Both Christine and e-Christine are spending a bit of time in Wales, where I am (self-styled) "staff nurse in residence" and trying to train Jen to hammer on the bedroom floorboards when she needs something.
I'm on a mission to fill a toybox for Ava, so a 3-mile walk saw me scouring the charity shops in Wellfield, Albany and Whitchurch Roads - sadly with no success on that front, but I walked as far as Slunks hairdressers on Whitchurch Road, where Heloise curated her exhibition earlier this year.
Roath Park is just around the corner, and a 2- or 4-mile walk gets me around the recreation areas + rose garden, or right around the lake and back. I did the 4 miles and the lake looked beautiful.
Jen wants me to borrow her bike and ride the Taff Trail. I think I'll save that one for when she's recovered and we'll do it together and celebrate.
Saturday, 9 July 2011
Monday, 13 June 2011
Tre Pol and Pen - and Jen
It's that time of year again, and Mum is spending three weeks in Cornwall in a caravan at Mother Ivey's Bay. Jen came too and we had a day and two halves to walk and talk, and to reflect on the belonging that we feel when we're in Cornwall - daughters of two "Cornishmen and true".
In the short time available to us we added 12 miles to LeJog, revisiting Booby's, Constantine and Treyarnon Bays - all 'thin places' that connect with something deep within.
Here are the photos we took.
Jen is starting her own journey soon, and she is blogging it here. It comes with a (literal) health warning, and is not for the faint-hearted.
Jen - I know you want to be the first on the dance-floor at Anna's September wedding. In the meantime here's the promise:
you'll never walk alone
Here are the photos we took.
Jen is starting her own journey soon, and she is blogging it here. It comes with a (literal) health warning, and is not for the faint-hearted.
Jen - I know you want to be the first on the dance-floor at Anna's September wedding. In the meantime here's the promise:
you'll never walk alone
Tuesday, 24 May 2011
Enneagram, Mwnt, Bara Brith and Quiddler
Well, it's 'bogof' this week - two for the price of one.
Sat 14th May dawned with "Hindhead Tunnel Walk" crossed through in the diary (all tickets sold-out) and "Enneagram Day" re-inserted.
The Enneagram is all about an inner journey and Simon Parke introduced us to the subject at a Spirituality day in the Anglican Cathedral in Portsmouth. There was only time to 'dip a toe in the water' as the scope is huge and really requires individual sessions with a mentor, but we were given plenty of time to ask questions and to catch a glimpse of this fascinating self-awareness tool. Click here to read more about Simon Parke and his new book.
The following day I joined the Chichester Walkers at the Red Lion in Chalton and walked somewhere-or-other (eyes down, chat chat chat). Christian assures me it was 7 miles and here we are, all neatly lined up!
And then it was off to Mwnt - West Wales's best-kept secret. I waved to the virtual walker as I crossed into Wales, having plotted her position pretty much on the Welsh border, halfway across the Severn Bridge.
When I reached Mwnt Valerie and June had already been for a walk on the beach and met someone who was (really) walking from Fishguard to John o'Groats. Annie eventually arrived after taking a detour via Lampeter.... On Saturday morning I saw a pod of dolphins crossing the bay and on Sunday morning there were seals just off the beach. We visited Cardigan to buy Welsh cakes and Bara Brith to celebrate the walker's arrival in Wales.
Quiddler was new to me - a word game played with cards - and as usual it brought out my competitive spirit.
Thanks once more to Islay for letting us use her caravan and 'drink deep' in this truly special place.
Sat 14th May dawned with "Hindhead Tunnel Walk" crossed through in the diary (all tickets sold-out) and "Enneagram Day" re-inserted.
The Enneagram is all about an inner journey and Simon Parke introduced us to the subject at a Spirituality day in the Anglican Cathedral in Portsmouth. There was only time to 'dip a toe in the water' as the scope is huge and really requires individual sessions with a mentor, but we were given plenty of time to ask questions and to catch a glimpse of this fascinating self-awareness tool. Click here to read more about Simon Parke and his new book.
The following day I joined the Chichester Walkers at the Red Lion in Chalton and walked somewhere-or-other (eyes down, chat chat chat). Christian assures me it was 7 miles and here we are, all neatly lined up!
And then it was off to Mwnt - West Wales's best-kept secret. I waved to the virtual walker as I crossed into Wales, having plotted her position pretty much on the Welsh border, halfway across the Severn Bridge.
When I reached Mwnt Valerie and June had already been for a walk on the beach and met someone who was (really) walking from Fishguard to John o'Groats. Annie eventually arrived after taking a detour via Lampeter.... On Saturday morning I saw a pod of dolphins crossing the bay and on Sunday morning there were seals just off the beach. We visited Cardigan to buy Welsh cakes and Bara Brith to celebrate the walker's arrival in Wales.
Quiddler was new to me - a word game played with cards - and as usual it brought out my competitive spirit.
Thanks once more to Islay for letting us use her caravan and 'drink deep' in this truly special place.
Saturday, 14 May 2011
GPS and Galley Slaves
So, how are they doing?
Well, the walker is skirting around Bristol and heading for the Severn bridge. Miles were added this week when Peter and Margaret joined me after work for a saunter along the foreshore followed by soup and fruit at home.
I need to help LeJog along a bit so my challenge for the next week is to ensure that by the time I drive across the bridge into Wales on Thursday, the virtual walker will be there to meet me.
The cyclist is still north of Inverness and heading towards Dingwall.
Now that I've been in the new job for over a month I'm not feeling quite so wiped out in the evenings. The commute to the ship is 8 miles and I'm exploring all the available routes, trying to find the one with the least challenging hills on the way home.
Centre Manager Jon pestered Denise and me to pose for this photo -
as you can see, we're just a couple of shrinking violets really.....or are we galley slaves?
The full blog for the new ship can be found here:
Some time ago I came across Project 1p. At that point Luke had made the news by becoming a 'landowner' in Bulgaria just weeks after starting his swapping project (starting with 1p).Now it seems he has a wedding dress to swap. If Anna hadn't already got hers for September I might have been tempted to contact him. What do you think I could have offered in return?
oh - and RIP RB10. Can't win 'em all.
Well, the walker is skirting around Bristol and heading for the Severn bridge. Miles were added this week when Peter and Margaret joined me after work for a saunter along the foreshore followed by soup and fruit at home.
I need to help LeJog along a bit so my challenge for the next week is to ensure that by the time I drive across the bridge into Wales on Thursday, the virtual walker will be there to meet me.
The cyclist is still north of Inverness and heading towards Dingwall.
Now that I've been in the new job for over a month I'm not feeling quite so wiped out in the evenings. The commute to the ship is 8 miles and I'm exploring all the available routes, trying to find the one with the least challenging hills on the way home.
Centre Manager Jon pestered Denise and me to pose for this photo -
The full blog for the new ship can be found here:
Some time ago I came across Project 1p. At that point Luke had made the news by becoming a 'landowner' in Bulgaria just weeks after starting his swapping project (starting with 1p).Now it seems he has a wedding dress to swap. If Anna hadn't already got hers for September I might have been tempted to contact him. What do you think I could have offered in return?
oh - and RIP RB10. Can't win 'em all.
Monday, 2 May 2011
Cullen Skink and Crannachan
Last week Valerie returned from New Zealand and Annie and I caught up with her for a walk along the foreshore at Langstone, followed by breakfast at the Sussex Arms in Emsworth. She gave us her first-hand account of life in Christchurch immediately post-earthquake - the regular hefty after-shocks, the damage to her daughter's house which has rendered it uninhabitable, the disruption to daily life (portaloos in the street) and the mutual support and generosity that is much in evidence.
And so to Friday 29th April - the big day! Jen, Al and Heloise were in party mood in Cardiff, complete with tiaras and bunting -
I have decided that insanity is:
a) relative
b) possibly catching
Louise, June, Peach and I had arranged to meet for an afternoon walk followed by a Scottish Supper and film..........We enjoyed an amazing walk from Stoughton up to the top of Kingley Vale, fortified by the Scottish shortbread kindly supplied by Louise. The views were fabulous, and it was fairly quiet, because of The Wedding.
On our return we toasted the happy couple with Pimms on the (still sunny) porch and then came inside for Cullen Skink and Crannachan. All Scottish recipes on the web sound like something out of a Dickensian Workhouse - but the smoked haddock soup was actually quite tasty. Being a bit of a lightweight, the Pimms kicked in soon after the soup and I remember plonking the smoked salmon on the table without a great deal of finesse.....ah well! I also remember enjoying June's Crannachan - oatmeal, raspberries, cream and whisky. We washed everything down with Peach's Irn Bru and prepared ourselves for the film.
We took a vote over supper and Gregory's Girl won the day. June and Peach got into a bit of a pickle with the recliner chairs (I'm clearly not the only lightweight), unfortunately none of us had room for the popcorn and I (predictably) fell asleep before the closing credits.........!
I was disappointed to have missed the Dawn Chorus walk on Sunday morning at 430am with Peter, Margaret and On the Edge. I had wanted to share with them my DVD of Marcus Coates' installation "Dawn Chorus".
Amazing.
And finally - at the risk of this post becoming over-long - RB1 (see last week's post) has been joined by RB2-9 inclusive in the garden.
I had almost given up hope for RB10 but it is showing signs of life and is now in intensive, if somewhat lonely, care on the kitchen windowsill.
oh, and I almost forgot. Insanity is also
c) fun
And so to Friday 29th April - the big day! Jen, Al and Heloise were in party mood in Cardiff, complete with tiaras and bunting -
I have decided that insanity is:
a) relative
b) possibly catching
Louise, June, Peach and I had arranged to meet for an afternoon walk followed by a Scottish Supper and film..........We enjoyed an amazing walk from Stoughton up to the top of Kingley Vale, fortified by the Scottish shortbread kindly supplied by Louise. The views were fabulous, and it was fairly quiet, because of The Wedding.
On our return we toasted the happy couple with Pimms on the (still sunny) porch and then came inside for Cullen Skink and Crannachan. All Scottish recipes on the web sound like something out of a Dickensian Workhouse - but the smoked haddock soup was actually quite tasty. Being a bit of a lightweight, the Pimms kicked in soon after the soup and I remember plonking the smoked salmon on the table without a great deal of finesse.....ah well! I also remember enjoying June's Crannachan - oatmeal, raspberries, cream and whisky. We washed everything down with Peach's Irn Bru and prepared ourselves for the film.
We took a vote over supper and Gregory's Girl won the day. June and Peach got into a bit of a pickle with the recliner chairs (I'm clearly not the only lightweight), unfortunately none of us had room for the popcorn and I (predictably) fell asleep before the closing credits.........!
I was disappointed to have missed the Dawn Chorus walk on Sunday morning at 430am with Peter, Margaret and On the Edge. I had wanted to share with them my DVD of Marcus Coates' installation "Dawn Chorus".
Amazing.
And finally - at the risk of this post becoming over-long - RB1 (see last week's post) has been joined by RB2-9 inclusive in the garden.
c) fun
Sunday, 24 April 2011
Ups and Downs
The good news is - they're off again!
(Anna worries a little about me referring to myself in the 3rd person, but I'm ok with that.)
They haven't travelled far, but four consecutive days off work has revitalised me a bit and spurred me on to get walking and cycling again.
The disappointing news is that, despite having created an action plan worthy of the SAS, we failed to get tickets to walk through the Hindhead tunnel on 14 May. With 20,000 hopefuls having registered an interest in the 6,000 available tickets we (7 of us) knew that our chances were fairly slim - but it felt flat all the same when the website (which had been struggling all day to cope with the internet traffic in much the same way that Hindhead itself was constantly overwhelmed by real traffic) finally closed. Thanks to everyone for their perseverance and patience. At least we can soon look forward to flooring it through the tunnel on our way to the M25 rather than creeping through Hindhead in first gear.
The theme of the week has been, of course, the bluebells - so I drove to West Stoke on Easter Saturday (arguably the prettiest bluebell woods in the area) and then cycled on to Bosham for a picnic, with ice cream to follow. I waved to the Resolute across the channel (my day off - yay!) and decided that you can never take enough photos of Bosham Church.
I tried really hard to keep my eyes open for this photo -
and took this one of the beautiful wisteria just outside West Ashling.
On Easter Sunday I made two more trips to the bluebell woods - once with Mum and once with Annie. Annie and I walked and talked - and talked - and talked......how lovely it is to share experiences, ideas and opinions. She had just been to hear Rob Bell speak about his new book "Love Wins" at Cheltenham. Rob is pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan and I listen to his podcasts regularly. You can too - here:
http://marshill.org/teaching/podcast-info/
and finally - this
is RB1 - my first EVER runner bean plant.
Watch this space.
April stats:
walker (sigh) 24 miles
cyclist (sob) 15.5 miles
BP (that's better...) 131/79
(Anna worries a little about me referring to myself in the 3rd person, but I'm ok with that.)
They haven't travelled far, but four consecutive days off work has revitalised me a bit and spurred me on to get walking and cycling again.
The disappointing news is that, despite having created an action plan worthy of the SAS, we failed to get tickets to walk through the Hindhead tunnel on 14 May. With 20,000 hopefuls having registered an interest in the 6,000 available tickets we (7 of us) knew that our chances were fairly slim - but it felt flat all the same when the website (which had been struggling all day to cope with the internet traffic in much the same way that Hindhead itself was constantly overwhelmed by real traffic) finally closed. Thanks to everyone for their perseverance and patience. At least we can soon look forward to flooring it through the tunnel on our way to the M25 rather than creeping through Hindhead in first gear.
The theme of the week has been, of course, the bluebells - so I drove to West Stoke on Easter Saturday (arguably the prettiest bluebell woods in the area) and then cycled on to Bosham for a picnic, with ice cream to follow. I waved to the Resolute across the channel (my day off - yay!) and decided that you can never take enough photos of Bosham Church.
I tried really hard to keep my eyes open for this photo -
and took this one of the beautiful wisteria just outside West Ashling.
On Easter Sunday I made two more trips to the bluebell woods - once with Mum and once with Annie. Annie and I walked and talked - and talked - and talked......how lovely it is to share experiences, ideas and opinions. She had just been to hear Rob Bell speak about his new book "Love Wins" at Cheltenham. Rob is pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan and I listen to his podcasts regularly. You can too - here:
http://marshill.org/teaching/podcast-info/
and finally - this
Watch this space.
April stats:
walker (sigh) 24 miles
cyclist (sob) 15.5 miles
BP (that's better...) 131/79
Sunday, 17 April 2011
We are sailing....
but still not walking or cycling.
Unless you count Wednesday when I visited baby Maeve again and we all walked down to the shoreline with Bessie the dog. I'm glad we waited for the cows to move into the next field - especially when we spotted the bull in the midst of them!
I had mentioned to Chris that it would be good to get some sailing in this summer - so when he realised that he had the afternoon off on Thursday and that I had an early finish........we canoed out to the Wayfarer and tacked up and down the channel for an hour. There was practically no wind so I helmed for a bit - which was ok until we needed to go about. Chris demonstrated his training skills admirably. I like to think he gets his patience from me....!
On Saturday Anna and I drove to Chatham to the Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation day at Greenwich University. It was a brilliantly organised day with talks which ranged from interesting and educational (diet, nordic walking, tai chi) to intensely moving (the lady who had had islet cell transplants and is currently living injection-free) and frankly hilarious (Oliver Double, stand-up comedian and father of 2 diabetic sons). This is a national charity with its registered office on Hayling Island...!
http://www.drwf.org.uk/
Today I really was intending to walk with the Chichester Walkers. But I was so tired that I just joined them for lunch at the Greyfriars Pub in Chawton.
How the mighty have fallen...!
Today is Ben's birthday. Happy Birthday Ben!
Unless you count Wednesday when I visited baby Maeve again and we all walked down to the shoreline with Bessie the dog. I'm glad we waited for the cows to move into the next field - especially when we spotted the bull in the midst of them!
I had mentioned to Chris that it would be good to get some sailing in this summer - so when he realised that he had the afternoon off on Thursday and that I had an early finish........we canoed out to the Wayfarer and tacked up and down the channel for an hour. There was practically no wind so I helmed for a bit - which was ok until we needed to go about. Chris demonstrated his training skills admirably. I like to think he gets his patience from me....!
On Saturday Anna and I drove to Chatham to the Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation day at Greenwich University. It was a brilliantly organised day with talks which ranged from interesting and educational (diet, nordic walking, tai chi) to intensely moving (the lady who had had islet cell transplants and is currently living injection-free) and frankly hilarious (Oliver Double, stand-up comedian and father of 2 diabetic sons). This is a national charity with its registered office on Hayling Island...!
http://www.drwf.org.uk/
Today I really was intending to walk with the Chichester Walkers. But I was so tired that I just joined them for lunch at the Greyfriars Pub in Chawton.
How the mighty have fallen...!
Today is Ben's birthday. Happy Birthday Ben!
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