Yorkshire Girl's Midlife Diary

The Ultra is complete…………………..all 47 miles / 75km of it around lake Windermere with 8530 feet of up and down…………………and it hurt!

But pain teaches what comfort never can!

What is it that T S Elliot said? Something along the lines of, “Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go”.

Lots of people will tell you about their successes and sugar coat it! They’ll skip the part where it all fell apart, when it got tough. This got tough! There were times it was too much for me in training, and I’m not going to gloss over that. I’ve had all sorts of musculoskeletal problems and numerous infections when my immune system has just told me it’s had enough. It would have been easy to pack it all in and say, “I’m not doing this, it’s too hard!” But the thing is, life’s biggest lessons are learnt in those moments.

We learn about ourselves, we learn about our bodies, we learn about consistency and resilience, we learn about fatigue and we learn about pushing through perceived physical limits. Sitting still is comfortable, it’s where you rest, you’ll get the same result, more of the same. Discomfort and pain is where the growth happens………it leads to wisdom and deeper self awareness.

I decided to do this event over a year ago. For me it was not a race. It was an opportunity to learn about myself, to see how far I could push myself, to test myself not physically, but mentally, to get to know myself better and achieve a little bit of self improvement……………to try and be the best version of myself if you like. And I’ve spent an awful lot of time with myself…………………..hours and hours and hours…………..miles and miles and miles………trotting along in my own company. Some runs have been great, nice sunny mornings in glorious Yorkshire………………some have been horrible, through floods, wind, rain and the usual UK winter weather. But the key here has been consistency.

This run could not have been achived however, without a small army of willing helpers. A physio who has worked with me on a regular basis and stuck me back together on quite a few occassions. A personal trainer who has put me through my strength and conditioning training on a weekly basis. This man needs a medal. Firstly………….I hate the gym…………………..it’s the most boring place ever……………..I like to be outside. Secondly…………..if I say I’m not doing something or, “I can’t”, then I’m quite stubborn. Fortunately, he’s about six and a half feet tall, has a booming voice and to be quite blunt………..I dare not refuse to do that next squat, lunge or whatever it is we are doing. I think it was only butterfly sit ups where I really did throw my teddy out of the cot and rolled around on the floor like a petulant child. I was very thankful for his patience and input when it came to the big day!

A big thank you also to my boys…………………..whose mother has been AWOL on so many occasions over the last few months when tea should have been on the table, ironing should have been done etc. etc. In hindsight, it’s probably done them good too……………their cooking and ironing skills have improved no end. 😆

So how did it go?

I arrived up in the Lakes quite late on Friday evening as I had to register on the Friday night and collect my number. The atmosphere was buzzing and I was really looking forward to setting off the next morning.

I stayed at the Queens Head Inn around 15 minutes from the race headquarters and it was lovely. An old English coaching inn with the most comfy bed. However I did not sleep too well. I’d got all my equipment ready, gone through my little pre race routine but only managed around 4 hours sleep.

I was up at 4am and all ready to leave for the race at 5am, in time for the 6am start. I’d decided to go for shorts. The forecast was for intermittent rain, but not cold. I’d rather have wet legs which dry quite quickly than wet fabric clung to my legs which stays wet all day. I felt quite calm as no-one really knew I was running the race, so I did not feel under any pressure, like I did with the marathon where I had told everyone and I’d been sponsored to finish. This race was personal, I did not want any ‘noise’ around it.

Had I got a strategy? Yes……………..I think you always need a plan. But my advice is that that plan should be your plan because only you know you well enough to write that plan. My plan was:-

• Start slow and maintain slow. I knew the slower I went the further I could go before my wheels started falling off.
• Drink enough and take on board plenty of salt…………….I’m a bit of a nightmare for getting cramp!
• Eat something every half hour.
• Stop for as little time as possible at aid stations…………………grab what I need and keep moving.
• Half way round at Troutbeck (where my drop bag was) allow myself up to 45 minutes to eat proper food and change my socks, running vest and take care of personal hygiene.
• NEVER bail at an aid station…………………………….always force myself out of the aid station………….even if I’m on all fours! Because you’re more likely to push forward to the next than turn back.
• And most importantly……………………smile, be thankful, enjoy, and just keep putting one foot in front of the other.
  

6am prompt and the race commenced. I started towards the back and trotted very slowly for the first 4 miles to the first aid station. I stopped for few minutes, used the toilet, had some salty snacks and carried on. The weather was perfect and the views amazing. I chatted to a few people but preferred to run at my pace.

The first big hill Latterbarrow was summitted and descended without any drama.

It took me two hours and twenty minutes to get to the next aid station at Skelwith Bridge and I had a big decision to make! There was a bottleneck, a half hour queue for food and half hour for the toilet………………….I did not want to waste an hour, I might need it later. I stopped for 4 minutes, took off my pack, did a bit of yoga (cat and cow stretches) on the grass to stretch my back and continued. I had plenty of water, enough to last until the next checkpoint, but I needed a pee! I spotted a wall, off the path and jumped behind it! Now I don’t condone peeing in a public place but a ‘wild pee’ in fell running is the norm. Just don’t use tissue paper and leave it behind. I must be a bit of a feral countryside girl because it always amuses me how stressed certain groups get in the Camino forums about the lack of places to pee. They take all sorts of contraptions and containers in their backpack, cloths, tissues you name it! Totally unnecessary!!! The tip is you just need Vaseline Petroleum Jelly…………a big slick of it right from the back to the front and you are good to go. 😆A pee off the path, a vigorous shake and wiggle of the bottom, no tissue and that’s it. No skin contact and no tissue paper! You see, I’m not all Princess! 😆 That’s how it’s done in fell running……………….no need to overcomplicate it!

Next summit…………..Loughrigg…………….lovely summit, gorgeous views, but energy sapping climb. Time for some Jelly Babies and Percy Pigs before the long trot down into the town of Ambleside.

Then the mother of all climbs……………………Wansfell………………leading to Baystones…………..at 1,597 feet, the highest point on the route. This is where I had my meltdown on the February recce, but fortunately today the summit was clear and I could actually see, over my right shoulder, the tiny white houses down in the village of Troutbeck, where the next aid station and half way elevation point was situated.

A long trot down into Troutbeck, and time for a small break. Three slices of wood fired pizza were consumed, a peanut butter and jam sandwich, some crisps and a cup of tea! I changed my running top and my socks but my shoes were dry and my feet were looking good so I decided to stick with the shoes I had on. Which incidentally were the Nnormal Tomir 2’s.

I was also delighted to hear my name shouted, only to turn around and spot Caroline, from a neighbouring running club at home. She had driven 3 hours up to the Lakes in her campervan to support a friend. It was lovely to have a hug from a familiar face, even if I did get a big telling off for not telling her I was running it beforehand!

21 miles down, 26 to go…………………just a marathon I kept telling myself. My secret primary objective was to get to Troutbeck with time to spare……………….there was a 16:30 cut off and it was 13:30…………………secondary objective was to go so slow enough that my aches and pains, knees, and back in particular, had not become painful. So the first two objectives were ticked off. Pain free and three hours to spare at this point.

It was a steady undulating run then for almost 3 hours to Matson Ground, taking in the peak of Orrest Head. The atmosphere was amazing in the town of Windermere………………….children were high fiving and giving out sweets and there was a carnival atmosphere. I even found an ice cream.

On leaving Matson Ground I calculated I had around 19 miles to go, but my knee had started to niggle. I took some pain relief just to take the edge off it a bit and pressed on, alternating some fast walking with some moderate trotting.

The next few hours passed uneventfully, I ran for a while with a guy from Brighton on the South coast and that took my mind off the ever increasing pain in my left knee.

I left the next aid station at Cote Hill and from then every stile and wall I had to climb felt like a mountain. I kept thinking how lucky I was to be able to do this, how some of those I have lost would love to be here, how I’d never hear the end of it from my boys if I didn’t finish, and how proud I’d be of myself if I did. At the end of the day the pain is only temporary I thought…………but the finish will be for ever.

By the time I got to the summit of Gummers How I was in agony and there was still 12 miles to go. Seven miles to the next aid station and then 5 miles to the end. I started to ‘little chunk’ it as that’s how I deal with it……………..”that’s 2 x 10 kilometres to the end” I thought……………..easy. 😆 I tried to think not of how far I had to go but how far I had come. I gave myself a big pat on the back, told myself how amazing I was and took my final two painkillers. I did not want to run with, or talk to anyone for the next 20 minutes until the pain had eased, I was in my pain cave and just wanted to be alone. I was uncomfortable, I was agitated and I could not focus on having a conversation……………I just needed to focus mentally on coping with my discomfort.

Before long I was entering, in sort of a modified shuffle, the village of Newby Bridge…………………..where a big shout out has to go to a beautiful family who every year from the goodness of their hearts and at their own expense give out ice pops! I stopped to have a chat with the children. They had given out over 500 ice pops by that point and had 400 to go. It restored my faith in the world, such kind people, and I pressed on, unsure whether to eat the ice pop or push it down my calve sleeve next to my knee!😆 I ate it!

I started the almost vertical ascent to Finsthwaite Tower. The medical team were there assisting a gentleman who had collapsed with exhaustion. He was ok, but I felt so sad for him……………..only 7 miles from the end. It reminded me to keep drinking and eating because it’s easy to get carried away so close to the end and just keep pushing on but I was starting to feel a little tired and light headed and all I could think about was going to bed in white sheets and a fluffy duvet.

My stop at Finsthwaite aid station was short. Quick toilet visit, some food, words of encouragement from the wonderful marshals and I set off on my very lonely journey for the last five miles. By now the field of runners was really spread out so I found myself running for periods of time alone. I’m generally fine with that but I knew for the final 5 miles I would be mainly in dense forest and the sun was starting to set. It had been my secret hope to finish without my head torch because I’m scared of the dark.

All my anxiety the previous week had been centred around running through the night on my own. I know I would have, and could have done it, but I did not really want to. It became apparent around 3 miles from the end that my head torch would be required. The forest was dense, the light had gone and I could not see the directional arrows or the tree roots. I turned my headtorch on and trotted on, trying to push from my mind the feeling of being followed by a woodland monster.

I emerged from the forest onto the road and then I knew it was just a 1.5 mile trot to the end. Cars were passing me on the road, tooting their horns and shouting encouragement, telling me I was “nearly there……………just keep going”. I can honestly say it was the longest 1.5 miles of my life. I sprinted over the finish line to the cheers and shouts, spotted Caroline right on the finish line, collected my medal and then burst into tears!😂 It was relief mainly, then happiness, then pain, in that order…………….they were happy tears.

I was wrapped in my down coat and fed my finishers meal, which amazingly I managed to get down.

The Tomir 2 shoes were amazing…………………..not one blister and not one slip, trip or fall in 75km. The first half was run in Injingi toe socks and the second half in Drymax socks as I was expecting more mud.

Did I make any mistakes……………………..yes…………………..I did not apply sunscreen as it did not feel hot. However, as we all know you can still burn through the clouds. A closer examination of my legs on finishing and removing my knee tape revealed a little bit of puffiness and redness, 10 in tact toe nails (nail polish still gleaming😆), and the most spectacular pattern on my knees where the sun had caught my legs around the tape. 😂Lesson learnt…………………apply sunscreen!

The Queens Head beckoned, and after a soak in the bath, the bed that I had been longing for was waiting for me. However, it did not deliver……………….I was in so much pain I slept for one hour from 3am to 4am and then burst into tears at 5:30am. These were tears of tiredness and exhaustion. I just so desperately needed to sleep but just couldn’t because everything hurt so much. The adrenaline had started to leave my body and I was broken. I don’t think I’ve felt like that since having a baby…………….so in need of sleep but not able to.

I hobbled through Sunday and felt a little better once I was mobile. The main focus of the day was proper food ………………… and a Brown Horse Inn Sunday roast beef dinner with Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, buttered green beans and cauliflower cheese made me feel better.

This week has been a week of recovery. I’ve been to work but other than that I’ve been still, read, refuelled and just reflected on what I’ve learnt from the occassion. What do I feel………………………..’proud’, I guess. I know how far I can go now………….I think that’s the limit, I’ve proved to myself how tough and resilient I am both physically and mentally, because sometimes I doubt myself. I think my boys are proud of the GMOAT (pronounced gee-moat) too. That stands for ‘Greatest Mother of all Time’ and is their little name for me.😆 How sweet is that! Love them!

Recovery is going to plan but is not over yet! Nothing aches, the pain was temporary, thank goodness. But mentally it’s going to take a while longer. I’m exhausted…………still sleeping a lot, and I spent most of this weekend in tears!😂 I feel very flat and empty and a little bit lost. It’s all quite normal after something like this according to running friends. Apparently it’s an understandable physiological and emotional crash. My brain is readjusting after months of intense stress, I’m experiencing a crash in endorphins and dopamine and all of a sudden my goal has gone!

However, I’m resisting the urge to set another……………..I’m having a goal retirement for a while.😆 So yesterday I did things that make me happy, which incidentally are the simple things in life. All I really need is a good book, a cup of coffee and a garden or park to sit in.

The garden has been neglected so I’ve been out in the sunshine, and weeded my perennial border, which now looks amazing. Beautiful delphiniums and all sorts coming into bloom.

Then I’ve had coffee and read under my wisteria (my favourite plant in my garden).

Then I’ve baked little fruit tart pastries with vanilla chantilly cream inside……………………………..which seeing as I burnt off almost 7,000 calories, I can eat some of them too! 😆

I’m happy to be goalless for a while now……………………other than a Spanish exam I have this next weekend and a pair of curtains I need to make 😆……..they are big enough goals for now!

I’m going to tell you a little more about this amazing place and really get under the surface of it to share with you what it’s really like.

If you want to can come to Mauritius and lay on a beach or around a pool, do nothing else, and have a fantastic holiday, There are some super luxurious beach resorts if that’s your thing. You will be very well looked after. However, it’s a long way to come and you’d be missing out. This island is so diverse and has such a rich cultural history and it would be a real shame if you came all this way and did not learn about its history, its people, and explore some of its most fantastic and jaw droppingly beautiful sights.

It’s best suited to those who like to explore, want to get away from it all, reconnect with nature and themselves, and appreciate a different culture. Everything happens in Mauritian time………………which is whenever they feel like doing it! If you travel abroad and like to see the bacon and eggs at breakfast, the fries with your dinner and the bottles of ketchup lined up on the side……………….don’t come. You are going to have to be Mauritian for the duration of your visit…………………….and believe me………………..it’s a beautiful thing to be!

It’s a long way for most people…………………1,100 miles off the south east coast of Africa. It’s known locally as Ille de Maurice and is the largest island of the Republic of Mauritius, which also includes the nearby islands of Rodrigues, Agalega, St Brandon and the Chagos Islands.

No-one has the difinitive as to who got here first, but we know for definite that the Dutch landed here by boat in 1598 and claimed it. They did try to settle here, exporting the ebony and sugar cane using Malagasey slaves, but were ultimately unsuccessful, and the island became French in 1715. It became British in 1810 under the Treaty of Paris and was the British Empire’s main sugar producing colony.

All except the Chagos Islands were granted independence from the British Empire in 1968. However it was a friendly change in constitution with Mauritius maintaining Elizabeth II as their queen until they became a republic in 1992. Even now they maintain the British legal system, political structure and education system. They have free healthcare and free education for all. They also drive on the left which is really handy if you are from the UK and hiring a car like I did. The UK handed the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius in 2025.

Mauritius is a wealthy economy and is ranked as having one of the most competitive and developed economies in Africa. They are ranked as the most peaceful nation in Africa. They also have one of the best ratings in the world for air quality.

So, a little about the people…………………….I can only describe them as beautiful! Not beautiful as in glamorous……………….but beautiful in a gentle, kind, respectful, peaceful and really welcoming sort of way. They will treat you like family, and even after all these years they have a soft spot for the British, although from what I could see they welcome everyone. If you go from the UK they will want to know what is your favourite football team (they are obsessed with football and you get extra brownie points if you live near Manchester as I do 😆). They will also spend hours talking to you about British pop music.

They are a perfect example of how a nation can be made up of people from different cultures and religions and get along most of the time. Most of the population is made up of the descendants of indentured sugar cane labourers following the abolition of slavery (more on that in a minute). They came from India, China and Africa. As a result the current population is 67% Indian, 28% African Creole, followed by Chinese, French and British. In terms of religion 47.9% are Hindu, 32.3% Christian, 18.2% Islam and the remainder a mix of other religions. The official language is English and almost everyone will be able to speak it. However, the mother tongue and languages spoken at home are 90% Mauritian Creole, 5.1% Bhojpuri, 4.4% French and 0.6% English.

In terms of weather they only have two seasons………………..too hot and really unbearably hot!😂 Which they call Winter and Summer. Winter is May to October and Summer is November to April. January, February and March are the wettest months in the middle of summer, and the island regularly experiences cyclones during this period. I chose to come in April as it’s the end of summer so not quite as hot………….it was around 30 degrees most of the time………………….but the real rainy season is over. Autumn would also be a good time to visit. However, the climate is tropical and no matter when you come you will get some fantastic storms and rain…………….that’s why it’s so green and beautiful. They are short lived storms………………around 10 to 30 minutes ……….. but great to watch.

As a result of their climate most crops do not survive, therefore they are a mass importer of most things. They have lots of tea, coffee, sugar cane, fruit and fish………………..everything else is shipped in from a long long way away. As a result, they are very resourceful and respectful of their environment. They are huge recyclers, and use water and energy very sparingly. There are numerous initiatives to reduce emissions and I don’t think I’ve been to a place with as many reserves and areas of preservation where they are making their best efforts to protect their flora, fauna and endemic species. The island and its surrounding reefs are home to some of the world’s rarest plants and animals. The symbol of the island, which they all but worship, is the Dodo……………….the flightless bird, endemic to the island which became extinct in 1662, and really became the symbol of extinction. The Mauritians more than anyone understand the huge price that is paid by not looking after what you have.

So that’s a little potted history. Now onto where to stay and what to do if you like a good explore and want to see a little bit of everything.

I stayed at Lakaz Chamarel Exclusive Lodge. The website says, “Beyond the beaches and sea, imagine a magical place in the midst of nature. Nestled in the heart of the Black River Gorges, Lakaz Chamarel Exclusive Lodge offers a serene haven in an enchanting landscape. Here, every breath reveals nature’s profound beauty, and each corner unveils its secrets. ​Taste, the richness of authentic Mauritian flavours. Discover, tranquillity in untouched landscapes. Savour, moments of bliss in secluded elegance.”

I’m not going to try and rewrite that because it sums it up perfectly really. You can’t get there with a package tour operator, you’ll need to book direct with the Lodge and sort your flights, it’s not a package holiday sort of place. Some of the tailor made operators can arrange for you to come here but you will pay a very large premium for them to organise it and it’s not that hard to book a flight, accommodation and a car yourself!

It’s in the forest canopy, near the small village of Chamarel, a very rural village of around 700 inhabitants, mainly African Creole. It is on the edge of the Black River Gorges National Park and close to some of the most spectacular geographical sites on the island. It is around a 10 minute drive to the sea.

If you like plants, flowers, birds and endemic wildlife there is absolutely no better place to be. It’s not cheap and the majority of the visitors seemed to spend just a couple of days here as a treat at the end of a touring holiday around the Indian Ocean.. I’d been squirrelling my pennies away for quite a while and working really hard and spent my full 10 days here………………..it was the right choice. And it is doable as they have various accomodation options………………….and here’s my budget room tip! I stayed in the Zen Suite. It’s one of 4 suites that share the Grand Piscine……………a very large and beautiful swimming pool. It was one step up from the basic rooms, which share a small pool and are next to the reception and restaurant/bar………so not as peaceful.

The Suite was basic from the outside…………………concrete walls (to withstand cyclones) and wood metal and reed roofs.

Although there were 4 suites, they are cabins in the garden and you can’t see the others if you look out. There are 20 rooms of varying grades all around the 12 hectares site of tropical forest. The suite was a little bungalow and it was really private. Because there is so much to see the chances of you being at the pool at the same time as the guests in the other 3 suites is slim. Every time I went for a swim, which was often, I had the entire Grand Piscine to myself. And there is a sun lounger per guest …………………………… so there’s no towels on sunbeds at dawn. 🤣 The most hated part of any holiday for me……………….a sure sign the Brits are in town (although the Germans give us god competition in this area and could be slightly better at it). I will positively avoid any hotel where I have to fight for a sunbed!

Then there are 12 more suites around the site which each have their very own pool. Some have outstanding views over the ocean. The downside of these for me are that the pool is very small. It’s more of a cooling off and having a dip sort of pool and I like to get a few lengths swum. The other downside of these is that they are significantly more expensive. Like…………really expensive……I can see why some people only stay for 2 days, my budget wouldn’t have stretched for much more than 2. However, I wanted to stay here for all 10 nights and did not fancy selling one of my vital organs. So my budget limit was a suite with a shared pool but overall I would say this option offers the best value for money and I was happy with my choice. This was a wellbeing holiday for me…………………..sort of like a retreat, I spent a lot of time relaxing and being still and my suite was perfect because I like plain and simple, nothing too elaborate.

Inside, the suite was painted white to keep it cool. The very comfy bed had a mosquito net around it as, given the climate, the mosquitos were in abundance. They love nothing better than a pale skinned, red haired European. Jungle Formula Deet repellent was applied every day but it did not seem to put them off……………………with my left leg appearing to be far tastier than my right. Insect repellent is an absolute must! I seemed to do a little bit better, when after using two bottles of the stuff I’d brought from home, I bought a third from the Lodge reception. They did not like that as much and I’m wondering whether in future buying local repellent is the best plan of action as it seems to be formulated for the area.

There is air conditioning if you want it, but you pay extra and it will be turned off when you arrive. The Mauritians are very environmentally aware and this is an eco retreat so whilst they are happy for you to have it and pay for it for your comfort, their general ethos is not to use aircon on the island. Being environmentally aware I did not use mine. It’s not expensive, around 5 euros a day, but with the windows open and a breeze blowing gently through the windows at night it wasn’t necessary and I was safe from mosquitos in my net.

The staff will come and service your room in the morning and then again in the evening. They will leave you fresh water both times, change your towels in the morning if you want them changing. In the evening they close your windows and open your shutters, unwrap your mosquito net for your bed, put your reading lights on and leave you the message of the day on your pillow………………..how sweet is that.

Something you need to be aware of if you come here is that the bathrooms are outside! And I mean completely open air! Seriously, it’s the way to go in a hot country…………………..I loved it. It’s like a small garden at the back of the bungalow surrounded on all sides by a tall wall so no-one can see in. There is a bath under a corrugated roof if it’s really raining heavily, or there is an open air shower. Two discoveries………………..firstly, I love getting in the shower in the rain. Secondly, there is something quite liberating and beautiful standing in the dark, in the garden, completely naked, watching the milky way while you have a shower, with the breeze blowing on your butt cheeks! You feel so alive afterwards!

And this little guy took a shower with me every night. He lived just behind the soap dish. But once I started crashing around he came out and sat on the wall and just stared at me until I’d finished, then trotted back behind the soap dish…………how cute. He’s a green gecko.

Ultimately, the place sells itself as a wellness retreat and if there was not so much to see on the island I could have stayed here for all 10 days just being still.

There are hectares of lovely tropical forest to wander around and the beautiful pool to swim in.

There are regular yoga sessions and the site has its own yoga pavilion, overlooking the mountains, with a full size labyrinth in front of it. I went to three of the yoga sessions and they were excellent. They had no problem me borrowing some equipment for the duration of my stay so I could do my daily practice on my veranda.

There is an on site spa. There are little flower adorned stone buddhas to welcome you up the path to the massage cabin, which is a little hut on stilts. I had a full body massage focussing on my back, neck and shoulders with Jojoba oil and Sandalwood. It was excellent, and not overpriced. There is also a sauna but I can’t give my verdict on that, I didn’t use it, I was hot enough!

Each night there are fire pits lit around the site. They are not to keep you warm………………..they are a symbolic Buddhist ritual. Fire is seen not only as a symbol of suffering, but also transformative, and various rituals can be performed around the fire pit. They are often used to make offerings, to represent the burning of attachments and things you simply want to let go of. Write them down on a piece of paper and throw them in the fire, or throw something that represents the negative energy into the fire and let it go! That’s the idea behind it anyway.

The food at the lodges is excellent. It’s a buffet breakfast with a wide selection available and some really nice fresh local fruits like papaya and mango. They make the most gorgeous homemade fermented yoghurt and there are plenty of cereals and breads and preserves. There are pancakes too! Dinner is a sit down service, not buffet. The focus is on quality and local produce, not quantity, which is nice as you don’t have that horrible stuffed over full feeling afterwards. There is an Amuse Bouche followed by three courses. There were three choices for each course and the menu was different on each of the 10 days. I loved the food. There was always a creole curry type dish, a meat, fish and a vegetarian choice. The desserts were gorgeous and made the most of the local fruit. Highlights for me, that I can’t get at home, were smoked blue marlin tartare, and a delicious dessert with passion fruit.

If you fancy a tipple they do the most amazing cocktails up at The View bar. It overlooks the ocean and faces west so the sunsets here are spectacular.

Onsite wildlife is amazing. The birds are spectacular. Bright red and yellow birds…………..beautiful. My favourite though was the Bulbul……………..just because he was so naughty and mischievous. I left the breakfast table for one minute to get a coffee top up, came back……………………..and there it was in my dish! 🤣

There are flying foxes, also know as fruit bats. There are hundreds of them and they fly around the forest canopy at night. They are really lovely to watch and make such a lot of noise when they start arguing over a mango! I loved these once I’d got used to them. My first sighting though was when I was in the shower in the dusk on the first night. It scared me to death because they have a wing span of up to 1 metre, squawk, fly really close to you and look like a Tetradactyl! I let out the biggest, unnecessary, cry for help, until it was explained to me what it was.

So then, what to see and where to go in Mauritius.

First stop Chamarel Waterfall……………………….you have to come here, you are so close to it. This is in the Black River Gorges National Park and at 100m is Mauritius’ largest single drop waterfall. It’s quite spectacular.

Next to the waterfall is the 7 Coloured Earth Geopark. It’s a bit touristy but a must see. It is a geological formation containing sand of 7 different colours (red, brown, violet green, blue, yellow and purple). It is formed by a decomposition of volcanic rock. The colours come from the soil, iron and aluminium and the seven different shades are thought to be formed as a result of the volcanic rock cooling down at different external temperatures.

While there you can purchase a 7 Coloured Earth ice lolly made with tropical fruit! Possibly one of the nicest ice lollies I have had!

But don’t forget to try the sugarcane juice. In moderation it’s very good for you………………..instant energy and dense in calcium, pottasium and iron. It aids hydration, liver health and immunity. Try and buy it fresh from a local. This young lad and his friend (Liverpool FC’s greatest fan) were stood under their brolly in the scorching humidity with an ancient looking sugar cane press, metal jug, a seive and a mountain of raw sugar cane. Try and support local if you go, cut out the middle man…………………you’ll not get much fresher than this. You will see islanders all over the island with their little roadside stalls set up, selling what they have grown or made.

Next stop was the Ebony Forest and the Ebony Experience. Hardly anyone here, but I enjoyed it. It is home to a small interactive museum which recreates Mauritius before humans arrived. The island was created by volcanic eruptions where unique animals and plants once lived, until human actions ultimately destroyed a lot of it. Here at the Ebony Forest they are working hard to restore that lost world.

Here you will find a forest of ebony, a highly valuable wood, particularly prized for musical instruments in the manufacture of piano keys and guitar frets. It grows very slowly and has been over exploited but here there is a whole forest of it, all protected.

Various rare, and not so rare, endemic animals have also made this their home. The reserve is home to the protected Pink Pigeon, so scarce I could not find it! I did however see beautiful butterflies, giant tortoises and lots of flycatchers. It’s definitely a good place to visit to find out about the nature on the island, its past exploitation and the efforts being made to restore and protect it now.

But did you know that seeing a butterfly with a broken wing has great spiritual and symbolic meaning. It signifies resilience, strength, and the ability to overcome the challenges in life and continue life despite being “broken” or damaged. So I’m hoping that this was my omen from above for next weekend’s ultra…………………..the strength and ability to continue despite being “broken”. 🤣

The following day I decided to visit the rum distillery of Chamarel. Rum is a big business in Mauritius, and the island produces a large quantity of really high quality premium rum, both traditional molasses style dark rum, and also white rum made from pure sugar cane juice. The latter is the base spirit of the mojito, which is probably why they taste so good here!

You can walk here from the lodge………………….and you do either need to walk or get a taxi as you are going to try 10 rums at the end of your tour……………and they are quite generous with the shots! 🥴

It’s good to come here just to look around the factory and the gorgeous gardens. There are little stone Buddha’s, Hindu flower offerings, lovely flowers and tinkling water everywhere. They also have a really nice restaurant here. I just had a coffee but the food did look delicious.

You start with a little bit of the history of the distillery, then you look at the factory and production process and the differences in the distillation and storage which distinguishes a normal rum from a really premium quality rum.

Then the good bit………………….you get to try them. And there are lots to try. I have to admit, the flavoured ones went down better than the unflavoured. I like my rum in a mojito. I don’t really like neat spirits……………….I’m not a fan of neat whiskey or brandy either. And I’ve decided I’m not a fan of neat rum either. However I did excel…………………..I got all ten down and still managed to walk myself safely back to the lodge for my rather long afternoon nap!

The following day was a road trip day. Around an hour north to the capital of Port Louis and the area of Pamplemousses, a predominantly Indian area where the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanic Garden is situated. This is the oldest botanical garden in the Southern Hemisphere and was first constructed by Pierre Poivre. He was an horticulturist and botanist who introduced various spices from Asia to Mauritius to make them a valuable asset for cultivation, one of these spices being vanilla.

The garden is famous for its ponds of giant waterlilies.

There are a number of plants and trees in the gardens planted by foreign royalty and world leaders.

It is also the site of the cremation, and final resting place, of Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (SSR), the first Prime Minister of Mauritius, known as the “Father of the Nation” and there are various monuments in his memory scattered around the gardens.

In the grounds you will also find the Château Mon Plaisir, a charming colonial style chateau whose site once housed the French Governor.

It’s a lovely place to have a quiet wander around, and a complete contrast to where we are going next……………….Port Louis……………….the capital.

I’ve never been anywhere like this in my life………………………..and I loved the experience. I mean, really loved it. It is complete and utter, unfiltered chaos!!! I love a city, but at the end of the day I also love leaving it. For a sensitive little soul like me this place was far too overstimulating. People all crushed together, animals everywhere, particularly dogs, car horns beeping, people whizzing around on bikes, old 1960’s British buses everywhere packed with hot sweaty people all crammed in to the door, music blaring, people arguing and bargaining in the market, hawkers and sellers everywhere. The sites, the smells, the noise………………………..after five hours I felt like I’d been inside a washing machine drum on the fast spin programme. Don’t get me wrong……………there is that smell of cannabis mingled in the air with the smell of spices and it is clear here there is a poverty issue and an urban planning issue which the Government are trying constantly to address. However, I felt safe. They do have a pickpocketing problem, like in most cities, but be sensible and you will be fine. There is no major crime, just the odd underlying ethnic tensions sometimes bubbling when you get a multicultural society like this. A lot of reviews on Mauritius will tell you not to come here…………………but if you want to discover the true culture and heart of Mauritius then you must come.

When travelling I always use the Lonely Planet guides as they tend to get under the skin of a place and take you to the sites less travelled so you can really discover a place. Not like some guides which only give you the key tourist crammed areas with the glossy colour pictures. Lonely Planet guide to Mauritius has a large chapter on Port Louis. It has in it a self guided walk around the street art of the city so I decided to do that. I would recommend it as it takes you through the busiest parts of the city, past the market, the main Hindu temple, and in the process you’ll see some pretty great art.

When you pass the market it looks a little intimidating as everyone seems to be arguing, over the price I guess, but have a look. You will be knocked sideways by the smell and I certainly wouldn’t recommend you buy and eat anything of the fish or meat genre in here. The smell is horrendous. Nothing is in a fridge, just laid out on tables and the heat and humidity is stifling. I guess their stomach’s are trained for it. But it’s worth a look, particularly at the strange and unusual fruit and vegetables that they have here, all displayed in a multitude of colours.

Also in Port Louis is Aapravasi Ghat, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is what I had come to see here and it’s here that you will discover the founding history of Mauritius and its people. It is free to get in, which always comes as a surprise to me as that’s unusual at home. And even though it’s free there will be hardly any people here, and it’s such a shame as they have spent a fortune on converting this old immigration depot in the port into a living and breathing interactive modern museum. I think people either skip Port Louis or they are really just not that interested in the history.

The museum was the former depot which processed the indentured labour when it arrived on the island. Mauritius is an island made up of immigrants, and now their descendants, who the Dutch, French and British brought to the island to work the sugar cane plantations. When slavery was abolished the British had a problem here in Mauritius. They had no labour for the sugar cane plantations. So slave owners like John Gladstone who owned a number of plantations and slave workers in Jamaica, were creative and invented this idea of ‘indentured labour’. 

You can call it what you want, and have your own opinion, but for me, having visited this place, it was slavery in disguise. The difference is that slavery is a permanent involuntary state. Indentured labour was a temporary and voluntary state. But other than that it’s the same. Indentured labour is a little bit like bribery. You have absolutely nothing, you need to provide for your family, someone comes along and says sign this contract and in return you have to work for me for 7 years, after which you and your family will get free passage to a British Colony as a free man. So you’ve volunteered, you’ve signed a contract but basically for 7 years your living conditions and treatment will be very similar to that of a slave.

But the museum is really informative and you will see why the population is made up of the ethnic groups it consists of. The majority of the labour came from India, then China, South East Asia and Africa. The current population, being descendants of this labour, mirror this demographic.

After all this wandering around you’ll need a break. If you go to the waterfront you will see the Government’s attempt at revamping Port Louis. It has a boat Marina, lots of waterfront café bars and new gleaming office blocks…………………and the ‘Artisan Gelato’ ice cream shop. Berry sorbet and chocolate was the choice. It’s nice and quiet and peaceful here, and a complete juxtaposition to the chaos across the main road. A good place to come if you need to step out of it for a minute.

The following day I had a bit of a relax and reset after the stimulation of Port Louis. I started with my hour of morning yoga, listening to the birds.

A little wander around the labyrinth and then I went for my massage.

It was gorgeous and despite being the tiniest little lady, she was VERY strong, and I like a really firm deep tissue massage so it was good.

Then I sat and relaxed with my book and ordered a Mauritian coffee which I had been told to try. It was lovely but it was not as I expected and you only need one. I would describe it more as a dark molasses rum with a hint of coffee 🤣 I thought I was ordering a coffee and it came like this.

I was fooled into thinking the coffee was the brown stuff at the bottom. The coffee may be in there but is mainly mixed into the cream at the top. I would estimate that half of the brown liquid in the bottom is neat molasses rum. However, I’m not complaining……………..it was very nice. So after yoga, a massage, a read and rum I needed a nap.

After my nap I thought I’d better shake a leg and wake myself up a bit. I was hungry and asked if there was anywhere in the village where I could get a bite to eat for lunch if I took a hotel bike to explore the village of Chamarel. Incidentally, the bikes and helmets are free of charge, you can just take them when you want. The hotel recommended a place called Restaurant de Barbizon. So I hopped onto my bike and off I went.

I rode through the village and first of all I had a look at the little blue roofed church in the village. A very simple church with a plain interior but quite obviously very well attended and cared for. The trees around the church are full of mangoes and Macaque monkeys, but there’s absolutely no chance of taking their picture, as soon as they see or hear you they are straight up into the tree canopy, and they are so fast.

Then I spotted a sign to the ‘Grotto’ so thought I’d have a little peep. It’s along a little path at the rear of the church. Cut out into the rock is a shrine to the Virgin Mary. She is obviously very well visited as the base is covered in candle wax and there were a few lit candles in place already. But goodness, she’s creepy! It’s the eyes!

Chamarel, being a Creole area is predominantly Christian so other than the church and the church school there’s not much here other than residential houses, concrete with little tin roofs, and a couple of bars and a bus stop. So I peddled my way back to the bus stop. I felt like a local celebrity! I was obviously a bit of a novelty, the very white lady with the freckles and red hair, wearing a beach dress and shades and zipping around the village. People shout and wave at you in a very friendly manner and children either want to high five you or they just stare in bewilderment as if you are an alien from the moon that has just landed.

I got to the restauarent and I have to say from the outside it doesn’t look all that inviting. It’s a concrete, brick and metal building, painted a rusty red colour, with a tin roof, reggae blaring from the kitchen and lots of dogs rolling around in the dusty car park. I propped the bike against the tree and went in and asked if they were serving lunch. With a huge smile the elderly man who owns the place ushered me to a table, and came back with a cool drink with ice in. He explained there was no menu, it’s Creole food, and he’ll just bring it out.

I noticed the place was full of local Creole people, lots of atmosphere, lots of food, lots of smiley happy faces and the most delicious smell coming from the kitchen.

Fifteen minutes later he appeared from the kitchen and in broken English said to me “Fried local fish catch this morning, eggplant, rice, lentil, sweet potato, picked vegetable salad and chicken in Creole sauce……………………………lady eat it all or pay double and wash dishes!”🤣🤣

OMG! There was enough food for five people. He kept coming to check I was OK, wanting to make sure I liked my food as I slowly worked my way through it. I was well and truly defeated by the rice but I managed the chicken, the eggplants a piece of fish, some of each accompaniment and a spoonful of rice. 800 Mauritian Rupees (around 15 Euros) later and I was doing my best to ride my bike back to the hotel, without being made to wash the dishes……………….and I think at that price I wasn’t charged double either!

So if ever in Chamarel and hungry do go! Don’t be put off by the outside, the lovely charming welcome, the delicious food, and it’s obvious popularity with the locals prove that sometimes you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, as they say.

The following day I thought I’d have a little drive up the road to Chamarel coffee plantation because I’d seen a sign for guided tours when I had passed earlier in the week……………………and also because I love coffee!

They are the island’s only coffee plantation and producer, and produce around 35,000kg of coffee cherries per year. They export small amounts to France and the Seychelles, but at the moment the rest is all consumed on the island.

The ‘Bean to Cup’ tour is really informative. You start at the side of the old coffee roaster and set off on a guided walk around the plantation.

The majority of the production is Arabica beans, but they do grow a smaller quantity of Liberica. As you wander through the plantation you can see the bright green coffee cherries on the coffee plants. The beans are actually the seeds in each cherry, which are extracted when they become ripe and are picked. There are two beans in each cherry, nestled together, flat side together.

The plantation is also home to lots of bananas, some cacao and vanilla which grows in abundance and commands a high price. Our guide, the local legend ‘Fat Boy Slim’ (as he said his name was 😆) was really informative. He made it lots of fun.

He also pointed out some of the beautiful flora and fauna which thrive amongst the coffee plants. Finally we looked at the end process where the beans are washed, graded and roasted.

Then the interesting part……………we got to do coffee tasting and were taught how to do it properly. We had two cups with ground beans in the bottom. One 100% top quality Arabica and one something else…………….but you don’t know which is which. First comes the dry nose test. You have a deep and quick sniff of the beans and write down the first thing that comes into your mind. For me the first was smoke and the second was chocolate.

Then the wet nose test. Just boiled water is poured over the beans and they are left for a few minutes to infuse, after which the beans sink back to the bottom of the glass. You break the surface with the back of a spoon and sniff sharply, again writing your observations and any change noted from the dry nose test. Finally you move onto the slurp test. Now in the UK slurping is considered rude and bad manners but here you can slurp to your hearts content! You rank the coffee from 1 to 5 for Attack, Mouthfeel and Aftertaste. Attack is the immediate intensity and impact. Mouthfeel is the weight and viscosity……………..is it thick and creamy, thin and watery, dry, astringent, smooth etc. The final test is aftertaste …………………….. does it disappear quickly or have a long aftertaste and is it sweet and chocolatey, fruity or bitter.

It was a really interesting visit and you do really appreciate the hard work and dedication that goes into producing a great cup of coffee from bean to cup.

The next day I was feeling adventurous and energetic. It must have been all the caffeine! It was definitely a mountain climbing day. Le Morne mountain is a mountainous peninsular just below Chamarel which can be seen for miles around. It is 556 metres high. In 2008 it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List because it has quite a sad history. At its base on the La Gaulette side of the mountain is quite a sad memorial to commemorate the abolition of slavery and the remember all the slaves who died on the mountain.

Quite often slaves escaped and the thick forest on the steep sides of Le Morne mountain was their hiding place. On the 1st February 1835 police were despatched to the mountain to round up the slaves and inform them they were now free when the Abolition of Slavery Act was passed. Legend has it that they misinterpreted the arrival of the police and thought they had arrived to round them up and return them to slavery, leading hundreds of them to leap to their death from the mountain into the Ocean rather than be returned into a life of slavery. On 1st February annually a large number of Mauritian Creoles frequent the mountain to remember this event and celebrate their freedom.

It’s a nice steady and long climb up to the top. Some parts are rocky, steep and dense with bushes but it isn’t a difficult hike if you take it steady, I would say it is within most people’s capabilities.

The views from the top of the mountain are quite spectacular, bright azure blue and green as far as the eye can see. It’s definitely worth the trek. You need to take lots of water though, it’s really hot up there.

The good news is that at the bottom of the mountain is Le Morne beach, one of the best on the island. It truly is a gorgeous beach, so take your swimwear because it’s to prefect place to cool off when you get to the bottom of the mountain. It’s really quite quiet too. I found the area in front of the Lux Le Morne resort to have the best sand and easiest access to the water without too much sharp coral.

I’d recommend beach shoes if you come here as there is a lot of coral and it can be really sharp. There are also lots of sea urchins and although not common, there are Stone Fish which are really venomous, their sting requiring immediate medical attention, so it’s better to be safe than sorry. There are some lovely hammocks to lie in in the sea and after a lie in one of those, and a few hours of reading and snorkelling I was feeling refreshed. Those hammocks are fantastic………….you swish backwards and forwards with the waves, however, I just cannot work out how to do an elegant dismount. I cannot do anything other than a forward flop and face plant into the sand. I’m sure there’s a technique that I’m clearly lacking.

The evening was spent in the ‘View Bar’. I loved it up here. It’s right on the edge of the hotel grounds, on the top of the hill, overlooking the sea and the mountains. The sunset from up here is fantastic.

I liked to walk up here and watch the fruit bats in the trees, but the hill is quite steep so they do have golf carts whizzing about to take you up there if you don’t like walking. It’s only open from 4:30pm to 7:30pm when dinner starts. The idea is to come up here for a pre-dinner drink and watch the sunset and then go for your dinner. I’m not a big drinker when I’m at home but when I’m on holiday I do like a little cocktail and make it my mission to work through the cocktail menu, a cocktail a day.

The cocktails up here are seriously good. So which were my favourites. Top of the list has to be the passionfruit mojito.

The pina coladas were also very good.

The Makak Spritz refreshed me after my bike ride when I thought I’d deserved a cocktail before pre-dinner cocktails……..at 2pm. 😆 This was nice and refreshing…..elderflower liqueur, Prosecco, sparkling water and fresh mint.

And finally the Martinez………………Pierre Poivre gin, Martini Rosso and Maraschino Cherry. Very nice but a little small this one so you might need more than one. 😆

Another thing I liked doing was lying outside at night watching the milky way, sometimes the best things in life are free. It’s so dark there, so you get none of the light pollution that you get at home. There are so many star in that sky, I could have stayed there for hours just watching, whilst listening to and watching the swooping of the bats as they argued amongst each other in the trees.

The following day was my final day of adventures and I decided to drive to and visit Tamarind falls which are near to the village of the same name. This is a cascade of seven waterfalls which come tumbling through the forest. If you just want to take a picture of them there is a viewpoint from the village above.

You can walk down to them and that’s what I wanted to do. However, it’s not an easy track like Le Morne mountain. It’s a bit of a scramble down the side of a forested ravine. There are lots of tree roots to trip over, but lots of branches to hang onto to help you get down to the falls.

Once in the bottom you can walk along the falls, skirting around and into the forest to get down to each one. They are pretty spectacular up close.

The top fall is particularly good as you walk behind the fall.

Don’t forget to take your swimwear too as at the base of each fall is a pool and you can swim in most of them. You really do need your mosquito repellent here though. The combination of the water, forest and the humidity makes it their favourite environment and even with repellent on I was eaten alive.

All too soon my little adventure to the other side of the world had come to an end. Time to say goodbye to Lakaz Chamarel Lodge. Just two more places left to visit which I had saved to my last day as my flight was not until 10pm at night.

First stop Bois Cheri Tea Plantation. Being British I love a good cup of tea………………..it is my belief that there is no finer brew than Yorkshire Tea, and I have yet to be proved otherwise. However, I’ve always been intrigued as to the process so I thought I’d come along and have a look. Here they make black tea, green tea and herbal teas.

The plantation dates right back to 1892 and is the largest producer on the island. However, they export very little of their tea, less than 20%, as the Mauritians are also very big tea drinkers………………..Vanilla Tea is the island drink.

You start your visit down near the factory where you are handed your hi-vis vest. First stop is an interactive museum. It’s very interesting, all about the East India Tea company, the British involvement and the Cutty Sark tea clipper boat and the full history of tea. There’s also lots of information about its medicinal properties.

After the museum the tour continues through the factory. I really enjoyed this bit. It was so noisy and hot in there but you get to see the process in full. The arrival of the picked leaves in the sacks and baskets from the field. Then you see the leaves all laid out to dry. Then there is the processing of the leaves……………..withering, rolling, oxidisation and drying. Then it is all chopped and graded.

At that point any flavors are added if it’s going to be anything other than plain tea. It is then either boxed loose or goes for packaging into tea bags and boxing. Other than the very fancy German machine which puts the tea in tea bags, the rest of the equipment and machinery really did look like it had originated from 1892 and the Industrial Revolution.

The final part of the visit is where you go up to the plantation house and do the tea tasting. The plantation house is in a lovely setting, surrounded by the plantation and with views over the whole of the south coast of the island.

There are lots of teas to try. Green teas, black teas and herbal teas. There is an unlimited supply of freshly boiled water and you even get some little coconut and vanilla cookies. It was very nice, particularly the coconut, which is a black tea with a little hint of natural coconut extract. I brought a box of that back home and am enjoying it very much. Is it as good as Yorkshire Tea? Of course not! 🤣 Yorkshire is the king of most things………………including tea, but it was a highly recommended and enjoyable visit.

Final stop before the airport……………Grand Bassin Hindu Temple. Well, it’s not exactly one temple……………………….there are lots of them all situated around Ganga Talau lake in a secluded mountain area.

The lake is considered sacred and was renamed Ganga Talau after water from the River Ganges in India was realeased into it in 1972.

During the Hindu celebration of Maha Shivarati, the largest Hindu festival on the island, almost half a million Mauritian citizens walk here from their homes all around the island to make offerings at the temple of Shiva. Shiva is a principal deity in Hinduism and you can’t really miss Shiva at Grand Bassin. Shiva is 33 meters tall, the tallest statue in Mauritius. They have even built a road as wide as the highway for the pilgrims to walk along which stretches for miles around, separated from the car highway by wooden barriers.

Whenever you come here it will be busy with worshippers, particularly at the weekend when Hindu families come en-masse with their picnics, to worship and make offerings of food to the deities. It’s very colourful and an insight into another religion and culture. Definitely worth a visit, if only to marvel at the size of Shiva. You need to make sure you take a change of clothes though, because out of respect your body needs to be covered. No shorts and t-shirts here. I just had some floor length linen trousers and a little silk kimono jacket which covered my arms and shoulders which was fine and not too hot.

So that’s it, the end of the trip, Mauritius over and out. Did I enjoy Mauritius? Absolutely…………………this really was my sort of place. I’m not sure loooooong haul flying is for me. I’ll suck it up to get somewhere like this again and it’s ok once in a while but I would not like to think I was spending 12 hours on one plane on a regular basis. There’s so much more of Europe I want to explore too. If you are looking to do a long haul trip to the Indian Ocean though it would definitely be top of my list if you like beautiful people, jaw dropping landscapes, adventures, pristine beaches and lovely food. It’s once for active travellers, culture and food lovers as it has that perfect blend of luxury, relaxation and adventure. It’s often seen as a luxury destination but I can confirm it’s also one to visit if you are on a budget. You can’t do the Maldives or the Seychelles easily on a budget ……………but you can Mauritius. If you don’t fly direct the flight price comes down, I flew via Paris. There are lots of reasonably priced accommodation options and booking half board will really cut your food bill down. Lots of them will also do large price reductions if sales are slow and if you are not restricted as to when you can go. So all I needed was my cocktail and ice cream money and any museum entry. Most of the natural areas and museums I discovered to be free, or very cheap, so in total I think my spend for 10 days was around 350 euros, so it’s absolutely feasible once you’ve saved and paid the initial outlay for flights and accommodation.

I’m back!!!! And what an adventure I’ve been on. I have so much to share about this magical place. I’ve been to Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean, 6,000 miles from the UK and 1,200 off the south east coast of Africa i.e. in the middle of nowhere!

However, I have so much to tell you that it’s going to take me a while to write this up, and for the next few weeks I have not got much time so I thought I’d just share some photos, a bit like a photo journal, to give you some highlights pending the full detail.

I returned on Thursday after a very cramped economy class 12 hour flight with Air Mauritius, as I swapped my flights to avoid the Middle East. However, that made for a very long direct flight to CDG, Paris. It was my longest flight, the furthest I’ve been before is the USA, and I’ve decided that I’m not really made for long haul, although I would do it again to get somewhere like this. Thank goodness for in flight entertainment! The film of the flight which passed some time was “The Fault in our Stars”………………………bit of a mistake for an highly sensitive person like me. Bit of a cheesy film but I started crying somewhere over France and stopped somewhere over Africa!😂 Tear jerking quote of the film “You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world…but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices.” Be warned, you need tissues if you watch this one.

I’ve not been to a resort on the beach, I’ve been to a sort of wellness retreat, with only 25 lodges in 12 hectares/30acres, in the middle of the forest canopy. I’ll tell you all about it later in my detailed post but it was bliss!! It was luxurious in an understated, unpretentious way. An eco resort, all natural materials, all local food, nothing glitzy and fancy……………..the beauty was in the location, the lodge/hut accommodation, outdoor bathroom, the vast forest site, the nature, the birds, the wildlife, the wellness facilities and above all…………..the amazingly attentive and beautiful staff who all come from the villages surrounding Chamarel. If I could give it 11 out of 10 I would. I have come back feeling thoroughly refreshed.

However, I needed to, because I arrived home on Thursday, just 30 days from my ultra run and a few weeks more from my Spanish exam. So it’s head down and focus now for a few weeks which is why the detail might take a while.

I’ve been consistent and continued with my yoga, weights and been on the running machine while away, but now is the final 2 week push before a 2 week taper. After a 12 hour flight on Thursday I did a 10 mile run on Friday (didn’t feel great with puffy legs and jet lag), 20 mile run yesterday (felt a bit better) and an hour strength and conditioning session with my PT at 7:45am this morning (I am now broken😂). So this Sunday afternoon is for Spanish revision and I might bake a cake and eat it!😆

However, Yorkshire is looking mighty fine in the Spring time and I’ve enjoyed my 2 long runs.

There are lots of baby animals.

I didn’t get spat on by my friend who lives nearby who likes to run along the fence with me and spit at me if I get too close………………he was good yesterday!

There was some cool fungus.

The bluebells are out.

And there were lots of uneven uphills as I tried to replicate the terrain I will be faced with on my 47 mile run. 🥵 There’s no point me training on a flat road!

So all in all I’ve decided that Yorkshire’s not too bad and I’m glad to be back for a while pending my usual summer exodus.

So, quick summary of Mauritius – what’s it like and what did I do?

I climbed some mountains!

I propped the bar up on a night! 😁

Drinking possibly a new favourite………………..the passionfruit mojito!

I zipped around the village of Chamarel on my bike to discover the local village and its people……………………..who were all very lovely……………..and speak great English as it’s their first language……………along with French, Mauritian Creole, and anumber of Indian and African languages, as the island is so diverse in its cultures due to its history – which I’ll explain when I do my more detailed write up.

I went to the coffee plantation.

And was taught how to do coffee tasting properly – dry nose, wet nose, and slurp test! It was fun and as you can see I took it very seriously. 😆

I spent a lot of time just lazing around my cabin ……………………….

…………………and dozing in the garden by the pool reading.

I visited the Ebony Forest reserve………………..

Where I stumbled across a giant tortoise called Ralph (well that’s what was painted on his shell so I assumed it was his name).

I lay in the garden at night marveling at the Milky Way.

I went to the village Rum Distillery and tasted all the rums. Rum is in huge production here.

I went scrambling through the forest……………………………..

……………….in search of amazing waterfalls.

So many of them……

I watched the sunset from the hotel ‘View Bar’

While watching the fruit bats fly above……………………..

I visited the chaotic and bustling capital of Port Louis………….

The colours.

The smell of spices.

The market

The street art

I visited the botanical gardens ….

Where I discovered waterlily ponds……..

Full of these…..

Beautiful flowers…….

And unusual flowers.

I wandered around the lodge garden……………

Visited Grand Bassin Hindu Temple (Hinduism is the main religion in Mauritius – almost half of the island) to pay my respects to Shiva……………

………………..and Hanuman, the monkey god.

I read my books……………………… ‘Silent Winds, Dry Seas’ by Vinod Busjeet has to be read if you are coming here. You will understand the caste system and the history and the geography of the island much better. It is a novel about a boy struggling to find his place in the world growing up in Mauritius. A really good read. I also read a Garret Carr new release, a Gabriel Garcia Marquez and a Claire Lynch novel, but more on those later.

Met and leant about the history of the beautiful, friendly and extremely patriotic local people.

Donned my hi vis vest………………

…………………to visit the tea plantation.

Went to the beach.

Met the local wildlife.

Went to the retreat spa for a lovely massage.

And spent a lot of time just being still.

So that’s Mauritius in a nutshell for you. It was my idea of Paradise…………………………….however, it’s not for everyone! I know people who have been and don’t like it. There are various islands in the Indian Ocean to visit and they are all very very different. I had done a lot of research beforehand and knew this was where I wanted to be. I like culture, I love mingling with local people without a tour guide but still feeling safe, I love diversity, I love sampling local food, I love adventure, I love nature, I love walking, I am very aware of the environment and the importance of its preservation. I’m not bothered about everywhere being clinical and pristine. In Mauritius there is evidence of the caste system and hierarchy. A lot of locals, whilst extremely happy and friendly live in shacks with a tin roof, they are very poor. If you don’t like seeing that then it’s not the place for you. Otherwise, if it sounds like it is for you……………GO………….it’s am amazing island.

Otherwise, if you are extremely romantic, crave seclusion and want nothing to do except lay on white sand in a little over water house and are happy to do NOTHING else then you need the Maldives.

It you have more cash to spend and need an expensive, gated resort like setting, better beaches, are not that bothered about the culture or exploring on your own and want things to be more like at home and have pampered luxury then you need the Seychelles.

The choice is yours! There’s no correct one. Just make sure you do your research. I’m happy with my choices! Even my choice of sunglasses………………..”Mum, why have you bought a pair of sunglasses that look like pastry cutters?” 😂😂😂 Don’t you just love your children! I suppose he’s got a point………….I think I was thinking flowers when I bought them, but now I can’t unsee jam tarts.

I had a very productive half term break in February and for the first time in ages I stayed in the country! That’s because, as I told you in my last post, I’ve had to make a few sacrifices for this here Ultra Run that I’ve taken on, and I promised a little update and some insight into what I’m doing, my plan, and the story so far.

So why am I doing this? Well………………they do say that if something excites you and scares you to death all at the same time you should probably do it! So I’m doing it!

So what’s an Ultra Run?………………..It is, technically speaking, anything over marathon distance, so anything over 26.2 miles or 42.195 km.

Am I doing it just to say I’ve done an Ultra Run?……………………………No! If I was I’d have chosen a 27 mile one on the flat. 😆

I’m doing one called ‘The Lap’. It is in the most mountainous region of the UK and is 47 miles long with over 8,500 feet of ascent. This is the profile of the course……………….if you are not running uphill, you are running downhill. It’s one full ‘Lap’ of Lake Windermere, hence the name. Windermere is the UK’s largest lake. It’s 10.5 miles long and 200 feet deep and it was formed by glaciers. Circumnavigating it and taking in all the fells and mountains around it is a 47 mile journey.

The route is on unmanicured, single track and raw trails. It includes significant sections of rocky, technical, mountainous and muddy terrain and takes in open fells and ancient woodland. However, it’s got a nice generous cut off of 8 hours for the half way point and 24 hours for the full route…….it’s a 6am start, running through the night until 6am the next day if it takes you that long.

So why am I doing it? I’m not 100% sure ………………. well, I sort of am sure but it would take a whole post and more to explain. It’s sort of all about me, facing myself. It’s about me taking care of my body, taking care of my mind, pulling back from the noise and distancing myself so I can rebuild quietly. It’s about turning turmoil of the world into structure and choosing growth over validation. It’s about handling things with discipline and dignity. Because, in that way I’m a little rare. I choose solitude over attention, always self improvement over revenge (I don’t do falling out and fighting), and silence over chaos, and that would be my little piece of advice for today I guess. Choose wisely.

But why this one and not a 27 mile one? I think the answer to that question is I know I can do a 27 mile one…………..I wanted to do something that I genuinely do not know if I can and will achieve. I’m interested to see what my body and mind does when it gets to that point where I think I can no longer continue. I’m interested in seeing what I can achieve beyond that point, because I am sure that ‘point’ will come and go numerous times in the latter half of the race, maybe even before. But how do you know what the limit of what you are capable of is, if you never push yourself to that point?

So I guess the main reason, from a purely selfish point of view, is to learn something about myself and achieve an element of personal growth………………both mentally and physically.

I didn’t really feel I achieved that in my road marathon. It was quite easily doable with the training I put in. I said I’d never do another road marathon and I meant it. I don’t like running on tarmac, through the city, and I don’t like running as fast as I can, which tends to be the objective of a marathon. I don’t enjoy that at all. This is the opposite. It’s infinitely harder, but infinitely more enjoyable. It’s in one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful, part of the UK (apart from Yorkshire of course) 😆. It’s off road and across the fells and mountains – my happy place. And it’s NOT a race for the majority of people, including myself……………………….it’s not about finishing times, it’s more about finishing lines and getting there, no matter how long it takes you. It’s more about the process you go through to get there, and what you learn on the way. Ultra runners WALK! It’s allowed, and is often necessary at some point in a race like this. I’ve had to train myself in this mindset……………….it’s actually quite hard psychologically to train yourself to walk on a run. 😆

And it’s not just about what happens on the day. They say a journey of a thousand miles (or 47 in my case) starts with a single step………………..and it does. The preparation for this started months ago…………………….the biggest battle and the courage comes from getting to the start line, not the finish line. Hopefully I’ll get to the start line, but once I step over it, what will be will be, it’s too late for any adjustments at that point, what really matters is what has been happening since last Autumn to May this year.

So, what have I done so far…………………….sensible, steady progression. At the end of the day I have a life outside running, one that involves work, my boys and hobbies……………..a key word here is balance! I hated the marathon because it took over my life! I am only running three times a week – a short 6 mile fast tempo session, a session of hill reps and a longish 16 mile run on a weekend. The furthest I plan to run in one session before the day is 25 miles, which is 22 miles short of the distance, any further on a consistent basis and I risk a flare up of historic back and knee niggles. I can do without experiencing those until the day!

I have a Personal Trainer for one session a week and do strength and conditioning which includes lots of squats, lunges, weights and core work and I try to replicate my session at home later in the week too. This week’s was a warm up followed by reps totalling 100 press ups and 125 weighted squats. I was very pink at the end of the session!

I do yoga for 15 minutes every day and an additional hour on a Wednesday.

I try to eat properly and sensibly………………………….and yes, I do have cake and treats, I’m not a slave to my diet, I love food! It’s necessary fuel, you’ll not find me nibbling on lettuce leaves any time soon. This is this week’s bake…………………………………Plum, Blackberry, Almond and Bay Friand bake……..YUM!

I try to get 8 hours of sleep a night. This is my downfall………………………I don’t always achieve it and if I got this part of the equation right I know things would fall into place more, so I’m consciously working on this as it is the weak strand.

Because there are really only three strands to this equation……………………….consistency of training, nutrition and sleep. Get those three right and you are most of the way there.

So, less of me waffling on about my plan……………………..lets have a look at this route………because it’s a beauty!!! And how do I know……………………because I’ve already ran it!!!🤣

Now, you don’t honestly think do you, that little Miss Organisation would leave this purely to chance on race day! No! That’s just not me, and it would involve lots of lost sleep and me worrying about where the hard parts are, where I can push, where I need to hold back, where I’m likely to get lost. Anyone who knows me well will tell you I hate the unknown…………….I like a plan, a list, a strategy, a contingency plan……… I can get quite anxious anticipating something like this.

So I decided to put a little of my half term aside, after I’d done some life admin and household jobs, to go on a recce………………………..quite a long recce of 4 days and 47 miles. 😂 I don’t like to do things by halves.

But I was sensible………………….I find it hard to fit long back to back training days in because I work 5 days a week and I like one weekend day to rest and do other things. So I got hold of the GPX file and thought, “I can achieve a lot if I give up 4 days of my half term to the race preparation”:

• I can split the route into 4 and have 4 back to back training days running 12 miles each day and covering the whole route.
• I can test various shoes and other equipment on the terrain.
• I can take lots of beautiful photos and have some chill time in the most gorgeous place.
• I can have a mental reset and get away from all the horrible stuff going on in the world (I’m booked on a flight with a 7 hour connection in Dubai at the end of March and I daren’t even think about it – the risk averse in me says I probably won’t get on it – who knows).
• I can munch my way through my body weight in sweets and fuel in the name of finding the optimum race nutrition strategy.
• I can stay in a lovely pub in the countryside with white cotton sheets, a feather duvet, a roaring fire and a bookcase.

So that’s what I did!

I stayed in the Brown Horse Inn at Winster, a small hamlet only a couple of miles from the edge of Lake Windermere. The Lap passes the bottom of the road so it was the ideal starting point. The room was lovely, had a gorgeous view, was warm and cosy, the food was delicious, the staff delightful and it was perfect.

Well, almost perfect ………… 4.90 out of 5. The in-room tea bags were a blue colour! A small deduction has to be made for the absence of Yorkshire Tea! 😆

So come on a little run with me…………………..Day 1. Winster (the pub) to Finsthwaite.

First things first ……………………… pub breakfast…………………….delicious…………………just could not help myself!

I set off across the fields, up a moderate incline, when I came to my first tarn. A tarn is a mountain lake, pond or pool, formed in a cirque (or “corrie”) excavated by a glacier. There must be thousands of tarns in the Lake District and we pass a couple of my favourites on this route, which I’ll share later.

You then come out in Ludderburn, a small hamlet, which on the day will be the site of an Aid Station. It’s a pretty little place with snowdrops everywhere. 😍

Then it’s a nice easy run on a deserted country lane for around half a mile. I hadn’t seen anyone yet, it was so peaceful, just how I like it.

It was not long after that, I caught my first glimpse of the huge lake I was running around…………..Lake Windermere………in the distance.

Then I found myself in a heavily wooded area of forest………Blake Holme Plantation. Not my favourite part of the day. The path was indistinct, it was dark in the wood, mud over my ankles, running beside a beck, GPS jumping around all over due to the denseness of the trees…………..and to top it all……… I found the wood was full of wild cows and bulls!! My favourite!😮 They decided I wasn’t worth chasing and carried on munching their grass thank goodness.

After running for just over an hour it was time for half a bag of Colin Caterpillars……………….sugary caterpillar jellies from a certain UK supermarket with an M and S in the title! These were to fuel me up my first big hill of the day…………..Gummers How! It’s a smallish fell as fells go but with big views…………….360 degree views.

And the good thing about a summit is that sense of achievement on reaching that Trig point and the fact that there will usually be someone else at the summit to take your photo!

I better explain what a Trig point is if you don’t know. We have them on top of a lot of hilltops, mountains and high points in the UK. They are usually stone or concrete pillars around 4 feet high or taller. Designed by Brigadier Martin Hotine in 1935, over 6,500 were installed from 1936, by the Ordinance Survey, to create an accurate, national survey network. They were used for triangulation to measure angles between points, which mapped the country. Hence their name……..’trig’ is the abbreviation of ‘triangulation’ point. They are marked on all our UK Ordinance Survey maps.

A nice bit of downhill now across the fells and through the woods where the ponies and pigs live. 😍

This was followed by a huge climb up to Finsthwaite Tower. This was quite an interesting find and was worth a pause. It sits at the top of a very steep and long hill and is an old tower alongside three standing stone monuments. The stones commemorate three Naval battles which were won in the 18th Century against some of the UK’s European aggressors.

It was a steady downhill that followed into the tiny village of Finstwaite. A lovely little place with beautiful St Peter’s church, where the vicar has very kindly provided tea and coffee making facilities and invites you to enjoy the peace and quiet. He must have been expecting me…………………don’t mind if I do! 😆

Have a little look inside. Some lovely stained glass windows, it had a nice bright feel about it………………….it might have been the refreshments that made it better!

End of Day 1………a gorgeous 11.26 miles covered, 2,034 feet of elevation. I wasn’t questioning my life choices yet. Fuel consumed enroute…………one Chia Charge bar and a bag of Colin Caterpillars. Hydrated by 500ml of Tailwind electrolytes, 500ml of High 5 Zero electrolytes. Shoe choice – La Sportiva Mutant which held well on slippery muddy ground – no slips, trips or falls, and feeling good. A result!!!!!

More importantly 1,604 calories burnt. Refuel in the form of a minted Lamb Burger made with local hogget lamb and chunky chips and side salad. If you are not familiar with ‘hogget’, it’s lamb that has had two springs and two summers so it’s over a year old, around 18 months. The theory is an extra 6 months of grazing on rich Spring and Autumn pasture makes a big difference to the taste if it’s hung well. It was an outstanding burger!

This was at The Force café in Ambleside, who also serve the most amazing coffee so I’d definitely recommend a visit here if passing. They are all about fresh, locally sourced produce, and you can tell by the freshness and flavours! There’s also quite an amazing waterfall nearby, Stockghyll, Force if you are interested.

Just time to catch a gorgeous sunset over the lake on the way back.

An evening spent laid on my bed with my feet up, PJ’s on, rosy cheeks, reading my book.

Onto Day 2……………….Finsthwaite to the descent off Latterbarrow fell.

Forget the running shoes………………………..I need an ark! You cannot come the Lakes for 4 days and not expect a day of absolutely biblical rain and poor visibility, it is the Lakes after all and the water has to come from somewhere.

However, there’s no such thing as bad weather in the world of fell running, just incorrect clothing. Still feeling quite strong after yesterday’s big day I donned myself in every item of waterproof equipment I had brought and set off, looking more like I was about to skipper a boat than run 12 miles. Up, up and up through Finsthwaite woods to High Dam. The good thing about heavy rain though is that the water crashed down through the woods, and I love that sound.

High Dam, when I eventually reached it was still, grey and deserted……………….it had quite an ethereal feel in the mist.

Then followed the BIG descent! I liked this bit, not because it was downhill, because downhill is actually my least favourite, but because you end up on the shore of Lake Windermere, for one of only a handful of times you get so close to it in the whole race.

Lake Windermere is normally a very busy lake, full of weekend day trippers. However, on a day of biblical rain in February there was not a soul about, and I like it like that. Just the lake, the birds, the snowdrops and me…………………plodding along with by pack of goodies. Today it was Percy Pigs!

Then came the big climb through Station Scar Wood and the discovery of Claife Viewing Station half way up. This structure looks a little bit like a mini castle and is maintained by the National Trust. It was built as a viewing folly in 1790 in Georgian times. It was built during the ‘Picturesque’ movement and as such has strategically placed windows cut into it so each view is framed like a picture………very clever.

You then leave the lake and I found myself plodding through a misty and foggy landscape of farm tracks , dry stone walls and bare trees. Eventually I came out in the small village of Far Sawrey where there was a conveniently placed bus shelter for me to rest and eat a Chia Charge bar.

Far Sawrey is lovely little village and in Summer it gets lots of visitors because it is the location of Hill Top Farm, former home of Helen Beatrix Potter, better know as Beatrix Potter………..the much loved author and illustrator who invented and wrote a series of children’s books about the animal characters she created……………………….Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddleduck, Tom Kitten and many more. I highly recommend a visit to Hill Top Farm, it’s magical and wonderfully preserved by the National Trust, who she bequeathed most of her estate to.

I have a full compendium of the 1970’s Beatrix Potter books from when I was small and they are one of my treasured possessions because I loved them…………………..and still do. When my boys were born I gifted them a Steiff Teddy Bear and a full compendium of Beatrix Potter books each ……………………they are very, very special books to me. The way how she uses the beauty of what she saw around her to create these wonderful characters and stories, her gorgeous illustrations and the way she managed to weave into each story a valuable lesson, be it the natural consequences of actions, the value of persistence, the importance of kindness and above all the way that they fostered within me a love for nature, a love for exploring, a love of animals and a love of reading.

Just after Far Sawrey, up a long farm track, you emerge at the most beautiful and serene tarn………………..Moss Eccles Tarn. This is one of my two favourites I mentioned earlier. In 1926 Beatrix Potter bought the tarn and surrounding land to preserve it. She filled it with brown trout and planted water lilies. She described it as a place of peace and joy. While her husband fished on the tarn from a little wooden boat, she wrote and sketched. The tarn inspired ‘The Tale of Jeremy Fisher’…………her beautiful story about Jeremy Fisher……………….a frog, one of my favourites in the compendium.

The tarn is now a Site of Special Scientific Interest……….valued for its aquatic and wetland plants, damselflies and dragon flies. It really is a beautiful spot. Somewhere to come back to in summer with a picnic! Perhaps you could look for Jeremy Fisher!

A long slog now through the forest, where there was some pretty impressive fungii on the birch trees, to reach the start of the last big climb of the day…………….Latterbarrow. This is a short sharp climb rather than a long shallow one. It does however, offer the most spectacular view over Lake Windermere, when you can see it for mist and rain.

Latterbarrow is beautiful though…………………………a really nice big trig point, excellent view all around, and quite accesible for everyone, as it’s not far up or down from a road if you can cope with the steepness. Better when it’s sunny though!

Trot to the bottom of Latterbarrow and I’m done for the day, having run up a large part of the western side of the lake. 12.02 miles covered, 2490ft of ascent, lots of ups, lots of downs, one bag of Percy Pigs, one Chia Charge, 500ml Tailwind, 500ml of Go Zero and 1460 calories burned. Shoes……………..my La Sportiva Mutants again …………… felt a bit tight as my feet swelled today though!

So that means that on the way back I can call for coffee and flapjack! A recommendation……………………..’Grain’ cafe in Ambleside. Fantastic fruit flapjack, fantastic coffee and lovely plants!

Uneventful evening……………………….Olympic viewing on TV, book reading and snuggling in my duvet after a long hot shower getting rid of the mud and transforming my feet into something a little less Frodo Baggins like!

It’s Day 3 now……………………feeling a little bit stiff in the legs and back, so a little bit of yoga before breakfast and then off I go. Today I’m running from the bottom of Latterbarrow all the way to Troutbeck. The distance is similar to the first two days, perhaps a little more, but the elevation is huge! 40% of the race elevation is in this one section so I start with my poles unfolded, normally I just use them when I get to a big hill.

It’s a nice start though…………………going through the farmer’s gate to the track below I can see some sunlight trying to poke through the clouds.

It’s even brighter as I run past the lovely Blelham Tarn. I’m feeling upbeat and positive even though low rolling cloud and rain is forecast for later.

I trotted through the lovely little hamlet of Skelwith Fold before beginning my first big ascent of the day up Loughrigg Fell. The views on the way up this fell, of the far reaching hills and mountains, are just spectacular. So many colours and shades……………… with sun, clouds and rain all visible in the distance.

Half way up Loughrigg Fell you come to Loughrigg Tarn, the second of my favourite tarns. This was also a favourite place for the poet William Wordsworth who said it was “round, clear and bright as heaven”. I like it for its seclusion and its setting.

It’s always nice and quiet up here and it is surrounded by pastures of Herdwick sheep, looked down upon by the most majestic hills and mountains cloaked in every shade of brown, green and gold at this time of year.

I pressed on up Loughrigg Fell and the views just kept getting better and better………………and the birdsong! This is why I love it so much……..just listen……..can there be anywhere better than this to be alone with the world. ❤️❤️ This is a video, and I don’t have much luck uploading them on here, I’m no technical wizard but I bake a good cake (we can’t be good at everything), so if it does not play you’ll have to take my word for it. Sorry about the birdsong being interrupted by heavy breathing…………..I’m a little out of breath.😆

I reached the top of Loughrigg Fell just as the wind started to get up and the grey clouds started swirling. There were plenty of people up at the top at the trig point so I stopped for a photo and had a quick snack. I’m back on Colin Caterpillars today.

As per usual I got a little lost on the top of Loughrigg Fell. It’s a huge hill but on top is a huge flattish, bobbly plateau. There are so many paths going in all sorts of directions and it’s really easy to become disorientated. On the day it will likely be signed and marshalled so I’m not worrying, but once again I got a little bit lost up here, but thanks to my GPS soon recovered and found my way down into the town of Ambleside.

I was quickly through the town of Ambleside and on my way up the side of the biggest hill of the whole route, Wansfell Pike…………………and this is where the wheels sort of fell off. The view part way up over the lake was amazing.

But I could see the cloud descending and a bad weather front coming in. It can change oh so very quickly out here. By the time I got to the summit the visibility was really poor and I was starting to feel really uncomfortable. I just hadn’t really prepared myself mentally for thick mist, and I don’t like it.

There were a couple of people about, but not many, as I tried to navigate my way to the trig point of Baystones, and then take a compass bearing to try and find the path down to Troutbeck. I could only see a few metres in front of me clearly and there are no more photos of the day as to be honest I cried all the way down to Troutbeck and completely panicked when my GPS stopped responding. Not that I need my GPS because I have my compass but I just find it reassuring to know I’m definitely not lost! 😂

I made it down into Troutbeck after 12.96 miles and 3353 feet of elevation. I was a little bit broken and today I did question why I was doing it……………..but I think that was just down to the trauma of the last hour. In hindsight, it had been a beautiful run. One bag of Colin Caterpillars, one Chia Charge, 500ml of Tailwind, 500ml of Go Zero electrolytye, but loads of tears too today! Shoes of the day were the Nnormal Tomir 2.0. A good choice and a possible one for the actual race. Much more cushioning than the La Sportivas, which I think I’m going to need for this distance, and a slightly wider toe box so no squashed toes at the end. Quite sticky to the ground too so no falls, but the lug is not quite as deep as on the Mutants (5mm as opposed to 6.5mm on the Mutants which does make a difference) so not quite as confident in them in deep mud.

Upside of the day though was the additional calories…………all 1,597 of them which meant that it was definitely a pie, mash and gravy night………..chicken and ham hock pie to be precise. Delicious and deserved!

Legs were feeling a little sore and puffy and I had a possible little knee niggle coming on. Not too much elevation tomorrow so it was an evening for a bath soak, wrap myself in a towel, elevated legs, Volterol gel, precautionary knee tape for tomorrow, little bit of book reading and Olympic curling final……….I know how to rock and roll on a Saturday night!🤣

Day 4 – the final section, completing my full circumnavigation of the lake…………………..and the sun was forecast to come out later. First things first, a lovely vegetarian breakfast. I’m not vegetarian and I love bacon but sometimes it’s just too salty and makes me really thirsty which is not great when I’m running.

I set off from Troutbeck, where I’d finished the day before, and the views down the valley were lovely.

Past Dubbs Reservoir and up the first climb of the day to the summit of Orrest Head. Today was about mud…………………………lots of it. After a night of torrential rain all the paths were thick mud and water, so the going was slow.

This was soon forgotten when I got to the top of Orrest Head, the view over the lake from here is quite something. This was a favourite spot of Alfred Wainwright, hill walker and author, and there is a lovely slate plaque in his memory at the top detailing all the mountains you can see in the distance and the view which transformed his life as he wrote, “Those few hours on Orrest Head cast a spell which changed my life.”

Onwards I went, around the outskirts of the town of Bowness on Windermere and up through the woods at Matson Ground.

At last, the final big hill…………………..Brant Fell, which was no less spectacular than Orrest Head. By the time I got up there it was blowing a gale, but the sky was blue and the sun was shining.

Just a couple of miles now until I reached the very spot which I set off from three days previously. I’d made it……………………a full circumnavigation of the lake and all its spectacular hills and summits.

A shorter day today 9.83 miles and 1499 feet of ascent. However, 1112 calories burnt which obviously meant that I was still entitled to a bite to eat on collecting my suitcase from the Brown Horse Inn! They make the most delicious fish pie here. It was divine. Cod, haddock, smoked haddock and salmon in a creamy sauce all topped with cheesy mashed potatoes.

So there you have it……………………….’The Lap’………….I’ve just got to put it all together and do it all four days in one day now! 🤣🤣

It will be fine……………………..remember it’s about finishing lines not finishing times…………………….and it’s not really about that……………….it’s more about the learnings and the process and the growth that come with getting to the start line. It’s about challenging myself and it’s about setting an example to my boys that anything is achievable with hard work, persistence and dedication……………..you just have to be brave and take the first step.

And on a lighter note……………………I’ve discovered a new setting on my very technical watch which irritates me to death as it never thinks I’ve done quite enough. Anyway………………….I’d quite obviously sent it into shock with my sudden 4 days of focus……………..for once it got it right……………training status ‘Excessive’…………………..85 hours needed for full recovery ………………….overall status ‘Exhausted’ ……………………… and it even has an image of a person doubled over holding it’s knee 🤣🤣 For once the watch and I are on the same page!

Mission accomplished!!! Four glorious days in the lakes. Because in the end you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing the lawn…………………..just climb that mountain!

So that’s quick update from me. My posts have not been quite as regular due to this mission as I’m pretty much focussed on it for the next two months and then I’ll be back up to my normal varied adventures. I’ll be back towards the end of April, if not before, with details of travels, which may or may not happen as they are via Dubai (not the greatest timing for a Dora style adventure!)…………and a final pre race update!

I’ve been exploring again in glorious Yorkshire…………………so this is a walk, a little bit of industrial history and an introduction to another part of my home county. Oh, and there’s a cake ………………………. check this out! It’s from Ottolenghi ‘The Cookbook’ and is the ‘Apple and Olive Oil Cake with Maple Frosting’. It looked delicious when it came out of the oven but with the frosting on it was divine. However, it was a bit too messy to take on my walk, so I had to take a substitute!

So, orange rucksack packed, day to myself…………………that equals fresh air and a mini adventure. The orange rucksack is looking a bit worse for wear by the way. It needed a wash so I crammed it into the washing machine and its branding has washed off. So if you have an Osprey rucksack, without the logo stitched on, the lesson is ……… hand wash it! But it still does the same job and is still my trusty companion, the perfect size for one day adventures.

I drove to the village of Gunnerside in North Yorkshire. It’s a tiny little village in the middle of nowhere. The iconic 268 mile fell race, ‘The Spine Race’, passes a few miles from here. In the winter when you get away from the village it can be a little bleak, but also beautiful on a blue sky winter day like this.

However, it was freezing cold. A day for wool long johns under my trousers, hat, gloves, scarf and even those little hand warmers in my gloves! I don’t have a lot of fat on me, despite the cake I consume, so I get cold really quickly!

What can I tell you about Gunnerside? It lies just above the River Swale. It has a Grade II listed bridge in the village over the river. It sits at the bottom of Gunnerside Gill (also spelt Ghyll). We have lots of Ghylls/Gills in Yorkshire and the North of England. The word comes from the Old Norse language and reflects our Viking heritage. It is the word for a really deep narrow rocky valley or ravine with a stream or river in the bottom.

Gunnerside Gill is exactly this………………….it is a deep, river filled ravine, running from 5 miles directly north of the village. It cuts through the landscape like it has been sliced by a knife and the river crashes down it from the hills and moorland above, and empties itself into the River Swale at Gunnerside village.

In the 17th to 19th century, through the industrial revolution, fast flowing water like this generated power. Combined with plentiful natural resources, small villages like Gunnerside sprung up, and industry flourished. In the ground around Gunnerside there was an abundance of lead. As a result, the gill was the site of a major lead mining industry during these centuries.

The area does attract quite a lot of walkers. The majority will just walk along the River Swale (one of my favourite walks) but if you fancy something a little more challenging and interesting walking up Gunnerside Gill is a classic day out.

It’s like a guided tour through the industrial revolution. All up the valley you will come across a preserved lead mining landscape. You will see old lead mines, lots of wildlife, waterfalls, dams, rivers, bridges and the most sweeping and glorious views.

It’s quite a tough walk but easily doable for anyone with a reasonable level of fitness. I say tough because all the way out you are walking up the gill side, so it’s uphill all the way. The gradient is variable, but in places it really is quite steep. There are some unguarded drops and the mine workings are not protected in any way and can be quite unsafe, so care is needed with children and animals. However, it’s worth it on a day like this.

These days Gunnerside is a sleepy little village. It relies on the income from tourism (hikers) and also hill farming (mainly sheep), gamekeeping, clockmaking and dry stone walling. It is very rural.

There was no-one around when I pulled up the car and set off up the side of the gill. It was minus 4 degrees and everywhere was covered in ice and frost, but the sky was blue and it was obvious the sun was going to make an appearance. I was wrapped up like an arctic explorer when I came across one of only two sets of hikers I saw all day. A lovely couple who took my photo for me. Hence there are not that many photos of me on my travels as I’m not really a selfie sort of person. I have to get at least one though to send and report back to my mother, as she hates me being out here on my own, so I have to send updates to assure her I’m still alive.

And that got me thinking a little bit on this walk about freedom and how lucky we are and how much we take for granted. I always tell Mum where I’m going, that I’ve got my map, compass, GPS, phone and I know the emergency numbers. There is much more chance of harm coming to me at home and in the city than out here, because I’m careful and quite risk averse. I am one of the least likely people to knowingly do something unsafe………………….but I’m quite brave, hence me being out here on my own in the first place.

Something happened the other week that really upset me and made me think. A fellow runner a few years younger than myself had entered one of the shorter versions of the Spine Race, when I say shorter, it was still 100 miles long. She was running for a charity which raises money for women and girls to receive an education in the only country in the world that bans women above 11 years from receiving an education. That woman, after almost a year of training, was withdrawn from the race and is currently in hiding and all social media posts are now deleted, as a plan was uncovered and threats were received that she would be executed by beheading mid race, 20 miles from my home.

It upset me so much and I thought a lot about it on this walk as it had only just happened. I’ve never really given it that much thought………………..I guess you could say I’ve taken my freedom for granted as I’ve always had it. I imagined what it must be like to not be allowed out on my own wandering, I’d be like a caged bird. I come out here to reflect, to work through things, to breath the air, see the wildlife, touch and smell things and to learn new things………………even if it is the history of lead mining! 😆 I’m not doing anyone any harm or threatening anyone else with my little adventures.

It’s also opened a ‘real can of worms’ as we say in the UK and a debate in the world of fell running. It’s different to road running, its more about endurance and mental fitness than speed. We run in lonely places, often alone as they are long runs and you are often separated from the field in your own little battle with yourself and your mind. I always end up on my own, I’m what you call a ‘mid packer’. I value the journey and the camaraderie, I’m consistent, resilient, but the enjoyment and self improvement is a lot more important to me that the position in the pack. So I’m never in the bunch at the front, never in the bunch at the back as I’ve usually trained well…………………I’m bumbling around in the middle, munching my way through my goodies in my running pack in a little battle with myself. It’s always been the case for big races that you wear a tracker, purely for safety so the organiser and medics know where you are, can see if you suddenly stop, are lost, have got your navigation hopelessly wrong or need some sort of assistance. And it’s a bit of a safety blanket for me as a runner as I can and do get lost.

The question now though is, is it that safe, for a man or a woman, as the data and the GPS from the tracker is publicly available for most races. So anyone can see who is running, where they are, the route they are taking and the speed they are going. You are an easy target if someone is hell bent on executing you or otherwise. It will be such a shame if that all has to change. I for one am an avid ‘dot watcher’ of races like ‘The Spine Race’ when I’m not running myself. I’m currently training for my first ultra. It’s in the UK, 50 mountainous miles, 75km, on the fell, I’m running on my own, I’m not allowed crew, and I’ll be running all through the night (unless I spot a bus shelter that looks like it might be good for a quick nap or I run out of sweets and cake 😂). I hope I’m wearing a tracker in case I get hopelessly lost in the dark, I don’t know what the answer is…………………perhaps make the data private so just the organiser can see the dots and people who you personally give the link to? I don’t know. It’s all such a shame and a shock to the system in a world where I’ve just taken freedom as a given human right and felt safe. It’s a strange world at the moment and I don’t really like it……….so all the more reason to escape into my own little dreamworld where everyone is friends, we all eat cake, the birds sing, the sky is blue, there are lots of books, and you go on these little adventures ………… The rest of the world and everything in it is forgotten for a while.

Anyway, that’s me thinking out loud, I don’t know the answer. So let me take you up Gunnerside with me because it’s so pretty, very interesting, and gets you away from the ever increasing and frightening polarised world we inhabit.

It’s quite flat at the start and you just wander up alongside the rocky riverbed.

On the way up you will pass a number of stone barns, sat on their own in the middle of the field. There are so any of these in Yorkshire. They are called a Cow-us (for cow house) or Laithes. They are used for storing food and hay and even shelter for some of the animals in the winter. The landscape is dotted with many of them.

You’ll keep crossing from one side of the gill to the other. Be careful though as some of the bridges are very primitive and slippery when icy, but very cute, sometimes not more that a beam of wood to balance on.

The valley then opens up in front of you and you come to the first site of the lead mining industry era…………………the ruin of Sir Francis dressing floor. A series of stone chambers used to store the rich lead ore or galena before dressing. This site was used between 1864 and 1880 and was an attempt to tap into deep lying deposits.

Carry on up the gill and it widens out a little and the river becomes wider and shallower.

A little further on you come across the remains of the mine office building, stood all on its own.

It was really slippery underfoot but the frost and ice looked lovely as the water had crashed down from the hillside and frozen on the grass on the way down. Some of the blades of grass had up to an inch of ice frozen on them as they pointed into the air like frozen fingers. And I have to report that at this point, despite the hand warmers, my fingers were frozen too.

As you get further up the gill it gets a little bit bleak and quite ugly. There are scars on the landscape where heaps of mining materials have just been abandoned.

On a bad day it would be quite easy to get lost up here as it all starts to look very similar with the path less defined. But on a clear day navigation is not a problem as people have piled stones, known as ‘cairns’, at intervals, to mark the way.

If you look back down the valley now it can be quite daunting, as all sign of life and the village have disappeared and there is just the occasional tree. Even the green grass seems to have disappeared, to be replaced by a brown and grey landscape. It feels a little lonely.

The next structure you come across is the tunnel entrance to the actual mine floor………….known as the Bunting Level. This accessed the inner workings of the mine.

The tunnel is around a mile long. However, when you look inside you cannot see anything but blackness.

Apparently there is an airshaft entrance further along the tunnel to gain access for those experienced cavers brave enough to want to take a look. However, due to a tunnel collapse quite close to the entrance you can’t walk too far into it.

Not really liking confined spaces, and not having a torch with me I went around 3 meters inside, had a quick look at the foliage and moss growing in there, and a listen to the echo of the tinkling gushing water, took a photo, and then shot back out again. That was enough of a look for me.

I do not envy anyone who worked down here in the lead mines. It must have been an awful existence…………………..cold, wet, damp and extremely physically and mentally draining.

A little further along and you come to a junction of paths and the aptly named sign to Surrender Bridge, by which time you might feel like doing exactly that!

However, don’t turn right to Surrender Bridge but go straight on until you reach the very last of the mines……….Blakethwaite smelt mill.

This one is right at the side of the water and is the most intact, complete ruin………………and also the prettiest in my opinion.

You will even see the remains of the old metal workings.

And there’s a pretty nice view out of the window!

The perfect place for a bit of shelter and the emergency supplies to fuel me for the way back……………….a huge chunk of Christmas cake! WOW……….. this year’s Christmas Cake is I think my finest. But I did use an awful lot of brandy, soaking the fruit for longer than I normally would (weeks) so it is really moist and the fruit so plump………………delicious!😍

It’s worth carrying on upstream for another 100 metres. You can’t see anything from the mine but on the OS Map there was a waterfall marked. It’s only a small one but it is quite pretty and worth the extra little bit of effort if you’ve come this far.

This is the point at which you turn back around and make your way back, and you have a choice. You can either retrace your steps, which I don’t like doing, or you can make your way back via the ‘shooters’ track which will give you a more direct route out of the gill.

The ‘shooters’ track is high up on the gill side so the advantage of this is that you get lovely views down into the valley. It is the route into the valley for the farmers who bring food for their cattle and the game bird hunters, hence the name ‘shooters’ track. It’s also easier underfoot unless it’s an icy day like this was where it can be a little bit like an ice rink.

It’s also a quicker route out of the gill and as the days are really short at the moment I decided to return this way as the sun was already starting to go down in the sky so I didn’t want to hang around, I was too cold.

The path seems to go on forever, passing grazing cattle……………….mainly sheep.

Eventually the path will spit you out in the little hamlet of Ivelet, a pretty little place with an ancient bridge.

It’s here where you will meet the junction with Alfred Wainwright’s ‘Coast to Coast’ path.

Take a left here and follow the ‘Coast to Coast’ path along the meadows and fields of Swaledale, alongside the river. You can’t get lost now as this is a very popular path and the trod is quite evident across the fields.

Very nicely the path emerges in Gunnerside, right at the side of the Kings Head Inn, and if you are lucky it will be open!

I was lucky! It looks like quite a plain pub from the outside and quite austere on a grey day with its dull granite stone.

However, the welcome is a very warm Yorkshire welcome. The fire will be blazing and you will be greeted like an old friend. The lone hiker with the orange rucksack was very cold and very hungry. Strictly speaking I don’t think the kitchen was open until the evening. But when I asked if they were doing food and did they have any soup the landlord was only too happy to warm me up some home made Brocolli and Stilton soup and I was so grateful!

They even had my favourite crisps………………….Pipers ‘Longhorn Beef’ flavour! These went lovely with my soup and a door wedge sized piece of freshly baked bread and butter. I was slowly revived in front of the fire.

I was rehydrated by a half pint of Timothy Taylor ‘Landlord’. Now if you’ve never had any of this, you’ve not lived. Timothy Taylor’s ‘Landlord’ has won the CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) Champion Beer of Britain four times. It’s a classic Yorkshire brewed bitter. It is brewed with unique Knowle Spring Water and finely selected Golden Promise barley. It’s got the most gorgeous flavour and of course………………………..it’s from YORKSHIRE!!!! No more words are needed as all the best things are from Yorkshire. 😆

Just an icy trip home to navigate, but it was worth it as the sunset I was treated to was fantastic. So fantastic I had to keep stopping for photos.

Another lovely day of Yorkshire adventures with the orange rucksack. Amazing views, tinkling streams, wildlife, frosty leaves, Christmas cake, crisps, soup, sunsets, beer and a little bit of industrial revolution history. Another worthwhile day having a bit of headspace and me time exploring God’s own county!

There have been other little adventures to Devon on business, and Cambridge to visit the big one, but I’ll have to report on those later. I’ve sort of disappeared off the radar of a lot of people I see on a weekly basis, just temporarily, as I’ve had a to make a few sacrifices. It’s 14 weeks to my Ultra run, all 50 miles and 8,500 feet of up and down, across the fells and mountains of the Lake District. I’ve entered my main training block, in addition to holding down a full time job, looking after family, and revising for an exam. 🤣 I’m getting a little tired and have questioned this little decision, but your time on earth is limited, I don’t want to age with grace, better to do it with mischief and a great story to tell, or so they say don’t they? I know that completion will be more about my survival than my speed.

I’ll mention it on here and will share my learnings and updates briefly at some point in the future, purely for anyone interested in endurance running, running in your 50’s, preparation, and other things that might be of interest. But no-one else knows I am attempting it, non of my friends, non of my running club, no-one at work…………………just immediate family and my strength and conditioning PT who is assisting me with that side of things. I’ve just quietly disappeared for a while. There will be no blowing my own trumpet or continuous Facebook posts leading up to the event as that’s just not me and I’m not doing it for anyone else, just me. I’m just going to get my head down, make my sacrifices, quietly prepare and hope I make it to the start line as this is an entirely selfish goal to prove something to myself and no-one else. I’m not quite sure what it is I’m trying to prove, and I’ve seriously questioned this life choice over the last few weeks, but I’m hoping it becomes apparent at some point. 😂 And I sort of need this focus at the moment. I guess I want to challenge my physical and mental limits, have an adventure, see if I can overcome the adversity, and just a little bit of personal growth………………….oh………………and I’m allowed to eat what I want when I want during the race and afterwards for a while which has got to be a bonus! But not before, I’m being quite disciplined.

So I suppose we need some words of wisdom don’t we, because goodness, I have really had to find some and scrape the bottom of the barrel of self motivation for all sorts of reasons on some of my long runs on these cold, icy, windy, dark nights, through the recent storms. It’s felt quite lonely and I don’t like lonely. Will this winter ever end?! So this week it will have to be Winston Churchill, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” So, if you are having a bad day, I’m talking about a running day, but it could be any day in general, remember it’s not a permanent state, just as winning or losing is not a permanent state, they are temporary. True success is defined by resilience, courage and moving forward rather than by a single victory or setback. So, on that note, I will have the courage and resilience to continue and see where it leads, one step at a time! And then I might just think about slowing down a little, I think it might be time.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! It’s over now and as I sit here writing, I’m choking in a cloud of Christian Dior Sauvage as Mini Me has just wafted past me on his way out. But that’s ok………………..he’s clearly pleased with his smelly gift but didn’t get the ‘less is more’ memo!

I had a lovely Christmas because both my chicks were back in the nest! And that’s what it’s about for me. It’s not about the presents, it’s not about the food and drink……………………although they are both nice……………….it’s about resting, relaxing, reflecting and spending time with those who you don’t see as much as you would like i.e. my boys. Yes, the big one arrived home just in time for Christmas and graced me with a full week and half of his presence. So both of them together………………………….it was lovely!!

Gifts were exchanged and given. My favourite part, as I love surprising everyone!

And I must have been on the good list too. Thoughtful gifts…………………..three of my favourite things. I love running and being outdoors so there were some new pink outdoor shoes and a top.

The guinea pig (well that’s what the tag said) bought me a collection from my favourite coffee roastery! Weekend mornings always involve a sit down with a nice coffee. But only my best coffee on a weekend when I’ve got time to savour it. I think I may have mentioned ‘Darkwoods’ before. They are a local roastery importing beans directly from the farm, from mainly South America. I got Crow Tree (100% Arabica – Peru/Honduras), Black Hill (Arabica and Robusta – Columbia / India / Brazil), Under Milk Wood (100% Arabica – Brazil/India/Ethiopia) and Arboretum (Bourbon, Catuai and Caturra Arabicas – Panama / Costa Rica).

If you ever get the chance to get hold of some Darkwoods, do so, it’s fantastic stuff. You can even visit them if you are close by. There is a little synopsis of what they are all about on the back of their beans and that might be a clue as to why I like it so much and well what else can I say……………..it’s from Yorkshire!……………..need I say more!

Another exciting gift I got was a full box of ‘Chia Charge’ flapjacks! Why on earth is she so excited about a box of flapjacks when she can make her own you might ask! Well, this is another recommendation if you can get hold of it, for any runners out there. By the way, I am not paid by the manufacturers of any of these things I recommend, but if I come across something good I like to share. This again is made in Yorkshire! They also give 1% of their top line sales revenue (not profit) to environmental causes. In 2025 they gave over £60k to Bumblee Bee Conservation Trust, Trees for Life,  Fix the Fells and the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust. They also make mighty fine energy and endurance fuel………………….and that’s what these flapjacks are. My boys bought me a full box of my favourite flavours.

Another good thing about them is that you can choose to mix and match your flavours as you wish, they are packed to order. They have 40g of carbs in one bar and no artificial nasties that upset my tummy. It’s just good proper food, excellent if I am running a race over 10k or over an hour long. I need approximately 80g of carbs per hour, after the first hour, and these are just so easy to get down and I have none of those terrible pains in my tummy that some of the others give me after a few hours.

And the final recommendation of the day is a book……………………….but not a reading book……………………….a cook book!

I have read a book over the holiday. It was ‘A Woman in the Polar Night’ by Christiane Ritter. But I’m not going to recommend that because I can’t work out whether I liked it or not. 😆 Basically it’s a real life account of her one year in Spitsbergen in the Arctic, published in 1938. It’s a tale of Christiane defying society’s expectations in the 1930s to find freedom and peace in the adventure of a lifetime. So that bit I liked, her determination and the lessons she learnt about what’s important in life and what isn’t, and living life to the full and not slowly dying before you are dead. I also loved her writing and the description of the place, but some parts of it I found quite hard to read and I actually found myself getting quite anxious. I have a bit if a fear of being lost and I’m a little claustrophobic and it’s perhaps testament to the power and beauty of her writing that on the occasions when she was lost in the mist at minus forty degrees wandering around looking for the hut, or crawling through a snow hole because the storm had buried her in the the hut I was almost hyperventilating because I felt like I was there with her!

I could perhaps imagine it much better than someone who has not been to the Arctic as I actually went around 11 years ago to seek out the Northern Lights to a small village in the Swedish Arctic. It was on a similar latitude to Nunavut or the Northern Passages in Canada. It was minus 40 for the full five days, never got daylight and was absolutely devoid of life apart from the odd Elk or Reindeer. It was one of the best trips ever as I can’t describe how fantastic the Northern Lights are, and I wanted the boys to experience them………………..but for a girl who likes to be outside all the time, watching the wildlife and likes chitter chattering to everyone ……………… five days was long enough, I could not wait to get back home. I guess I read the book and just kept asking myself why on earth a year!?

The book I’m going to recommend is ‘Simple’ by Ottolenghi. It’s amazing. I actually got this one and Ottolenghi ‘The Cookbook’. My boys know that if they buy me a cook book that’s their meals sorted for at least the next few months as I love, love, love a new cookbook. I go into overdrive. I’ve made so much from it already but it really is as it says in the title……….’Simple’. His recipes are a fusion of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern. You need to get a few spices that you might not ordinarily have in your cupboard but they are his store cupboard items and once you have them they’ll last for ages. For anyone that likes cooking and experimenting with food this book is a ‘must have’!

So far the highlights have been a delicious Salmon fillet with a salsa made with olives, capers, spices and fresh herbs but I forgot to take a picture. Then there was a cous cous with raisins, almonds, herbs and blistered cherry tomatoes. This was really nice and tasty and fresh as the herbs were coriander and mint and it had some lemon in too. Then a roasted butternut squash, lentil and Dolcelatte cheese dish which even myself, the meat eater, enjoyed.

However, the highlight for me so far has to be the lamb and feta meatballs! Oh wow, these were amazing!!!!! They go so well with the above cous cous salad.

And what’s even better is that there are cakes and baking in the book too. I’ve only made one so far……………….a blueberry, lemon and almond cake with a drizzle of frosting on the top. However, it’s had 10 out of 10 from numerous Christmas visitors and has had to be made lots of times over by special request.

So today’s recommendation has to be my new cookery book……………Ottolenghi ‘Simple’……………………it’s amazing!

However, what you’ll be wanting to know is have I been on an adventure or did I behave myself! Well, what do you think!? I went on an adventure of course. 😆 But instead of going after Christmas I went just before. There was only myself not working and my big one had not arrived home. So I thought, “Wait a minute, I’m going to try something different.” Usually just before Christmas I spend 4 days whizzing around making work and stress for myself and getting myself in a complete flap over Christmas because I do the dinner and all the preparation.

So I thought “I’m not doing that this year……………..it’s not what Christmas is about.” I reckoned if I prepared properly I could sneak a little three night solo trip in just before Christmas, be back in time for Christmas Eve final preparations, all refreshed and ready to go and still be able to put on the table a fantastic Christmas dinner. All of the food was ordered, I only needed a day to pick it up, prep and set the table. The presents were already wrapped and under the tree so I hatched a little plan.

24 hours later and I was on a Ryanair £35.99 flight from Manchester to Malta! I’d been driven to the airport by the best looking taxi driver ever (Mini Me) for the price of a new set of car mats for his new car he’s saved for and bought for himself. The return journey cost me a wind shield for it!🤣 It’s gradually getting ‘pimped up’ to a mere tiny resemblance of its former self!

Why Malta? Well, I’ve never been and I’ve always wanted to go. And at between 16 and 20 degrees it’s a lot sunnier and warmer than at home. Perfect for sight seeing. It’s had such a varied past and there is so much history on that one tiny island. I was so excited to go and discover some of its history, culture, food and architecture. It’s also the sort of place that only I would really enjoy, so I was better going alone. In fact, even on the way to the airport he kept reminding me of the one week cultural immersion to Rome I took them on around 15 years ago which to this day he swears will never be topped as “the most boring holiday of all time”.😂 Well, it would not do for us all to like the same thing would it?…………………..and to be quite honest, I was ready for a bit of respite on my own!

So I’m going to tell you all I know about Malta, what I liked, what I didn’t, where to go etc.etc. But in short…………………it’s amazing and I’d go back in a heartbeat. And the fact that anywhere in Europe is never much more than three hours away, it’s a bonus.

This was a sightseeing and city break and was just three nights long. I had almost four full days in Malta. It’s a very small island, 27km x 14.5km, but it was still a very full four days and if I inspire anyone to go then I would recommend five days to do it at a more leisurely pace and fit a few more things in that I did not get the chance to do. Ideally if you go when it’s slightly warmer and you want to visit the neighbouring islands of Gozo and Comino and the beaches then take a week.

It takes three hours to get there from the UK and the budget airlines have direct flights from a number of airports. I flew Ryanair from Manchester outbound and Easyjet to Liverpool return. Both flights were good, cheap and on time, I have no complaints.

I stayed in the capital Valletta, as that is where a lot of the history is located. It’s also a very lived in and beautiful city. If you are going for the history, culture, food and architecture, Valletta is really the only place to base yourself. From there you can get a regular bus from the main terminal to anywhere on the island. You don’t need a car. If you are on a relax, swim, drink, sunbathe holiday then you may be better in one of the resorts or even the island of Gozo.

I had a really special stay which I booked on Booking.com. There is all sorts in Valletta……………..big fancy expensive hotels, apartments, small boutique hotels…………..you name it and you’ll find it. However, if you fancy something a little different I can recommend Casa Rocca Piccola where I stayed. The house is 400 hundred years old. It was built by Don Pietro La Rocca, an Admiral and Knight of Malta and is a 16th Century Palace of a Maltese noble family. The family (Nicholas 9th Baron of Budach, 9th Marquis de Piro and his wife the Marchioness de Piro) still live there but in order to help maintain the legacy and upkeep on the house they have opened it as a museum which you can visit during the day from 10am, and one floor they have converted into a very small B&B of five rooms. I don’t know whether it was because it was a last minute booking but it was really good value for money and not at all expensive compared to some of the other hotels in Valletta and it was absolutely perfect for what I wanted. You really did feel like you were staying in a family home, as it is very ‘lived in’, except it’s a mini palace!

First impressions were good. I was led though the marble hallway and past the sculptures …………………………..

and up the spiral staircase and along the corridor to my room…………..

It was very beautiful. Not the choice of decor or colour that I would have in my bedroom at home but perfect for inside a real life palace! The bed was so comfortable and the marble bathroom was huge.

In the hallway there is a coffee machine which you can use whenever you want and a jar of Maltese iced lemon cookies baked by the Marchioness. These were lovely!

You can also help yourself to fresh fruit whenever you want.

By the time I had unpacked and had a short nanna nap it was just before lunch time so I had the afternoon to explore somewhere. I decided to walk down to the Grand Harbour in Valletta and catch the ferry across to the ‘Three Cities’.

The Grand Harbour is a UNESCO World Heritage site. On one side of the Grand Harbour is Valletta, but on the other side of the harbour are the ‘Three Cities’. The three tiny cities are Vittoriosa, Senglea and Cospicua , which were there long before Valletta, which was built much later by the Knights of St John.

These three cities are fortified, walled cities and were the original base of the Knights of St John. They played a vital role in Malta’s defence. The ancient forts of St Angelo, St Elmo, and the British Lascaris underground War Rooms, from where the battle strategy was hatched and executed, are over here. For history buffs this is the place to be.

On the walk down to the harbour you’ll not fail to notice the colourful overhanging Maltese balconies on the houses.

When I got to the harbour I had just missed the half hourly ferry. However, If you are not scared of water and can swim (I’m not recommending you swim across 🤭) you can be transported across the harbour from Valletta to the Three Cities in a traditional Maltese boat, known as a Luzzu, which I’ll explain more about later. The cost is roughly the same as the ferry at 3 Euros but the fun is double! You might get a bit wet as it bounces over the wake of the bigger boats but it would be my preferred option after hopping in one and bouncing across. If you are doubtful, just wait for the ferry.

So who are the Knights of St John who based themselves in the three cities and established Malta and later built Valletta? They were a Catholic military order formed in 1070, made up of noble men. They were founded in Jerusalem to care for sick and poor pilgrims. They were gradually pushed out from Jerusalem and made their way to Greece, Rhodes to be precise, where they were eventually pushed out of there and had no base.

However, by now they were a strong military power and Malta was seen as a stepping stone to Europe for the Turkish Ottoman and Muslim empires. Charles V, who at the time was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sicily realised the need to stop the Ottoman Empire in its tracks so granted the island of Malta to the Knights of St John for the fee of one Maltese Falcon a year, a nominal rent knowing that they could still pay this if they lost everything else in battle. Their task was to defend Europe from their base in Malta.

Charles V’s premonition materialised and in 1565 the Great Siege of Malta took place when over 40,000 Turkish troops from the Ottoman Empire tried to invade Malta. They outnumbered the Knights with a ratio of 10 soldiers to 1 and the siege lasted from May to September. Eventually, with support from Spain, Italy and other European countries who realised the threat to Europe, the Ottoman troops were defeated. The Knights of St John stayed on in Malta and immediately after this siege decided to build a new capital city, Valletta, which remains the capital to this day. They ruled Malta until 1798 when Napoleon invaded Malta and it came under French rule for 2 years.

The Maltese people rebelled and looked to the British to help expel the French, which they did so in 1800, and it became a British Crown colony in 1813, confirmed by the Treaty of Paris in 1814. It remained under British rule until gaining independence from Britain in 1964 and becoming a republic in 1974. The last of the British Navy fleet left in 1979. So that’s a very quick history of Malta!

Although, like in any handover, there can be tensions, the British exit from Malta was peaceful. Maltese people generally have very positive relationships and feelings towards the British and there is a lot of shared history and cultural values. I was certainly made to feel very welcome……………….and most of them knew exactly where ‘Yorkshire’ was and uttered “oh what a beautiful place” when I told them where I was from (so they got top marks from me!) 😂

The shared culture is very evident, it’s a really unusual mix and it’s difficult to put into words. Does, it feel British? Absolutely not. I would say it ‘feels’ very Italian. It looks and feels very similar to Sicily. It’s only 60 miles from Sicily, there is a huge Italian influence in the gastronomy, there are very many Italian speakers and it has a huge amount of Baroque architecture. Its Grand Harbour very much has the appearance of the Grand Harbour in Venice. It looks nothing like Britain.

However, in terms of culture it feels quite British in that it feels safe, people are overly polite and courteous, football is the main sport, they drink as much ‘English’ tea with milk as they do coffee, they have a traditional family ‘Sunday Roast’ dinner, they drive on the left, English is their official language in addition to Maltese and their political and educational structures are modelled on the British system.

As you walk around you’ll spot the odd British legacy!

Anyway, onto the ‘Three Cities’. If you like military museums you’ll be there days. You can look around the war rooms, forts and a whole host of other museums. I don’t like military museums, I’m more art museums and buildings. So my afternoon was just spent wandering through each city. They are all small and interlinked.

You will get lost, and that’s the joy of it, but worry not you will eventually find your way out of the narrow streets and there are the occasional signs pointing the way.

The Parish Church of St Lawrence is worth a look for its ceiling frescos and dome.

There is a beautiful harbour full of super yachts……………….

Lots of military monuments…………………………..

And I found a Camino marker……………………..only 3,493km to Santiago! 🥵

But my top discovery was a little cafe hidden down a street which sold Sicilian Cannoli……………………not the rubbish you sometimes get at home filled with that horrible sickly, oversweet buttercream stuff………………………………..no this was the real deal with ricotta based filling………………and it was huge! And it was delicious. Come over for the Cannoli if nothing else!

I caught the ferry back across to Valletta and just had time to look around the twinkly Christmas lights, which are gorgeous, before making my way back to the B&B.

I was so tired after my first day as my flight out of the UK was at 5:30am so I had left home at shortly after 2am. So it was no surprise that I was tucked up in my extremely large bed at 7:30pm reading my book, for all of 2 pages, after which I fell to sleep. I slept like a log for a full 13 hours, not waking until 8:30am for my breakfast. But that’s ok, as I was on holiday, and part of the objective of the break was to catch up on some long overdue quality sleep!

Breakfast is served in the very lovely courtyard all year around unless it is raining. It’s a lovely little space. Very green, tinkling fountains, and citrus fruit trees which were bursting with fruit at this time of year.

This is where you can meet the Marquis’ pets. He has two turtles in his fountain (both girls, one of which is an amazing escape artist apparently)………………………

and also Kiku who I absolutely fell in love with! Kiku is a blue and gold Macaw. He sleeps inside the Marquis and Marchoiness’ quarter in his gilded cage at night, but he is carried out into the courtyard every the morning by the Marquis where he likes to meet and chat to all the guests and museum visitors. He’s very well taken care of, is free to roam and even leave if he wants to, but of course he does not want to because he likes it there on his perch meeting everyone. He will wave at you when you walk into the courtyard, always says hello and is quite happy to chatter to you from a distance while you have your breakfast.

Breakfast is lovely, continental in style with meats, cheeses, eggs, cereals, granolas, fresh fruit, dried fruit, yoghurts, fresh orange juice from the garden oranges and the most delicious home baked cakes (an orange and almond cake was particularly nice). Then there is as much fresh coffee or tea as you would like. And of course, very pleasing to me, was that it was served in a lovely English china teacup and saucer……………….but then it should be, I’m a pretend Princess in a palace for 3 nights!

My plan for that day had been to go to the walled ‘Silent City’ of Mdina and neighbouring Rabat but my plans had to change because with it being the Sunday before Christmas, the lady serving breakfast in the B&B had advised me that the cathedral in Mdina, which was the main reason for my visit, was closed to visitors for various masses which went on throughout the day. So I switched my itinerary and decided to visit the colourful fishing village of Marsaxlokk where the Sunday morning fish market takes place.

Marsaxlokk is ‘traditional’ Malta. It’s in the South of the island, 30 minutes from Valletta on the bus and is probably its most iconic and picturesque fishing village. The majority of the inhabitants are fishermen by trade.

The harbour is very pretty, having both traces of Arab and Roman rule. It is here in Malta where you can see the extremely colourful Luzzu. These are the traditional Maltese fishing boats which bob about in the harbour.

They are painted in bright colours and often have a pair of eyes (The Eyes of Horus) painted on the bow to protect the fishermen while at sea, which is an ancient Phoenician custom. The majority of Marsaxlokk fishermen still favour the Luzzu as their boat of choice, and there are hundreds of them in this harbour, which really does make it look so photogenic.

The harbour bustles on a Sunday morning with it being the market. Boats come and go, and fishermen sit on the quayside mending their equally colourful nets.

There’s plenty of fresh fish on sale too if that is what you are after.

Octopus, razor clams, fresh fish, squid………………………………………………………………

And fresh fruit and vegetables too, as it doubles up as a farmers market.

Set back from the harbour it’s also worth wandering around the streets. There are lots of pretty, old doorways, over which are rusting, ornate, iron balconies.

Eventually you will come to the Church of Our Lady of Pompei. This is also worth a quick look. It does not look much from the outside but inside it’s quite a nice little church with a dome and some very pretty ceiling frescos.

Just time for a quick coffee in a café full of fishermen where I felt and looked a bit out of place 😆, before I hopped back on the bus to Valletta.

It was only just after lunch so I decided to hop straight on another bus to take a 20 minute ride in the opposite direction to the town of Mosta. Mosta is a vibrant town and I’d come here for one reason only……………………to see the Mosta Dome, often referred to as the Mosta Rotunda. This is a Roman Catholic church and basilica dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. It’s quite imposing from the outside, but it’s the inside that I’d come to see.

Its design is based on the Pantheon in Rome and it has the third largest unsupported dome in the world. It is Malta’s largest Church.

The entry fee is not excessive and it is worth it because you gain admission to climb the spiral staircase up to the roof to access the dome at balcony level. It was just about doable for the likes of me who does not like heights or confined spaces. It’s seventy steps up one tower and the same down the other tower to get out. There is a window half way up to let light in and the stairs aren’t too narrow with one way traffic.

But from up here you get a really good look at the dome.

You can then go into the museum part of the church to learn about the ‘Miracle of Mosta’. Now I’m not really into tales of divine intervention and put it down to pure good luck, but on 9th April 1942, during the siege of Malta in World War II, a German bomb pierced the dome and landed in the middle of the packed basilica during Mass. It failed to explode and everyone escaped! Divine intervention or not, you can view a casing of an exact replica bomb and learn a little more of the story in the museum.

Tired from another day of exploring I bused back to Valletta where I found a lovely little trattoria where I had some chicken parmesan and a glass of wine before wandering the streets with an ice cream for my dessert. Back in bed for 8:30pm again to get some book reading done and a good nights sleep as I had a another full day planned for the day after!

I’m not always quite so boring. 😂 I do like a good party and late night. But when I travel on my own to cities I’m not that familiar with I’m always cautious about being out and about wandering the streets on my own late at night. But that’s the world we live in these days and I’d rather be safe than sorry! Plus the fact a day exploring with me, and I challenge anyone to not need their bed by 8:30pm, I like to pack a lot in and leave no stone unturned!

The following day was going to be a full one. I had booked a food and history walking tour of Valletta as I’d not really explored it yet. Food and history, two of my favourite things, so I thought it would be perfect.

It was three hours long, around 3 miles walked, with various food stops along the way. We met our lovely Maltese guide Marissa outside the Parliament House, just inside the new city walls. This is the new meeting place of Malta’s Parliament and was opened in 2015. It’s quite an impressive building designed by famous architect Renzo Piano, architect behind London’s ‘The Shard’ and ‘Centre Georges Pompidou’ in Paris. It’s an impressive building with carved limestone blocks on the exterior which resemble a cheese grater. The effect is to filter the sunlight and reduce the heat inside the building…………………..very clever. It’s a zero emission building using photovoltaic panels on the roof for energy. However, whilst the design is impressive, I’m led to believe the build and construction quality is not that great and they’ve had numerous issues with water ingress. The building overlooks the square and sits alongside more traditional Maltese buildings with their pretty green balconies.

We set off and passed the Auberge de Castille, which houses the current office of the Prime Minister of Malta. This was formally the residence of the Knights of St John from Castille (Spain)…………………………the Knights from each separate country had their own Auberge where they resided together.

At the side of the building is a statue of St John de Valette, after whom Valletta was named. He was the Grand Master of the Knights, and of Malta, at the time of the Great Siege, after which they decided to build the new city which they consequently named after him.

Our first food stop was at a street food vendor known to sell the best ‘Pastizzi’ in Malta. Pastizzi are flaky, buttery layers of pastry, folded into a sort of pocket shape, and filled with either creamy ricotta cheese or curried peas. I chose ricotta……………………it was delicious. Really light and flaky. These are sold everywhere in Malta and are traditionally eaten for breakfast or in a café as a quick snack with a tea or coffee.

We walked some more while Marissa pointed out various historical buildings and points of interest. Some of them you might almost miss, like this World War II era ‘Victory Kitchen’ sign. During the war the island was heavily besieged, and getting supplies in an out were difficult. ‘Victory Kitchen’s’ were opened up in various places across the island to feed the starving population. By 1943, up to 175,000 Maltese and troops were being fed by the Victory Kitchens, but all that is left of them today is this sign, tucked high up on one of the back streets of Valletta.

Next stop was a really quirky eatery called Grano. He we sampled two staples of the Maltese diet. One is the Ftira. This is a sourdough flatbread. It has a thick crust and is very crunchy. It has been recognised by UNESCO as part of the cultural heritage of Malta. They use it mainly to make sandwiches and pizzas and it is here at Grano where you will see it used perfectly. On the visit we had a piece of Ftira filled with a tuna, olive and tomato filling. It was superb, so much so that I went back the following day before going to the airport and had a full sandwich. I chose the ‘Spilinga’ which is basically a Ftira bread filled with salsiccia, nduja sausage, mozarella flor de latte, black truffle paste and rocket leaves. It was AMAZING!

They also do lots of nice wines, beers and soft drinks. I had a lovely bottle of Mandarin and Prickly Pear soda which was good, but the purpose of our visit was to try ‘Kinnie’. This has graced most bars in Malta since 1954 and it is their national soft drink. It is made with bittersweet oranges and aromatic herbs. It has a really distinct taste, a bit love it or hate it, and I would say at least half the tour really did not like it. I however, thought it was great, because it tastes just like Campari……..except it’s non-alcoholic! And I love a Campari, or a Campari based drink like a Negroni. You can either drink Kinnie on its own or you could equally use it as a mixer with something like gin, which it would go really well with.

Next stop was the Museum Cafe……………………..an iconic old café on the streets of Valletta. Here they are well known for the Imqaret. This is a thin crisp pastry, filled with dates, citrus and aniseed paste. They can be baked or deep fried. I tried both and definitely preferred the baked version, you could taste the filling better, whereas with the deep fried version the taste was lost a little in the taste of the oil it was fried in. I can recommend the Imqaret, perfect with a cup of coffee.

We wandered around a little more, learning lots of detail about the history of Malta before making our way to our final stop of the day…………..Cafe Jubilee. Here they serve traditional Maltese food, old family recipes prepared in traditional ways. You can’t come to Malta without having ‘Fenek Imtektek’, unless of course you are vegetarian or could not eat a pet animal. You see in England the rabbit is a pet these days. It is still in eaten in rural areas where they hunt, like at home in Yorkshire, so as a result I don’t have much of an issue with it and wanted to try it. I haven’t had a rabbit since I was a little girl and I used to visit my Grandad who often had a rabbit or pheasant hung up that he’d procured from somewhere! Fenek Imtektek is a traditional dish in Malta and is a slow cooked Maltese rabbit stew, cooked with orange rind, spices and red wine. It was delicious……………..very tasty! The only downside with rabbit is the meat to bone ratio is low and you seem to spend ages scratting about looking for the meat amongst the bones.

So after 3 hours wandering around Malta eating I was ready to pop like a balloon. I needed to gradually walk it off so took a bus to visit the silent city of Mdina and neighbouring Rabat for the afternoon. They are around half an hour from Valletta on the bus and can be visited together as they are adjacent, a road being all that separates them.

Mdina was Malta’s former capital, prior to Valletta. It is a walled, fortified, medieval, car free city, full of palaces and Baroque architecture. It is really lovely to wander around. What did I like about Mdina? Firstly it has a really lovely entrance gate called the Mdina Gate, built in 1724 it is very grand and fitting for the entrance to somewhere quite special.

Inside the walled city it is just nice to wander around. There are lots of lovely tightly packed streets built in golden stone. For that reason alone it it nice to visit later in the afternoon because when the sun starts to set it casts a really lovely orange gold glow on the stone.

The main point of interest in Mdina is St Paul’s Cathedral.

It does not really look much from the outside, it’s a little plain. However, inside it is beautiful.

There is lots of gold gilding, painted frescos, domes, and some gorgeous Persian rugs which would look lovely back at mine 😆……………

……and it’s just generally a nice cathedral to have a wander around.

You can also walk around the city wall for some really long distance views over the island to the sea.

Once I’d exhausted Mdina I wandered over to Rabat. I loved it here.

Rabat is a more lived in, modern town just outside the walls of Mdina. It’s really vibrant but still has its fair share of churches. St Paul’s Catacombs are the main sight to see in Rabat, but being underground in a Catacomb isn’t really my thing so I gave them a miss and went to a café instead. There are so many nice cafes and restaurants in Rabat but I was still quite full from my food tour in the morning so I just needed a coffee and a little something sweet. I couldn’t decide which something sweet I wanted out of a choice of two, so I had both! 😆 They were both traditional Maltese cakes. One was a traditional honey biscuit filled with a mixture of molasses, honey, spices and semolina. The second was like a coconut and almond type ball.

Just what I needed to finish off my wanderings around the streets of Rabat while the sun set and cast its golden rays on the yellow stone.

One thing I did notice about Rabat, more than anywhere else, were door knockers and colourful doors. Everyone seemed the have a different coloured brightly painted door and a shiny door knocker, and they were all of varying designs. Just take a look at some of them, they were so pretty.

It was getting late so I caught the bus back to Valletta and just had time to call in another well known place in Valletta for a little nightcap before I went to bed. That place is Caffe Cordina. It started as a humble tea shop in 1837 over in the Three Cities but today is one of the most well know cafes in Valletta, very fancy with chandeliers, barrel vaulted frescoed ceilings and gold detailing. It is always heaving with people and is open all day serving everything from breakfast, lunch, dinner, cakes, and in the evening…cocktails! I can’t go on my jolly holidays and not have at least one cocktail……………………..and it was half way between the bus station and my accommodation so there was no reason to not call in to try the Maltese take on a cocktail.

So this is the ‘The Pink One’. It’s the traditional Maltese Bajtra, which is a Prickly Pear Liquor, mixed with Mezcal Tequila, lime and soda. Served of course with a little bit of salt around the rim of the glass. It was really nice. The only disadvantage of travelling alone is I can’t take advantage of the two for one cocktails in happy hour as there is no-one to help me navigate my way back to the accommodation so I politely declined my free one and just stuck with the one.

The next morning was my final day in Malta, but I did get almost a full day as I did not need to leave for the airport until 5pm. And it started very excitingly! When I had checked in three days before the lady checking me in said the Marquis had asked if I would like a private tour of the house at 9am on the day of my departure before it opened to visitors. Well of course I did because I’m nosey and interested in anything like that! So I had my breakfast early and waited where I’d been told to wait at the side of the dresser in the corridor. What I did not realise was that it was the Marquis himself who was going to show me around. I think he likes to show all his guests around at some point during their stay but I was the only one checking out that day.

He’s a couple of years younger than my own father, in his early eighties, and he was so interesting. It was lovely to hear him talk so lovingly about his house and show me all his marvellous collections………………….he’s a great collector of many things. He had everything from a stool that his mother sat on at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in Westminster Abbey, a 16th Century Maltese lace petticoat, a 15th century glass breast pump for expressing milk, a silver button collection and an old Bentley car!

There was lots to explore……………………..he’s even got his own evacuation bunker underneath the courtyard from the World War. He was such a lovely man. It’s definitely worth taking up his offer of a look around as you will get so much more information that you would if you looked around on your own, as all the items are personal to him and have their own story which he will gladly share with you. He kept stressing all the way around that it was a house and not a museum, and it does feel very loved and lived in. So much so that I didn’t take many photos as I thought it would seem a bit rude. However, when I saw his dining room table all dressed for Christmas dinner I did ask permission to take a photograph for my Mum, and he was only to happy to oblige. Now there are no ’emergency chairs’ here. You know the one’s I mean, where your dining table only really seats four but you’ve invited eight for Christmas dinner so are frantically scouring round for anything capable of being sat on! No, they are matched perfectly, I really must up my game on the ’emergency chair’ front!

I bid him farewell and thanked him for letting me stay, put my luggage into storage in the basement, and went off on my last day of adventures. First of all I went a walk around the inside of the city walls to reach the Siege Bell War Memorial. This memorial commemorates all those who died in World War II in Malta between 1940 and 1942 and was unveiled by Queen Elixabeth II in 1992…………………50 years after the siege which took place in the war. It’s a nice monument but unfortunately I could not get too close up to it to have a really detailed look as it is closed for restoration, so a photograph from behind the railing had to suffice.

Following this I walked to St Pauls Co Cathedral in Valletta. This is an Anglican Cathedral and is a Co Cathedral because it shares the official seat of the Diocese of Malta with St Paul’s Cathedral in Mdina, which I had visited the day before. This one, whilst also looking pretty unremarkable from the outside, is absolutely amazing on the inside, far grander and more opulent that Mdina’s cathedral, by quite a long way.

The vaulted ceiling is just astounding. Arches of ornately carved gold stone, with beautifully painted ceiling frescoes between each arch.

All around the cathedral walls are panels of intricately carved stone covered in gold leaf. The carving is so fine that at first glance it appears to be wood, but it isn’t, it is stone, which makes it all the more remarkable.

Elsewhere on the ceiling of the side chapels there are intricately painted domes and arches…………………

And with it being Christmas the steps leading to the alter were covered in the hugest red Poinsettia plants.

For anyone into art the Cathedral is a must visit as it contains two original Caravaggio’s……………………’The Beheading of St John the Baptist’ and ‘St Jerome Writing’.

Whilst they are both beautiful paintings ‘The Beheading of St John the Baptist’ is the one that most people linger over. Often cited as being one of the greatest works of art of all time it is quite special and is a perfect example of how Caravaggio used the technique of chiaroscuro with the contrast of the deep red of the fabric and the yellows of the flesh with an otherwise dark contrasting colour palette to give the artwork depth. It is nice to be able to get a really close look at a piece like this to look at the detail.

I made a quick dash after the Cathedral to the Upper Barrakka Gardens. I like a nice garden and this one is no exception. It has some lovely plants and trees to shade you from the sun, and a lovely fountain in the middle which looks onto the Stock Exchange Building of Malta.

You can also get some lovely views over the Grand Harbour and the outskirts of the city from the perimeter wall as you are at the high part of Valletta here.

It would be a really peaceful place to sit…………………….that is, unless you come at 12 noon or 4pm. Because the gardens overlook the Saluting Battery, where at these two times a cannon is fired to honour maritime events and mark the historical time of the opening and closing of the city gates. I had come to watch the 12 noon firing. You can pay to stand on the battery itself, but I would say that the view is better from the gardens, a level higher up, which is free, but then you can make a donation on exit to one of the soldiers wielding a bucket. The view over the Grand Harbour is also excellent from up here. But oh my goodness it was loud! And even though you know that the cannon is going to be fired at noon, and you are poised for it, I still jumped out of my skin, it was deafening! Definitely worth a look though.

I just had one more place I wanted to visit in Valletta before my departure…………….The Grand Masters Palace. This was built in the 16th Century and housed the Grand Master of the Knights of St John. It was the British Governors Palace until 1964 and the seat of the Parliament until 2015. It is now where the offices of the President of Malta are situated. On the way there, outside the library, you will spot a statue of Queen Victoria, whom the Maltese look upon very dearly as representing a period of stability and growth.

The Grand Masters Palace itself is a huge imposing building overlooking one of the main squares. On the exterior walls their are some interesting plaques, one of which honours the George Cross awarded to the people of Malta as a thank you for their heroism, acts of bravery and devotion in World War II, awarded to the island in 1942 by King George VI.

They are so proud of their George Cross that they display it on their national flag to this day.

The inside of the building is nice and you can visit the state rooms, the armouries, and see all the portraits of the Presidents of Malta.

Sadly, my visit to Malta had come to an end. I retrieved my suitcase and made my way to the airport using the public transport bus, which was really easy and cost the grand fee of 2 Euros. I’d had an amazing 4 days but was ready to see my boys on my return. Even though I’d seen so much, and fitted so much in, I’d had some lovely food, lots and lots of quality sleep and plenty of time to be alone with my own thoughts and relax. As a result I came home really looking forward to Christmas and completely unstressed by it all.

And guess what, the table got set (complete with emergency chairs😆), and a wonderful dinner was served! We might not be Casa Rocca Piccola but we had a lovely set table, bone china Royal Doulton dinner service, a lovely prawn and avocado starter, two grey chairs, two foldable chairs and four wooden chairs and the best looking wine waiters in Yorkshire! 😂😍

So the message to myself this year is ……………………… don’t succumb to the hype and stress about Christmas. Go away just before, come back refreshed and relaxed, prioritise a bit of self care, don’t over commit, and Christmas will just happen as it’s meant to . Because at the end of the day it’s not about the dinner, the presents and creating overwhelming stress for yourself…………….it’s about love, peace, and connecting with friends and family, be they near or far.

We are almost there!

Last day at work today and I am so ready for this break………………………it’s been the busiest pre-Christmas period ever. Working with small children, Christmas is off the scale exciting!! We’ve had a visit from the big man himself, the Christmas jumper day, the elf run, the nativity, the carol concert, the Christmas dinner, the Christmas parties, there’s glitter everywhere………………………………..and I’m now ready for a lie down in a darkened room!

But I love Christmas! Because it’s when I can don my fancy dress outfit, trim up at home, buy and give gifts (I love giving gifts) and get all creative…………………..and this year has been no exception on the creative front.

I had a lovely day in Leeds doing my Christmas shopping…………………………………….I love the arcades in Leeds city centre as they are from the Victorian era with fancy glass roofs and twinkly lights. I feel like I’m in a Charles Dickens novel wandering around.

So what creative things have I been up to? A bit of all sorts really…………….painting, crafting, making, baking and singing with my choir mainly. I tend to be more creative in Autumn and Winter when the nights are dark and cold, or the weather is bad on a weekend. When it’s nice and bright, in the other seasons, I like to be outside.

First of all I went on Part 2 of my linocut course a month ago……………this time to make a 2 colour jigsaw linocut. A jigsaw linocut is where you can create a multicolour print by carving your picture onto one single piece of lino, in one layer. You then cut the lino up into more than one piece, but the lino pieces need to slot together easily, like a jigsaw. But you ink up each piece separately in a different colour.

Once you’ve inked the block up, you then slide the pieces back together, and press the print onto the paper using either a special press or by simply burnishing it with the back of a wooden spoon. As it was the group’s first attempt at jigsaw, we had to think of quite a simple two colour idea that would slot together easily. I decided to do a Lapwing because they remind me of country walks on the moors of Yorkshire. We have so many of these at home, and Curlews. They are two of my favourite birds.

It turned out quite well and I was pleased with my effort.

It was a lovely morning with a great group of ladies………………………and I just love coming to Michelle’s gorgeous studio which looks out over her garden. It is so light and airy and she is so lucky to have a space like this to create in. Maybe it can be one of my retirement projects, to create myself my own little creative space.

I’ve also been to Harewood House in Leeds to weave a reindeer from French willow. This was instead of making a wreath this year. I really enjoyed the day with Laiyla from Dragon Willow, but goodness, it was quite difficult, and my hands hurt so much after 6 hours of weaving willow. I’d definitely do it again though, a very satisfying and lovely way to get all festive.

The mince pies are made! In fact they have been made and eaten a few times over!😆

The cake is decorated……………….this year’s design is entitled ‘Five Robins on a Log’. It is a household bake off challenge I set every year ……………………..but seeing as I was, yet again, the only one to enter…………..I won! 😂 “You’ve got to be in it to win it!”, I announced as I revealed the prize was a spa session for one! 🤭 It was an afternoon well spent as I love fiddling and crafting, making my little Robins………………..it was so relaxing.

The annual ladies treat day and Christmas lunch for Mum has been held. I took her to Norman’s Neighbourhood Kitchen in Kirkburton near where I live. Now this was a brave choice by me! Mum likes good simple Yorkshire food and is not too adventurous……………….I am adventurous and love to try things I’ve not eaten before. Norman’s is a relatively new restaurant, named after the owner’s dog. They’ve already found their way into the Michelin guide, recently been visited by Bruce Springsteen and are making waves on the local restaurant scene. So I thought I’d take Mum along for a treat because she’s just amazing and I love her to pieces!

They serve small plates for sharing but the combinations and flavours are really different like: Venison Ossobuco with Massaman sauce; Lamb rump served with salsa macha, smoked yoghurt, and lovage oil; and desserts like Brownie topped with a light mouse, dark chocolate glaze, caramel cremeaux, blackcurrant sauce, pretzel icecream and butter roasted pretzel crumb. It really is a foodie paradise. It’s quite expensive, and personally, I do like a good value pie and a pint at the local pub, but for a special occasion or treat I would definitely recommend it as it is pretty outstanding.

We had some lovely olives to nibble on while our food came.

Then we had Scallop crudo, nduja ponzo, avocado, Italian furikake and pine nuts……………….

I didn’t tell her where we were going beforehand and I didn’t let her see the menu as that would have just stressed her out as she wouldn’t know what to choose as she’d probably not have heard of half the things on the menu. I told her I’d order a few things I knew we’d both like and we’d share them. Well………………she loved it! I had to explain each dish to her and what was in it but she really enjoyed trying everything………………and so did I. I just randomly selected a few dishes that went well together, without over thinking it, as I like most things.

Making sure we got some of our five a day we had roasted Jerusalem artichokes, caramelised apple, sherry Bovril and hogweed seed. This was particularly nice.

And to go alongside the artichokes some lamb rump, salsa macha, lovage and smoked yoghurt! Wow! 😍

And of course, let’s not forget dessert!

I’m ready for a really big relax now though, because it’s all been a bit hectic. So this is a very short post just to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

I’m looking forward to cooking Christmas lunch, which I love doing as I like to feed people, and then I have 11 whole days off work after Christmas with nothing in my diary. The boys and everyone else are working straight after Christmas so it’s going to be a really nice relaxing period going with the flow and entertaining myself, I might even go away on a little trip to Europe, we’ll see………………it will be nice to just do something last minute and jet off with a little spontaneity.

I’ll be back in 2026 at some point. There will be no vague, over ambitious New Year resolutions……………………I’m more of a realistic, continuous self-improvement sort of girl. I like to have a focus and a purpose so I’m already working towards some pretty exciting academic linguistic goals for the first half of 2026 and one very exciting physical challenge. I will share the latter at some point but in the meantime I’m working very hard, but still finding plenty of time to relax.

There have been some lovely long early Sunday morning runs where I get up before everyone else, tie my hair back, no make up, no hair brush and set off from home……………it’s my weekly ‘steady ten run’ I call it. Ten miles, really steady, and back before breakfast…………….in fact everyone is normally still in bed when I get back!

I have no route plan, I just set off from home, across the fells or down to the reservoir. There’s something quite liberating about running with no destination. I run for 5 miles in one direction and then turn around and make my way back via a different route. It might be psychological but I don’t like coming back the same way! 😆 Odd, aren’t I!

Up with the sun and out of the house, just like I like it. I usually head down to the reservoir with its sculptures when running from home, because it’s so peaceful down there.

I always feel a bit bad about disturbing these birds as I bound along the wooden walkways.

I’ve now got a lovely new PT who has been drafted in short term to help focus my strength, conditioning and core work as running, running and just more running is not going to suffice for my little challenge………………I’ll be 55 when I do it and I’m going to have to be in tip top condition to pull it off, so there are a lot of weights, squats and lunges going on to give me the best chance possible, but it’s still a bit of a long shot! I’ve never had a PT before, the idea of paying someone to shout at me has never really appealed. 😆 And I’ve always thought it a little extravagant, I prefer to spend my monthly allowance I give myself, after I’ve paid my bills, and made my charitable donations, on experiences, travel and learning rather than material or cosmetic things and a PT would fall into the latter for me. Neither do I like gyms, I find them boring, I think it’s the repetition and being indoors that I don’t like. But it’s all good. For a short period of a few months I will persevere as there’s a noticeable improvement already in my strength and my running, I’ve got glutes like I never dreamt I’d have, I’ve grown two of my six pack (not sure where the other four are hiding, I’m still trying to unearth them 😂) and I’m feeling really fit and motivated!

So bring on 2026, I’m ready for you! Hope it’s a good one for anyone reading this, with lots of love, laughter and adventures. Live; love; laugh; be kind; embrace nature, people and the world around you; stay true to yourself; and the rest will just unfold as it’s meant to. See you on the other side in 2026!

This was an adventure! In fact I loved, loved, loved it, even with a little bit of rain and cold. 😍

You see, the thing is, I’m making plans, and I like to get on with things. My retirement will be here before I know it and it’s time to put some things in place. One of those plans was to buy a little place abroad and disappear into the sunset. However, there is a slight problem in that, for various reasons, I can’t decide where I want to be just yet. There are lots of places I could live but I’m not sure I can make my mind up right now.

I still have this long list of places in my head that I want to visit. There is a little bit of me that knows that the itch to travel will not go away, because I’m too inquisitive and have such a thirst for knowledge and discovery of different cultures and countries…………….they fascinate me. I still want to be able to go to all those places.

My Plan B was to have a campervan until I’m ready to hang my hat in one place…………………………… so that’s the route I’ve decided to go down for now. That brings its own dilemmas like what make of van, what size of van, what do I want the inside like, do I want a full bathroom, what seating layout, what kind of bed, how much storage, what fuel, what gearbox…………………the list is endless.

Now this is where Margot comes in! “Who is Margot?” I hear you say. Well……………………….Margot is a 4 year old Citroen Relay converted panel van I hired from a lovely couple in Manchester who were brave enough to allow myself (aka Dora the Explorer) to go on a road trip in their van. And oh boy…………………what fun I had. And I’m going to tell you all about it……………….where I went in Margot, what she was like and what I did and didn’t like about her.

You see, these things cost quite a bit of money…………………..and I don’t want to make a huge costly mistake. So I thought “Hire a van and see if you like it!”. I wasn’t even sure I could sleep in the middle of nowhere in a van and feel safe. When the boys were little I took them on many camping adventures, but with two adventurous boys, just two years between them in age, by the time it got to the end of the day I could have dropped to sleep stood up. But at 54, sleep does not come as easy as it did then.

I thought that if I hired Margot, as well as seeing if I liked van life, it would also give me an idea as to the right size of van for me and what I wanted it to have in it, because I’m only doing this once, so I want it to be just right.

So where did I go in her…………………………………..I went to Yorkshire of course! It’s a bit like when you are little and you and your mates want to try camping in a tent for the first time so you camp in the back of someone’s garden or the field next door to home! 😆 I thought, “I’ll just go to Yorkshire, and then if I really don’t like it I can pull up on the driveway and get in my own bed at home.” 🤣

But it did not come to that………………….I loved it.

So what was she like? She was like a cosy little cottage on wheels. The thing is, I don’t want anything fancy, I’m not that materialistic ……… and I am trying to simplify my life and declutter, but I want everything that I need. When I go off I want to go off for quite a while…………….sometimes weeks, maybe a month or two. Sometimes in the UK, sometimes further afield in Europe. So I soon realised that my original plan of having a VW Campervan was not going to work. As much as I love them it would be too small for long term off-grid adventures.

For a start, I want to be able to stand up and walk around in it without having to pop a roof up. I also don’t want to have to assemble my bed every night for weeks on end, or have to fold my bed away when I want to get to the kitchenette. I’d like a fixed bed with a proper sprung mattress that I can just collapse into at the end of the day’s adventures…………………….one that stays in place all the time. I’d also like a full kitchen with a hob, oven and fridge/freezer because I like to cook and experiment with local food from markets etc.

However I don’t want a really expensive motorhome with a sterile interior like the inside of a caravan and loads of gadgets I’m not going to use. That wouldn’t be homely enough, and it would be far too big. I want something small enough to not restrict where I go, that I can park in a city and drive around in as if it were a normal vehicle. I don’t want something the size of a lorry, I would not have the confidence to drive it and it would not be cosy enough.

I picked Margot up quite late in the day so I headed straight over to the city of York where I had an art course the following day. I used the ‘Park4Night’ app to find a village on the outskirts of the city, out in the countryside, with a pub within walking distance. I can recommend this app, it was really good and I used it on all 3 nights. People with campers highlight on a map, and rate places they have found to park their vans, and this is all displayed in the app. There are proper campsites, places in the middle of nowhere, places with views, and everything inbetween……………..no matter what sort of place you want it will be on there. I didn’t want a busy campsite, it’s not my thing. I wanted a park up in the countryside, with a nice view, but ideally within walking distance of a pub with a roaring log fire! I don’t want much do I! 🤣

So, to cut a long story short, I found a patch of land just outside the lovely little village of Nether Poppleton and pulled the van up. It said on the app that there was room for 3 vans, but there was only Margot there! There was a tinkling stream nearby, a lovely little view out of the van, and the Lord Nelson pub with a very welcoming set of locals, a good hand pulled beer selection, roaring log fire and a delicious tapas menu. That was me sorted for the night. I had a lovely dinner, half a Black Sheep beer, got all warm and toasty in front of the pub fire , wandered back to the van, made myself a cuppa (Yorkshire tea of course) and read my book for a while.

Let me give you a little look at the sleeping arrangements. Margot has a full sized fixed double bed at the back with a proper sprung mattress ………………….. perfect………………………..I slept like a log and did not wake up once in the night.

I wasn’t too cold either. Now don’t get me wrong there was no silk and lace negligee ………………. I had a full pair of satin PJ’s on, my fluffy socks and my sheepskin slippers! There’s nothing passionate about camping in a van, in Yorkshire, in October! 😆 The priority is to keep warm. However, Margot does have a 12V heater on board which works really well and keeps the van very warm as she is all wood clad and insulated.

I woke to a cold and wet morning the next morning but the sun was at least shining. Breakfast was served………………..bran flakes, a chopped banana and a cup of tea, as I was pushed for time, as I needed to be at my art course early (which I’ll tell you about another time).

This is when I discovered my first possible improvement to Margot. Toilet and shower facilities. First of all, toilet……………………….she only has a porta potty. It’s like a little commode that you pull out of a drawer, lift up, and sit on in the middle of the van………………….so you have to like an audience and be pretty familiar with who you are travelling with. It’s a little bit like going to the toilet outside. Whilst I had no issues having a wee I just would not be able to bring myself to do anything else on a porta potty even though it had a chemical cassette, it must be the Princess in me. 🤭 However, McDonalds to the rescue. You are never too far from a 24 hour McDonalds these days and they do have their uses occasionally ……………………………I pulled up, bought a coffee and used their freshly cleaned toilet facilities.

Fast forward to later that day. Art course completed and I decided to be brave and go to North Yorkshire, a little more remote, and have a couple of nights in beautiful Wharfedale and Wensleydale in two of my favourite Yorkshire villages. I’d spotted on the app a lovely parking lot in the beautiful village of Kettlewell. It was an area of land at the side of the River Wharfe behind a farm. They had a little honesty box – £2 per night per van – a bargain, plus £3 to leave it there all the next day which I wanted to, because I wanted to go off exploring on foot. There was room for around 10 vans and there were around 5 already there when I got there.

Now you’ll soon realise that this is quickly turning into a gastronomic tour of Yorkshire. Although Margot does have a cooker, and I plan to use the cooker in my van, I only used the kettle in Margot. There is such fine food in Yorkshire that it’s a shame not to try it…………….. and there is nothing I like more than a cosy Yorkshire pub on a damp dark evening.

I got out of the van and was quite glad I had neighbours. It was Halloween night and I emerged to an eerie moon shining through the trees and two lit pumpkins staring at me. The couple in the van opposite were in their van and watching TV and gave me a wave so I felt a little reassured. I have to be honest, I’ve always been a little bit scared of the dark.

I wandered into the pretty village and found both the Blue Bell Inn and and the Racehorses Hotel open. I opted for the Blue Bell as it looked a little more lively, had a roaring log fire, extensive menu and a lovely Wharfedale Brewery dark ale on tap.

What did I opt for. Whitby Scampi, side salad, fries and home made tartare sauce. It was delicious. I left with a rosy glow after half a beer, a plate full of Scampi and an hour in front of the fire.

Another thing to bear in mind though is that life in a campervan may not be for you if you like to have your fancy clothes on and makeup all of the time. You will notice on all of the photos I look a little au naturel. Life in a van is about going back to basics and enjoying the simple things in life. I went for four whole days without a shower, hair wash or my make up……………………..I look gradually more unkempt as the trip progresses. 😂 I can testify though that thanks to a pack of Pampers baby wipes I did smell quite good throughout the trip as there are alternative ways of freshening up without a shower and I don’t do dirty. However, this lifestyle can be a little bit of a problem for me as I am 50% Princess…………….I like my dresses and makeup……………………….although I’m equally happy without.

My van will have to have a shower and a proper toilet in it because I run, hike and get dirty. I cannot go on the road for weeks without these, and I realised that after just 4 days and 3 nights in Margot. But that was the whole point of the hire………….to see what I liked and what I didn’t. I will also take a little bit of makeup and some nice clothes when I go off in my van because whilst I love the spontaneity and freedom of being in the van and going to places that you can’t go and stay in without a van, I do know that every so often the Princess in me will need a treat night or two. I don’t think I’d spend more than a couple of weeks in it before I parked it up and spent a night or two in a hotel or bed and breakfast…………………..but that’s the beauty of it………………….you can do what you want, when you want. This confirmed for me that Margot was about the right size, as from the outside she’s just like a normal panel van. I would not be comfortable parking up and leaving a luxurious huge motorhome. I’m wanting something a little smaller and more rustic and homely.

I’ve just realised I’ve not shown you what she’s like on the inside other than the bed. She’s basically like a little house, very rustic and Scandinavian in style, all wooden cladded and insulated. At the opposite side from the bed is the living area and kitchen. There are two comfy padded seats each side of a pull out table and a fully tiled kitchen complete with gas hob, sink, lighting, lots of cupboards and storage, and cosy curtains to keep it all private at night. There’s plenty of room to stand up and walk around and go about your normal business. She also has a big, pull out awning on the side in case you are somewhere hot and sunny……………………no need for that on a Yorkshire October day though! 😆

There’s also lots of storage under the bed at the back for camping stuff, suitcases, walking gear and it goes back a long way so you could even get bikes under there too.

I had another lovely night’s sleep next to the river and woke up to another damp day. However, the forecast was good so I decided to go with my original plan to leave the van and go exploring one of my favourite Yorkshire Dales, Wharfedale, on foot. I had planned a circular walk from Kettlewell, where the van was parked, over the fields alongside the river to the small village of Starbotton, and then back along the top of the valley to Kettlewell. So time to share some photos now and you’ll see why it’s one of my favourite places, even on a rather dull day.

The path meanders alongside the river.

It goes along little farm tracks and between buildings.

I love walking in Yorkshire on days like this, because the skies are fantastic. It can’t decide whether to be sunny or rainy so you get fast moving clouds floating across the sky.

And every now and then the sunshine pokes its way through.

In this part of Yorkshire there are endless rolling green hills, livestock, miles and miles of dry stone walls and huge skies.

I love being out here whatever the weather.

I particularly like Autumn as there are so many colours. The green of the grass, blue of the sky, and the multitude of different shades of brown, gold and orange of the turning leaves. The sun shining through the clouds projects movement onto the fields as they float by, and the skeletons of the bare trees stand stark still in the fields waiting for the warmer weather.

By the time I got to the Fox and Hounds pub in Starbotton I was quite cold. As if by magic I got there 5 minutes after it had opened and the fire was already ablaze. I got myself settled in front of it to peruse the lunch menu…………..I was a little hungry. The menu is extensive. You can have a full dinner or a sandwich. But guess what I saw on the menu…………………. Fish and Chip Sandwich! Now you can’t get much more Yorkshire than that! It was amazing. It was a piece of lovely battered North Sea Cod, served in a brioche bun with a side of home made chunky chips. It did have a little side salad if anyone is worried about my 5 a day. 😆 With a pot of Yorkshire Tea, some salt and vinegar for my chips and a dollop of tartare sauce for my fish it was a sandwich to die for! Ten out of ten for the Fox and Hounds, Fish and Chip sandwich.

I then proceeded to wander back across to the other side of the river and the big climb up to the top of the valley side. I’d decided to take the high path back to Kettlewell, to take advantage of the sweeping views down into Wharfedale.

The views were lovely, all the way along the valley to Kettlewell.

When I returned I found the ‘&then Tasting Deli and Cafe’ open. I popped in for one of their delicious ‘Fat Rascals’ and a coffee, which prompted me to dig my recipe out and make some once I got home, which I did and shared with you in my last post.

Then I discovered something quite amazing which solved my dilemma as to what to do for dinner, as I only needed a snack after my huge Fish & Chip sandwich. Parked in the entrance to the parking lot behind the farm was this………………….

Yes, ‘The Heritage Meat Hut’. Basically they are a family run farm specialising in native British breeds of cow, sheep and pig and their aim is to produce the highest quality meat products. As an offshoot they have the ‘Heritage Meat Hut’ which is pulled all around North Yorkshire by a cute, vintage, yellow Massey Ferguson tractor. So there is was………………a truck full of meats, pies, sausage rolls and joints of meat.

So what did I choose…………………………………well it had to be a Pork Pie didn’t it! Another British staple. You can get Pork Pies all over the UK and I know I’m biased but the Yorkshire Pork Pies are the best. 😆 A pork pie is a British pie. It is chopped pork and pork fat, this is then surrounded by jellied pork stock and is then encased in hot water crust pastry. They are usually served cold at room temperature. In Yorkshire we also like to eat them hot with mushy peas and gravy. I was just having mine at room temperature with a cup of tea. But this wasn’t any old Pork Pie………………..this was a special one…………………..it was topped with caramelised red onion chutney and wensleydale cheese. 😍

Oh wow it was good. But I wasn’t too greedy. I only had half………………..saving the other half for the day after……………….and having an apple for dessert just to balance things out.

It was time to move on for my final night in Margot. I decided to go to my other favourite Yorkshire Dale, Wensleydale. I found a spot on the app which it said was really quiet. I drove off and parked her up in a layby next to a nature reserve just as the sun started to set. However, I was miles from the nearest village, it had got dark really quickly, there was no-one around and it was only 5pm. I started to get a little bit scared! I don’t know why, but it just didn’t feel right………………. I felt vulnerable……………………..but that’s the beauty of having a home on wheels…………………………I just put the keys in the ignition and moved on. I needed the outskirts of a village where I was on my own, but not, if you know what I mean.

So I pulled up in a layby just outside the beautiful little village of Hawdraw. It was dark and quiet but at least I was in sight of the village and a short walk from a warm pub……………….this time the Green Dragon Inn……………………another pub with a roaring log fire, good selection of beer and extensive menu. I didn’t eat there, but the food did look really good. If you like waterfalls, one of the most famous waterfalls in Yorkshire, Hawdraw Force, is at the back of the pub. It is England’s largest single drop waterfall.

I had another lovely sleep in the van and woke to such a nice surprise. It was dark when I’d parked up so I hadn’t really seen the views. I woke to a sunny morning, blue sky and a lovely view down the road from the back of the van.

Through the side door of the van were rolling hills and the farmer was herding and feeding his sheep. He gave me a big wave as I opened up the van to let in the morning sunlight. In the other direction was the village.

My little adventure in Margot was coming to an end as I had to take her back later that day. I had become quite attached to her. I just had time to call in the pretty market towns of Hawes and Aysgarth on the way to drop her back off in Manchester.

Hawes is a lovely village. It is famous for being the home of Wensleydale cheese, a white crumbly cheese from Yorkshire, which in my opinion is the only cheese to serve with Christmas or fruit cake. You can actually visit the dairy and learn all about its production and see it in action. The village is a mecca for hikers and outdoor enthusiasts. It has the river Ure flowing through it ……………. and I mean literally through it, in waterfalls, right next to the houses! Following a night of heavy rain it is quite spectacular to see the river crashing through the village.

We get lots of rain in Yorkshire so it’s no surprise that we have lots of amazing waterfalls. Some of the most amazing are in the nearby village of Aysgarth. Aysgarth Falls are quite spectacular after heavy rain and today was no exception. They are three, stepped waterfalls, one after the other, on the River Ure. The photos really don’t do it justice because for me, half the beauty of a waterfall is in the sound which I can’t encapsulate here.

It was time to head back to take Margot home after what was a thoroughly enjoyable adventure. I returned her via Ribblehead viaduct, another little Yorkshire wonder with it’s 24 arches spanning 400 meters.

Just one final surprise in store to round off the weekend…………………………………..a double rainbow!

So did I like van life? A resounding “Yes!” It’s definitely for me. Not full time because I like my little treats from time to time, and I also like to relax at home in the cosy spaces I’ve created in my house. But there is something special about being able to go where you want, when you want and having that freedom and flexibility. You can travel at exactly your pace, moving on when you’ve had enough of somewhere and staying longer when you find a special place. There is something special too about simplified living……………………you have everything you need, and nothing you don’t, which just leads to a calmer less cluttered space and mind, a slower pace of life and lots of time for reflection. There’s also the option to go off-grid and find that solitude and really get away from the chaotic world we live in.

I can see from spending time in Margot though how important it is to get your van just right for you. There are things that Margot had that I can do without, but there are also things that Margot didn’t have which I definitely can’t do without, so my advice to anyone thinking of going down this road is hire first! It’s an excellent way to come up with your ideal van design.

So my planning has been keeping me busy. I’ve wheedled 15 van convertors down to a shortlist of around 5 who I am in regular contact with as I try and cut the list down to the final 2 to take it through to the design stage and start talking detail. It’s going to be a panel van conversion in a very rustic and simple Scandinavian style, featuring lots of oak or ash, natural materials and some lovely textiles and fabrics. The only downside is that the best convertors obviously book quite a way ahead. But I’m in no desperate rush. I’m a bit of a perfectionist and I’d rather wait for the right outcome than rush and not end up with what I want. So realistically I’m thinking that I might not have a van until 2027…………………………………..plenty of time for me to think of a name for it, choose my fabrics and plan some routes! So watch this space…………………….I’ll give you some updates on the process in due course……………………………….I’m quite looking forward to going ‘On Tour’! 😆

I’m back! I’ve had a fun filled, chilled but busy few weeks so not had much time to blog. But here goes, I’ll try to do better!

I eventually got to see my big boy for his birthday (almost 2 weeks after the event!)……………………….we did try to get a photo together without him pulling a face but as per usual we did not quite manage it, so I’ll have to keep my very old one on my desk at work from when he used to smile for me on demand!

There have been trips to the theatre, wine drinking on a school night with colleague friends and weekend brunches with my best friends from school.

I’ve been on an amazing short adventure in the UK in a Campervan……………….more on that to follow as it was very fun filled and deserves its own post!😆 I’ve been on Part 2 of my linocut printmaking course learning how to do a two colour jigsaw linocut which I had huge amounts of fun on. And have been on a short half term trip to Andalucía.

This last weekend has involved a nice lazy Sunday making ‘Fat Yorkshire Rascals’ ………………..this is not a term of self reference, although whilst not fat, I am from Yorkshire and some may say a bit of a rascal.😆 A ‘Fat Yorkshire Rascal’ is a cake. They are a cake served by Betty’s tea shop in York, but I have a recipe. They are plump fruity scones with cherry eyes and almond teeth. They are perfect with a cup of Yorkshire tea.

It was an early start on Sunday because being back ‘on it’, training for an event next May, the plan said it was a ‘time on feet’ 10 mile steady run. So I was up with the larks and ran from home, all the way to the reservoir and nature reserve, all the way back………………. and that equates to just over 10 miles from my doorstep. But afterwards I was very hungry and needed a treat, so I thought, “I know what I’ll do……………………I’ll bake ‘Yorkshire Rascals’, have a lazy afternoon with a rascal, a cuppa, a book and write a bit of blog.” So here they are…………………’Yorkshire Rascals’ and a blog post……………….and the recipe in this link in case you want to make any at home.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/fat-rascals

I’m going to share the trip to Anadalucia with you today because it was lovely! I did say that I might not survive the half term without booking a flight, because you only live once and I needed a rest………………….so it should come as no surprise to anyone that the minute school closed for half term I was off on a little mini break. I wanted to practice my Spanish and wanted a little bit of warm so I headed off back to South West Spain……………Andalucia………….to see if I could find a tiny bit of sunshine!

I’d been to Ronda last Christmas and really enjoyed it in the winter so I thought I’d make a return visit to the area. I like to explore new places though, so having already been to the large cities of Granada, Seville and Cordoba I thought I’d head right into the western most corner to Cadiz and the Costa de la Luz.

I wanted to visit Cadiz but wanted a little bit of peace and quiet as I needed to chill out and relax so I stayed in the Pueblo Blanco (white village) of Vejer de la Frontera, perched on top of a hill in Cadiz province. It is a small town whose income depends on tourism, agriculture (particularly fruit and citrus farming) and is also the place where a large number of the fighting bulls are bred.

I stayed in the lovely Casa Shelly in the old town of Vejer de la Frontera, situated on Calle Eduardo Shelly. Apparently Eduardo was a very wealthy man, a liberal politician who had a reputation as a ‘friend to the poor’ because he was a very generous man to the people of Vejer. He was so well liked that they named a street after him and the guesthouse name is a nod to him too.

The guest house is an old, traditional, whitewashed Andalucian house tucked away on a quiet cobbled street. It offers board on a room only basis and has just 7 rooms. Although it does not offer meals, it has a fully functioning kitchen to use, in addition to complementary coffee, tea, cookies and cakes available 24 hours a day. The house is in traditional style with the rooms being located on two floors, around a plant filled central courtyard, which now has a glass roof on it to protect you from the elements. The comfy sofa’s and reading areas can be utilised at all times.

There is also another sitting room and an outside communal courtyard which you are free to use. The guesthouse is run by the lovely Chris and his partner Javier who take great care of you and are available with excellent recommendations.

The decor is beautiful……………..all traditional muted colours with pops of brighter colour in the soft furnishings and artworks. There are plants in beautiful pots scattered around the property………………..and I love a plant.

I fell in love with my room as soon as I walked in it. 😍😍

Of the seven rooms they have two on the upper floor which have private outside sitting areas which overlook the rooftops of Vejer. I’d chosen the smallest of these two rooms as my plan was to relax and read a lot so I thought it would be nice to have my own small sitting out area in case the sun came out. It was lovely! A sheltered little haven, full of plants, which caught the sun all day. There were comfy chairs, shade if you wanted it, and it was positioned looking out towards the church whose bells chimed all day, another sound I love! However, worry not, they don’t chime between 12 midnight and 8am. Between these hours the place is absolutely silent and the beds so comfy. I had the most amazing nights sleep, catching up on my lack of sleep, with a good 10 hours each night.

Vejer de la Frontera itself is a gorgeous little town, voted as one of Spain’s most beautiful villages numerous times. It is a walled town, one of the best preserved in Andalucía with a large part of the wall, four gates, and the castle, still intact. It has both an old town, where I was situated, and a new town which is also quite pretty. Both the old town and the new town are white towns and are low rise. Both are situated at the top of the same hill, with one just merging into the other at the perimeter of the old town wall.

The streets in the old town are cobbled and are all quite steep, it is a very hilly place and would not be ideal for the less mobile. There is colour absolutely everywhere……………from the bright pink bougainvillea, to the art and craft shop displays, the lovely boutiques and clothes stores…….all spilling out onto the streets.

In the morning and evening it buzzes with activity as it has become quite well known on the gastronomic map and it has some excellent eateries and cafes of all food types and price ranges.

I arrived quite late so after settling into my room I just needed to eat and then rest my weary legs. I ate at a restaurant called ‘4 Estaciones’ in the old town. It is considered one of the best restaurants in Vejer but it is very unpretentious and the prices are very reasonable. It is decorated like the front room of an Andalucian house, it’s very relaxed. Its menu, whilst adventurous and including worldwide dishes, focusses on using local ingredients such as Almadraba tuna, Retinta beef and fish from the nearby salt marshes. I had a Pad Thai noodle dish with local vegetables and Almadraba tuna tataki. Almadraba tuna is local to the area. Almadraba is an elaborate and ancient technique used off the Straights of Gibraltar in Andalucía for trapping and catching Atlantic bluefin tuna. They are caught using a complex maze of nets. This bluefin tuna is highly prized and and it is a multi million pound business in the area. It was served lightly seared on the outside and raw in the middle, sliced into bite sized red squares of the most tasty tuna. It was delicious. I had it with a nice glass of white wine. I just had room for a little dessert of baked apple on a butter biscuit base, topped with salted caramel ice cream! YUUUMMMM………….it was good!

My first full day was spent wandering and getting lost in the maze of winding streets in the old town. Chris had recommended a small café called Caminito for breakfast. I would recommend it too. Fresh orange juice, delicious coffee and a bowl of yoghurt, fruit and granola (just to prove that I can do healthy breakfast! 😆).

Until 1248 Vejer was under Moorish rule, the period when the Muslim North Africans and Arabs ruled parts of the Iberian peninsula. This is apparent in it’s architecture, particularly in the shape of the archways around town, in the walls, and around the Castle area. Vejer was on the frontier of this battle between the Moors and Christians, hence it’s name ending in ‘de la Frontera’, like a number of other towns in this area. Being on the frontier it has a mighty fine castle built to defend the town.

I was lucky as the castle is not often open, but on this particular day the local Scout Group were offering tours on a donativo basis to raise funds for their group and to practice their English. I was only too happy to have a tour which was really interesting and well delivered………………and I made a point of telling our particular Scout how much I had enjoyed it, as it must be quite nerve wrecking at 15 years of age delivering a tour to a group of strangers in your non native language. It’s definitely worth a visit if it’s open, especially for the views over the rooftops.

Wandering around you will eventually come to the main square, the Plaza de España. It is so colourful and shiny! The highly polished stone gleams in the sunshine and the square is surrounded by tall palm trees. There is stone seating all around the square and in the middle is the most elaborate and colourful fountain complete with frogs, lanterns, and Andalusian tiles of every colour. It is so pretty.

The square is surrounded by cafes and retaurants and is the central hub of town. It’s a good place to just sit and people watch.

There are other smaller squares too, one in front of the church on top of the hill. As is usual in Spain, there was a festival that weekend and Jesus was being paraded around the church square accompanied by lots of fanfare and celebration.

There are lots of lovely view points around town too. The views across to the new town from walls of the the Jewish Quarter are lovely.

It’s the sort of place where surprise views keep appearing through the archways of the small alleyways so you need to have a really good explore.

I was getting a little hungry so I paid a visit to ‘Singular Coffee’, another one of Chris’s recommendations for another lovely coffee and avocado on toast ……………. see, I’ve been healthy twice in one day! 😂

Time now to wander through the bougainvillea lined streets and visit some statues. The first one, just below the castle is an homage to the women of Vejer and is entitled ‘La Cobijada’. The ‘Cobijada’ is actually the name for the traditional black robe worn by the ladies of the town, and other towns in the Cadiz province, many years ago. The cloak was black with only one eye showing. It looks very similar to the Muslim burqa but is actually Castilian in origin. Either way I bet it was stifling hot under there in the heat of summer.

On the same side of town under the city walls you will find the statue of Juan Relinque who is a bit of a local hero. He was a local farmer who campaigned against the Duke of Medina Sidonia who started to tax the local farmers. Juan was locked up and died in jail but eventually the court in Granada ruled in favour of the people of Vejer and Juan Relinque became an overnight hero.

The other notable statue in town is on the roundabout into the old town and is a celebration of the town’s agricultural heritage.

Then it was back to the guest house for an hour of reading on my little patio before my little appointment I had made. The reading did not go awfully well. I forgot to mention I had had a little Aperol Spritz too. I sat down, opened my book, listened to the birds tweeting, the water feature tinkling and just thought I’d shut my eyes for a second, and that was that, until I woke one hour later with my phone alarm buzzing on the table to tell me it was time to go for my appointment. I had set my alarm half suspecting that might happen. This however, does bring me onto the subject of books………………………I have an amazing book recommendation.

‘When the Cranes Fly South’ by Lisa Ridzen was my book of the holiday and it is without a doubt the most moving book I have read in a long time. It has won many awards and has won this year’s Swedish book of the year. I would encourage everyone of midlife crisis age, or with elderly parents, to read it. It is a beautiful book, wonderfully written, but I challenge anyone to read it without crying! I don’t want to put anyone off reading it by telling you it addresses dementia, aging and coming to the end of one’s life. But it’s not sad! It’s a beautiful read, quite uplifting, even funny in places. The story is written through the eye’s of Bo, an old man, living alone at the end of his life. It looks at his memories of his life, love, relationships with family and addresses his desire to maintain his independence right to the very end. It was so very very moving and I can see elements of Bo in my own parents and I would even go as far as saying it has altered how I may respond to them in certain instances. I can get quite exasperated when Dad pulls out his computer or his mobile phone and I have to sort out another technical minefield that he’s got himself into after pressing the button that, “I never touched a thing, it’s done it all by itself 😂”. Yesterday I did not lose my patience, I thought of Bo and realised that this is my parents trying to keep their independence, to move with the times, to make their own online doctors appointment, book their own online holiday……………………..they are not ready to give in, let go and have me sort it for them. So rather than get exasperated, we went through the instructions AGAIN (😆), sorted out the little mess he’d got into and he’s all happy now!

Anyway, back to the holiday and my appointment. Remember…………….. this is a rest and chill holiday and next to Casa Shelly is the Hammam de Vejer. I had booked an hour in the thermal pools and spa, and a 45 minute full body destress massage focussing on my back, neck and shoulders. It was gorgeous! It’s only a small place, there were only six of us in the spa. It has a tepid pool, very warm pool, freezing cold plunge pool, salt bath, sauna, and a lovely relaxation area with complementary herbal and Moroccan tea. The massage was really good too and I felt like a was floating when I re-emerged two hours later.

Another little snooze and then out for dinner, this time to ‘El Jardin del Califa’. This is a Moroccan restaurant right in the centre of Vejer on the Plaza de Espana. It is part of the Califa Group. The Califa group own a number of hotels in Vejer, along with this restaurant, a cocktail bar and the hammam. The gentleman at the head of this group is a Scottish man who came to Vejer a number of years ago and never left. He’s built up a pretty impressive portfolio which has at its heart its people, and a big focus on the environment and sustainability. The hotels look beautiful and even though I only sampled the restaurant, hammam and cocktail bar, the focus on quality, sustainability and people were evident………………..they were all lovely spaces, with happy people, to which I would return.

The food was delicious, some stuffed vine leaves followed by a Morocan lamb tagine.

Rather than dessert I was in the mood for star gazing and a little nightcap so I wandered through the lit streets to the Califa owned cocktail bar next door. They have a rooftop terrace which looks over the rooftops of Vejer.

A lovely place to sit on a warm evening and they serve a very nice Negroni!

This was followed by a walk up what seemed like endless sets of white steps (well it is a hill top town), with a small rest half way as I’d eaten and drunk too much to do it without a stop. Back to my comfy bed for the next day’s adventure………………………a day trip to Cadiz!

Oh Cadiz………………………..I liked it here lots! 🥰 It was only a 45 minute drive from Vejer and oh what a beautiful city.

Cadiz is a big port city. A lot of cruise ships stop here. It’s joined onto the mainland but sits on sort of a peninsular joined onto the mainland by a narrow strip of land. I parked right on the far end of the peninsular next to La Caleta beach, as I knew that’s where I wanted to be at the end of the day.

The first thing I noticed on the beach was the ‘Balneario de nostra Signora de la Palma y del Real’. This is an Art Deco style bathing house sat on the beach, opened in 1926. It now houses the Centre for Underwater Archaeology, but it’s a really interesting building architecturally.

First things first………………………breakfast! A pastry while I devise my plan of attack for the day!

I started with a walk along the lovely Puente Hierro bridge to the Castillo de San Sebastian.

This is a must do. It’s a lovely walk on what was a blustery but sunny day. It offers great views back to the city and La Caleta beach and is just really nice. Even better is the fact that it is completely free of charge. It’s an old defence fortress and although the castle is closed, as it is structurally unsafe and has been for a number of years with no plans to reopen, it’s a lovely walk.

Then it was a wander through the beautiful streets of Cadiz to find the Torre Tavira.

I did get distracted part way there by by ‘Los Huesos de Santo’ shop. These are little marzipan sweets, traditional to Cadiz, eaten on Saints days and coming in various flavours. Given that it seems to me that in Spain there is a Saints day nearly every week it’s fair to say these are available all year round.

I thought it would be rude not to try one of each flavour!😆 After all I had to fuel my steps up the tower. They are a little too sweet for me but managed to eat them!

I arrived at the tower, which in the 18th century was the official watchtower of the Port of Cadiz. It is on the highest point in the old town and contains a very impressive Camera Obscura allowing a 360 degree, live, look at the city of Cadiz.

It’s definitely worth having the guided tour of the Camera Obscura………….it was really informative.

The tower is named after the fist watchman, Lieutenant Mr. Antonio Tavira who warned of the maritime movements through a system of signs with flags.

You can then wander around without your guide onto the roof where you can overcome any fear of heights and get some amazing views over the city!

Next stop…………………lunch. I wanted a quick lunch as I only had a day to see what I wanted to see and I needed to be done for sunset, which is quite early in October. Cadiz has a lovely market, like a lot of Spanish towns and cities, where you can buy food, drink and sit, eat and socialise.

I wandered around the colourful food stores and settled on some Retinta beef tacos and a beer.

Next stop was the Cathedral, via the port and the main square, where there is a pretty impressive statue to remind you you have arrived in Cadiz.

There are also lots of pretty parakeets flying around the trees here in Cadiz.

The cathedral is nice but I felt it looked better from the outside than the inside. If you have visited other Cathedrals in Spain like Burgos, Segovia, Leon, Santiago, to name but a few, you might be left feeling a little disappointed. It has some nice pieces but it’s a bit short on the gold bling.

It’s quite plain, white and austere inside compared to those I’ve mentioned above. The ticket does include an entrance to climb up the tower but you won’t get as good a view as from the top of the Torre Tavira. But the bells are pretty impressive if they ding when you are up there!

My day was coming to an end when I suddenly realised I’d been in Spain for three days and not had an ice-cream. “Time to put that right”, I thought, with a visit to Narigoni, who I can confirm make the most delicious gelato. Note that I say gelato. When I say ice-cream I always mean gelato. However they are officially not the same and I will confess I am an ice cream snob…………..I prefer to eat only gelato! How can you tell the difference you say? It’s easy. If it is piled high in mounds and swirled around it’s ice cream. Ice cream has a much higher fat content and more air and is kept really cold, hence it will stand in a pile above the rim of the container. Gelato has a much lower fat content as it is made with more milk and just a little cream. It is denser and contains less air and is not stored as cold. For these reasons it will not stand in a pile. So I spend my time peering in ice-cream shops looking for naturally coloured and flavoured gelato that does not rise above the level of the tray it is stored in. If the pistachio ice-cream is bright green it’s a “no” from me, it should be a beige colour with a very slight green tinge.

I can confirm that Narigoni serve the finest gelato in some lovely flavours. This is pistacchio (one of my favourites) with a scoop of cheese (a local Anadalisian cheese), fig, honey and walnut gelato. The latter may not sound that great but I’m a bit adventurous when it come to food and believe me when I say cheese,fig, honey and walnut gelato is the way to go!

And where should you sit and eat your gelato? Why, watching the sun set of course! And you’ll not get a better autumnal sunset than that facing west from Cadiz, across the boats of La Caleta beach with the castle in the background. It was quite spectacular. This is a ‘do not miss’ activity and must be accompanied by either gelato or a beer.

The following day was my fourth and final full day in Vejer de la Frontera. I wanted to visit the local beach, the tuna fishing town of Barbate and fit a little run in around the local salt marshes and bird reserve if at all possible. I start to get a little agitated after a few days without focused excercise, I have energy which I need to expend. Exercise is like my drug so I’m quite thankful, as there are far worse things to be addicted to!

So, onto the subject of beaches………………………..oh WOW! For some reason I wasn’t expecting much, I don’t know why.

Vejer’s beach is 10km away from the town and is called El Palmar de Vejer and if you like long stretches of fine golden sand, completely unspoilt by urbanisation then you’ll love it. It is beautiful, and stretches for miles and miles. It was quiet in October and lovely for a walk, but in summer it will get a lot busier, because on the road set back from the beach there are lots of surf schools as it is an Atlantic beach, and is well known for its wave quality.

There were lots of surfers on this day but the beach is so huge I can’t imagine it ever feels too busy.

There are little fortresses and towers along the beach, some lovely boardwalk walks, and lots of places to choose from to have a coffee and watch the huge skies and fluffy clouds floating past.

A short journey down the coast brings you to Barbate. There’s not much here other than a port where they land the tuna but it’s nice to have a little look around the port and learn a little bit about tuna fishing.

Barbate is around 8 miles from Vejer and is separated by the ‘Parc Natural La Brena y Marismas del Barbate’. This is a natural park of salt marshes and a bird haven and it stetches for miles, all the way from Barbate to Vejer. I’d taken my running things so I decided I was going to run back to Vejer. It was lovely trotting through the marshes on my own, on the well maintained paths, spotting the wildlife, the wind blowing through my hair and was generally a really lovely run until the last mile and a half.

Yes! I’d seemingly overlooked the fact that Vejer is a hilltop town. I’d also underestimated how steep that hill was. It’s all in the elevation profile in the stats! Seeing a lone woman attempt to run up it in the late afternoon must be something of a novelty and rare phenomenon in these parts. I would like to thank every local that drove past me and wound down their window to shout either “Vamos!” or “Fuerza!” – there were many of them.😆 It helped enormously and I did eventually get to the top. I was very red in the face and needed a full bottle of water, a lie down on the cool marble of a bench in the square and a Vermut, in that order!

So my lovely little break had come to an end. Just time for one last meal at ‘4 Estaciones’ for some wok seared local Retinta beef sirloin strips in sesame oil with noodles and vegetables. This was delicious.

Would I recommend this little corner of Andalucia and Cadiz……………………………………..a resounding YES! I liked it lots. The food, the culture, the people, the climate, the history. There was nothing not to like……………………….except perhaps the run up the hill!

I have some little words of wisdom for you as always . Today’s words of wisdom are often wrongly attributed to Virginia Woolf. They are not hers and I’ve no idea whose they are but they are one of my little mantras (I have many as you can probably imagine):

“Whatever happens, stay alive. Don’t die before you are dead. Don’t lose yourself, don’t lose hope, don’t lose direction. Stay alive, with yourself, with every cell of your body, with every fibre of your skin.
Stay alive, learn, study, think, read, build, invent, create, speak, write, dream, design.
Stay alive, stay alive inside of you, stay alive also outside, fill yourself with colours of the world, fill yourself with peace, fill yourself with hope. Stay alive with joy.
There is only one thing you should not waste in life, and that’s life itself.”

This says it all to me! I’m always doing something……………of course I do find time to relax, I relax a lot…………..but the above is the reason I’m always learning, studying, reading, thinking (too much😆), creating, writing, planning, dreaming (always 😂) and loving. I’m just trying to make sense of my life and making sure I make the most of every single second because all of these things are what makes the world go round. Be brave, explore every path, because one of them will lead to where you are meant to be.

So here they are…………………………two places I’ve discovered in my very own Yorkshire which until three weeks ago I never knew existed. And they are lovely little places. If you are ever in Yorkshire do visit them……………………and I’ve got a recipe for you. Then I’m planning on a quiet October so I’ll be light on the updates for a while because I’m going into hibernation for a good few weeks to just do my thing!

I hope Monday has been a good day……………….but not all days are good days and if it’s been a bumpy day I hope you have a Piglet in your life. Today has been a bit of an average day for me. There have been highs (my big boy’s birthday) and lows (a toilet incident). I know we are a ‘team’ at work……………..but with no caretaker or cleaner on site until 4pm today I think I’ve taken one for the team. I have deftly used my Business and Finance Degree to assist in the extraction of a solid object (toy no doubt) from a nursery toilet and mop the flooded floor clean from the contents of the overflowed toilet! I don’t recall that being in my job description. 😆Why do small children feel the need to push things into holes that they clearly aren’t intended for?

I’m quite happy being Piglet………………..to my children, my family, my work colleagues and any of my friends………………..I’ll always be Piglet if needed. If you can choose to be anything, chose to be kind and be more Piglet!

The UK’s not a great place to be at the moment. But don’t let it get you down…………….happiness is a mindset and it’s important to be grateful for the small things and have gratitude and stay positive and true to your beliefs. Try not to focus on the hatred, the antisemitic shootings close to home at the weekend, the St George flags popping up everywhere to provoke and intimidate immigrants, refugees and anyone not born white and British. If the boot were on the other foot it’d be called radicalisation!

Instead choose to be happy, go to nice, calm, peaceful places, spend time with your sort of people, hug, be kind, stay positive and try to shut out all the ‘noise’.

Everything has changed so quickly too, or it might be because I was away for so long over summer, but I came back to quite a different country. I have a week off in less than three weeks and my finger is hovering over the escape button on the Easyjet and Ryanair websites! 🤣 Shall I press it?! We’ll see!

So here you go……………………. feel good place number one………………………….Helmsley Walled Garden and Helmsley Castle. Beautiful!😍

As the name suggests, they are both in Helmsley in North Yorkshire……………..a lovely little market town where even the shop fronts and the delicatessen are pretty.

They are two separate entities but the garden sits next to the castle. The garden was built in 1759 and is a Royal Horticultural Society partner garden………………….and I never knew about it! Their aim is for everyone to feel the therapeutic benefit, not only of gardening, but also of the beautiful environment created by their volunteers.

In their leaflet it says, “The garden is run entirely by volunteers with the aim of the garden being for people to improve their mental and physical health through gardening, and spending time in a garden. The volunteers are guided by trained horticulturalists. Each volunteer’s contribution, regardless of their background or abilities, plays a vital role in enhancing the garden’s beauty, and allows them to work towards a collective achievement.” It really is a magical place and important resource and outlet for so many people.

It’s a small fee to get in but it is so worth it. The planting is spectacular. And there is a pretty amazing cafe too called the Vine Tree.

I challenge you to come here and not be happy when you leave. So what did I like about it?

Flowers, flowers and more flowers………………….

They have a walled orchard bursting with apples and pears and other fruits…………

If you look closely there are the little visitors to the garden……………………the bees. The garden has been planted to attract bees and pollinators……………

There are lots of lovely paths to wander around and admire the most lovely planting, while smelling the scent of the flowers…….

There are lots of nice scuptures and places to sit too and have a quiet moment of reflection……………

And there is a Labyrinth……………………………….

I never knew that Labyrinth walking was an ancient practice to quieten the mind and keep you in the present and best done barefoot.

I can’t say it worked……………………………I’m ticklish, particularly on my feet and it just made me giggle as the grass was very prickly tickly.

Final stop was the pumpkins and squash house…………………………so many sizes colours and shapes.

And have you ever seen any of these…………………how cool. It can’t decide what it is so it’s decided to be half of each…………………………….

When you’ve finished in the walled garden you can go and have a look at the castle.

Personally, I prefer the garden to the castle. Castles can be a little wasted on me and I find them a little gloomy. However, it’s worth a quick look as it is the ruin of a very important castle which featured heavily in the Civil War. It was besieged by Sir Thomas Fairfax and its destruction was ordered by Parliament to quell the uprising of us strong headed Yorkshire folk who refused to tow the Government line (who would have thought 😆).

There are some lovely views over the Yorkshire countryside from the ruined windows.

I challenge you to come to Helmsley and not leave happy!

The second place, which I visited this weekend was The Yorkshire Arboretum……………………..which is home to a very special tree collection.

It would be spectacular at any time of year but at the moment with Autumn being upon us it’s amazing.

Autumn also means I can get my bobble hats out…………..which is something else to be happy about!

There are over 120 acres with over 2,500 varieties of trees from all over the world.

There are wildflower meadows, lakes, ponds and a very special conservation area which I’ll tell you about in a second.

So what is there to see at the moment? Well………………..it’s Autumn………………my favourite time of year and these were the highlights for me.

Funghi!!!! Lots of them. There were some very beautiful red and white funghi………………..like those in fairytales that have a little door on the side that the fairies and elves live in! Don’t tell me you’ve never read the ‘Magic Faraway Tree’ when you were small.

Then there are the huge toadstools…………………………….

And I just love how pretty the underside of a toadstool looks.

There are all the nuts and seeds and berries that are in abundance at the moment. Chestnuts bursting out of their shells…………………

Acorns for the squirrels.

There are also some lovely lakes there with swans and coots floating on the top, big bullrushes at the side and dragon flies flitting around just above the water.

And if you stay still enough and search hard enough you will see some pretty amazing wildlife.

This little guy was in his winter bed between two leaves of a spikey plant. You could quite easily have missed him (or it could be a she…….who knows!) But it was happy enough to pose for me. Sometimes you just have to slow down, be still and pay attention to what’s around you in the moment and you can find some amazing things.

The highlight of the day for me though was my Red Squirrel sighting. These are native to the UK but are struggling and in decline due to the introduction of the grey squirrel from North America between 1876 to 1929. It’s been illegal to release grey squirrels into the wild in the UK since 1930 and conservation efforts are in place to cull the grey squirrel and re-introduce the native red squirrel in a number of places, including here. The grey squirrel is a lot larger and completes for the same food and habitat and is a spreader of disease, so they are not good news for the red squirrel.

They have a very active conservation project here, and breed them to release in other areas of the country. They are very timid though so you will be lucky to spot one but it was my lucky day!!!! Well………………..part luck part patience. A gentleman told me he had seen one go into a squirrel box a couple of minutes before so I thought if I stand still and pretend I’m a tree it might just come out. So I held my camera up and focused on the hole and stood statue still. After 10 minutes my arm had gone dead, my nose was itching and I was freezing cold. My patience had almost run out when out he popped…………………….all fluffy, tufted ears and cheeky face……………………….a little furry ball of gorgeousness!🥰 And he has a name apparently………………..Rusty! How cute is that. For a small fee towards his upkeep you can adopt him and I’m seriously thinking of adopting a squirrel. I’ve decided he’d be far less trouble than a child, less costly and far cuter.

So if you be still and quiet long enough to look, have patience and gratitude, then you will realise that the world really is an amazing place and there are lots of things to be happy about so don’t let all the noise bring you down……………………you do you and reach out to your Piglet if you need to.

And if all else fails bake Parkin………………………………sure to make you happy.

I can’t believe I’ve told you so much about Yorkshire for all this time and never shared ‘Parkin’ with you! I think I assumed that everyone knew about Parkin. It was only when I was talking to someone from a neighbouring county and they had never heard of it that I googled it and realised it was a Yorkshire thing. Your life cannot be complete until you have had Parkin ……………………………… and it’s so easy to make.

It’s a sort of ginger cake made with black treacle (sometimes called molasses depending where you are from). It also contains pinhead oatmeal…………..it’s not the same with porridge oats. Pinhead oatmeal comes in a tin and it looks like this…………………

You bake Parkin until it forms a sort of crust on top. When it’s cool you wrap it in greaseproof paper and keep it in an airtight tin for up to two weeks. And that is the secret…………..it gets stickier and more chewy the longer you leave it…………………….but I get that that’s the challenge………………..trying not to eat it all before it’s reached its height of stickiness. We eat it in Yorkshire at the end of October and beginning of November to coincide with Halloween and Bonfire Night. I just like to start eating it early so I’ve made some now! 😁 September would be too early……..like eating Christmas cake in September…….. but once we’ve reached October and the leaves start turning you are good to go on the Parkin front in my opinion. It’s best consumed reading a book, wrapped in a blanket with a cup of Yorkshire tea.

So here is a link to the best (in my opinion) Parkin recipe …………………… courtesy of BBC Good Food:

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/parkin

So there you go, visit these places if you are near…………….immerse yourself in beautiful things, slow down, breathe, appreciate the good things and choose happy………………..and if all else fails reach out to your Piglet and eat Parkin.