Source of the River Thames.

On Monday we drove to Ashton Keynes a beautiful Cotswold village.

From there we walked to the Source of the River Thames.

It was a beautiful walk and we met many walkers along the way.

National trails seem to be very popular in England.

After we walked back to Ashton Keynes It was time for me to make the 200 mile drive back home.

Geoff was staying over night then starting the long walk home along the Thames path national trail.

I was sad not to be joining Geoff on this walk as it looks a beautiful English countryside walk.

BUT I am booked into the http://www.swanatstreatley.co.uk/ on Friday night and the plan is for me to walk Along the Thames path to Windsor 🙂

I cannot complain about that !!

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Along the Cotswold way

Sunday saw us heading out for a longer walk.

Geoff had plotted an 18 mile route , along the Cotswold way to Horton, then returning by public footpaths to Wotton-under-edge.

The Cotswold way was beautiful and again I was amazed by all the wild Garlic, the aroma along the path was wonderful.

The bluebells in Bays wood looked stunning too.

It was a tougher 18 miles than we walk in the flat lands but every second was enjoyed.

We returned to enjoy a lovely Sunday lunch cooked by sally 🙂

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Tyndale monument

On Friday we drove up to Wotton under edge for a weekend of walking.

Saturday was not about doing a long distance walk but meeting up with friends 🙂

So it was decided we would walk up to the Tyndale Monument , just to stretch our legs.

A walk that could have proved a challenge, as the walk leader left the maps in his car 🙂

We braved the wind and climbed the steps to the top of the monument , where we had a great view of the river Severn

Then we had a few circuits of the wood to see all the wonderful wild garlic and bluebells.

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Amazingly

I just found my way home from Ashton Keynes

For someone that cannot navigate that’s very impressive 🙂

Would never be able to do it with out my Tom Tom

Who ever invented them deserves a gold medal !!

Now its bath and bed, more about my weekend of walking and photos to follow 🙂

Afternoon Tea the low fat way

I have been following a low fat diet and have lost half a stone so far.

This way of eating suits me very well and I can see that I will be able to maintain my weight loss quite easily.

My one weakness is Cake, I especially enjoy a slice after a long days walking:-)

So whilst trying to loose weight I have limited myself to just one slice of cake on walking days only.

I have also realized that I can make better choices to help my weight loss

Here is a nice recipe for a Light fruit Cake.

110g light spread ( i used vitalite )
100g soft dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1 banana, mashed
200g mixed dried fruit
225g self raising flour
2 tsp mixed spice
2 tsp ground cinnamon

Pre-heat oven to 150c

Grease and line a 20cm tin

Cream the sugar and spread together in a bowl

Gradually mix in the egg and banana.

Add fruit flour and spice mixing well with a wooden spoon

Bake for an hour to an hour and a half

serves 8, 176 calories per slice and 3g fat

compared to

Mr Kipling manor house cake

serves 6 , 267 calories and 13.1g fat

Big Big Plans

Traveling has never been part of my life plan.

Whilst married, holidays were spent visiting family or taking the boys to Butlins.

Going Abroad or traveling never entered my mind.

Then I met Geoff !

Within months of meeting him he was suggesting I went to Les Gets, skiing and then Corsica, where we walked the GR20, which is still the hardest thing I have ever done.

Then it was Morocco, where we walked  Mount Toubkal in the Atlas mountains and met Lady Mac

All followed by trips to Spain, Finland and Peru, where we walked the amazing Inca Trail.

In between, there has been many wonderful skiing and walking trips in Les Gets too.

In June we are having a week in Italy, mainly to attend a wedding but I am sure we shall squeeze some walking in too.

Then there is the Big Plan for September 🙂

Flights have now been booked, and we shall be flying to Beijing, the exciting thing is I will be in China for 4 weeks 🙂

As you may expect we hope to walk many sections of  The Great Wall.

Beach Huts

Here is the Painting I bought last week, when we visited The Art Exhibition held in Grimston.

I love beach Huts and have been looking for a painting for a while.

I have an idea of what I want , unfortunately this is not the one.

Though I liked this enough to buy it and will just keep looking for the perfect one 🙂

It was very reasonably priced at £20 and measures 8 x 6 inches.

Its a shame its not bigger !

A fair day for a walk

After having a very lazy Sunday it was decided we best do some walking on bank holiday Monday.

As it was the Reach Fair we decided why not walk to Reach and back 🙂

So off we set and it was a walk that certainly made up for being lazy on the Sunday.

A total of 22 miles was walked.

Its been a while since we walked so far and I had forgotten how lovely it feels to be back home after a long days walking.

A feeling of tiredness and achievement all rolled into one. 🙂

Reach fair walk

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