I stole some time in the country on my lunch break today, sat with my sandwich on the side of the bridleway. I thought about how I’d rather be under that tree, in muddy jeans, than perched on the side in my smart clothes.
I’d always rather be outdoors and too often am stuck the wrong side of the fence. But, I’m making plans to change that and in the meantime must be happy to have these stolen moments on the edge.
Tom is certainly the Official Photographer around here. He is the one with camera in hand for every occasion, who will suggest a walk simply because ‘the light is good’.
I love sharing adventures with someone who so happily (and unobtrusively!) records them. After the classic teenage embarrassments of ‘Say cheese,’ and ‘Just take one more for luck,’ I have a slight aversion to cameras. So I am happy to leave the snapping to someone else. But, this does mean that looking through our albums, you’d think I’d been on a decade of holidays by myself. There is also a danger, on this blog, of my taking credit for pictures that are nothing to do with me! Tom’s made me appreciate the pleasure of revisiting a trip through pictures, and I don’t want to lose him from every scene.
So, this is me promising to do better. To not only carry my camera in my bag, but to actually take it out and use it. I suspect 99% of the photos round here will still be courtesy of Tom, but I will endeavour to add my fair share to our photo memories.
Tags: photography, Tom
After doing the Randonnee last weekend, I thought I was plenty prepared for Walking the Wight. So now I feel a little sheepish in admitting to hobbling around the house since arriving home a few hours ago, nursing sugary tea and tiffin cake. Whenever I stand up for a tea top-up, my legs quickly remind me that I walked 26.5miles today (and yes, that final 1/2 mile has to be counted.)
Walk the Wight is a big annual event on the Island calendar, with thousands of walkers trekking across fields, through forests, and over downs, to raise money for the Earl Mountbatten Hospice. This year was the 21st in its illustrious history, originally started by two local guys and now drawing crowds over 8000. I don’t know the official count this year, but with sunny skies and light breezes, it seemed that everyone was out soaking it all up.
We had the best weather in years, with a misty morning start at Bembridge. We walked with the sun at our backs, amongst crowds of people strolling on morning-fresh legs and gently chatting. And with blue skies all day, the Mountbatten’s sunflower emblem seemed particularly fitting.
The fresh legs didn’t last, and the moan-to-chat ratio was a little higher by the end of the day. But, chivvied on by friendly faces, local ice cream and the end in sight, we made it up over Tennyson Down and in to the cheery finish at Alum Bay. Across the Island in 8 hours = muscle ache and a proud grin.
Tags: Hiking, isle of wight, Walk the Wight, Walking
May has arrived, and with it two unmissable local outdoor events, the first being the Randonnee: the annual 100k bike ride around the Island. I’ve spent the last couple weeks talking up my plans, so when I woke to heavy rain this morning I was way too proud to bail. Any day is off to great start with a ride on the chain ferry, which was pleasingly closed to cars for the day. (It doesn’t bode well that I’m pointing in the wrong direction in this pic.)
It was a wet and windy ride to Bembridge, with the inevitable hoards of club cyclists zooming past amidst talk of gear ratio and carb-loading. The crammed football club was a welcome first pit stop and I wolfed down a brownie (but later regretted not filling up on proper calories. Maybe those lycra guys speak sense…)
A little let-up in the rain on Brading quiet road (and a few altercations with a 4×4 who hadn’t got the memo) and a tea and cookies stop at Whitwell, where we set some guys off in the right direction after they found themselves on the 100k route, having only signed up for 55. The bikes were two-deep on every fence, but with so few girls on the ride there was no queue for the loos. Result.
There’s no denying this is a hilly ride, and the coastal stretch along the Military Road slows down all but the most hardcore. By Rolls Hill I was weaving in fatigue and those guys on my tail weren’t behind me for long. But by the time we’d reached Cowes sea front I’d found some last reserves of energy for a victory lap through the town, with all the other muddy and knackered two-wheelers.
Another year, another Randonnee. No doubt next year we’ll be at it again. Meanwhile, there’s the second big outdoor event of May to look forward to next weekend…
Tags: Cycling, iow randonnee
After years of spilling boxes of pins and cursing my lack of a pincushion I’ve finally got around to rectifying the situation. Years of procrastinating resulted in only minutes of stitching. I’ve spent longer digging pins out of the carpet than I did making this; I probably should have got around to it a little sooner. But, I am a procrastinator and these fabrics have been sat in a pile on my desk for over a month.
So today I threw out the tape measure and rotary cutter in favour of wonky lines and speedy completion. I love the haphazard appearance of Denys Schmidt‘s designs, although I suspect her patterns are a result of a little more planning than this. A little order and tidiness is great at times, but there is also a lot to be said for a project that is finished in the time it takes to bake banana muffins.
Tags: sewing
If I’m honest, I’m a bit of a show-off about my typing. I love being super-speedy, hearing the efficient rattle of pressed keys at a rate that keeps up with my talking out loud (which I tell myself is not crazy; and while we’re at it, neither is talking back at the radio..) Typing has the fresh, clean-edged feel of Getting Stuff Done.
But it could never compete with putting pen to paper. I love the easy pen-in-your-pocket freedom, no need for chargers and no worries about sand in the keys or coffee on the screen. I’m a hoarder of notebooks, a scrappy scribbler and incessant list-maker. Tom reminded me today that ‘writing it down is not the same as doing it’, but in my head it’s halfway there. There’s a certain magic to a well-timed scribble. And it’s a lot harder to doodle on a to-do list trapped in a screen.
Tags: stationery
I’m a big fan of skinny tyres. I love the easy momentum and smooth sweeping curve of a well-paved road. Tom’s more of an all-terrain tourer, with his tough Dawes touring bike and plenitude of gears. He’s always suggesting detours down bridleways or old byways and there is only so many times I can put him off with mumbles of punctures and bent spokes.
So, this is how I found myself taking my precious Pinarello way beyond it’s comfort zone, up over the Downs above Freshwater Bay. Turns out, heading up steep hills over grass and rocks is hard work on a racer, and not a little precarious. But the views at the top were worth it, and Tom and his bike were in their element. My skinny tyres faired pretty well; no punctures today. Who says road bikes are only for the road, eh?!
Tags: Cycling
Ramblings from an Island life.
