Westbury Wander

Today we went to visit Mick and Helen in Westbury. I took part in a really enjoyable run around the hills called the Westbury Wander, the others went for a nice dog walk in the pouring rain. Super fun!

Oscar had a great day, he loves going to see Nanna and Grandad (as you can see from the picture he had lots of fun) and it was a chance for George to meet the canine side of the family.

The run was quite a small event run by Stampede Sports around the Westbury hills near the White Horse. The organisers did a great job and the participants were all very friendly and welcoming.  There were some families, a range of ages and faster runners which meant there was a mixed group; which was reassuring for slow coaches like me.

The checkpoints were well positioned; slow runners could go for a meandering route collecting as many lower scoring checkpoints without going too far a-field. Faster entrants could test themselves and go for the far reaching red flags but I don't think anyone could get them all in the time limit.  The weather was really wet and visibility was tough, all of the flags were put just out of line of sight but not stupidly hidden and their positioning on the map was spot on.

I was surprised that I'd not done so badly on the ranking table and really had a great time. I was convinced that I'd come last so just concentrated on enjoying the run. I planned a route for all the yellow flags and all but one blue, but couldn't find one yellow flag and must have run straight past in a post hill climb confusion ;( but did finish, quite a lot wetter than I started, just inside the time limit.  My phone GPS went crazy when I started recording so a bit of misleading data but here's the google map that I recorded on My Tracks http://goo.gl/maps/jCW3. I've put a copy of the race map with the other pictures.

I passed an awesome chalk pit which the army use as a firing range for training, I took a photo that you can see below. I got snapped by the event photographer, the proper pictures are listed on the link above but I've taken a screen grab of the low res picture for this post.

Ham Wood

We've had a lovely weekend at home decorating the kitchen, we went for a warm Mediterranean theme to contrast the softer cottage style in the adjacent front room.

We finished the kitchen and then went for a nice walk from our home in Shepton Mallet, past Bowlish and into Ham to walk back through the woods.

It's such a lovely time of year with all the spring growth, the woods smelt of fresh wild garlic which have sprung up since the bluebells have finished flowering.

Nicky planned the route from our OS map and fortunately, as you don't always know how well maintained the public footpaths are, she took us neatly into Ham and through a farm (past an impressively built defensive looking bull) into the woods. I recorded the track with My Tracks and you can see the route here.

Leaving the woods we passed some unusual undulating terrain as a result from old lead mining with exposed limestone rocks due to erosion so took a couple of photos.

You can see that the climb up the steps out of the old mined area was pretty steep, but the view across to Glastonbury Tor from the top made it worth it!

I think we'll all sleep well tonight, I'd better get some rest as I'm taking part in a 90 minute trail run tomorrow called the Westbury Wander. I'm sure I'll be Mr. Jelly Legs by this time tomorrow ;)!

Yucky Mucky

Oscar alternates between screaming when he's got a little bit of muck on him until it's cleaned off and just getting plain old dirty.

A walk round Priddy Nine Barrows

We just finished a nice five mile walk around Priddy.  Parked by Stockhill Forest and then took the open ground by Priddy mineries by St. Cuthbert's Swallet and then up to the rows of tumuli where there were lovely views.

It's the sort of place that if I knew anything about nature then I'd be able to find all sorts of interesting flowers and fauna.

There were some interesting stone constructions poking out from underground which, we assumed, were part of the old lead mines.

George, as is becoming the norm with our walks, found some smelly poo, probably fox, and rolled around in it.  He still smells of it as I'm sitting in the back of the car home writing this with the aroma all around me.

I recorded the track with Google's My Tracks so when I've uploaded it I'll add the link to this post. Here's the link to the track we recorded http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=210918956449555810467.0004a353a8d40b913a248.

It was lovely and very beautiful, I'm just looking forward to putting my feet up with a glass of wine!

When Clara met George

I took George out for his afternoon walk just now and bumped into his mum, Clara, and her owner so went on a walk together.

You would think, that both living in Shepton Mallet, we'd cross paths more often but this is only the second time in 5 months.

They had a lovely run together in the fields by the cider factory.  Not the best photos but they wouldn't stay still...

Shedenstein and friends

I finished building our shed!

When we moved in there was a big foreboding green fence separating the garden into a gloomy courtyard near the house and an expanse of gravel by the road. I had a number of bicycles and all the tools from the allotment so we had to pile them all up in the courtyard under a sheet of tarpaulin.

Once the snow passed in January we had had enough of the looming fencing so took it all down. I'd looked into small sheds and storage boxes but now we had a pile of timber decided to use it to build a shed to measure.

Quite a bit was rotten so cut off all the bad ends etc. and used the posts to make a frame with the heavyweight timbers as a base to weigh it down. I clad the outside by overlapping the fencing. Unfortunately about half way in we realised the wood would run out, fortunately Nicky had the idea to use some wardrobe doors we salvaged so we only had to buy chipboard and felt for the roof and a small amount of feathered boards to finish the job.

We've put the trellis on the wall by the door and I also made a trough to use as a planter from the fencing off cuts so none went to waste.

This all fits in with the bedench (bed + bench, gettit?) that I previously made when we were in London by cutting down Nicky's old bed and flanking it with square planters made from a single futon frame that someone had chucked out.

We've still got some painting to finish, carrying on with the cream and red theme, but pretty chuffed now all the major work has been completed.

A little eccentric, I know!

Visitors

Today Oscar's Nanna and Grandad came to visit.  Nicky and I cooked together, yes I was allowed in the kitchen, and made maqlubah from the 'Arab Israeli cookbook'.

Preparations were well on the way and, to give the boys some fresh air, I took Oscar and George out for a walk. All of a sudden, near Collette Park, a rather handsome lurcher appeared. I think we've met him before in town and he's Hannah's dog Speedy. No owner in sight and George desperate to play pulled me all over the place while I tried to push the buggy along. Speedy followed us home and we're looking after him until the council opens tomorrow and we can get the dog warden round. We'd love to home him if the owner's can't be found.

It must have been quite a sight for Mick and Helen to arrive and find a lurcher tied up on a piece of string in the garden....

We had a lovely time together, Oscar played with some lovely toys that he was given.  It was a shame that time passed so quickly and can't wait for a return visit!

We'll see what happens with Speedy and hope he's reunited with his family soon.

2011 so far!

Seeing as I've just started this blog a brief update from this year would be a good starting post:

A visit to the Brothertons to meet Saul

I went to visit Jasmin and Stewart shortly after my nephew, Saul Albert Brotherton, was born. Here's Jasmin with Saul, he was so little but very sweet!

He spent a lot of the time asleep as newborns should, but, like his cousin Oscar, I was surprised at how interested in what was going on around him.

A day trip to Nunney

Here's Oscar getting ready for the cold weather, he's in his super hat his grandad got him in Canada. I was trying to tell him that his boots aren't gloves but somehow that didn't get through and he thought this was hilarious.

So this is Nunney castle, I like the way they've kept it from falling into disrepair but not rebuilt it. It's a really nice place and we went for a lovely walk afterwards.

Winter walks brrrr....

There's a lot of fantastic places to walk around Somerset but you have to be prepared for the worst; fortunately we just got the rain cover for Oscar's carrier as during this walk along the top of Cheddar Gorge we were lashed with cold rain as it bucketed down with strong winds.

Oscar Hi-jinx

Oscar loves to stack and doesn't just stick to stacking cups and blocks, he makes impossible towers for anything he can get his hands on.

You've got to dress up properly if you're going on the swings in the rain.

Wells

The nearest city is Wells, the population is smaller that should be for a city but it's a cathedral city.

Brean beach

Our nearest beach is Brean, you can't really get to the sea due to the large expanse of beach which, due to the wet sands, has areas of quick sand on the way to the water.  We went there with George who loved running around on the beach.

Charlton Viaduct

Just down the road from us the old viaduct from the disused railway route, there are a number of fields where we can take Oscar and George for a nice run about.

Stourhead

We recently went to Stourhead to look at the gardens, it's such a beautiful place and plan to go a number of times through the seasons.

Oscar's career options

Librarian?

Beautician?

Weymouth

Another nearby beach is Weymouth, it's more of a traditional seaside than Brean with sandy beaches and gentle tides.  This was Oscar's first play on the beach with a bucket and spade, although he thought he'd been given an oversized spoon.

Oscar visits the Brothertons

Oscar and I went to seen Aunty Jasmin, Uncle Stewart and Cousin Saul at their home in Sydenham. We had a lovely time (apart from the train journeys...)

Oscar's a bit more of a handful thank little Saul

He's such a lovely smily little boy and has grown so fast, you wouldn't think he was only born in January!

Here's Grandma with kids and grandkids

Oscar was very interested in Saul and fortunately very gentle too!

Home improvements

We did a bit of decorating in doors but have decided to concentrate on the garden, it had horrible fencing which blocked the view of the house so we pulled it down and painted the door red. I've been building a shed from the old fences to keep garden tools and bicycles and once it's finished will pop some pictures up of that too.

I'm driving

Oscar has decided that he would rather push his buggy or trike rather than sit in it. This does make going for a walk take about ten times as long as expected though...

Badminton Horse Trials

We went to the Badminton horse trials and took Oscar and George, Oscar really liked all the "arses"; he even got to pet one.  George was very well behaved.

George was pretty tired from all the excitement and enjoyed a rest in the cool grass and I got to take a picture of him staying still for a change.

There was very fat huntsman who was trotting around who made me giggle every time I saw him...

I managed to catch one of the horses in mid jump

Here's Oscar patting a police arse, he didn't want to go and got a little upset when we took him away.

Bucket head

Bristol zoo

Oscar really liked the seals although he kept calling them ducks, you can see Oscar and Nicky on the right.

I'm an idiot...

Sarsen trail

We took part in the Sarsen trail, it's a trail from Avebury to Stonehenge.  We did the shortest distance (7 miles from Avebury to All Cannings) as I had Oscar in a backpack and Nicky had George on a lead.  We're thinking about entering the marathon next year and running the whole distance.

Oscar really liked the biplane that flew overhead a few times

We were pretty tired by the end but all in such a good mood as had a lovely time.