Just to let you all know that we have returned from our walk (Thursday actually). The thing is, there is just SO much to tell you, that I have to get all my thoughts, stories and dates in order so it can be recounted to you properly. Ian took so many photos (around 460, but most of those were on the first few days, when it was sunny) that we are currently in the process of editing them down to a better size and more managable number to put on the blog. As a tiny sneaky peek, the weather was both good and bad and althought there were aches and pains through the days themselves, no one had any serious or permanent injury (not sure about John’s slightly burned upper lip…….). The scenery was out of this world - better than expected. I felt like my eyes were not big enough to take all of it in. Totally wonderful and very peaceful.

Can’t wait to tell you all about it. I think the boys already have another walk in the pipeline - coast to coast perhaps….?

Stef xx

Has been an awful long while since my last blog, I have been very busy trying to submit coursework for a subject I am studying and so a few things have slipped, one of which being my walking. I know, I know, shame on me and all that and as I now have an extension to my work, I can re-focus! In order to get the re-focussing off to a good start, I decided to go shopping. I find nothing focuses me better on the task at hand than a good shop.

So me and Ian went in to town last Saturday and got the last few bits we needed for the walk. I got a bladder system by camelbak – I considered the Platypus one but the Camelbak has a large round aperture at the top, its big enough for you to get your hand in there for proper cleaning whereas the Platypus one didn’t. I think I might get a cleaning kit for it as well. As we are YHA members now, I made full use of my 10% discount in Blacks (it works in Millets too) getting the bladder system (2litre) and a water bottle like Annabel’s and a hat for Ian.

We then went into Open Air and Ian splashed out – honestly, really rare, if you ever see it happening, tape it. He bought a black soft shell jacket by Haglofs (Which he donned straight away) a 45 + 8 Berghaus Bio fit rucksack and a pair of zip off trousers for me. Ian is much happier he now has a Berghaus rucksack and can be in our gang. Following these purchases, we met with the Lines for some tea and cake. It did not go unnoticed however, that Ian and John were dressed very similar. Although they were both wearing different things, the colours all matched. It also transpired that John has replaced his phone and managed to get a very similar one to Ian – totally unaware. Are they becoming the same person? Is this simply a case of ‘great minds’ or is something weird happening to our men…………..

hmph. John and Ian are doing a walking weekend WITHOUT me and Stef! Maybe they’d had enough of comments like ‘ooh, the Brecon Beacons look like Canada - take a photo of me so I can pretend I went to Canada!’. Our large collection of pink walking accessories and my endless anxieties about peeing in the wilderness.  

I don’t mind though, I’m off to see Kylie’s costume exhibition with my friend Louisa, followed by a tour round the new New Look on Oxford Street - which according to Louisa has ‘amazing shoes!’. Then an evening in with a chick flik (most probably featuring Jennifer Anniston - queen of chick movies) and a bottle of wine with my neighbour Charlotte. followed by sunday in Norwich to see my newly pregnant best friend Kate, who’s promised we’ll eat somewhere ’scrummy’!

I do love walking and these days I get very excited by all the paraphanalia.  But there’s nothing like a full-on girly weekend and this one is packed full of all my favourite girly activities. And I get to use a handbag rather than a Berghaus rucksack. I’m SO excited!

Can’t wait to hear how the weekend in the Peaks goes for John & Ian. They’ve even become members of the YHA!

A xxx

No, this isn’t some useful bizarre stain removing tip from Anthia Turner, it’s actually a challenge. Recently we were at A&J’s and John made a beautiful vegetable curry. So lovely was it, that Ian vowed to beat John’s curry and make a better one. So he did a very nice Bombay curry last week. However Ian now wants to better himself further and beat John. When I saw John in the gym recently, I informed him that he was in a competition whether he knew it or not and Ian was going all out to make the king of curries. Not wanting to be outdone without a fight and wanting the opportunity to represent himself in this challenge, John took up the offer of a ‘curry off’. ‘Tis to be held here at tenison manor, this very night. I am writing this as Ian has dashed frantically to Tesco’s to get some more vegetables. The lines will be here at around 7 and then battle will commence. 

I think me and Annabel are going to have to do that mum thing where you say ‘how good both of them are’ and how it is ‘impossible to choose’ and that they will have to be ‘joint winners’. I am looking forward to it as I am sure it will be fab either way, but I am actually more relieved to know that tomorrow, there will be no more talk of the curry off and Ian’s competitive streak will burrow back down inside him where it’s safe. He has bought books on all sorts of curries and we had to go to into specialist Asian food stores today to get the ingredients so hopefully after tonight, there will be calm………until the next challenge. ARGH!! 

Exhausted curry eater xx 

Firstly, must apologise that it has been well over a week since we returned from the above and I have still not blogged. Forgive me. I am trying to cram 2 years worth of study for a diploma into 2 months and not surprisingly it has left me with little time to do anything, including sleep. 

We all very much enjoyed our walking weekend in the Brecon Beacons. It was the first chance we all had to get properly kitted up and really put or gear to the test. I ran into Open Air (shop) on the Friday and bought a pair of berghaus extrem light (their spelling, not mine…..this time) base layer legging things. Glad I did actually. The start of Saturday’s walk I thought I had overdone it, but at the top of the mountain in freezing mist, it didn’t seem like such a silly thing. All layered up we began our hike. I tell you, nothing prepares you for it, except actually doing it. After a couple of hours heading upwards into the mountain we got to the top. Unfortunately the mist was so thick, we couldn’t see each other let alone the view. It was actually a bit scary and suddenly stories about people getting lost yards from each other were not to be scoffed at. John and Ian did a very good job at getting us out of the mist and descending towards a milder climate. 
As it turns out, my whistle/thermometer/compass is broken - it kept telling us, regardless of where we were, that it was 10 degrees C. How do you argue with a thermometer?? I guess you need to get a better thermometer, its big brother to tell it it is wrong. I am convinced it was wrong though…. We found a very nice little restaurant further down the hill and stopped for lunch. Of course it was only a stone ruin and we brought our own food so I doubt there will be Michelin stars going out. 

I fell over into a peat bog. I caught my foot on some really long tufts of grass and went down. My hand did not break my fall; it just slid through the mud so I got it all up my sleeve. It did however, provide a good opportunity to see how fast my trousers and fleece dried out, which they did within about 2 hours. My equipment survived the Stef test so it’s probably ok for most environments. 

Unfortunately our 10 mile walk turned into a 16 mile walk when we completely overshot our left turn and consequently ended up 7 miles away from our car, 2 villages away. Thankfully we managed to get out of the Beacons before the dark came as none of us had brought torches - another thing you just don’t think of until you have the problem of not having one! We found a pub that let us in - even with our muddy clothes and with about 7 quid bought 3 & 1/2  pints, a G&T, and 3 cokes - this is the valleys don’t forget - while we waited for our taxi back to the car. 

My mum had very kindly set out dinner for us (again!) and did a very good job catering for her first vegetarians. She got us a DVD romcom which we all started to watch but I think only me and John managed to stay awake - we really wanted to see that romcom. Sunday’s walk was very good, we all woke up a bit tight, but it was the test to see if we could walk again. If there was no chance, really we were doomed for the WHW, but we all managed it and our first very steep and exhausting climb got the blood pumping again and we all felt that we could definitely do this. The really weird part for me was the little guy running up behind us on the mountain. He was climbing so fast, we had to stop to let him overtake. That’s when I saw it was none other than Andy Curnin who was the course director for Environmental Health at UWIC when I went there. The People you meet on the side of a mountain in Wales huh? It was so weird…….. 

That walk went very well and I think Annabel conquered her fear of falling off an edge or slipping down steep slopes. I conquered my fear of people from the valleys. As long as you don’t talk too quietly, there is nothing to be afraid of. 

Some good observations came out of the experience though. The boys are enrolled on a map reading course for a start. We did have a GPS that John’s friend lent to him, but as it was for sailing, the ‘man overboard’ feature was a bit useless and being predominantly inland and on the ground, it failed in all of its uses. One of the things I did notice though was that I need 2 walking sticks. 1 is just silly and my opposite knee ended up hurting. Oh and I am definitely going to buy a bladder system. I thought I would be ok with a bottle, but the hassle of getting your friend to unzip your bag, fish out the bottle, take off the lid, take a gulp and then put it all back means we were getting left behind and consequently did not drink enough water. I think being able to sip the water over a period of time is much better as your body uses it better so you’re not off for a wee all the time and you don’t have to go getting bottles out of your bag all the time. 

All in all it was worth doing to really see how we would cope with lots of hill walking 2 days in a row and if we had everything we needed (which obviously we didn’t). Our Boots all seem to be ok, so that is another worry out of my mind. I have put a couple more photos on the site for you to see if you so wish. A big massive huge thank you to my mum Sue who was such a fantastic host, we are going to do it all again in March!!!

Fan x

Please take note of the lovely new picture at the top of our web pages. Taken by Ian and featuring John and the Brecon Beacons!

Hello

We’ve just had the most fantastic weekend in the Brecon Beacons.  We did two days of walking in conditions so far removed from our previous East Anglia walks in Thetford, Newmarket and Bedford. Those walks now feel no more difficult than a ‘quick pop to the shops’!

The scenery in the Brecons was just so beautiful. Why is Cambridgeshire SO DAMNED FLAT!!??!  Here’s some examples of the beautiful country we’re lucky enough to live in:

One of the main things I’ve taken away from the weekend was just how theraputic walking is.  On saturday we didn’t see anyone all day. A small group of walkers went past us in the opposite direction on another hill, on the other side of a river, so in my opinion, not close enough to count as seeing people. There ware no noise to be heard other than that caused by weather and a few birds.  It’s such an unusual experience to be in such peace and quiet. It felt amazing!!  The terrain was fairly tricky so we had to concentrate most of the time on our footing (and for the boys, on directions - more on that later!) so in my experience my mind was pretty much focussed just on we were doing - thoughts about work, home, the usual day to day stuff just didn’t get a chance. It’s not often that I can switch off like that.  Add into that how good the physical side of it was - 8 hours of constant hard walking, lots of fresh air into the lungs….. Aaah, I feel good!

As expected in Britain, we had a lot of weather on the walk.  It started out bright and sunny but a little bit cold. As we walked further and higher we hit a bit of drizzle. Higher and further we came across left over snow from a previous cold snap. And higher than that we hit MIST! ARGH!  The route we took was featured in Trail magazine. In the write up it said ‘not to be tackled in poor visability’.  At one point Stef & Ian walked a few steps ahead of me and John, and were barely visible. I will admit to being scared at this stage of the walk, as there was no distinguising features on our route and lots of cliff edges. The boys had us assured they were ok, and gave the impression of confident navigators. The truth was someone different - I’ll let them tell you about that though.  Just to say, we’re all looking forward to their basic map reading course in April!!

Thank you so much to Sue for looking after us over the weekend - coming home to a good shower and dinner made it all just perfect.

Here’s a few more pictures from the weekend.

Lots of love and fresh air

Annabel xxx

Very excited about our walk this weekend. This evening, we are off to Cardiff!! We hope to get an early night but that never happens at mum’s house. The boys have planned us a route which we hope will be fairly straightforward. Don’t really want to get caught in any white outs or anything nasty. I don’t know how to make a snow hole yet, so I’m hoping not to encounter anything beyond our abilities. 

Mum’s very exited about it too. She has never had to cook for veggies before, well, not for a weekend anyway and so has gone completely over the top with all sorts of vegetables, fruits and Cheeses. Bella and John will be the most well fed veggies in Wales!! 

I do need to go to town today and buy a base layer. Unfortunately I don’t think my damart thermals will keep me well vented and I am now afraid of the levels of static they produce. I am also off to find a suitable walking bra. One without seams so the straps on the rucksack don’t rub and hurt me. I will let you know how it goes. 

Ok, next thing you hear from us will be post Brecon Blog. I am sure there will be lots of Photos!
Stef x

Hello!

This weekend is our first big training walk with proper hills planned! We’re off to the Breacon Beckons in Wales to do two days of walking. We’re staying at Stef’s mum’s house, and she’s very kindly providing fabulous home made cooking, hot showers, proper fluffy towels and comfy beds. I vote for Sue to come to the Highlands with us. How nice would it be to reach our destination each night, and be greated by home comforts of the sort only a mum can provide!

The good and bad news is that we’re now a properly equiped team of walkers. All 4 of us have suitable boots, trousers, waterproofs and backpacks.  So this will be the proper test of our kit. We even have gaitors - and we know how to wear them! The bad side to this is that we’re all quite shiny and new in our kit, and having read a recent copy of Trail magazine, one of the articles said something along the lines of ‘there’s nothing worse than seeing a walker dressed head to toe in the latest brand new gear’. hmph. Looks like we’ve gone and tried TOO hard! 

Half the team has been in bad health so far this year - John’s been very ill with man-fluenza.  It was quite serious, but he’s pulled through! and i’m getting very frustrated with my bad foot/ankle problem and am starting to panic that it’s not going to be better in time for the main walk in May.  It’s been going on since September and only seems to be getting worse.  I had physiotherapy on it on Monday and my physio didn’t look impressed when i told him I’m off for a 2 day hill walking weekend. Fingers crossed my foot will be ok at the end of this weekend. he said it was my choice but he didn’t recommend it! oh no!

I’m off to bed now, I’ve been writing this blog whilst waiting for the exclusive showing of Take That’s new video on channel 4. I think Mark Owen has definitely had singing lessons.

Wish us luck for our trip to wales.

 Annabel xx

Hello again folks! It has been a while, but I am back. I have been very busy over Christmas, all over the place and finally it caught up with me and tagged me with a baton of cold & flu. Not a very nice baton, but I think I am soon able to pass it on.

Anyway, as instructed, family gave me cash for Christmas so I could go and get myself some nice walking gear and I did just that. With it burning a hole in my purse for a whole boxing day, I finally managed to spend a wodge of it on Wednesday. I bought myself some very nice Raichle walking boots, a fleece, Berghaus paclite waterproof trousers and some waterproof gloves (no one likes wet, cold hands do they?). Oooh and Rab gaitors. I only got sidetracked once into Monsoon and bought a very nice sparkly scarf that was HALF PRICE!So I think I am pretty weather resistant now. I still need to get me a backpack and a sleeping bag.

Speaking of Sleeping bags, whilst looking through the latest issue of Trail mag, we spotted the perfect thing. I think I must get this. It looks so warm. Check it out! What do you think?? Its called the Selk bag - type it into Google and it all comes up

 Now, there is no way that I am ever going to buy a real sleeping bag, when these amazing teletubby outfits exist. Why just go to sleep when you can laugh yourself to sleep. I think the slug shaped sleeping bags are now a thing of the past. I care not how much they weigh, it will be woth it just to wear one. Next year all clebs will be wearing them at Glastonbury and I am sure it will only be a matter of months before Prada have one in the pipeline. So there you go.

On our way up to Scotland (I soooooooooo forgot to bring my waterproof jacket with me - How stupid!!) for Hogmanay (Yes, they do insist on calling it this), I stopped in the Sunglasses hut and bought myself a very snazzy pair of Arnette sunglasses for the walk. As I rely on sonar and occasionally on my eyesight to help me get around, they are pretty useless unless I wear my contact lenses, so it looks like to avoid glare I will be wearing my sunglasses and to obtain the basic sense of sight, I will be wearing my contact lenses for this walk; but I will look ‘SNAZZY’. Hopefully. Maybe someone will have to tell me, because if I can’t see…….Nevermind….

I can’t wait to start testing all this waterproof gear out. The walk is now only a few months later this year, so I am very excited. The moment I obtain my Selk sleeping bag (pitty the poor postie who has to carry it and then try and get it through my letterbox), I promise to Photograph its arrival and me sleeping comfortably in it.

Later bloggers!

Fan xx