to bingewatch Ru Paul’s Drag Race!
Was Tom Bombadil a drag queen? All signs point to yes.
Tricia’s Tracker
I’m taking off! It’s almost like the Black Riders and/or Old Forest had me scurrying in my furry feet.
Rachel’s Tracker
Rachel over here is putting me to shame. Walking the dog plus playing softball is basically the equivalent of riding Bill the Pony toward the horizon. She has already reached Bree, but that celebration will be covered in a future post.
Join the Fellowship
Our Fellowship has grown into a hearty band of four! We’ve got a What’sApp group message where we send encouragements to each other as we pass through Hobbiton and beyond.
If you want to join us, let me know by emailing roarcatreads@gmail.com. It’s never too late to join in – we want there to be walkers at every stage of the journey!
Tag your social media photos and stories with
#rcrhobbitjourney to encourage each other!
Download maps and spreadsheets for free at our Ko-Fi shop!
Tricia walked 18 miles this week | 1760 miles to Mordor Rachel walked 44 miles this week | 1729 miles to Mordor
Week Two: Is Pepe Bill the Pony or Gollum?
Last week Rachel and I went to the airport to pick up Pepe the Shih Tzu; he’s the beloved pet of a Turkish family who recently immigrated to the United States. There are a lot of weird reasons why he’s spending time in Canada before reuniting with them, but the short story is that he could be spending up to six months with us (reach out on socials @roarcatreads if you want the long story).
I thought that having Pepe would mean a massive increase in miles walked, and for Rachel, that was definitely true! She takes him on an hour-long 6:00 a.m. walk, while I only take him out for bio breaks where I lose my interest in attempting a longer walk because he stops to sniff at and pee on literally everything. Hopefully I find a way to get past this, because Rachel is pulling away into the distance!
Tricia’s Tracker
Embarrassing! Last week I was all, “This was a very typical week – it’s only up from here!” And then a 4 mile decrease. Let’s check in on Rachel:
Rachel’s Tracker
Forty-four miles!! She lapped me and then some. Her early morning long walks with Pepe combined with the return of softball season mean she is one week away from our first milestone, while Tom Bombadil is not even on my horizon.
Join the Fellowship
Our Fellowship has grown by one. My brother Roy is joining the trek and has started tracking his miles and he heads out from The Shire. If you want to join us, let me know and we’ll all encourage each other as we desperately try to keep up with Rachel. “This Ring isn’t going to destroy itself,” she said when I complained. Well then. On to week three!
Tag your photos and stories with
#rcrhobbitjourney to encourage each other!
Download maps and spreadsheets for free at our Ko-Fi shop!
Tricia walked 22 miles | 1778 miles to Mordor Rachel walked 27 miles | 1773 miles to Mordor
Week One: How Our Journey Began
A couple weeks ago, the internet advertised The Conquerer’s The Lord of the Rings Virtual Challenge, a $200 walking challenge that looked very cool, but…$200. I am always looking for a unique motivator to get outside and get moving, and I am a huge LotR fan. I figured I could make my own version for free, which is exactly what I spent my free time on holiday doing!
It turns out there are a lot of Middle-Earth nerds who want to retrace Frodo and Sam’s journey from Hobbiton to Mount Doom! I liked The Nerd Fitness Walking to Mordor and Back spreadsheet but wanted more milestones to enjoy along the way, so I used LOTR Project to calculate my own walking journey. The result is available for free in our Ko-Fi shop!
“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
The Fellowship of the Ring
Going Out Our Door
This week Rachel and I both started our journeys. We started the week with a hobbit-worthy afternoon tea (shown in the blog cover picture). We tried to keep our walking fairly typical, so this should be a fairly good foundational number.
Using my Fitbit app, I can see that I walked 21.97 miles this week. Since it takes 1,800 miles to get to Mount Doom, it will take me 82 weeks to walk there at this pace…that’s one year and 7.5 months. YIKES. I’ll see if I can step up the pace a little bit!
I’ll be blogging about my experiences semi-regularly, and I would love for you to join me. After all, what’s a walking journey without a fellowship?
Tag your photos and stories with
#rcrhobbitjourney to encourage each other!
Download maps and spreadsheets for free at our Ko-Fi shop!
I loved the Disney+ show Loki, and the bisexually lit episode 3 included a moment so many of us have LONG been waiting for – a popular, named Marvel character claiming a queer identity. The post Loki brings the trickster’s bisexual legacy to the MCU celebrates the scene and describes Marvel and Disney’s long and questionable journey to get here.
I have had the bad luck to celebrate TWO birthdays under COVID-19 restrictions. Currently in BC we are not allowed to hang out with anyone outside of our household, so I asked my girlfriend to join me in the nerdiest, most introverted birthday celebration imaginable: a Lord of the Rings movie marathon. It reached new heights of perfection when I remembered that 33 is a special age in LotR lore:
At that time Frodo was still in his tweens, as the hobbits called the irresponsible twenties between childhood and coming of age at thiry-three.
The Fellowship of the Ring
Secondly, to celebrate my birthday. Cheers again. I should say: OUR birthday. For it is, of course, also the birthday of my heir and nephew, Frodo. He comes of age and into his inheritance today.
The Fellowship of the Ring
With this seal of nerdy approval, Rachel and I celebrated my birthday in a decidedly hobbit-approved fashion: By eating good food, drinking good drink, and partaking in a good story from the comfort of my hobbit hole.
We were inspired by Webstaurant Store Blog’s Hobbit Meal Times and came up with the following schedule for ourselves.
9:00 a.m. Combined Breakfast and Second Breakfast
Admittedly, it’s not a strong start to combine two meals, but we never eat breakfast at 7:00. Anyway, the bacon, eggs, and toast was delicious, which is the most important thing!
11:00 a.m. Elevenses
Halfway through The Fellowship of the Ring, we went for a quick walk to the neighborhood Breka for an almond croissant, carrot and walnut muffin, and breakfast cookie – too much, but wow, so good.
1:00 p.m. Luncheon
We forgot to buy food for lunch, so in between Fellowship and The Two Towers, we once again went across the street for Chung Chun Rice Dog (full review coming soon). Small but mighty!
3:00 p.m. Afternoon Tea
Just before the battle of Helm’s Deep, we grabbed boba tea for our take on afternoon tea. No joke, we live within a block of three boba tea places, and that is why I love our apartment.
6:00 p.m. Dinner
By this time we were flagging, both with sitting through 8 hours of movie and with shoving sugary foods into our mouth. But we were eating like hobbits, dammit!! So I served us the tiniest portion of some butternut squash soup Rachel had pre-made the night before. Absolutely delicious; I can’t wait to eat it while actually hungry.
8:00 p.m. Supper
Things were at their darkest point in Return of the King when we dished out homemade cottage pie. It helped with the aching sadness, but again….this was all so much food, and I definitely didn’t need more. Thank goodness for leftovers!
9:00 p.m. Birthday Cake
Of course there’s always room for cake.
10:00 It’s over
I love these movies as much as I did when they came out 20 years ago! What a perfect way to celebrate my birthday in these COVID times. I highly recommend the meal plan for anyone else contemplating a marathon of the extended editions, but go with small portions early on…it’s a marathon, after all!
Roar Cat Reads 