Wednesday walk - 12.06.13

What a difference a week makes hey?  Last week, blue skies and sunshine, this week, grey and damp.  This is where I started this week's walk, just up past these two white buildings and then on up the side of the cliff. 

When you get to the top, it looks a bit like this....that's what I like about coast path walking, it's a real pat on the back to look back and see how far you've come.  At this stage of the walk I was full of enthusiasm and energy..........

One sticky-outy (Yes, Marigold, there I go again) bit further on

Through some woods.........thinking to myself....this really is lovely, peaceful, I'm getting fitter and I have some thinking time.........

It wasn't long after this bit when I came across a bit of the path which hadn't been cut, so I plough on in, thinking, 'ah well, nothing else for it'  Waist high grass and bracken, holding all the rainwater from yesterdays downpours.....jaw clenched....head down.....marching....Chester leaping up while he walked to see above the long grass. 

I was beginning to think I had made an awful mistake...no visible path, close to the cliff edge.  Then I hear the distant rumbling of a lawnmower and there in the distance are two men from the council cutting the grass....Stopping to talk to them, they tell me that its the only part of the 133 mile path that hasn't been cut....just this part, about a mile...how I wish I'd known!  As I headed on (on the newly cut, clear path) I can hear my feet squelching (as if someone has emptied a glass of water in each boot)  I wondered if the council men were smirking at the sight of me, soaked through (even to my underwear) with squelchy feet!

So things started looking remarkably brighter....but I had a impending dread starting to formulate in my head....

You see my socks...my long worked on, two at a time, toe-up socks....had been sitting in my drawer waiting for their first outing.....can you see where this is going?

So with every step and every squelch I am thinking about my socks....I'm thinking about the lovely colours, the stitch definition.....

Edge of the cliff....and rocks out to sea, but look a bit closer.......

Doesn't the tail end of it look like a sea monster?

So this is where I decided enough was enough...oh that was after a tripped over a large stone in the path and landed like a sack of spuds in a star-fish pose.....the people who were only about 15 metres ahead must have been deep in conversation, as they didn't turn when I hit the deck and made a large grunt....maybe it was a good thing, as I struggled back up covered in mud, and felt a little sorry for myself. 

Looking on, I could see there was still a good way to go, so I did the sensible thing and phoned home, arranged a pick up time and place and stepped up the pace.

By the time I got to the car, I was hot and bothered and a little disappointed that I hadn't completed my intended walk...but hey.......ten miles done....

My socks........felted........

Wednesday walk 05.06.13

Join me for my Wednesday walk?

So leading on from two weeks ago, I was dropped off far away this morning, and told to find my way home.....actually, I chose a spot that I could challenge myself a little further and put some more steps on my pedometer.

I didn't get any brilliant pictures from my start point and this one is a few miles in at least.  In this picture I have walked around the sticky-out bit....not the one in the front, but the one right on the horizon....the beginning of the walk gave plenty of opportunities to pat yourself on the back, as you could see the walk stretching out behind you.

A lot of the walk is over rough grazing ground, and it isn't unusual to see ponies grazing....I think this pony has spotted Chester.

I am now re-tracing steps from my last big walk, but thought I'd show you a photo of the lighthouse.  This point on the peninsula is wild and windblown in the winter, but is scorchingly hot today.

This is one of the last photos that I took of the ferry steaming past...I actually like the industrial views in our stunning landscapes, but I know I am among the few....

So want to know how far you've walked?

Just short of twelve miles, and look at you hardly broken a sweat!  I fared not too badly as well....although, I'll know the full story tomorrow.

Walking in these beautiful surroundings is wonderful.... although...I have to take a deep breath to go up the steep bits.....

Wednesday walk

This Wednesday was a day for walking...one, because my hubby said he would take the boys to school and two, because I had a bit of a flap.  In September, we have signed up for a The Brecon Mountain Trail Challenge, which is a twenty or thirty mile walk up a range of mountains in Mid-Wales.  I quietly thought, 'that's fine, I can get fit by then' and then I had a sudden panic, what if I just couldn't do it!

So out I went, dog, water, camera, pedometer and Ipod and hit the coast path.  The day started off grey and a bit cold, but half way around I was stripping off and getting a little hot under the collar.

The flowers were out in force and having my camera to hand meant a good excuse to stop and take a breather  photo.

Banks of colour

(I have to admit to being fairly happy that there were many reasons to stop to take a photo)

I clocked about seven miles, so a little way to go to reach the twenty I will do on the big day....but I'm on my way!

This beach is a bit of a locals' secret, it's not easy to get to, and so doesn't tend to be found by the tourists ;-)

A wreck?

These towers are used for guiding the boats in....although there is also a lighthouse just around the corner too....I'm imagining that these conduct some kind of signal(?)

So this is not the first walk, as Chester and I walk every day, but this is the first effort to atleast start heading in the right direction....wish me luck (and any tips for building my stamina for uphill walking)

Tomorrow, we are all jetting off to foreign lands (England) to visit my sister for a couple of days......sooooo excited I can't tell you!

Be back next week to catch up with knitting....there has been some!

Any other businesss......

Soooo...its been a long while....no convincing excuses......just you'll be lumbered now with a very picture heavy post....if you lose the will to carry on at any time during the next....ahem....hundred or so pictures....I am well....I am busy...but I hope to get some normality back in my blogging!

Look blue-skies.........

The smell of flowering gorse.........mmmmmmm....my sister says it's just like custard creams!

A day out at a local National Trust garden...littlest boy tired right from the beginning

Funny how all my boys like to pose for my blog (their suggestions, not mine)!

Toasting marshmallows on the campfire

 Over a river on a rope swing

The walled garden

Cat in a tree

Wild garlic....mmmmm.....

Bluebells

I first spotted this swan a month or so ago, but haven't had my camera with me....it takes me right back to a book I read when I was kid....'Lord of the rushie river'...must hunt it out again.

A new walking spot

Setting off.

A new member to our family, who did just about the whole walk with us and then made their way home....no name on his collar, just his chip no. so the boys christened him Chip and he took a shine to our fluffier collie  Ned.

I've been making too....plodding on with my wedding blanket and I've made a set of curtains (here) and a sprung roller blind (the least said about that the better!)

So there we have it ...there are more things, but that 's the abridged version!

Ooooh, I've missed this!  Speak soon.x

Year of projects - 21.04.13

Well, as you can see, I finished my Vintage Crocheted Throw.  This has been a really quick project (when I found it again!) and a real pleasure to make.  I used (if I remember correctly!) Sirdar Wash + Wear Crepe, and following the pattern for the Afghan size, I used slightly less than a ball of each colour, so a pretty low cost project.

 I do love a stripe, as you all know, and I really enjoyed the autumnal colours I used in this, it's a bit more muted than some of my crocheted blankets....don't you think the pattern of the chevron is clever?

So you may think I would be at a lose end now....but then again, anyone who knows me, would know that wasn't true.....onwards and upwards with another blanket.  This one is Wool Leaves and I think it is absolutely stunning.  The blanket is for a friend of mine who is getting married in a couple of months ( this being a slightly more pressured make!).  According to others who have made this, it is all about the blocking, but I am enjoying the pattern, and being such a chunky knit it grows fairly quickly (and also goes through balls at a rate of knots)...so watch this space, hopefully it will be done soon.

Today is grey and dismal, but yesterday, it was warm and sunny.....perfect for a wood walk with the dogs, I'm so glad we got out and about yesterday.

Fancy a walk?

To catch up with other knitters and crocheters progress, take a look at the Year of Projects ravelry page here.

Jetsam

Most of my days start off with walking Chester, and the walk of choice recently has been  a stretch of beach that I pass on my way home from dropping the boys at their schools.

Last night was stormy , which hadn't quite cleared by this morning...so Chester and I decided to go to a different beach so that we wouldn't get blown away with the inshore wind.....it can hardly be relaxing when its difficult to catch your breath...and poor old Chester, with such long ears,  has no hope of staying grounded.

It was a scene that told the weather of the night before, but now was calm and washed clean.  The walk down was lush and green,  with an abundance of bluebell leaves, which didn't quite keep their promise last year. 

This beach is stony and gravelly, but rather than being firm underfoot, today it was disconcertingly squashy, I stood for a little while walking up and down, realising that most of the beach had been thrown up onto seaweed, which was why the ground beneath me had so much give...made me feel quite odd!

Among all the pebbles and seaweed were bits of jetsam,  and it made me wonder how sailors had fared last night in such high winds.  There was food packaging with unfamiliar languages on, plastic, driftwood....all sorts....but among it all, something that I had been looking for, for a while.....

.....cuttlebones, from  cuttlefish ....I've been looking out for them  as my sister has taken up silver smithing and these can be used as moulds for casting silver....I'm hoping that my haul will bring lots of inspiration to her....interestingly, sepia is cuttlefish ink...which I didn't know before....did you?

Year of projects - 15.04.13

This week, in between some school holiday activities , I thought I'd do a quick, fun project from  my YOP list.

My hubby, looked over one evening to see what I was making, noticed the title and said, 'well what's so magic about that?' in a totally uninterested voice, so I showed him further down the pattern, and his 'Wow, that is clever' said a lot for the idea.

Any ideas?

Magic Cinderella 

Now isn't that a clever?  I have no idea who she is for, and there are a few more details I could add, like the head scarf for cinders and a few patches on her skirt....maybe a huge diamond and Sapphire necklace for cinderella.........

I enjoyed making this doll, such a fun project, and open for your own modifications to the dress and jewelry.

Now wouldn't you love a dress like that, encrusted with diamonds around the skirts?

To catch up with all the other work that my fellow Yoppers have been doing, check out the raverly page here.