Monthly Archives: July 2007

Back training soon…

if you read my blog on a regular basis you will know that some time ago I canceled my gym membership…. then sulked for weeks.

Well today I went to look around  Lynn sport ,after finding out I could get a real good discount as I work for Tesco.

My 19 year old son also wanted to join a gym so we can get a joint membership and he can take advantage of the discount too.bodyworks1

I am used to small quiet gyms , at my last gym I was often the only person there when I went. This gym is big, busy, and bursting with energy I found it very hard to leave. I will get a personal program and a target to aim for, the program can be changed every 6 weeks and will include some weights for toning.

After all that hard work there is a sauna to relax in and a coffee bar too.

Maybe I will even get to meet some real people and make some friends in this area.

The only down side is that it is an 8 miles drive from here …but for the sake of my sanity I think I will over look this.

As someone pointed out to me , 3 hours overtime a month and my monthly membership is paid for…put like that I can hardly wait to go and sign up

Day 1…Calenzana to refuge d’Ortu di u Piobbu

Sunday 17/6/07

 

After arriving in Calenzana late on the Saturday night we stayed at the Hotel Monte Grosso, which was an experience in its self.

We were up early and eager to be on our way but decided we had to have breakfast first.

while waiting for breakfast we saw many walkers setting off . I could see that Geoff was getting restless and knew if I had said “lets go” we would have been off with no breakfast., but for once I kept my mouth shut.

We finally got on our way at 8.30, I was excited to finally be on our way but also a little scared as I was unsure of what to really expect as I had never done this kind of walking before.

Much to my delight ( as I knew it would please Geoff ) we soon caught up and over took most of the walkers we had seen setting off while we waited for ouGR20 018r breakfast.

First part of the walk was fairly easy and we saw many lizards scuttling about, then between Bocca a u Saltu and Bocca a u Bassiguellu the walk became more difficult with a fair amount of scrambling.

The ascent down to the refuge was a welcome stretch and we finally got there at 14.30pm,  6 hours after setting off.

To our surprise the refuge was very busy with many people camping.

We decided to have a bed inside the refuge on this night.

On this day I had sweated so much all my clothes were just dripping wet, it was very embarrassing.So even the cold shower was very welcome.

Swimming,Arts and French Markets

That’s just a taste of what I got up too this week-end.

The swimming was cold but exhilarating and  did not compare to the rock pools in Corsica. Went 3 times over the week-end did 1000 m each time 🙂

The French msunflower honey 002arket was great to look around, was only tempted by some sunflower honey that is really delicious, and is a fabulous yellow colour.

This week-end was also the first week-end of the Cambridge open studios.

We saw some fantastic art ,pottery and sculpture.

The sculpture was by Esther Joseph and I tried to talk Geoff into having some lessons as a birthday present from me…..

The paintings I fell in love with were by Jenny Eadon not the ones on her web site but ones painted this year when  she was staying in San Francisco.She visited the coast and was struck with the beauty of the wild flowers along the beaches and cliff tops. They were fantastic paintings.

The open studios goes on through out July so do visit some if you can, I hope to be visiting many more next week-end.

My green brain

Thanks to Lady M I could not resist taking this test….


Your Brain is Green


Of all the brain types, yours has the most balance.
You are able to see all sides to most problems and are a good problem solver.
You need time to work out your thoughts, but you don’t get stuck in bad thinking patterns.

You tend to spend a lot of time thinking about the future, philosophy, and relationships (both personal and intellectual).
What Color Is Your Brain?

Funny how my favorite colour is also green.

More photos…..

The rest of my GR20 photos are now up on my Flickr .

Sorry there have been no blog posts yet but I have been too busy cleaning my house…..  and enjoying the compliments found here and here.

Also enjoying the fun here too.

Off to Cambridge for the week-end then will get dowGR20 068n to writing my blog posts.

Just to keep you going here are the stats for the walk…..taken from Geoffs pedometer

97 hours out time

54 hours walking time

43 hours stop time

1/4 million steps

12701 m up

12715 m down

All that resting time he had waiting for me to catch him up… 🙂

How it all began……

Before I start doing the blog posts about my GR20 walk , I thought I would let you know how it all came about.

I have been an active member of the Ramblers Forums for a few years ( though not so active now ).

A small group of us had got together over the years and tried to meet up every few months or so for a walk.

Around October time 2006 we were planning a walk at Castle Acre, we always posted these walks  on the forum to see if we could get any new walkers coming along.

At this time Geoff showed an interest, and did eventually come along , Caroline and Ellee came along with him too.

After this walk Geoff and I started meeting up often for a walk, as I had showed a great interest in walking longer distance. In the first month we met we walked about 120 miles.. 🙂SallyandGeoff006

At about the same time I had posted on the forum about wanting a walking holiday in 2007…… if you read through the thread you will see Geoff suggested the GR20, at this time I thought he was joking and didn’t really take much notice.

As the months went by and it was mentioned many times I slowly began to think maybe just maybe he really did think I could do this walk.

Then we went off to the peak district for some walking , where I got my real bad blister.

After this I changed my boots and got a ruc-sac , now I really began to think I was going.

We did some more training in Wales then 2 trips to Les Gets  in the french Alps. Before I knew it I was in Corsica walking the GR20 having the time of my life ,thanks to a  chance meeting with someone who has changed my life and given me  opportunities I never ever expected to get.

I still wake up every day and pinch myself to make sure its real and not just a dream 🙂 🙂

Home Sweet Home

Arrived back in Norfolk yesterday evening…. back to work today !

I had one amazing holiday and I can see why the GR20 is known as the toughest trek in Europe.

At times it was very very scary, more like climbing than walking, but I did it with no aches, pains or blisters. Me who hardly gets to see a hill let alone a mountain has walked the whole of the GR20 in 14 days.

Some photos up on my blog…..others will be added to my flickr.…. sorry all the real rude ones are for our eyes only 🙂

Question now is……. what next ??????