1 June 2015
The rain had stopped on Monday morning, if not the wind. There were no guarantees it would stay that way so I decided to shelve the idea of a walk to Lakeside and another cygnet hunt and go somewhere where there was easy access to shelter and coffee. When I told CJ what I was up to he decided to come along too. Probably it was the thought of a latte and maybe a cake to go with it that did it. Continue reading French Street
Training for the Moonwalk is a challenge. Sometimes it’s hard to find the motivation or the time to go out on long walks especially in the mud and cold. It has to be done though, if you want to live through twenty six point two miles on the night. Every week the walks get longer and the motivation more illusive, particularly when you come to the long miles. In February 2013, three months before Moonwalk night, I reached the first of those long miles. Continue reading sixteen miles, woods, chapels and fallen soldiers – first published 8 February 2013
22 April 2015
In the end we decided to give it a go. What was the worst that could happen? Having bigger feet, CJ found the wedge shaped steps quite difficult and even I had to watch my footing as they were quite slippery in places. At least there were small windows at intervals so it wasn’t dark. As we climbed, a strong memory of climbing these very stairs once before came back to me. When my boys were little, possibly before CJ was even born, we’d visited the castle. The one thing I remember about the visit was the climb up this spiral staircase and a slight feeling of panic that one of the boys would slip. Continue reading Portchester Castle, a tough climb, amazing views, a ghost and a bit more graffiti
5 April 2015
Not long after I passed the Windsor Railway Bridge I came out into a large open meadow, called The Brocas and I got my first view of the aim of my walk. For those who have not guessed yet it was, of course, Windor Castle. In the far corner of the meadow I could see a path that seemed to run beside the river so I made my way towards it. There was a closer view of the castle but it looked like a dead end so I retraced my steps and made my way through a narrow cutway. At the end I could see a charming little pub. Continue reading Up to Windsor to visit The Queen
Eventually I dragged myself away from my seat overlooking the Itchen Valley and, humming to myself, set off along the lane towards Church Fields. There were sheep grazing on the Water Farm fields. At this point I had a choice of route, down the winding lane to Shawford and onto the Navigation, or across the road and through the southern part of Twyford Village. The Navigation was tempting, mostly because it meant avoiding the horrors of a mile and a bit of footpathless Highbridge Road with cars zooming past at fifty plus miles an hour. The Navigation, on the other hand, would have mud and breached banks. The section between Otterbourne and Allbrook was almost impassable on my last visit. Taking that option could well mean having to turn back. Continue reading Homeward bound
11 January 2015
It’s no secret that I hated working at Mad House right from the outset. In fact I only applied for the job because of a rather spooky coincidence that had me thinking the fates were trying to tell me something. My temporary job was coming to an end and my lovely boss, Mac, told me I should apply for a job at Mad House, “you’d be brilliant at it,” he said.
“A call centre! What gives you the idea I’d be brilliant in a call centre?”
“Well, you’re good at talking.”
“Yes, I learned at a very early age.”
“On the phone I mean, you have a lovely phone manner.”
“I worked in a call centre before. It was awful. I hated it.” Continue reading Coffee tastes better with friends
8 December 2014
Usually Monday is mostly about cooking and shopping, with a little cleaning thrown in for good measure. Outside the window the morning sky was bright and blue, the perfect weather for windmill visiting, and, as I’d already made a tasty lamb casserole on Sunday afternoon, I decided everything else could wait. Continue reading Sails the on Bursledon Windmill
After my brief windmill visit on Sunday I thought it would be interesting to look back at my previous visits back in 2013 and share a little of the history of the place. It’s certainly beautiful and a little spooky. Continue reading Spooky tales of Bursledon Windmill – First published 10 March and 3 September 2013