Art Refuge UK: Week 1

Ok, I've actually completed week 2 so I'm behind with my blogging, so let's have a quick catch-up, shall we?


Marion approaching

Marion & I started the training off on Monday March 4th with a gentle circular walk that we are both used to, from Aldeburgh to Thorpeness and back again. It was a fabulous day, bright sunshine, no wind and fairly warm compared with what it has been recently. We'd arranged to meet on the old railway line behind my house which is a brisk 5 minute walk, and from there on to Thorpeness via the Thorpeness Golf Club & the Meare and then along the beach back to Aldeburgh where we'd part company (as that's where Marion lives). We both thought it was a short-ish walk of about 3-4 miles and we were both full of beans, chirping away merrily as we pottered along at a nice pace, noting the various birds on the way (wish I could list them for you, but I'm hopeless at bird identification: I know a robin, blackbird, blue jay, owl, peacock & pheasant by sight, and by sound- a woodpecker, owl and peacock. Oh, and a skylark, which I love- it really makes my spirits soar to hear one of those). However, on one part of the route there was a strange sound I hadn't heard before and Marion promptly announced it was a curlew! Golly- I knew there were in this part of East Anglia but I'd never heard one before. How exciting! Maybe I should add here that the land we were walking along is managed by the RSPB, so there's bound to be lots of feathered friends around. Anyhow, it sounds like this: http://sounds.bl.uk/Environment/British-wildlife-recordings/022M-W1CDR0001375-0600V0. And then, as we were walking along the beach, my favourite seaside sound of all: http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/s/skylark/index.aspx

So, a lovely walk in nature on a bright sunny day- a great way to start the 3 Peaks training. And when I got home I turned off the Pedometer app I have on my phone, to find we'd actually walked 5.25 miles- much longer than we'd reckoned. And burnt off 425 calories. And just for the record, it took us 117 minutes.

On Thursday 7th, we did the same route but reversed, so I started out earlier to meet Marion at the other end of the railway line, by the caravan park in Aldeburgh and we headed along the beach to Thorpeness, etc etc. This time I took more photos, and we stopped off at her house for a cup of green tea. More skylarks, and seagulls galore (but no curlews). For some inexplicable reason, although the distance was almost he same (5. 2 miles), we burt off more calories (471)! No idea how that happened! And it took 150 minutes, but that's because of the very welcome cuppa!