Not Just a Granny

Slow stroller

October 12, 2020 by notjustagranny

I was reading through some Instagram posts this morning and a post by one of my favourite ‘grammers’ caught my eye.

She commented about having encountered some ‘yompers’ on a trail she was recently walking, and how their speeding ahead made her feel a bit inadequate. I’d not heard the expression ‘yompers’ before, but I do remember seeing them whizzing by when I walked the Camino in 2017.

Their faces set, backs straight, poles thumping the ground, they stride steadfastly ahead, looking neither left nor right, they whizz ahead at speed…. I often wondered why!!

They miss the scenery, they miss the little treasures along the wayside, they never (from what I saw) engaged with the locals, or visited a church to sit down and absorb the tranquillity- mostly they entered a church to get their passport stamped, and out again…once more to yomp ahead. I really would love to know why…..??

Is it a matter of finishing the route as quickly as possible, do they have a limited time to walk, is it about clocking up miles the fastest, getting to the albergues first to secure a bed, or perhaps they just add each route completed to a check list? Done this, done that, no t-shirt.

I’m classified as a ‘slow stroller’ – although my family would disagree 😂😂🤪

Walking for me is about the freedom of being outdoors, about the scenery, the little discoveries I make along the tide line or on top of cliffs, about visiting the important landmarks enroute, and often going completely ‘off-piste’ to visit some place I’d seen on Google while planning my trip. I don’t always reach my destination (unless I have a confirmed booking) but oh my, how much I enjoy just looking, enjoying and absorbing while walking.

The yompers can yomp, I prefer to absorb my environment and actually remember what I’ve experienced…. and of course to take as many photos as possible 😉

Which is also why I mostly walk alone; going solo I can stop whenever, wherever I like, take photos every 5 seconds, have a snooze under a tree in a graveyard, or a shady stand of trees….sit in a pub and enjoy a beer, or cup of tea….I’m not holding anyone up, and I’m not annoying anyone because I keep stopping…

And having said that, I really must get myself a good mobile charger. The battery on my latest Samsung (2018) is crap and despite closing all background apps, the battery fizzles out after 6-8 hours. I stress about taking photos because the camera uses a lot of power, so invariably I spend money in pubs along the way while I boost my phone. Its tiresome.

I’ve tested one or two models, but they don’t do the job and I end up returning them to the store…. something small and powerful would be useful please Universe 🌌🌠☺

Meanwhile, I’ll keep strolling….and the yompers can yomp!!

Posted in around the UK, European travels, Health, It's my life, long distance walks - solo, Travel, walk 1000 miles 2020, walks around the UK | Tagged 101 walks, coastal walks of england, Country Walking, solo travel, yomping vs strolling | 2 Comments »

Crazy idea #101

October 10, 2020 by notjustagranny

I have lots of crazy ideas, and this is definitely one of them..

I don’t always put my crazy ideas into action, but after consulting with myself while walking from Sandwich to Deal, we – me, myself and I 😉 decided it would be a fun (crazy) idea to walk the full England Coast Path.

Since I had already started, and had walked from Ramsgate to Sandwich, and was now walking from Sandwich to what turned out to be Walmer and not Dover, we figured it would be a fun goal to have….

And so the decision was made to walk the full English coast…or should I say “attempt to walk” 🤣🤣🤣

When I look at the map above, I know for sure it’s a crazy idea, but other people have walked the entire UK coast, so why not….

I started doing some research and discovered that England has 12,429 km or 7,723 miles of coastline excluding islands.

Which means that if I walk an average of 20 kms a day it will take me 621.45 days to walk the entire coast. But if I walk 3 days per month it’ll take 207 days….or something like that. I’m pretty sure my calculations are skewed 🤪🤪🤪 and it will actually take me 5 years or so to complete. 😂😂

But so far I’ve walked from Ramsgate to Dover over 3 days, so let’s see.

The challenge has begun!! Which brings me to the virtual challenges I’ve signed up for…

I’m currently walking the Inca trail and since its only 42kms I’m sure I’ll be done within the next 10 days. From there I’m going to do the Ring of Kerry, although to be honest, I’d much rather be walking that route in real time….its eminently possible that once we’re free to travel again, I may just walk the route in Ireland…why not.

So for now, here’s a link to the England Coast Path for you to peruse.

And if you’d like to join me on these virtual challenges, you can sign up here via my link.

This is not an affiliate link and I don’t make any money from people signing up, but you get a 10% discount on any walks you sign up for and I think a 10% discount as well….which is a moot point really since I’ve already signed up for all the walks I want to do 😃😃😃

Here’s to walking…..my favourite hobby despite the pain 😉🚶🏻‍♀️🚶🏻‍♀️🚶🏻‍♀️

Posted in around the UK, Fun Stuff, idiot category, It's my life, long distance walks - solo, walk 1000 miles 2020, walks around the UK | Tagged conqueror virtual challenges, england coast path, solo travel, walk 1000 miles, walk uk | Leave a Comment »

The Adventure of a Lifetime

October 8, 2020 by notjustagranny

19 years ago today, 08/10/2001 I embarked on what was to be a life changing event, and the adventure of a lifetime.

A few months earlier a number of events converged and conspired to change the course of my life.

The company I was working for in South Africa went into liquidation in July, and although I worked for the liquidators for 3 months, I was officially unemployed from end September.

In August, my daughter reached the grand age of 21….in South Africa, this is a milestone birthday and she was now an adult for real, and I gave her the ‘key to the door’. This is a symbolic key, and really means that now she was entirely responsible for herself and her life….

My younger sister, who was at the time living and working in Ireland as an IT Specialist, with her husband, was about to reach a milestone birthday too….the grand age of 30 in October!! ☺☺☺ She asked if someone in the family could fly over to help her celebrate, and since I had no responsibilities, I said YES!! I’ll come…

And so it came to pass that on 8th October 2001, just one month after 9/11 I flew from South Africa to Ireland.

I almost didn’t get to fly over across the seas to Ireland as the airline I was due to travel with; SWISSAIR had their planes grounded due to financial difficulties. Fortunately South African Airways aka SAA was linked to SWISSAIR and they made accommodation for all the stranded passengers and I was lucky enough to leave at the exact time of my intended flight.

Leaving South Africa on an overseas flight for the first time in my life was both thrilling and terrifying….would I find my way around the airports – we flew overnight into Zurich where I had to change flights…terror LOL. But I managed alright and even found time to have a hot chocolate and pastry…and Swiss Chocolate 😃😃

I sent a postcard to my daughter from the airport and I remember walking past the postbox 3 times before someone showed me exactly where it was, it was green – I was expecting a red postbox. 🤣🤣🤣 I have learned so much since then.

From Zurich we flew over Europe and I cried nearly the whole way….as someone with a keen interest in history and particularly WW2, all I could think about was what had happened in those skies 60 odd years ago, and in the cities below. It was heartbreaking.

Finally we arrived at the City of London Airport where I had to take first a bus to a tube station and then the tube to Heathrow….my mind was expanding at a rate of knots 🤪🤪🤪 I can’t tell you how much I learned in those first few hours. I had to ask, absorb, remember and retain, and follow more information in a short period of time than I had ever in my preceding 46 years…

On my way to Heathrow on the Piccadilly Line, I remember exiting the underground near Hounslow and seeing all the houses and the chimneys….as a huge fan of Mary Poppins I was immediately smitten by the chimney pots and the tall houses and thought to myself “I could live here”. And now I am….to my everlasting surprise. I never in my life imagined ever living in another country other than South Africa.

I flew from Heathrow to Dublin and arrived in Ireland on my sister’s birthday 😃😃 Lots of hugs and kisses and high excitement ensued.

Loved Ireland. So much so that when the time came to return to South Africa in December, I didn’t go back. I stayed on for another 2 months till justbeforemy visa expired, then returned to London, spent a week there obtaining the relevant paperwork that would enable me to obtain my Ancestral Visa….I had already decided by then that I wanted to relocate to the UK/Ireland.

The 6 months I spent in Ireland were some of the happiest of my life and I wanted more. We had so many amazing adventures and travelled the length and breadth of the island visiting so many wonderful places.

I flew back to South Africa in March of 2002, and by 22nd April 2002 I was back in Ireland having sold my car (to my daughter) put my house on the market for sale and my possessions into storage. My daughter moved in with her then boyfriend once the house was sold and I settled into my new life in the UK….and I have never looked back. I have never had a day’s homesickness or yearning to return to SA.

In the 18 years since I’ve lived here, I’ve obtained my British citizenship, travelled extensively in the UK: been to just about all the English counties, Scotland, Wales, N.Ireland and a number of UK islands, innumerable times to Ireland, America 4 times, Iceland, France: Paris, Versailles & Calais, Italy: Venice, Verona, Pisa, Florence, San Gimignano, Lucca and Sienna, been to Amsterdam, Bruges, Brussels and Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain.

I’ve walked on fire, climbed halfway up Mount Snowdon, flown over London in a helicopter (a gift from my daughter for my 60th birthday), had a flight along the Kent coast in a Spitfire in 2018 (another birthday gift from my daughter 😍) – the same year I got the wonderful news I was to become a Granny 😊. I’ve taken part in the Tudor Pull, travelled on the Trinity Tide, travelled through Paris in a soft-top convertible (a gift from my daughter for my 50th birthday), enjoyed numerous steam train journeys, explored 85% of the streets, lanes and alleyways of the City of London, attended all the major London annual/traditional events and commemorations, travelled on the Eurostar to Paris and a ferry to Calais, I’ve become a long-distance walker with 4 named walks behind me: Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, St Augustine’s Way, the Portuguese Camino and the Pilgrim’s Way, and yesterday I walked across the top of the White Cliffs of Dover – so now I’ve seen the cliffs from the sea, the air and walked across the top!! 👏👏👏😀😀 I’ve visited 146 places named in the Domesday Book, and hundreds of churches, and participated in an archaeological dig in London, and obtained my British citizenship in 2016.

My current goal is to walk the full England Coast Path and the Welsh coastline (a long term project I started on 22nd September this year) – it’ll take about 6 years to complete.

Because I had been to so many places I set up Project 101 with the goal of visiting or seeing 101 different categories.

Best of all my beloved daughter joined me in the UK in 2003 and is now happily married and has a baby boy – so I am now a Granny….the ultimate.

I’ve learned how to blog 🤪🤪, built a small business and an app, wrote a book and had some poems published. I learned how to create videos and use YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter…although I’m no longer on the two last platforms.

I’ve been on protest marches and attended the 2012 London Olympics, voted in elections, voiced my opinions about the government 🤣🤣🤣 and the weather….always a good topic of conversation, and tonight in celebration we had a right proper British meal; fish and chips 😋😋😋

When I first arrived in 2001 I hardly said a word to anyone, especially strangers, now I talk to everyone and anyone….wherever I go and as a result I’ve met some wonderful people, many of whom are now close friends.

3 events in 2001 conspired to send me on an unimagined path and the adventures of a lifetime. Happy 19th anniversary of a new and very different life to me 🥂🍾🎉🎊🎈🎈🎈and of course a very happy birthday to my sister 😍😍🥂🍾🎂 you know which one you are 😉

I wonder what adventures await in the coming years!! Oh, and next year I get my bus pass….hopefully 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Posted in European travels, family and relationships, Fun Stuff, It's my life, memories of days gone by, Travel | Tagged happy anniversary, life changing events, the adventure of a lifetime | 2 Comments »

Virtual Conqueror Challenges

October 6, 2020 by notjustagranny

At the beginning of the year, just after lockdown, I decided to join the Conqueror Virtual Challenge and signed up to walk Hadrian’s Wall – 145km (England). As you progress they send you postcards with interesting information about the walk.

Mostly so I could keep up my enthusiasm for walking, having a goal during lockdown was so helpful. In the meantime I’ve decided to walk the real Hadrian’s Wall – now scheduled that for 2021.

I’ve subsequently done the Camino de Santiago challenge – 772km (Spain). I did this while working; using my kms walked while on duty and various other walks at the various places I worked in. My medal is in the post.

The English Channel challenge – 34km (I finished that with short walks over 4 days) much as I would have loved to swim the distance for this challenge, I have NO plans to actually swim the English Channel….end of! LOL

the medal is in the post 🙂 It’s stunning

All of the above counts towards my goal of #walk1000miles2020 and despite deciding to not sign up for any other challenges, guess what….LOL I’m signing up for the pack of 5 which includes a choice of some awesome virtual walks: Great Ocean Road – 240km (Australia), Inca Trail – 42km (Peru), Ring of Kerry – 200km (Ireland), The Cabot Trail – 298km (Canada), and The Ring Road – 1332km (Iceland). I’m also going to buy the 2020 challenge coz the medal is awesome. I’m sure I can finish the 4 shorter distances this year and I’ll do the Icelandic Ring Road in 2021. The medals are so beautiful and I love the motivation the app gives me as I watch my progress.

I’m also keen to do the John O’Groats to Lands End virtual challenge and will save that for 2021 as well.

If you’d like to join me on the Conqueror Virtual Challenges click here for the link There’s a terrific little app that you can update as you go and it shows your progress on a map, you can join as part of a team or just go it alone. For every 20% of the challenge you complete the organisers plant a tree (I love that idea) and at the end of the challenge you get a fantastic, quality medal. It’s good fun and you learn about the different places as you reach each milestone.

Posted in around the UK, Fun Stuff, Health, long distance walks - solo, Travel, walk 1000 miles 2020 | Tagged Camino de Santiago, conqueror challenges, conqueror virtual challenges, Hadrian's Wall, solo travel, swim the english channel, walk 1000 miles | 2 Comments »

Signs along the way

October 4, 2020 by notjustagranny

When I first heard about the North Downs Way from a client who in his younger days was also a long distance walker, I thought “oh yes, I think I’d like to walk that!”

pilgrims way, north downs way, — signs along the way

– since then I’ve walked the Pilgrim’s Way and found that much of the #NDW is blended with the #PW I often saw signs with the wee oak symbol

and the usual upright decorative directional posts, which sometimes gave the distance in miles to the next town on the route. Since much of the NDW is along the Pilgrim’s Way I’ve walked pretty much most of it, so I’ve shelved that plan, except possibly for the last section…which I may still walk. There were times when the routes diverged and the NDW went uphill, and at those times I was ever so glad I WASN’T on the NDW.

But I always appreciated finding those signs; I was on the right track…

the PW is not well marked and signs are scant, but I guess since most of the route is along roads, these are named Pilgrims Way, so we have to depend on those, except when the author of the guide book decides to take you on a diversion (which I hated). But to be fair, the diversion usually coincided with a busy roadway.

One of the most exciting finds was at Detling…..the village sign was quite extravagant and I delighted in seeing the pilgrim’s shell

Walking the Pilgrim’s Way has been an extra ordinary journey and giving me the confidence to plan many more long distance walks….

Posted in around the UK, long distance walks - solo | Tagged long distance walks in england, signs along the way, solo walking, walking the north downs way, walking the pilgrims way | Leave a Comment »

The Social Dilemma

September 28, 2020 by notjustagranny

As someone else said “ironically I’m using social media to share this” – but I urge you to watch ‘The Social Dilemma’ on Netflix. I’d seen a couple of my friends make reference to it, but didn’t really take much notice. But today I had a bit of spare time so I watched it…..and it scared the hell out of me.

To quote a quote:
“There are only two industries that call their customers “user’s” : illegal drugs and software”.

There is such a lot of information in the documentary that my mind was thrown into turmoil. Interviewing the very people who set up these programmes and the ubiquitous algorithms that we all love so much.

It made for very uncomfortable viewing.

We are being manipulated by Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google, LinkedIn, Snapchat, et al….in order for them to make money off of us. It may have started off fairly benign, but now, every tool in the book is being used to manipulate us like puppets. Every emoji we use prompts the algorithm to feed us like a lab rat…their words, not mine. I would urge you to watch it, it is really quite important to understand what they are doing behind the scenes and how they are manipulating us. It’s in no way benign.

In the heydey of the new platform; Facebook I, like many others, friended people left right and centre. I connected with people I’d never met from the far corners of the planet…without any thought whatsoever to whether or not they were indeed ‘friendly’. Over the years and especially when I started with multi-level marketing, I ‘friended’ so many people that my feed was filled with stuff I had no interest in. Once I removed myself from the MLM industry I unfriended everyone I had connected with unless I had actually met them in person. The same went for the people I met via Personal Development. What I found was that unless you were superficial you were not worthy of their attention. It was the ‘fake it till you make it’ mindset. I hated that, So I unfriended well over 1000 people. People I never heard from again.

But I still continued to accept friend requests and once I got started on twitter I ‘met’ a lot of people that then transferred to Facebook. Over the past 4 years I’ve realised that despite having so many’ friends’, very few were actively engaged, and so I unfriended another few hundred until I was down to people I actually knew, or had met in person, or people I had formed a relationship with regardless of where they were from. Just over a year ago, due to an emotional upset I logged off facebook….and of all the friends I was connected to, only 1 actually contacted me to find out if I was okay.

Other than that I also unfriended anyone who supported that snake farage, brexit or trump. And so my friends list shrunk to a reasonably manageable list of 150. Still there were people there I had never met or couldn’t actually remember why we connected, but with some I stayed connected because they posted interesting articles or we had things in common.

After watching the documentary ‘Don’t F*ck With Cats’ – the actual title, I immediately stopped posting photos of my grandson and put my profile onto private.

When Covid-19 came along at the beginning of the year, I logged back onto Facebook purely so that I could connect with friends just to make sure that everyone I cared about was okay.

But what I’ve noticed over the following months is that I am spending more and more time on Facebook and my emotions are on a constant rollercoaster. For example…..a friend will post a photo that I admire so I ❤ it. The someone else will post something about Syria and I click the sad emoji. Then another article will appear on my timeline about the useless UK government and after reading the article I click the angry emoji and share the article with a scathing or angry comment. And then someone else will share a cat video or a funny meme and I find myself using the laughing emoji. Or someone would share an amazing image and I’d click the ‘wow’ emoji. And then there are the posts that I just ‘like’. But, I was on a constant yo-yo of emotions and in a few minutes or hours I’d swing from love, to anger, to laughter, to sadness and boring old liking……every fucking day!!!

I’m exhausted. All my friends share different articles and they all share them on different days according to what they are interested in, love, get angry about, are saddened by or awed. And these all appear in my timeline on a constant loop. And my emotions are constantly swung one way or another…over and over and over.

What I found even more scary is that these platforms are only getting started with their manipulations, with their monetising. Try having a conversation with a friend about…..say….a wedding. Next thing you’ll see advert after advert about weddings, or holidays, or that cruise, or shoes or baby clothes…..this is not an accident! This is marketing manipulation on a massive scale.

Now if you’re okay with that, then fine. But it’s how they’re moving it forward, and how they use algorithms to manipulate your emotions, your beliefs, your values, your thoughts and your emotions….and your bank account!! Don’t underestimate the value that is placed on those adverts….they are designed to make you buy something you probably don’t need or want….much like adverts on TV and the papers…although that is just a little less pernicious, not much but they don’t work on algorithms designed to keep you scrolling endlessly seeking seeking seeking the next article or image or video…..I know. I do that every day till my thumb and wrist aches.

And it’s all being done deliberately so that the people behind the scenes can increase their wealth exponentially. I can’t detail it all here, but I would urge you to watch the documentary and make up your own mind.

Don’t be surprised if you find my profile shut down (actually, ironically, a friend reacted angrily to my post, and left a really angry comment, and that precipitated my logging off).

I left Twitter 18 months ago, and the only reason I ~~haven’t~~ hadn’t as yet left Facebook is was because it’s a way to keep in touch with you, my friends…but I’m very uncomfortable with what I’m seeing. I’m not understanding this for the first time, and I’m aware of how these platforms manipulate us, but it’s the first time the full reality of what and how they do it is becoming clear. And it is a drug. We are all addicted whether we find excuses or not to deny it…we are addicted.

I see it with my own family. My daughter and I used to have some amazing conversations…..now when I visit she has her head plastered to her phone. I’ve asked her time and again to please not spend any time we have together glued to her phone but she will always find a reason to continue…there’s always a reason. She can’t even watch a movie without engaging on her phone. It irks me tremendously, but my pleas fall on deaf ears. Her husband too, is always clicking on his phone and unless I can engage their attention with something, anything really, I end up sitting there staring at the TV, or I pick up my phone and do the same. What really annoys me though is that when the in-laws are visiting (the perfect family), she doesn’t sit with her face glued to her phone but chats to them.

Sadly, they have started their son off on YouTube videos and he cannot sit down to a meal without having to be entertained by YouTube. He is already addicted to the screen time, and Daddy rushes about desperately trying to find his phone so baby can watch the screen and be entertained while he has food doled out into his mouth. Screen time has gone from a few minutes to well over an hour, because that is sometimes how long it takes him to eat. I’ve no doubt she will disagree with me, and will probably be somewhat angry that I have written this down, but from parents who, when they were expecting said they wouldn’t be spending time on social media when baby is around, they’ve gone in completely the opposite direction…There was a time when my honesty was appreciated and I could talk to her about things like this…

Every time you click an emoji you are feeding your addiction. Every video or article you click on feeds your addiction and these platforms drip feed us every day every minute we have our phones switched on….watch the documentary and make up your own mind…their main goal is to keep you on the platform for as long as possible and the Ai programmes are designed and built to nudge you if you’re away for too long. Those notifications……!!!

To say that I hate Facebook would be an understatement. And if you think I’m overexaggerating, try looking around you…on the bus, on the tube, in a park, on the streets (how many times don’t people practically knock you over), in the cinema, in a theatre, in the doctors waiting room, driving in their car…people are killed every day because that truck driver, or bus driver or your own family are unable to put their phones down even while driving, in your own home…look around you, observe and realise that this is all down to manipulation, by platforms DELIBERATELY designed to engage and keep your attention for as long as possible, and when you step away, they are designed to grab your attention and get you back on for as long as possible.

Watch the documentary and make up your own mind. Even the very people who created these platforms and the machinations behind them, restrict their children from using social media. Ask yourself why!!

For me, I’m out.

29/09/20 a friend of mine in Australia suggested that he’d be curious to hear what effect my leaving facebook would have in a few weeks…..I could immediately tell him that it had induced a state of anxiety. Which as I said to him, absolutely makes me certain I’ve done the right thing. I find my brain and my hands wanting to log on (but I’ve forgotten my password LOL) and see what’s been posted. I’ve used facebook as way to keep myself from getting bored when I have downtime on my job, but I’m going to find myself a hobby to keep busy.

Posted in family and relationships, news from around the world | Tagged addicted to social media, manipulated by facebook, the evils of twitter and snapchat, the social dilemma | Leave a Comment »

Living other people’s lives

September 27, 2020 by notjustagranny

I was putting out the recycling boxes at my current client’s house this evening when the thought crossed my mind that I live other people’s lives, albeit briefly.

Due to the nature of my job, I live approximately 2 to 3 weeks of every month living in as a carer in other people’s homes.

I arrive at their home, a complete stranger to them, and they to me. I arrive with a suitcase, my computer and a few items of food that I enjoy. I’m shown to a spare room, the contents of which vary greatly…sometimes the room is sparsely furnished, other times it’s so full of stuff I can hardly move. I either have a single bed or a double, more often the former. Sometimes there’s space for me to hang up my clothes, more often I live out my suitcase.

After a brief handover I spend a few hours, like a voyeur opening cupboards and poking around to see where things are. I learn about their likes and dislikes, what food they enjoy and whether or not they have a good appetite. I memorise their routines, and every home is completely different. I cater to their every whim regardless of whether I feel like it or not. Its what I’m paid to do.

I put out their bins, bring in the mail and most often, answer the phone. I cook – 3 meals a day, clean their rooms and make their beds, do laundry and occasionally ironing, I do their shopping and administer their medications. I help them dress and undress, change their clothes, bath or shower or strip-wash. I sometimes clean bottoms and privates, clean them up and change pads. I ensure they’re safe and comfortable with good food and secure environment. I take them to appointments with doctors or hairdressers and drive them places….

and its very seldom that any of my desires, needs or wants are met. I put myself aside for the duration of my stay, the only respite being my 2 hour daily break.

I don’t have my own life. I don’t have a home. I don’t have my own bed – although I do have a mattress, except for a short period when I lived with my daughter and her husband, its still in storage 4 years after shipping it to the UK.

I don’t have my own space to go home to after each assignment, a place where I can live my life. I either stay at a B&B or in the past year I’ve occasionally slept on my daughter’s couch.

I only really live my own life when I’m on my walks.

I’m always between one place or another living in other people’s lives.

It’s a weird reality…..

Posted in It's my life, lifestyle | Tagged living other people's lives | 3 Comments »

Day 1 The Pilgrim’s Way

September 10, 2020 by notjustagranny

From Oxted to Kemsing

Well, you’ll be pleased to know I made it. Day 1 done & dusted. In lots of pain and my feet are very unhappy…not sure how they’re going to feel about doing this all over again tomorrow.😱😱🥺🥺🥺

So I left home at 6am on the dot and got to Ramsgate station with 15 minutes to spare.
I reached Oxted at 09:25 and set about finding breakfast. I nearly slipped up and went to Wetherspoons, but left as soon as I realised my error 😣😣😣
After a coffee and toasted sandwich from Coughlan’s bakery I switched mapmywalk on and set off for St Peter’s church where I got my first Pilgrim’s stamp, then it was a hard slog along a horrible road till I intercepted the Pilgrim’s Way.

First destination was Chevening Park where I had to climb a bloody awful hill and then go back down again. From thereon the terrain was fairly flat. I finally reached Dunton Green where I stopped for supper at The Rose and Crown and had a delicious meal of fish and chips.

At just on 5pm I set off again for Otford, a Domesday Book Village, where I crossed the River Darent. What a delightful place. Picturesque with the remains of a palace where Henry VIII and Katherine if Aragon once stayed. The church and palace have links to Thomas Beckett.

Then I had to force myself to walk the final 4 kms to Kemsing & the Airbnb. I’m aching from head to toe. But I did it 😃😃😃

Walked 26km, 10 hours including stops and saw so many amazing things. Lucky me.

Posted in around the UK, cities and towns of the UK, Domesday Villages of England, historical houses of the uk, It's my life, long distance walks - solo, places to eat, The Pilgrim's Way; Winchester to Canterbury, walk 1000 miles 2020, walks around the UK | Tagged canpilgrim, countrywalking DomesdayBook, long distance walking, Otford, ThePilgrimsWay, walk1000miles | 1 Comment »

Here’s to you 2020

September 3, 2020 by notjustagranny

addendum: I actually started this post yesterday, but got so involved with planning my Pilgrim’s Way walk and Hadrian’s Wall walk that I completely forgot to update and post it. Although theoretically I actually owe you 1000 words, it’s already 22:31 and I really need to get to bed earlier than the last two nights……midnight and after midnight….respectively. So here goes…..

Never one to let a bad year bring me down, despite the downs there have been many ups…my grandson celebrated his 1st birthday, I visited the Isle of Wight for a 2nd time on an assignment; this time I stayed near Cowes, although I didn’t get to do as much travelling as before. We visited the Donkey Sanctuary in March; me, my daughter & grandson to visit his adopted donkey; Ruby…she’s a beauty and a lot bigger than we expected. While there we drove across country to visit Tintagel Castle – which is just phenomenal and a must visit.

7 weeks of lockdown were spent in a beautiful, peaceful village in Somerset where I was lucky enough to be able to walk in the Quantock Hills during our 1 hour of allowable exercise. During said lockdown I reached the grand age of 65 (an age denied to my beloved brother & Mother). I celebrated with my little family via zoom and received some beautiful iced biscuits from my daughter.

During my brief breaks between assignments, I’ve had dozens of happy mornings on the beach with my little beeboo watching him run about picking up stones and feathers and sticks, dipping his feet in the sea and buying him a naughty ice-cream on the way home 😉

I’ve visited a few places new to me on work assignments, some good, some not…currently working in Croydon but I have not been out much since I’ve been planning planning planning & now I’m on the cusp of finishing my #pilgrimage from Winchester to Canterbury along The Pilgrim’s Way. Finally. I started this walk in 2018, and then my grandson came along and all thought of being away for any length of time except for work went out the window LOL

And so, 2 years & 12 days after my 2018 pilgrimage ended in Oxted due to injury, I shall restart my journey in Oxted and coddiwomble to Canterbury while crossing rivers, visiting castles, a few palaces, Roman villas, a Carmelite Monastery, ancient stones & churches, some of England’s most historic & ancient villages, towns & cities, many of which are Domesday Book places, the Black Prince’s well, an abbey and a famous Cathedral while just enjoying the freedom of walking from place to place along ancient pathways, across fields, beneath trees, over too many stiles, & no doubt some tarmac.

I plan to see a few sunrises, definitely many sunsets, listen to birdsong & moos, have no doubt that I will cry from pain, curse my sore bones, swear at Pepe (my backpack), laugh with joy, sing a few songs & post dozens of photos.

The planning is 90% complete (as of yesterday – by this evening it was 100% completed), so yesterday I bought a little diary to keep note of pertinent details of each day… especially where I’m meant to be sleeping each night.. most important aspect of each day.

I’m soooo excited. Finally!! And that will be my 4th long distance walk, but all being well, not my last. My daughter, son-in-law & grandson will meet me in Canterbury in the evening for a celebratory meal. Hoorah!!!

Counting the days. I’d like to give a #shoutout to Tony and Sarah of The Old Alma Inn for their lovely customer service 👍 and👎to Airbnb for making it so difficult to identify a venue in a specific location and some of their hosts for not updating their calendars.

Alongside of planning the final section of the Pilgrim’s Way, I’ve also been planning my trip to Newcastle……yes!!! I’ll be walking Hadrian’s Wall 🙂 🙂 🙂

It’s been a long held dream of mine to walk Hadrian’s Wall and initially when I finally decided to complete the Pilgrim’s Way I thought why not just make it a foursome…..The Pilgrim’s Way, St Cuthbert’s Way, Hadrian’s Wall and the West Highland Way…..bought the books and started investigating costs…..hah! It quickly whittled down from 4 to 2! OMG!! It’s very expensive to go walking in this country. Walking the Camino didn’t cost me nearly as much and the accommodation was wayyyyyy cheaper. Some B&B’s were charging in excess of £100 per night per person. Absolutely mad. My daughter suggested I camp each night, but no thanks LOL I’m far too keen on sleeping in a proper bed. 😉 So I had to just suck in my breath a couple of times and book regardless, but fortunately by using AirBnB I managed to keep the costs down and the most expensive night was £41.

Although I still have a gripe with AirBnB and their daft location suggestions, I did after hours of searching manage to tie down all the nights I needed.

I’m planning on visiting Homesteads Roman fort and of course Vindolanda. There are so many amazing places along the route that I’m not sure I’ll have time to visit them all. And of course I’m planning on seeing as many sunrises and sunsets as I can……depending on the weather!

Also did you know that Hadrian’s Wall doesn’t actually march in a straight line from east to west? I always imagined it was pretty straight with a few dents and nooks here and there, but while researching I have found that it actually zig zags like a caterpillar on ecstacy!! Crikey! I really didn’t imagine and as well as which, a whole heck of a lot of it doesn’t exist anymore and the stones have been repurposed for houses and churches. Hah!! So a lot of it is just now in your imagination LOL

But oh what remains looks absolutely amazing and some of places I’ll be travelling through look fantastic. The countryside looks so beautiful.

Now all I need is good weather……says someone who actually lives in the UK and should know better LOL

Next week I’ll be buying new walking shoes, rain pants, and socks….lots of new socks and sorting out my backpack. I haven’t used Pepe in over 2 years, poor thing probably feels neglected. Oh and talking of backpacks, I’m going to use the baggage forwarding service on 5 of the 12 walking days and 4 days will be spent in Carlisle and I’ll walk 2 separate sections over 2 days and bus back to Carlisle at night. Makes sense, especially since accommodation was so hard to find.

And that m’dears brings me to 1058 words…..so hoorah, I’m up to date, albeit 1 day behind. So before it after midnight once again, I shall bid you goodnight, and hopefully I don’t forget to write tomorrow. 🙂

oh and p.s. did you know that Hadrian’s Wall is a UNESCO World Heritage Site? How awesome is that! another one for my list on Project 101

Posted in around the UK, Castles of UK and Ireland, cities and towns of the UK, Historical, long distance walks - solo, project 101, The Pilgrim's Way; Winchester to Canterbury, UNESCO Heritage Sites, walk 1000 miles 2020, walks around the UK | Tagged Domesday Book villages visited for Project 101, long distance walks uk, The Pilgrim's Way from Winchester to Canterbury, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, walking hadrians wall | Leave a Comment »

Booking with AirBnB

September 2, 2020 by notjustagranny

Not sure if this is relevant to my commitment to write 500 words a day, or if the subject matter is what The Quirky Coach had in mind, but here goes….basically it’s a rant LOL

A letter to AirBnB after another frustrating morning of searching for a specific location and getting ‘there are 271 locations in your area’ – uhmm, no there are not. For instance I did a search for ‘Aylesford’ – I got a list of 20 venues, none of which are in Aylesford, and some are as far away as Rainham, which is on the other side of the River Thames, closer to London that Aylesford and freaking 25 miles away from Aylesford!! What is the point of that.

I have been a member of AirBnB for some years now and have used it quite a lot. One of the aspects that I have found MOST frustrating is locating a place in the specific area I’m searching for.

Like if I type in Maidstone….(which is in England) I get suggestions of places that are absolutely miles away from what I am searching for.
I notice that on most of the venues, the location details are quite obscure….like it will search for Medway or London for instance. But the locations that are suggested by AirBnB are not linked to what I searched for, but ‘possibly’ in the same general county.

It would be really useful if the hosts could be more specific with their settings: like for instance if I search for a place in ‘Maidstone’ all places that are actually in the vicinity should have the word Maidstone in their description and I don’t have to scroll through each one to see where they actually are. The map is all very well, but it’s cumbersome and not always easy to use.

This has been a source of frustration for me every time I use AirBnb but yesterday and today I have been clicking on so many locations that are not anywhere near the actual town/city I want to stay in.
So if the host could say: Maidstone, Medway, England, UK – it would be really helpful.
Or Aylesford, Medway, England, UK and not just ‘Private Room in Medway’ for instance. Where in Medway. Its like saying a place is in ‘London’ Yeah right! London has 32 boroughs!!

And if AirBnB could fix their location settings so that when I search for Aylesford I don’t get venues in Rochester, or Bearsted, or just ‘Medway’ coming up in what is sometimes a long list of venues. It’s quite tiresome and very frustrating. As you can probably see from this communication.
Perhaps include a setting for search wider area for people who have cars or are not bothered about where they stay.

But as a long distance walker, I have to be in a specific location and not having to travel by train to get where I want to sleep over. If there is no venue in the specific name; like Aylesford (for instance), then rather just have a notification pop us that says ‘nothing available in this location, do you want to extend your search?’, with a km scale like up to 5kms or 10 kms, that would be awesome.
Thank you,
regards
Cindy

I’m trying to plan my walk along the Pilgrim’s Way and it has been an exercise in frustration…for some overnights, I’ve just given up searching and will take the train back to my ‘home town’, stay overnight there and train back the next day. It’s a mission, and will cost extra and some journeys are over 2 hours there and 2 hours back, but it’s either that or not at all. urgh LOL

So yeah, a bit of a rant, but hey….its part of my life and we can write anything we like – sorry guys LOL

Posted in around the UK, It's my life, The Pilgrim's Way; Winchester to Canterbury, Travel, walk 1000 miles 2020 | Tagged booking with airbnb, The Quirky Coach, writing challenge | Leave a Comment »

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