22 | October | 2020 | Not Just a Granny

Archive for October 22nd, 2020

Slow toads crossing

Posted in around the UK, conqueror challenges, family and relationships, Fun Stuff, It's my life, me and Peanut, Travel, walk 1000 miles 2020, tagged conqueror virtual challenges, grandson, Lewes, my treasure, ring of Kerry, slow toads crossing, the egrets way, walk1000miles on October 22, 2020| 2 Comments »

Hoorah! Today’s walk was fruitful albeit shorter than usual. Not only did I finally find the blessed Egrets Way path after going off in COMPLETELY the wrong direction 🤪🤪🤪 and wasting 45 minutes of my break in the process (Passing the railway station should have been a clue…🤔🤔),

But I am once again a ‘Trail blazer’ However, whilst it may appear that I’m a trail blazer, I wish I could tell them how useless I am at reading Google maps, especially when the map moves as I turn my phone to see which way to go🤨😠

And my mileage reached 40% on the Ring of Kerry virtual challenge and so another tree will be planted.

As for the toads crossing, I wonder what happened to the fast toads… 🐸🐸🐸

Alls well that ends well…and another day bites the dust. I only have 7.5 days to go and I’m off, back to Ramsgate. Can’t wait to see my Boobee

This adorable, funny, gorgeous little guy who holds my heart in his hands – my Boobee

His nickname came about from 2 sources….he has loved playing peek-a-boo from when he was tiny, so I started calling him Boo, and now he says “boo” which is just so cute I could eat him…. Meanwhile his parents have been teaching him sign language as a tool for better communication with people who have no hearing. He learned the sign for bee 🐝 and it was so cute I kept asking him to sign it….and one day, I got all muddled when playing with him and called him ‘Boobee’. 😂😂☺☺ so now he’s my special special Boobee…..aka The Blur because he’s never still for one second and I can seldom get a photo of him that isn’t blurred….his Mummy, who sent me this photo, has the same problem…our phone cameras are just not fast enough to capture him in one place ☺☺

He’s a charm; funny, smart, cute, humorous, outgoing, friendly, loves Peppa Pig madly and is just adorable. I am so blessed to have him in my life.

Some other random photos from today, not as interesting as usual as my 6.84km walk wasn’t either….

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Reminiscing about beer and coke floats

Posted in Camino 2017, family and relationships, Fun Stuff, It's my life, long distance walks - solo, memories of days gone by, Travel, walk 1000 miles 2017, tagged baby boomers travel, long distance walking, reminiscing about my life, walking the Portuguese Camino, women walking solo on October 22, 2020| Leave a Comment »

I’ve been chatting to my sister V in SA (1 of 4 who still live there) about coke of all things. She was relating an episode from yesterday when she and our youngest sister D were showing D’s kids how to make a coke float – for the uninitiated, that’s coke and vanilla icecream. It fizzes up and makes a delicious, albeit very unhealthy drink, and a glorious mess if you don’t drink it quickly enough 🤣🤣🤣

I went on to say that much as I loathe coke and the company behind it, it’s the only drink that will suffice on a hot summer’s day of walking. It slakes my thirst and gives me an energy boost when I need it most. It’s also very good with pizza and due to its chemical composition, it dissolves heavy food….the only other time I drink it.

From there the conversation went onto our planned Camino in 2022. We’re going to walk the Portuguese Coastal Route from Porto to Caminha and then inland to Valenca and from Tui to Santiago de Compostela.

It will be my 2nd walk along this route and her first, also her first time walking the Camino since she’s cycled the French Route some years ago with our father who was also a keen cyclist.

I’m not into cycling and prefer walking, so to her credit, she’s up for walking the route. Our conversation brought back memories of my pilgrimage and that I drank a lot of beer during my walk 🤪🤪 My last reply to her went like this:

“No my tummy either but it seems to do the trick with thirst and heavy food (coke).
My choice of tipple on the Camino was beer 🍺🚶🏻‍♀️🚶🏻‍♀️of all things…I usually had my 1st one at between 10am and 11am depending on whether there was a place open to serve 🤭🤭 Mind you, now that I think about it, that’s probably why I enjoyed the Camino so much 🤣🤣”

Since I seldom drink, this was a departure from the norm for me, but as they say…..”when in Rome….” and all that, it made perfect sense to keep the Portuguese locals and other walkers company. Anyway that’s my reason 😁😁🍺🚶🏻‍♀️

My memories of the Camino are many and varied. I had such a fantastic time….it was a huge challenge and I cried a lot from pain, but I also laughed a lot and met some super people along The Way. Portugal is such a beautiful country and the route follows the coast which meant I had the Atlantic ocean to my left every single day till Caminha.

So many memories of an amazing experience

More about my Camino https://notjustagranny.co.uk/2017/09/11/day-5-porto-to-vila-do-conde/

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A Thames Journey: (1) From the Source to Cricklade

Posted in around the UK, Health, Historical, Inspiration, other peoples blog, photography, Travel, villages of the United Kingdom, tagged long distance walks, long distance walks in england, rivers of England the River Thames, villages of england, walking the Thames path on October 22, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Sweete Themmes, runne softly, till I end my song. (Edmund Spenser, 1596) One of the things I’ve missed most in this time of lockdown is being able to walk along the banks of the River Thames. I’ve whiled away many an hour of my retirement strolling along the river, mostly stretches between London Bridge to […]
A Thames Journey: (1) From the Source to Cricklade

I’ve just discovered this fantastic article and felt I really had to share it. Firstly the writer has a wonderful way with words, some terrific photos and he’s writing about my favourite river…the Thames. Its been a dream of mine for years now to walk the Thames from source to sea….just the very words ‘source to sea’ conjures a feeling of excitement and adventure and has certainly captured my imagination. I love that the writer and his companions started this walk in midwinter and his description of the early morning evokes a sense of wonder….and I could feel myself transported to the very moment of that crispy ground underfoot.

It’s a lovely read, I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. I’m off now to read some more, and the book is on my Christmas wishlist 🤶🏻🎄

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