My friend Daphne is driving me crazy. She’s a bit of a fitness fanatic and while I don’t mind a nice walk and a swim at the local gym pool, she tends to take things to the next level and expects me to join in. She popped in the other day and said that she hadn’t actually seen London and wouldn’t it be nice to have a bit of a walk around. Of course, I agreed, so we made a date.

A beautiful Saturday morning and I was dreaming about a beach in Australia when the image in my mind shattered into million little pieces as the doorbell rang…and rang…and…Daff was standing at the door ready and raring to go. She had rocked up in joggers, a pink backpack, training pants and a shirt, one of those headbands that keep the perspiration out of your eyes and some electronic stuff attached to her arm. This didn’t look to be a casual stroll through London.

I was given enough time to have an orange juice and a piece of toast before I was dragged out of the door to start our ‘little’ walk. It was only about 8.30am on a Saturday. Not a lot happening in London at that time although the day was really fabulous. Bright sunny day with blue skies. Needless to say, we walked and walked and walked. Admittedly, I saw things that I had not even bothered to visit during my time in London so it was a revelation.

Harrods, the Queens Gardens, Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament on the Thames and Big Ben all provided great moments of sightseeing and history. I insisted we stop and have some lunch which turned out to be a bar offering healthy salads along our route and at which we sat down and were able to look over the river. I asked Daff what all the gadgets were on her arm. She said that everything has something to help her better track her fitness performance. Hers was an intermediate level but if I were interested, I could compare activity trackers at Harvey Norman, where she bought hers.

“Daphne, why on earth would I want one of those?” She explained that it doesn’t only measure the distance she walks but even the the hours she sleeps and the quality of the sleep. She suggested I could start with a basic model and I would be amazed at the information I could get about my lifestyle from such a tracker.

“For example, do you know how far we have walked so far?”

“No. Do I need to know that? My legs are aching and my feet are sore. That’s how far we have walked!”

“Actually, Amy, you might be surprised to know that we have walked over 10 kilometres so far and burnt 160 calories.”

“10 kilometres! Are you kidding? And we haven’t finished yet!” I didn’t mention that I felt even more tired knowing that I had walked so far.