Walk 37- Guy and Pam and a change of plan

Lavender tourists

Us with Pam n Guy

Snowshill blooms

Pam, Guy and me

Fungus

I’ve got an app for that

Unisex knives and axe

In the Hollyhocks

Broadway Hollyhocks

You’d have thought we’d have had a weekend off after we got back from our holidays. But no. This was the only weekend for ages that we could see Pam and Guy and so we’d decided it would be okay. They would come over on Saturday, we’d go out for a meal and then we’d walk the next stretch of the Cotswold Way together. That of course was all fine before I decided to get ill with heat exhaustion…

Saturday came and we decided that I’d still be well enough for Pam and Guy to come over but that perhaps a 6 mile walk on the exposed CW, in the heat, wasn’t a great idea. We’d need another plan for our walk. We met them up at the Snowshill Lavender Fields late on Saturday afternoon as we’d not visited this season and its always a good sight. Today, the fields were not only growing Lavender but also apparently lots of Japanese tourists! This is all very good for the local economy as in the shop they were buying loads of stuff to take home as gifts. In the evening we did go out for our meal at the local pub in Willersey but I was still pretty out of it really and the nice landlord persuaded his chef to cook me an omelette.

The next day I woke up feeling a little better and after a light breakfast we drove upto Snowshill Village to start our walk. Today we’d just walk all the way back into Broadway and our house and that’d be enough for me. The weather was rather overcast as we set off but already hot and very muggy. Yet again no breeze at all to speak of. This lack of a breeze is definitely an unusual feature of this Summer so far.

This is actually one of favourite walks around here and we often do it with guests. Snowshill is a very picturesque Cotswold Village and its home to Snowshill Manor which is also worth a visit because of the huge eclectic collections of the chap who lived there- Charles Wade. Today, however, we quickly walked through the village and took the track down and then up the other side of the valley.

It was good to catch up with P&G as we hadn’t seen them together for some months. The last time I had seen them (Feb) they were about to start their Lighter Life diet which was quite dramatic but by all accounts has gone very well. Pam told me that since then she had dropped down from being 15 stone to just 12 stone and Guy has dropped from 26 stone to 22 stone. They both look really fit and well and still plan to try to lose a little more before they go on their cruise in a months time. This is really just to accommodate any increase in weight that might occur on the cruise!!

As part of their new regime they have actually taken up a lot more walking themselves and seem to walk regularly now every day. Pam even has some of those Nordic poles- although they were nowhere to be seen today. Pam also told me that she plans to have her own challenge next year which is to complete an overnight, long distance (34 miles?) walk near them in Ashby de La Zouche. This is v admirable and I imagine it’ll be similar to the one we saw people doing on the CW recently, although hopefully a little flatter. Yes, I am tempted….but don’t tell Pam.

As we were walking along Guy’s phone suddenly set off an alarm and he casually told us that it was just informing him that the Vulcan bomber had taken off. Apparently he has ‘an app for that’ which seemed to give him minute by minute detail of what was happening with the Vulcan today! Guy is interested in this as his Dad used to be a navigator on this plane,I believe, so he likes to keep track of it. Today the plane was off to the Fairford International Airshow which is not too far away from here. Jane meanwhile was keeping track off the latest Ashes scores on her phone as well. Where would we be without all these apps eh?! Perhaps paying more attention to the interesting fungus we found in the wood for starters.

We also chatted about the other big passion in Pam and Guy’s life. This is Formula One. I think it is really Pam that is completely obsessive about this and they’re very excited about going off to see the Belgian Grand Prix in August for Pam’s birthday. I must admit that, although Guy tried to explain it all to me, I still don’t get the buzz with F1 and maybe you really do need to be there. That said, Jane did once go, got invited into the pit and everything. Even met Jackie Stewart ..and still remained unimpressed. Ah well each to their own and P&G are v excited about their trip so that’s all that matters.

As we came back in towards Broadway we had to come down the steep bit where back in January it had been like a clay ski slope. Jane had taken a tumble that day and I am pleased to report that it was much easier and drier today, so we passed without incident.

We walked back through our lovely village which, as is normal, on a Sunday, was busy with tourists. We did a bit of our own retail therapy although we were only window shopping. I was fascinated by the knives and axes that our very trendy outdoor shop, Landmark sells. You can see these in the photos and I do wonder whether I need my own handy axe or perhaps one of those unisex knives. It think its important that it is labelled unisex though, don’t you?

We then walked up through the village, passed all the beautiful hollyhocks and back to our house. This is a walk of 4.2 miles and I had begun to feel a lot better. This was good as when we got back Jane prepared her latest crowd pleaser- a bacon and egg butty. Yum- now I really did know I was on the mend.

Walk 36- Bedruthan Steps in a heat wave

Justin and us

Trolls

Maddie and Marcus

Disco

Nightclub and firepit

Jane climbs

Up for it

Turquoise

Diver

The Bedruthan Steps

Impractical hats

Pete n moi

Right, last walk of our holiday and this was to be an easy trot over the headland to see the Bedruthan Steps. After all, we’d been out the night before to the Fire Cafe, then onto the Merrymore Pub where the night was ruled by Trolls, fake tattoos and stalking Justin Lee-Collins. That was all before we headed back to our place where ‘Jules Nightclub’ opened down by the firepit and we danced with only my flashing camping lantern and the moon into the early hours of the morning.

I wasn’t even sure that this would count as one of my walks as its not that far. This was the last day of our holidays and having experienced the cliff walk in the other direction we were keen to get this one in as well. Not all our fellow holiday makers felt that same way and only Jane, Pete, Joyce and Enid enjoyed the walk today. The others had a lazy start to the day whilst we went out in the heat. Neil and Steve, who had sampled one too many White Russians the night before made a good impression of getting up early but soon gave up and went back to bed! Pathetic.

The coastal path starts pretty much behind Marver House and we walked past the next door Scarlett Hotel to get onto this. This hotel is where, I subsequently found out, Dawn French recently got married and it must have been quite a party as they hired out the whole hotel. We’d have had a great time introducing ourselves to all her guests – but this week we had to settle for Justin L-C who was lovely.

We also walked through the other houses here which are a mix of older type holiday homes and also now some pretty sleek designer ones. Nothing as cool as Marver House though! We did get a little bit lost but then Enid struck out and found her way onto the actual path. Now we left the buildings behind and started to climb up above the dunes.

The views back down to the beach were great and it was lovely walking through the heather even though it wasn’t quite in full bloom. It was a little bit murky as we set off but already very hot. It was an easy walk then over the tops towards the steps. Again, today the colour of the sea, which was right in, was beautiful turquoise and as we approached the steps it was a very impressive sight. The Bedruthan ‘Steps’ are in fact giant sea-stack rock formations.

It was incredibly hot but I had my little cap on and plenty of sun cream so we should be ok. We admired the views and had to listen to a photographer bleating on about the fact that we should have been there yesterday, when apparently the views were even better. Silly man, we’d been perfectly happy with how it looked today.

We came across the National Trust Carnewas cafe and shop housed in a 19th century mine workers cottage but decided that we’d carry on a bit to get a closer view of the steps. This meant going down a lot of steps ourselves and we all know what that means – we’d need to come back up again in a minute. It was worth it though as the stacks of rock looked impressive from down here. There was a man doing some painting and I was quite jealous as I didn’t have my stuff with me. But it was a bit hot……maybe 84 degrees F.

Next stop the cafe and by now we were desperate for a cold drink. I had fancied having a cream tea but it was all a bit hot for that so I had a zesty slice of lemon sponge and a cold Fanta. Joyce and Enid did have the full cream tea experience and Jane had a cold ice cream. Pete had a Fanta too. Fully refreshed we carried on. I say fully refreshed, that’s not quite true actually we were melting!

Next an essential stop at the National Trust emporium where we purchased some gift items and postcards. Then we just had to make our way back. Again, it was easy walking although Jane and I seemed to lag behind the others. The sun was now baking hot and there was absolutely no shade and no breeze and I only had a v small bottle of water to keep me and Jane going. By the time we got back to the buildings above the beach we were pretty exhausted. I think maybe, as it was so hot and with no wind, we should have drunk a little more water…or maybe taken some Lucozade?

How do I know this? Because the next day, when we were packing I was completely out of it. We tried to spend the day by the pool with the others but it was all too much and after about an hour I asked Jane if we could get off. We left the others to it and we were sad to be driving away at the end of the most amazing holiday. I was pretty zonked out and not well all the way home and by Saturday I was completely on another planet and rather ill.

Moral of the story? It was too hot even for this short 3 miler. Stupid and another lesson learned!

Walk 35- Wander to Watergate Bay- surfs up dudes.

Starting out

Wheat field

Watergate beach

Beach ashes

Nice Stella glass

Hot chocolate

Sweeping view

Check that colour

Mini surfers

Marver House

Surfs Up

Tuesday came along and it was another beautiful day on our holiday. We woke up again to the sound of the sea and when Jane opened the shutters in our room, predictably,the weather forecast was sunny, blue skies and general gorgeousness! Happy holidays!

Today we’d be doing our ‘big walk’ and we were off to Watergate Bay walking straight out of our front gates. The walkers today would be Steve, Toby, Pete, Jane, Joyce, Enid, Neil and Pete. The girls (Joe and Marie) and Marcus and Maddie would spend the day by the pool down at The Park. Later on we’d meet up with them for lunch in Watergate Bay. I do seem to have set off in the most ridiculous outfit today. Neon yellow t-shirt and red shorts with walking boots. What was I thinking?! Still at least I had my trusty Leki with me. I wouldn’t stand out at all at the beach.

Off we set from the house and retraced our steps again down the valley towards St Mawgan. However today, at the end of the pine bordered track we turned down a lovely sunny lane at the side of the Sunhaven Campsite. The walk took us along more lanes and tracks until we reached a wheat field where there was no obvious path at all. In fact we had to walk right through the middle of the waist high stuff. Not great for those with allergies. A…chhhhooo!

As we walked through here the planes taking off from St Mawgan airfield flew overhead. This was previously an RAF base and whilst they’re still there today, the runway now operates as the commercial Newquay airport. We’d seen the EasyJet planes going overhead and were fascinated by where they flew from. Turns out its Liverpool and Southend.

As we walked down another long lane towards the sea Jane, Toby and I made up a song about what we would normally be doing on a Tuesday. Could be doing maths, could be doing maths. Or maybe tapping away on the laptop keys…etcetc

Watergate Bay came into view and from up here it looked like a small beach with a large hotel and a big car park. It was very busy as we got down there and we made our way past the crowds queuing for their pasties. We made our way into the bar beneath Jamie’s 15 restaurant and found a very cool spot on the verandah overlooking the beach. We ordered some nachos and ciders and beers. Toby meanwhile ordered a very exotic hot chocolate. We enjoyed our reward as we people watched the crowds on the beach.

Soon we were joined by the others and we moved outside to tables in the sun. We compared notes on our day so far and then soon the walkers were on their feet again. The next part of the walk was the steep uphill climb back upto the top of the headland. It wasn’t really that bad and we soon started to get a full view of Watergate Bay. It is a massively long stretch of sand which gets more and more deserted as you move away from the hotels etc.

The walk now took us all along the edge of the cliffs and I had to put on my Health and Safety hat at various points. We were posing for photos all along the way and all it would take was a small trip….oops. Plummet. Splat.

We had amazing views all the way back into Mawgan Porth including sandy bays and incredible turquoise seas. I’ve never seen the sea like this around here before. I made the most of my new camera and especially trying out the new creative miniature effect.

Eventually we marched back down the headland, opposite our house and into the village. Here we sampled the local shops pasty (very good) and then back to the house ready to go surfing. The sea is lovely and warm (when you get used to it) and I really don’t understand why the boys all have to wear wetsuits. Wimps. And they have such a struggle to get into them! Funny. The surfing here is fabulous fun and the waves were just perfect for us all, not too deep or ferocious. Just right.

Another day in paradise and a walk of 6 miles completed.

Bonus Cycle ride- The Camel Trail

Cycle Group

Men at work

Pete

Silly cycle

Padstow harbour

Crabbing

Camel view

On the Monday of our holiday in Cornwall some of us agreed to go cycling. It was a very hot day but the lure of the Camel Trail from Wadebridge to Padstow won some of us over. The group of cyclists consisted of Steve, Marie and their two boys Toby and Marcus as well as Pete and me. Everyone else decided to go into Padstow by car and we’d meet up with them there.

I was the only one in the cycling group who hadn’t brought my own bike down and so I needed to hire one from one of the many places that do this at the start of the Camel Trail in Wadebridge. It was a busy day for them and I think I got the last ladies road bike in the place. Phew. Everyone else had their shiny new bikes and Marie’s was particularly splendid with a nice basket on the front! Very Miss Marple.

The trail runs alongside the Camel Estuary and it’s very scenic. The trail is a total of 5 miles in length on this stretch and very flat, on a good gravel surface. We soon had a few incidents along the way. Firstly, not long after we had started, Toby was riding on the wrong side of the track and a man leading his family on the other side didn’t seem to see him and crunched his brakes on to stop. His daughter on the bike behind nearly crashed into him and he went ballistic at Pete who happened to be riding alongside Toby at the time. The man was telling Pete right off as if he was Toby’s Dad. Meanwhile Steve and Marie rode sheepishly past whispering ‘Don’t get involved….’ Pete apologised profusely but the man remained very grumpy. He was clearly finding his holiday with his family very stressful.

Next I got a flat tyre. I could hear the rear tyre sounding a bit odd – as if I was riding over a frog once every rotation. The frog noise got worse and I stopped to kick the tyre. Oh yes very flat. The trouble was I had remained at the back of our group telling everyone not to worry about me as I’d be stopping to take photos and would catch up. They took me at my word and after about 15 minutes no-one had come back to find me. Eventually Steve and Pete did come back. We decided that I should ride on it to the quarry where the rest of our crew had stopped for ice cream. Then they’d see if they could mend the tyre or we’d be able to get the rental guys to come out. Luckily though the boys were a fab support team quickly removing the wheel, then the tyre and checking the inner tube for leaks. Toby found the leak and basically the verdict was that the whole inner tube was rotting. Oh dear, trust me to get the duff last bike. Anyway Pete had all the repair gear and they’d soon repaired it and we were on our way again.

Next up I asked Pete to make a slight adjustment to my seat to make it higher so my knees weren’t hitting my chin. Again, he had the right tools but unfortunately the thread went in the bolt so now the seat wouldn’t stay up at all! I cycled all the way into Padstow like this but the point is that this was a bonus as, if Pete hadn’t had all the gear, it would indeed have been another walk.

Once we got into Padstow I was able to leave my bike with another rental place and they fixed it as we went into the village and met up with everyone else. We enjoyed Rick Stein‘s fish n chips takeaway and here my luck did come in as I was the last person allowed in the door before they closed.

Then we pottered about by the lovely harbour and watched Toby, Marcus and Maddie go crabbing. It was quite terrifying as they sat on top of the harbour wall dangling their little nets on string over the edge. We could hardly look except when Marcus finally did catch quite a large crab but it wiggled off before he could haul it up. In fact, I think Marcus was quite glad as when the crab got back on he cried ‘Get it off, get it off, I don’t want it.’ It would seem that the main purpose then of crabbing is to terrify your parents and their friends.

Soon Pete and I had to head back as I needed to get the bike back by 5:30. This time the two of us rode without incident and without stopping all the way back to Wadebridge. It had been a really scenic day and I was glad I didn’t have to walk it as the trail really is too busy for pedestrians who are definitely seen as a nuisance.

Walk 34- Mawgan Porth- Cornish Pub and Pasty walk

Misty view

18 again

Ouch

Shady path

Maddie, Pete, Jane and Marcus

Too early

Tense moments

Jane and Marie

Me and ford

Caribbean punch

Pub garden

Marcus and Maddie

Our house

Even though we are now on holiday there is no rest for the wicked. We are down in Cornwall for the week as a joint birthday present for me and Marie. As we know I will be 50 in September and Marie has already hit this super milestone earlier in the year. We are very lucky in that our lovely partners, Jane and Steve, agreed to treat me and Marie to this break and we are also joined by the rest of the gang. The rest of the gang consists of Marie and Steve’s boys Toby (10) and Marcus (8), Pete (my brother)’ Joyce, Enid, and then Joe and Neil and their little girl Maddie (8).

We normally all go away together every February to celebrate our civil partnership but this is a real treat to spend a full week with everyone. Jane had found Marver House, which is in Mawgan Porth, and as soon as we had seen it we knew this was where we wanted to be. What we didn’t of course reckon on was the weather which has been absolutely stunning since we got here. Jane claims that she booked it and paid extra. I wouldn’t put it past her as we know she has terrific planning and influencing skills. We’d all arrived on Friday and it was great to see Toby and Marcus arrive fresh out of school in their school uniforms. I took the 3 children down to the sea to ‘paddle our feet’ but before I knew it they’d all ‘accidentally’ fallen in and their uniforms were wet from head to toe! What a great way to start their school holidays!

Anyway, so here we are in the most beautiful house you could ever imagine with views and private access directly onto the beach. However, it’s not all a case of lying around in the sun, although those parts have been very nice, no- I planned to do at least a couple of walks for my challenge too.

Our first walk took us from here at the house, down through the little village of Mawgan Porth itself and then through the valley back inland to St Mawgan. We did this walk on Sunday morning and as we woke up the previous days wonderful views across the beach were nowhere to be seen as the sea mists had rolled in. It ended up that the whole group wanted to do the walk except Toby. However, the Tesco’s delivery man was also due to call with our latest food order. Kindly, Joyce agreed to stay behind with Toby and make cookies. Meanwhile the rest of us got ourselves sorted and off we set.

As we walked through the village we past some old haunts which brought back happy memories of when I last came to Mawgan Porth. I was 18 or 19 at the time and about to go off to University. I came away with my friends Leera, Laura and Cracker. It was the first time I’d been away without Mum and Dad excluding school trips etc. We had a great time although looking back recently at the photos from that holiday you wouldn’t have thought it. All the girls look generally miserable in all the pics. However, I also have the tape recording of the holiday which we made by secretly turning on the tape recorder at any given time and randomly recording whatever was going on. This is full of laughter, singing and general madness so I know that we did have a good time really even if we were too cool to smile!
On the way we passed where we actually stayed -Europa Court and the mini golf course. We also passed the village hall where they’d held a weekly disco which we were too cool (or too scared?) to go to.

Further along the road we passed The Park which seems to also be owned by the people who own Marver House. It’s a really nice camping development and has also sorts of accommodation ranging from luxury chalets to yurts or an Airstream caravan (the silver American style ones). We walked through the Park and as we did the sea mist lifted in front of us and the rest of the walk to St Mawgan was done in full sunshine. It was hot and lovely and we were glad of the shade everytime we dipped into a shady bit in the pine woods.

The walk through the valley, which Steve led as always, was really peaceful along sandy paths, high-banked lanes, over clear streams and past some expensive houses and smart looking campsites. We meandered along at a gentle pace and it was a good opportunity to catch up with each other properly. We all talk non stop on our normal weekends away but it’s nice to see that this carries on now that we’re together for a week! Maddie and Marcus are typical of this. They don’t really see each other between these weekends away but as soon as they meet up they get on like a house on fire together and they just chatter constantly. None of the adults know exactly what they talk about all day long. We just love the fact that they do.

One of the funniest conversations on this walk was between Joe and Marcus. Joe asked Marcus “Who’s is your best friend, Marcus?” to which Marcus replied “Do you mean inside school or outside school?”
“Ah, good point” said Joe “Well, why don’t you tell me both inside and outside school. So, who is your best friend inside school?” Marcus replied “Joe.”
Joe followed up with “And who is your best friend outside school?” Marcus replied “Joe.”
“The same Joe? asked our Joe. “Yup.” said Marcus matter of factly running off to have a go on the rope swing he’d just found.

Turns out rope swings are neither as comfortable nor are they as interesting as they look. Luckily Marcus’s discomfort and inability to get off the small branch on the end of the rope told us this and all the adults decided that perhaps, after all, this wasn’t for them.

As we arrived in St Mawgan, which is a lovely village with every house seemingly renovated to perfection, we were a little too early for the pub! The Falcon pub here was our destination but it didn’t open until 12 noon. We passed the time playing in the stream with a ford and on the village playing field. The big boys were a little distracted as they tried to catch up on the latest news on the Ashes on Pete’s radio. It was all getting a little tense.

At midday the church bells rang out and it was time to go to the pub. Hurrah. Lashings of ginger beer all round! Not really obviously- beer for the boys and Jane and mostly Orangina’s for the girls and Children. Joe, however, decided to celebrate our good fortune with the weather with the pubs special- a Caribbean cocktail. The pub was lovely with a flowered courtyard area and then a huge garden. I think we may have disturbed the Sunday peace a little though. Oops.

After a couple of drinks in the sunshine the girls made their way back with Maddie and Marcus as we had a spa afternoon planned. The boys stayed for a couple more. We went via the St Mawgan post office and a very fine Cornish pasty. Our route back retraced our steps and sure enough as we got back to Mawgan Porth the sea mist was still there. If we’d have not trekked out we’d never have known that the sun was shining down the valley. Later on though the mist did finally lift here and the hot sun burned through.

We rounded off the day with our massages that Joyce had arranged with the mobile masseur
Emma. I had reflexology and a hot stone massage both of which were marvellous. We sat around in our fluffy white robes, reading trashy mags and enjoying the full on spa experience! Later a breakaway group of grown ups went to the pub to listen to the live music and the rest of us prepared the latest creations for the BBQ. Salmon parcels with ginger, soy and leeks were a real winner- well done Pete.

Unfortunately, later on all that sun began to take effect and Marie, myself, Joe and Joyce ended our perfect day in the jacuzzi. We decided to put together a synchronised jacuzzi routine with full on head stands and everything. Oh how we laughed as we agreed to practice every night and put on a display on our final night. Seemed like a good idea at the time – not so much in the morning.

It seems that the neighbours weren’t quite so impressed as when Pete was going to bed at 1am he heard the external intercom going and a person on the otherside of the gate saying “Hello? Morning. Group? Party people?…..” Pete didn’t reply to this call choosing not to get involved (one of the morals of the holiday) but when he recounted this to the jacuzzi girls the next morning we all went ‘YES, party people, result!’ It seems that not much has changed since I was last in Mawgan Porth after all, although the complaints then involved an incident with the police which I don’t have time to go into now.

Anyway, sorry what’s this blog supoosed to be about? Oh yes, walking. What a fab end to a fantastic, memorable day all centred around the lovely 4 mile walk to St Mawgan. Happy nearly my birthday!

Walk 33- 6 Castaway to Cowes

Well oiled launch

Me, Cracker and Jemima

Girlie Crew

Cowes Marina

Plaza ice cream

Esplanade

Rescue kit

Besides the seaside..

Wheeeeeee!

Yeahaw!

Croatian swim

Cap’n James and Cracker

Fish n Ships

Last Saturday we did a walk that I had been particularly looking forward to. We’d been planning it for a while and we met up with another school friend, Christine, her husband James and their two children, Hannah 14 and Ben 12. These guys now live in Reigate, Surrey where I used to live and their passion is their speedboat, Jemima.

Christine (Cracker), had kindly invited me and Jane to meet up with them down near to Southampton, to take a trip across the Solent to the Isle of Wight where we’d take a little walk and then speed back. Christine and James had to look into the tides and weather forecast etc and we finally settled on last Saturday. Of course it turned out to be the perfect weekend.

We got a text from Cracker on Friday saying that because of the superb weather the roads would likely be very busy so they planned to leave Reigate at 6am. Jane and I decided to leave a little earlier too. As it turned out though we all sailed down there and the roads weren’t that bad at all. Even though Siri (on the iPhone) got us a bit lost at the M3/M27 Junction we arrived at the Hamble at 9:30 – an hour ahead of schedule. Our crew were already there and we immediately felt as if we had entered a different world as we drove into the marina. There were lots of huge yachts lined up everywhere. Incredible amounts of money.

Captain James gave us a very thorough briefing and was very reassuring. I must admit I was slightly nervous especially as there was talk of us ‘having a go later’! James covered various safety points such as our gas powered life jackets and the kill cord which gets put around the leg of the driver so that if they fall in the water it kills the motor. James also taught us the origin of the terms port and starboard and what that means in terms of traffic on the sea (pass to port -left).

We stood by and watched as the family went into a well oiled routine of launching the boat from the slipway. This is quite a technically, precise operation but today it all went very smoothly and soon we were all on board and setting off down the Hamble towards open water. Their boat is 5m in length which is relatively small but boy it has some oomph. Jemima’s maximum speed is 35 knots or approx 40mph. As we set off we had to go slowly as it was very busy and there is a speed restriction but as we got further out James and Ben opened up the throttle and we were off
! The bow of the boat rises up and the wash behind the boat looks as if it should belong to a cross channel ferry!

Ben took the wheel for most of the trip across and did a great job of giving us a smooth ride. Soon we were heading into Cowes harbour and looking out for our parking spot at Shepard’s Marina. Cracker had booked our spot ahead and James radioed us in. He is the only one qualified to use the radio and Cracker is jealous of his 100% exam mark!! The nice chaps in the marina helped us in. We used their facilities and then set off on our walk.

Cracker had chosen the walk today and had found the heritage Boat Trail online. It was most appropriate and even better it started on Birmingham Road! The walk took us all over Cowes and East Cowes as we followed the signs with pictures of various knots on them. The weather by now was absolutely stunning. The early morning clouds had lifted and it was scorchingly hot and sunny. We really felt like we were on our holidays and we had a lovely time. The walk took us firstly round Cowes itself and there were some lovely shops here including the fabulous Plaza Ice Cream Parlour. This was good ice cream and I tried their maple and walnut. We also all enjoyed visiting the old fashioned sweet shop where we each made our favourite selections. Pink shrimps, fruit salads, raspberry ruffles, barley sugars and jelly snakes! Yum- great trail Cracker!!

We visited several boating themed shops such as Bekens which sold some great prints of sailing scenes. It struck me that this would be a great place to come if you fancied doing some interior design with a nautical theme. Meanwhile there were some lovely houses too and at every corner a tempting view through to the turquoise sea. We passed the Royal Yacht Squadron and were impressed by the 21 ( or was it 22?) mini canons which are used to celebrated the victories of local sailors. We wound our way back around towards East Cowes then and crossed the Medina River via the chain bridge. This caused Jane to be very confused – was it a bridge? Was it a ferry? Whatever it is, it only lasts a couple of minutes and its all free for foot passengers. Hurrah!

The 2nd half of the walk took us around East Cowes. Again there are some ‘lost in time’ shops here which looked lovely but then the walk took us on a tour of boat sheds and yards. The history is quite incredible as from these buildings they built the first hovercraft, the first seaplane as well as naval destroyers during WWII which led to the town being very badly bombed in 1942. We walked through some generic residential areas (could be anywhere) before finding ourselves back down on the Esplanade. James and Ben went for a paddle and gave us a fine rendition of ‘Oh I do like to be beside the seaside’ and we decided to call it a day. I figured that we’d already walked at least 3 miles (actually 4.1 miles) and I could tell that everyone was itching to get back in the boat! Jane and I bought some beers at the Waitrose and back we went.

Next stop was a lovely bay where we moored up the boat and just relaxed eating our lunch for a bit. James and Ben went in for a swim in the now deep green water and it totally reminded me of a bay we had been to in Croatia. We got out the binocs and had a good stare at the other boats that were parked up here. There were some seriously mega yachts and speed boats and all sorts of goings on to keep me interested!

After resting up we sped across the waters under James control towards Bembridge until we hit a sand bank. Oops. The boat seemed to cope with it really well and we didn’t quite grind to a halt. James slowed right down and steered us out of it back into deeper water. Next it was my turn. Eek. I didn’t really want to as I was very nervous but hey ho you’ve got to grab these opportunities haven’t you? So up I got and took the helm. James kept hold of the throttle so my job was to steer. It was amazing as we sped up and I screamed and hollered with excitement. Yeahaw! It felt remarkably easy and light to control the boat and this was a little disconcerting and I felt I had to concentrate hard looking at every wave approaching. James told me to gently steer into and out of the waves. I pretended to myself that I was doing this but I’m not really convinced I made any difference!! The were several severe ‘slams’ as we hit waves head on and everyone held on tight. I had a huge smile on my face but at the same time when it got a bit hairy I was shouting ‘James, James….(take control)’. It was definitely a very cool experience. Jane however declined to take the wheel. She’s a funny thing.

My arms began to ache and now Hannah took the wheel. She was another good safe driver and she took us back towards the Hamble River. We arrived back at the pontoon and as the sun was still shining we decided to finish off the day in the only way possible. Fish and chips at a picnic table overlooking the marina. Brilliant. We’d had a really memorable day and it had been lovely to catch up with Cracker and her family and to share their hobby with them.

And of course it did turn out to be the perfect weekend, as the next day Andy Murray went on to win Wimbledon and we watched because we went sailing and walking on Saturday. Now that’s what I call good planning. Well done and thank you Cracker!

Walk 32- Cotswold Way – the Red Arrows birthday fly by

Walk Leader

The Hills are Alive

Easily confused

Red arrows fly by

Jane on the flat

Field patterns

Friendly folk

Pub break

Small quackers

Silly business

Cow view

NZ pose relived

Yeah , nice

No peace for the wicked. I woke up on Sunday with quite a tasty dose of sunburn after the heat of London. Oops. Joyce and Enid were over for the weekend as it was Joyce’s birthday and to help her celebrate, we were going to do the next stretch of the Cotswold Way. Lucky Joycee!!

We were supposed to set off early but we didn’t. The next stretch starts at Dowdeswell Reservoir and then goes steeply up and then we’d be walking over to Leckhampton Hill. There is an initial very steep bit but then it’s relatively flat so the big debate was whether we’d do the steep bit going up or coming down. We had to bear in mind Enid’s knees and at the end of the day the ‘up’ won out.

We parked up at the Indian Restaurant opposite the reservoir and the nice man let us park and use his facilities before we set off. The restaurant looked really nice actually – maybe we could try and go there sometime when we actually feel like a curry.

Joyce seemed to have a spring in her step today and set off at quite a pace. Jane and I took it more steadily as I’d seen just how steep this part was . Luckily it was all quite shaded and so we didn’t get too hot even though the day was heating up nicely. At the top of the hill it opened out into a steep meadow and Joyce decided to do her impression of Julie Andrews spinning around with her arms out and singing something unrecognisable. Suddenly we could hear some people shouting and rather embarrassingly they’d been watching Joyce’s display. Good for her- she carried on anyway (The Hills Are Alive…….!)

The people shouting turned out to be a friendly group who were doing the same stretch of the CW today as us. One couple were from Glasgow and the other pair were from Pershore. They had a 7 year plan to complete the CW which made my plan to do it this year seem ambitious!!

As we emerged out of Lineover Wood we started to walk along the escarpment itself with wonderful views over Cheltenham. As we walked along all of a sudden there was aloud roar and in the distance, funnily enough over the dreaded Cleeve Common, we were treated to a display by the Red Arrows. ‘Happy birthday Joycee’ I think they were trying to write with their exhaust fumes!

Next up we met a lady walking her friendly dog. It was a cockerpoo and she told us its name was Jarvis….do you see what she did there? We had a little chat with her and she was very reassuring telling us that we’d done the worst of the up bit. Phew.

Sure enough we soon found ourselves slightly dipping down into Seven Springs. This was great actually as the CW seemed to have been re-routed here and instead of doing an apparently pointless circular bit, it now kept alongside the busy road and went directly to the village. This was happy news indeed as at least my ancient map had this bit right – we found the pub!! Hurrah. It was after all a sunny hot day and we all agreed we needed a break. We sat in the garden enjoying the view of the pond (spring?) and especially the duck with her 10+ ducklings. We were soon joined by our friends from Glasgow and Pershore. We’d told them about the pub earlier and they were really grateful!

After our quick break we were back on the road and a lovely shady lane took us back towards the escarpment again. We passed an unusual newly built, dry stone wall which had thoughtfully had a fox flap added. At least we thought that’s what it was. We came out onto a spur and ahead of us we could see some cows who distinctly appeared to be admiring their view.

Indeed the views were amazing and I realised that what I’d thought was GCHQ previously wasn’t because now its doughnut shape was really obvious below. The walking now was easy, the sun was shining and there was a lovely breeze. This was all going far too well and we know that’s not right on the CW….

One of the highlights of this stretch is the Devils Chimney. It’s a rocky outcrop and although its shown on the map it wasn’t very clear exactly where it was. I decided to ask the nice sensible looking man having a picnic with his wife and children. He looked quite sensible and so when he told us we needed to take the path down the hill and into the quarry and then out again, we followed his advice. He did say it was a bit steep but although a bit hesitant when we looked at it, we agreed to carry on.

We seemed to be going halfway back down the hill which made me cross because I knew we were parked at the top. Joyce went ahead and met some cyclists who confirmed that we were going in the right direction. Suddenly the path started to go back up the hill. And it was ridiculously steep. We’d already realised that because the path was damp the stoney bits were very slippery and now we were trying to climb up 50m of this practically vertically. Excellent. We only really managed to do it by pulling ourselves up by branches on the trees at the side of the path. At the top I breathed a sigh of relief that we’d all made it safely but there was still no sign of the geological marvel. There did seem to be a lot of people just lying about admiring the views and again they pointed us in the right direction. Eventually we did find it and we realised that if we’d just stuck to the CW itself we’d have found a signpost to the viewing stand and an easy path down to it.

So what was that div up to sending us into the quarry? Idiot. And to be honest, the Devils Chimney was nice but I’ve seen better rocky outcrops. By the way if you are not sure what the word ‘div’ means try Googling it under Urban Dictionary. It’s quite funny.

After this we rejoined the CW and walked along the grassy path back to where our car was parked in another quarry! We’d walked 5.5 miles today and it had been a proper treat.