Cool Bloggers Walking Club April 2026: Final Recap

And just like that, another walking club is in the rearview mirror. Now might be the best time to admit that I prefer the October edition—for purely selfish reasons; October is my favourite month—so while I plan to host another edition of CBWC in 6 months, I might consider dropping the April round next year? We shall see.

Once again, it was such a delight to hear from people out exploring our beautiful world, often accompanied by four-legged friends. A huge thank you to everyone who participated and special thanks to those who submitted pictures and/or anecdotes from their walks. It brings me so much joy!

FINAL WALKS FROM OUR WALKING CREW

mbmom11: One day walking around with sunny skies, 80°F and 35 mph wind gusts at my daughter’s track practice. One night walking around a train station in the rain, 40°F and 40mph wind gusts.  ( My sister was coming in, and the train kept getting delayed.  I walked around the station on and off for 1.5 hours because I was so tired and didn’t want to fall asleep.) I even got outside yesterday to mow the lawn ( well, 1/5 of it) because it was a nice day and I needed to get moving.  No pictures of freshly mowed lawn because I actually stink at mowing. My son will have to go hit the spots I missed. 

[I’m not very good at mowing, either. John approaches it with a plan and precision; I approach it with a devil-may-care attitude. You can definitely spot the difference in the finished result.]

My walks in the last days of April included many hours walking around with my daughter at her track meet ( waiting for her events) and the redbud tree in my front yard leafing out in its dark purple glory.

Elinoora. I’ve been running (yellow shoes) and the weather was great. Sunny, a bit windy, not too hot. There were walks with gorgeous flowers and sheep again! Also some yoga, and also a trip to get my oldest his vaccination against meningitis. We cycled as a didn’t want to pay for parking, only to find parking was free 🤦 at least we got exercise? And it was like queuing at a theme park! A line outside, a longer line inside and then more lines inside the hall… It took about 30 minutes longer than expected. 

[I’m sure it would have been more fun to queue for an actual amusement park ride, but it’s far more important to queue for a vaccine. Gold stars for prioritizing this!]

The other collage is from our 8K walk in the dunes. We spotted a monument for German Jewish kids who were fleeing the Nazis, wacky art, a lovely old car, and of course gorgeous nature. 

Jenny in WV.

Week Three:

• Wednesday – Ran (aka slowly jogged) a mile in the park. 20 seconds faster than last week, but still way over where I used to be and would like to get back to. You can safely assume it takes more than 10 minutes for me to run a mile. [The fact you can run a mile already puts you in rarified air; the time is irrelevant! All the gold stars for moving your body! And congrats on the steadily improving time.]
• Thursday – Piano lesson night, I did a quick 12 minute Pop Pilates workout from YouTube and ended up with a headache, probably from trying to look up at the video on the TV while laying on the floor.
• Friday – The headache hung around all day. I came home from work and pretty much melted into the couch.
• Saturday – Felt a little better and spent most of the day volunteering. Might have taken a walk in the evening, I don’t remember. (I’m writing this 10 days latter – life happened). [“Life happened” feels like a perfect title to stamp over a lot of my days!]
• Sunday – And so begins a week of eating a lot and exercising almost none. Tonight I attended a Volunteer Appreciation Banquet. 
• Monday – Up extra early for a breakfast meeting. Also had a presentation to attend during lunch. Mowed the lawn after work, that took about 45 minutes.
• Tuesday – Band rehearsal again – took up my whole evening.

Week 4

• Tuesday – Another band rehearsal. Concert coming up on Saturday.
• Wednesday – Attended a Retirement Reception after work. It was a nice gathering with speeches, fancy appetizers, and a champagne toast! Probably should have taken a walk when I got home, but I don’t think I did.
• Thursday – Had a dinner meeting to attend, really only had time to go home from work, freshen up a little, and then head out the the restaurant. It was a nicer place than I usually go to and my employer was paying the bill so a great treat! (I’m on an interview committee and we were entertaining a candidate who had flown in from out out town).
• Friday – Another long day with meetings and a presentation. Really tired after work, watched TV and ate something. 
• Saturday – Woke up with a scratchy throat! Ugh! Did some laundry and took a three hour nap. When your sick, rest is best!
• Sunday – Another band rehearsal (I’m in two bands). Made dinner and packed up leftovers for lunches, and tried to do some of the housework that I didn’t get done yesterday. No exercise again.
• Monday- Mowed the lawn. Still didn’t feel 100% so I skipped using the string trimmer to edge the yard. Still took about 35 minutes.

Week 5

• Wednesday – It was cold and rainy. Instead of getting any kind of exercise, I made a pot of Chicken Noodle soup. [A smart—delicious!—decision.]
• Thursday – In an attempt to at least finish strong, I went for a 1 mile walk.

Looking back I’m pretty sure the first half of the month, I did something on 12 of the 15 days. And the second half, was the opposite, I pretty much only mowed the lawn – and I only do that to keep the HOA happy, not for the workout, lol. A couple of activities are canceled this week, so I am hoping to get back on track with regular walks and also pull weeds and put fresh mulch in the flower bed, I guess we shall see!

Melissa. I’ve had a little less walking this week because I’ve had a bit of a virus, but I still managed to walk to the shops and take Riley to the park. Before I got sick, I went into the city and did a self-guided street art walk. 

[I know people have very mixed feelings about street art but I typically LOVE it!]

Nicole. For the last week of walking club! Rex and I took an extra long walk to “see” our pretend friend Lloyd Forest. He wants you to know the park closed at 11!

[Please assure both Lloyd and Rex that if I ever get to visit this park, I will make sure to be out before 11!!]

Engie. It was the last week of CBWC. In typical midwestern fashion, I bragged about our weather this week – look at the sun! and the flowers! – but I was also taken down a peg when I had to put on a hat and gloves later on in the week. This week, I only went out for walks with my best girl Hannah the Dog, but we’re both happy to enjoy time together. The flooding is starting to recede after last week’s disaster, but as you can see here, the riverwalk is still flooded. 

Thanks for organizing all of this. I would probably be out there with the dog regardless, but CBWC does make me slow down and appreciate the beauty that I am surrounded by in my adorable little town.

[Hannah looks so graceful and poised in her glamour shot!]

Michelle. Here’s a photo for the CBWC roundup. It sure was fun.

[THOSE CALVES. My heart is melting. How precious!]

Sabine. We went away for a few days and as an exceptional “walk” we went to the 9th highest German mountain outside the Alps. We hiked up and took the steam train back down to where we started the hike. The kids did okay on that day and I think everyone enjoyed it. 

After returning home from Germany I took a nice walk with the mother of a late friend in a botanical garden and near the river. We had a good talk as well. 

The picture with the canal is from a “forced” walk: I was too early to pick up our daughter from a birthday party and took a walk around that neighbourhood – lovely day with blue skies.

[Forced or not, what a picture-perfect day for a walk!]

Jacquie. Here we are at the beginning of May!!  I love this time of year and especially enjoy admiring all the spring flowers coming to life while out walking.  

Top left and right are from my garden.  Left is a Columbine.  It produces such pretty flowers.  Right is my lilac that has produced flowers for the first time!

Bottom ones are from our trip to Morocco.  Left is an Aloe plant from a little mountain town called Ouirgane south of Marrakech.  Right is a cactus near Fes.

[What a fun juxtaposition of plant life: British Columbia and Morocco are a long way apart on a map, but you found lots of natural beauty in both locations.]

Sunny from Seattle. I don’t think I’ve ever commented on your blog but I do love reading it and I have joined your walking challenges. Instead of photos from my walks, I thought you might like see my tracker. Adding fun stickers helped me check off every day (previously I always missed at least a couple of days). The sneaker means I walked on the treadmill, and flower means I walked with a friend or family member. Otherwise for outdoor walks I put a sticker for weather unless it was in an unusual location like the beach, a college visit, or a baseball game.

[Sunny, I could not love this walking tracker more if I tried!!! I love seeing all the sun icons, too.]

ELISABETH’S WALKS

No big variety from me this week—everything was in and around Helsinki. And, for the most part, walks were few and far between because our family was walking wounded after a nasty cold bug hit the kids especially hard.

I did manage to get outside every single day and this walking club was the impetus for a number of those walks.

Wednesday, April 22 | Helsinki, Finland | Chapel of Silence, Amos Rex, a trip to Espoo (via public transit, but walking was definitely involved).

Thursday, April 23 | Helsinki, Finland | Cafe Regatta, the Tram Museum, Seurasaari.

Friday, April 24 | Helsinki, Finland | Helsinki Art Museum, Old Church + a stop at Ekberg 1852.

Saturday, April 25 | Helsinki, Finland | I walked (in rain) to the grocery store.

Sunday, April 26 | Helsinki, Finland | John, Indy and I walked to Oodi Library, the City Museum, and Helsinki Cathedral.

Monday, April 27 | Helsinki, Finland | After John got home from work, we walked to the Rock Church (and spotted a robot delivering groceries).

Tuesday, April 28 | Helsinki, Finland | I walked to get groceries + John and I went to the Museum of Architecture and Design on their night with free entry.

Wednesday, April 29 | Helsinki, Finland | Indy and I walked to get groceries, with a requisite stop at a park en route.

Thursday, April 30 | Helsinki, Finland | Winter Garden + a walk-and-talk with Joy!!

I didn’t have a paper tracking sheet, but I did keep tabs on my walking routes in a notebook.

MAPS!

I always thinks it’s extra fun to visualize where we’re walking in the world. For this edition of CBWC, we got a move on in 18 different countries!

In terms of North America, 14 provinces/states were proudly represented.

And that’s a wrap on this edition of the CBWC. Happy walking, friends!