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| Moritz & me |
p. s.
Lions & Tigers & Bears, oh my!
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| Pantiles |
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| Llamas |
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| Single llama |
It was astonishing to see them in the woods, a very unusual place- especially round here.
Photos duly taken and we headed back towards the farm sheds and heard voices, and there to our delight….were…..some lambs! the most cute, adorable fluffy little things sniffing around and falling over the ewe who was on her back having a pedicure. It was fantastic! We were welcomed with open arms by the farmer and the lady looking after the sheep (never found out her name) and invited to hold one of the lambs- I was in heaven!! The little cutie is called Moritz and is only two weeks old and LOVED being hugged. I nearly took him home with me. And even better, we got to carry him down to the field with the rest of the flock because he didn't want to walk. The flock consisted of three ewes, and eight lambs and they were fabulous! It was with extreme reluctance that we left to continue our walk- I could have stayed there all day playing.
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| Time for a pedicure |
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| Lambs clambering over mum |
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| Moritz |
Stats for the day? Well, I turned off the pedometer by mistake at one point (I was looking for the altitude bit (hah! that's a laugh considering I live by the sea!) but we both reckoned it was about 5 miles. no idea of the rest, except it took about 2 hours.
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 & 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!
So that's the first two days. The following day was...well, you'll just have to wait for the next post!
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| Marion approaching |
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!
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| Old windmilll without sails |
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| The Scallop on a shingle beach |
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| Artwork decorating building site |
So that's the first two days. The following day was...well, you'll just have to wait for the next post!
The 3 Peaks Challenge
It was a dark, cold December evening and the nine of us were walking down a London street after the Art Refuge UK Christmas dinner.
"Let's do a joint fundraising event", said someone up front." Good idea", commented several voices from behind. "How about the 3 Peaks challenge?' said Sarah K (or was it Emily?), ' I've always wanted to do that". " Ooo, that sounds good" replied one person," I'm up for that". " Me too", I replied, and after various other murmurings along similar lines, Sarah K. and Emily said they'd look into it and let us know. We all then parted and headed home to concentrate on Christmas and holidays, not giving the suggestion a second thought...apart from Sarah & Emily.
And that's how, folks, a few months later I find myself having committed to walking three of the highest peaks of the Yorkshire Dales: 23 miles within 12 hours. Not an easy feat, I hasten to add–me being somewhat of a slug when it comes to exercise. I think part of me jumped at the word ' challenge', continuing the theme started last year when I jumped out of a plane to help save the charity (joined by Emily, bless her!). That one, at least, didn't require training, just a solid conviction that things were going to be okay and I wouldn't (probably) die doing it.
This time I'm part of the 14 strong team–seven of the Art Refuge UK team (trustees and coordinators) plus assorted family, friends and supporters. I'm looking on it as a team-building adventure, with lots of fun and laughter to keep us going. We're doing it to raise lots of money for the charity- and I'm assuming that you already know about it as you have probably come here via either our website or our Facebook page, or even possibly our Virgin Money-Giving page. But just in case you have found your way here without any of that, check us out: www.artrefugeuk.org.
You can also donate to the cause here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=arukyorkshire3peaks&isTeam=true
My good friend Marion agreed to do the practice walks with me (she's walked from the west to east coasts of the UK before) and had thought of joining us for the 3 Peaks but decided the practice walks would suit her better. We put our heads together and set up a training schedule based on a programme she found in a hiking magazine and working around our working commitments. At the moment it consists of three walks a week, two short and one long, plus assorted exercises to strengthen the legs.
My biggest challenge is going to be finding hills to practice on. Suffolk, where I live, is as flat as a pancake–nothing even remotely resembling a mountain for miles. There are some steps leading down to the town centre but I think I'd get bored pretty quickly running up and down them several times in a row, plus I'd look rather silly.
Anyhow, I thought I'd start a blog, partly to keep a record of how I do, but also to help motivate others. I will add photos as I go, and play around with format, etc but as it's late and I wanted to get this posted asap (procrastination is my middle name), I'm stopping here for the night. Will update you on how Week 1 went tomorrow. In the meantime, if you feel like it, have a look at previous blogs posted here over the years- it will shed some light on some of the activities of our wonderful charity and some of the people involved.
Night all!
"Let's do a joint fundraising event", said someone up front." Good idea", commented several voices from behind. "How about the 3 Peaks challenge?' said Sarah K (or was it Emily?), ' I've always wanted to do that". " Ooo, that sounds good" replied one person," I'm up for that". " Me too", I replied, and after various other murmurings along similar lines, Sarah K. and Emily said they'd look into it and let us know. We all then parted and headed home to concentrate on Christmas and holidays, not giving the suggestion a second thought...apart from Sarah & Emily.
And that's how, folks, a few months later I find myself having committed to walking three of the highest peaks of the Yorkshire Dales: 23 miles within 12 hours. Not an easy feat, I hasten to add–me being somewhat of a slug when it comes to exercise. I think part of me jumped at the word ' challenge', continuing the theme started last year when I jumped out of a plane to help save the charity (joined by Emily, bless her!). That one, at least, didn't require training, just a solid conviction that things were going to be okay and I wouldn't (probably) die doing it.
This time I'm part of the 14 strong team–seven of the Art Refuge UK team (trustees and coordinators) plus assorted family, friends and supporters. I'm looking on it as a team-building adventure, with lots of fun and laughter to keep us going. We're doing it to raise lots of money for the charity- and I'm assuming that you already know about it as you have probably come here via either our website or our Facebook page, or even possibly our Virgin Money-Giving page. But just in case you have found your way here without any of that, check us out: www.artrefugeuk.org.
You can also donate to the cause here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=arukyorkshire3peaks&isTeam=true
My good friend Marion agreed to do the practice walks with me (she's walked from the west to east coasts of the UK before) and had thought of joining us for the 3 Peaks but decided the practice walks would suit her better. We put our heads together and set up a training schedule based on a programme she found in a hiking magazine and working around our working commitments. At the moment it consists of three walks a week, two short and one long, plus assorted exercises to strengthen the legs.
My biggest challenge is going to be finding hills to practice on. Suffolk, where I live, is as flat as a pancake–nothing even remotely resembling a mountain for miles. There are some steps leading down to the town centre but I think I'd get bored pretty quickly running up and down them several times in a row, plus I'd look rather silly.
Anyhow, I thought I'd start a blog, partly to keep a record of how I do, but also to help motivate others. I will add photos as I go, and play around with format, etc but as it's late and I wanted to get this posted asap (procrastination is my middle name), I'm stopping here for the night. Will update you on how Week 1 went tomorrow. In the meantime, if you feel like it, have a look at previous blogs posted here over the years- it will shed some light on some of the activities of our wonderful charity and some of the people involved.
Night all!
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