Walking...
Well, the slightly-longer-spent-with-Alan-than-usual weekend is over - and this morning he got himself on to a train back down south and to work. It was very nice having two full days as a weekend though, rather than just one and a bit of one! Plus we actually made something of this weekend, and got things done, which is always more satisfying than just passing the time.
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Saturday we did have a lie in, mainly due to having planned a walk, but my leg muscles were still very sore, so we decided against that plan. Instead, we went into town, did a little bit of shopping and...
...we have booked to go onl holiday to Greece for 2 weeks next May! I was so happy and excited and still am! We'd been toying with the idea a few weeks ago, but then what with sorting out this part time job and waiting for exam results etc, it got put to one side and forgotten about. However, seeing the travel agent open, we went to check if the hotel we had picked out was going to be in the 2006 brochure, and as it was and they weren't busy, we sat down to discuss it with the travel agent, and booked it there and then! Now I can't wait to go, plus it gives me a proper goal to aim for with my health and fitness plans.
After that we came back home, watched DVD's on the sofa for a few hours and after tea only bimbled around the house for a small while longer, getting an early night a bit later.
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Sunday my leg muscles were feeling quite a bit better, so we decided to go for the walk we had put off the previous day. Though not quite exactly the walk we had planned. Originally we were going to go back to Moel Fammau, because last time we went, we didn't get quite all the way to the summit, because of bad weather. However it is quite a long walk with a prolonged steep climbing element to it, if you do it the way we go (and we don't know any other ways!) so we thought it best not to pressure my muscles what with them only being newly pain-free! Instead, we chose to do Moel Arthur, which is in the same beautiful region, but a shorter climb in a overall shorter walk.
The only real problem of the day was locating the car park that the walk started from. Being that we've used the book we got the walk instructions from a few times before, and the instructions have always been clear and with a good amount of detail, we simply photocopied the pages we needed, and didn't refer to them until we got nearer to Denbigh, which is the closest town to the area. Then we saw that our first instruction was to find the 'National Parks Car Park on a minor road east of Denbigh'. That was it. No mention of the road number, or the distance from Denbigh or anything! After pootling around the area for 30 minutes in the car with no success, we declared ourselves beaten and went instead to visit Denbigh Castle - a very impressive ruined castle. We ate our lunch on the ruin and the guide took our map and instructions, returning to us 30 minutes later with an idea of where we should drive to in order to start our walk. If it hadn't been for him we'd never have got there, as it turned out Alan, to whom I had entrusted the map-reading whilst i was driving, had only had me driving round roads WEST of Denbigh, not east!
No wonder we didn't even come across it by accident! Give the man half a brain and he'd be dangerous.
We got there in the end though and had a lovely walk. The initial bit was very steep and hurt my legs something terrible, and i complained lots and lots. But Alan kept encouraging me, and I got right to the top this time and it was so well worth it. The views were spectaacular. We could see all of the Snowdonia National Park's highest mountains to the West of us, we could see the wirral and some of Liverpools taller buildings to the North and miles and miles of rolling fields and hills everywhere else.
My photos have come out splendid!
I love a good walk.
But i was very relieved not to be going into work today!
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Saturday we did have a lie in, mainly due to having planned a walk, but my leg muscles were still very sore, so we decided against that plan. Instead, we went into town, did a little bit of shopping and...
...we have booked to go onl holiday to Greece for 2 weeks next May! I was so happy and excited and still am! We'd been toying with the idea a few weeks ago, but then what with sorting out this part time job and waiting for exam results etc, it got put to one side and forgotten about. However, seeing the travel agent open, we went to check if the hotel we had picked out was going to be in the 2006 brochure, and as it was and they weren't busy, we sat down to discuss it with the travel agent, and booked it there and then! Now I can't wait to go, plus it gives me a proper goal to aim for with my health and fitness plans.
After that we came back home, watched DVD's on the sofa for a few hours and after tea only bimbled around the house for a small while longer, getting an early night a bit later.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday my leg muscles were feeling quite a bit better, so we decided to go for the walk we had put off the previous day. Though not quite exactly the walk we had planned. Originally we were going to go back to Moel Fammau, because last time we went, we didn't get quite all the way to the summit, because of bad weather. However it is quite a long walk with a prolonged steep climbing element to it, if you do it the way we go (and we don't know any other ways!) so we thought it best not to pressure my muscles what with them only being newly pain-free! Instead, we chose to do Moel Arthur, which is in the same beautiful region, but a shorter climb in a overall shorter walk.
The only real problem of the day was locating the car park that the walk started from. Being that we've used the book we got the walk instructions from a few times before, and the instructions have always been clear and with a good amount of detail, we simply photocopied the pages we needed, and didn't refer to them until we got nearer to Denbigh, which is the closest town to the area. Then we saw that our first instruction was to find the 'National Parks Car Park on a minor road east of Denbigh'. That was it. No mention of the road number, or the distance from Denbigh or anything! After pootling around the area for 30 minutes in the car with no success, we declared ourselves beaten and went instead to visit Denbigh Castle - a very impressive ruined castle. We ate our lunch on the ruin and the guide took our map and instructions, returning to us 30 minutes later with an idea of where we should drive to in order to start our walk. If it hadn't been for him we'd never have got there, as it turned out Alan, to whom I had entrusted the map-reading whilst i was driving, had only had me driving round roads WEST of Denbigh, not east!
No wonder we didn't even come across it by accident! Give the man half a brain and he'd be dangerous.
We got there in the end though and had a lovely walk. The initial bit was very steep and hurt my legs something terrible, and i complained lots and lots. But Alan kept encouraging me, and I got right to the top this time and it was so well worth it. The views were spectaacular. We could see all of the Snowdonia National Park's highest mountains to the West of us, we could see the wirral and some of Liverpools taller buildings to the North and miles and miles of rolling fields and hills everywhere else.
My photos have come out splendid!
I love a good walk.
But i was very relieved not to be going into work today!