Category Archives: walking

Chocolate brownies and a run

Every now and again I meet up with my friend  Gina from Norwich it usually means a lot of chatting Chocolate Browniesand some exercise, the last time we met it was for the Daffodil Dawdle Challenge walk in March.

Today Gina visited me at home so we could go and run my new favourite 10k route around the Church Ruins at Bawsey. Luckily for us the weather was kind and the wind and rain stayed away.

It was a great opportunity for me to cook lunch for us too, we had Chicken Chilli and Sweetcorn soup and the most amazing chocolate brownies that have not lasted the day 🙁  Both recipes came from another friend of mine Yvette, who we visited at Easter.

As Gina was unable to join us for our Wherryman’s way walk maybe our next meet up should be to walk the Boudicca way a 36 mile walk from Norwich to Diss.

The Wherryman’s Way

At the weekend @sallyinnorfolk was actually walking in Norfolk and what a walk it was!

wherrymans wayWe tagged along with our LDWA friends to see just what we were made off, the plan was to walk the Wherryman’s way, which runs along the River Yare from Norwich to Great Yarmouth.

The website says the route is 35 miles from train station to train station.

As I was a little unsure about walking 35 miles and to make it easier for parking the car, we decided to start our walk at Whitlingham Country Park.Screenshot 30:04:2013 15:24-2

So bright and early on Sunday morning in perfect weather conditions,we set off on our longest walk yet.

11 hours and 34 miles later we arrived in Great Yarmouth 🙂

I was amazed at how easy I managed the walk,walking with girls that chat all the time does make a difference and apart from a few sore toes I had no other aches.

Not sure if the sore toes are from the new shoes, which had dreadful insoles with no cushioning at all, or just from the fact that I walked 34 miles.

All photos can be seen here 

Next its the GEAR 10k run !!

Taking the plunge !

I have needed new walking boots for a while now but have put off buying a pair as I have been toying with the idea of having walking shoes instead of boots!

Salomon Walking Shoes

More and More of the walkers we know seem to have been converted to shoes, especially durring the summer months.

So finally yesterday I took the plunge and bought a pair of Salomon Exode Low GTX shoes.

They were an excellent price at £75 instead of £110 and had excellent reviews too.

Until I do a long walk in them I wont be able to tell if I prefer them but I might not have to wait long as hopefully we have a massive walk on Sunday 🙂

The only draw back is that Geoff seems to think I will now walk much quicker wearing light weight walking shoes rather than boots but that remains to be seen !!!

My dream bag

Sorry ladies its not a designer handbag but a beautiful Purple Osprey Sirrus ruck-sac.

Osprey Sirrus Ruck-Sac

When I go on my long walking holidays I use an Osprey Kestrel 48 ruck-sac that I love, its comfortable to carry day after day, has lots of pockets, holds my platypus,and is generally just perfect for me.

So I have longed for an Osprey Sirrus ruck-sac for well over a year, its a bit smaller than the Kestrel so perfect for day walks, but still has all the pockets and plenty of room for my platypus.

You can Imagine my surprise/delight when I found one hiding in my bed, its just perfect in every way and much better for me than an Easter egg 🙂

The Daffodil Dawdle

On Sunday my twitter Friend Gina and I did the LDWA challenge walk known as the Daffodil Dawdle.

Gina and I striding along..

I must confess to feeling very nervous about this walk, not because of the snow and not because of the distance but because this walk is not marked out, your given the route on the day.

I had asked for the GPX file and luckily for me late on Saturday evening I received it in an e-mail, which opened perfectly into my viewranger app.

All my worrying had been for nothing though, as the 4 pages of route instructions were very detailed and  fun to follow,I only used the GPX file a few times just to double check we were actually where we thought we were 🙂 I even had the confidence to tell some other walkers they were going the wrong way !!!

Gloopy mud

The conditions under foot were far from perfect, when we decided to do this walk the last thing we expected was SNOW and thick gloopy mud !! It certainly put some walkers off as they had 70 no show’s 🙁

All check points were perfectly spread out with food and a hot drink available at no extra cost too.

It took us 8 hours and 38 mins to cover the 26.6 miles and we enjoyed every min 🙂

The surprise of the day was bumping into Geoff when about 2/3rds of the way into the walk…  he had walked out from Cambridge using the GPX file and latitude to find us.  Those that know us well

We did it !

will know we are addicted to our Fitbits and no way was Geoff going to let Gina and I clock up all those steps while he sat at home !!

When checking in at the end,it was lovely to see Jayne who with other LDWA members had hot soup, crusty bread, apple crumble and custard waiting for us.

A very warming end to a great walk, one that may become a yearly event for us 🙂

A few more photos can be seen here...

Malham Cove and Gordale Scar

We could not leave the dales with out doing another walk, so Sunday it was going to be Malham Cove and Gordale Scar.

IMG_8559A good fall of snow overnight bought the snow line right down into the village and it had turned much colder.

The drive up to the car park was the scariest drive we have ever done at one point we lost grip and thought we would go no further but after an hours driving we finally made it.

Our walk took us past Janets Moss waterfall which was looking good after all this rain

It was another slippery walk across the spectacular lime stone pavement at malham Cove and  the scramble up Gordale Scar was amazing

photos can be seen here  Malham Cove and Gordale Scar

All too soon it was time to be heading home but what a fantastic walking weekend made more special by the snow and of course the brilliant company 🙂

 

Yorkshire 3 peaks

After having a good nights sleep we woke early ready to meet our other walking companion of the day, a fireman who also walks these 100 mile challenge walks.

We clocked out of the Pen-y-ghent cafe at 7.15 am eager to be on our way.

7.15 am and ready to go

It didn’t take long to reach the snow line and it was a fairly steep but short walk to the top of Pen-y-ghent.

IMG_8422 (1)

Then we took the new path down the Pennine way , which avoids the bog across the moor and a very nice path it was too 🙂

IMG_8429

After some muddy paths and road walking the viaduct came into view and we knew the tea van was just round the corner .

IMG_8455 (1)

This is where we met other walkers and the lady that sold us the tea said there was a foot of snow on the top of whernside. It was a long slow climb to the top in poor visibility and very slippery conditions totally amazing to see people walking in just normal trainers, they had trouble standing upright at times.

IMG_8471 (1)

Going down was much harder than the walk up !

IMG_8474

A great view of the Viaduct from the other side and then a great feeling to know the end was in sight.

IMG_8483

The climb up Ingleborough was the hardest it was steep and very slippery but well worth the effort

IMG_8494 (1)

and  just as we reached the summit the fog cleared and we had a great view of the circuit we had walked.

IMG_8537 (1)

It was then down hill all the way home and we clocked back into the cafe at 6pm, making it a 10 hour 45 min walk which meant we qualified for the 3 peaks badge 🙂

IMG_8543 (1)A totally fantastic walking day , one never to be forgotten but let me tell you these walkers from the LDWA can sure walk fast 🙂

Another amazing thing is that in the summer people run this 3 peaks walk in around 2.5 hours and that is hard to imagine !!

Screenshot 22:03:2013 00:01-3