Word of the week - Walks (Australia) Part One.

We've walked a lot in Australia averaging around 8 miles a day.

Each walk we complete is a walk for Stephanie and a practice for the sponsored walk I'm doing on September 27th in the Chilterns for Bowel Research. I'm at 60% of my set target. I'd really appreciate it if you could share this post.

We can walk 3-4 miles just getting to and from places to start our walks.There's an excellent bus service from our accommodation and a great network of buses, trains and trams to get us around the city and to and from our sons and his girlfriends. 

We're out by 9am and don't get back till late. On top of these walks we've also been out in the evenings.

I'll update the walks as the rest of our holiday goes on in Part Two.

So far we've walked 115.9 miles.

Thursday 21st August Clovelly to Paddington. 6 miles

I caught the bus to Bondi Junction then I walked to Paddington to see my son and his girlfriend.

Friday 22nd August Clovelly to The Crypto Castle. 6.4 miles

Despite the pouring rain we managed half of our walk.

Saturday 23rd  Haymarket and Darling Harbour. 7.6 miles

Sunday 24th Centennial Park. 8.3 miles

Monday 25th Clovelly to Coogee. 10.1 miles

Tuesday 26th Bondi Beach to Clovelly. 6.4 miles

Two buses to Bondi and a walk back.

Wednesday 27th Sydney. 9.6 miles

Thursday 28th Maroubra Beach to Coogee. 9.1 miles

A bus to Maroubra and a bus back from Coogee. The hill to Clovelly is just a step too far as we discovered yesterday.

Friday 29th Spit Bridge to Manly. 11.1 miles

Three buses to Spit, a long walk. A ferry from Manly to Circular Quay and two buses home.

Saturday 30th Paddington and Clovelly Beach. 6 miles

A day walking around Paddington Markets and the town, followed by a walk to the beach and back for sunset.

Sunday 31st The Blue Mountains. 8.6 miles

A 90 minute drive away.

Monday 1st September Manley. 6.8 miles

A bus, ferry, walk, ferry and a walk to the bus home.

Tuesday 2nd Sydney Harbour Bridge. 5.4 miles

A bus and a walk over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, a walk to Wendy Whiteley's Secret Garden. Ferry back into the City and a bus to sons, then a walk home from the pub.

Wednesday 3rd 

Bus to Bondi Junction for some shopping and lunch, bus to Bronte Beach, walk to Clovelly. 5.9 miles

I'm promoting my fundraising as we go for Bowel Research in memory of Stephanie.

Week 43 - One Daily Positive. Autumn walks

Started on Beta Blockers this week to help ease my migraines, anything is worth a go now. They are also supposed to help with anxiety, which has been getting worse as I get closer to thinking about returning to Dubai next month. I've also been having some problems with chest pain on the right hand side and although the iron infusion is starting to help with the lethargy, I still can't seem to take a full breath in my right lung. I'm starting to question if I have pneumonia again. It's something I've had several times over recent years. I'll contact the Doctor next week, if it doesn't improve or gets worse.

Container due in on the 7th November, no word from the UK side and I don't even have a copy of my insurance, the container seal number or any booking info. Yes, I'm stressed, but also Inshallah, basically it's God's will. I shall be asking hubby to call the UAE side and ask them to 'do the needful'. Honestly!!!!

House/pet sitters confirmed and visiting next week so I can meet them and they can see where they're living for the next 3 months. There's a few things I need to do in the house before they come. The bed needs taking apart and reassembling in the spare room, the 2nd half of the curtains need to be hung in the conservatory and decorating the last two bedrooms.

292 Sunday I took Bob for a walk up the Malvern Hills and a take away coffee in town. I collected conkers, acorns, twigs and leaves, why? why not? I raked leaves off the lawn and made a leaf composting basket. My friend phoned and asked if I wanted to join her for a dog walk, so in the afternoon we set off for a 3 hour ramble to explore a new route she's been wanting to try. The views were amazing.

293 Monday The migraine has now settled in the left hand side of my neck and I'm back to NOT sleeping again. I mowed the lawns and spent the afternoon with Bob at Croome.

294 Tuesday I booked a ticket to visit Country Pumpkins for Bob and I. I picked 3pm as I figured there would be less kids as it would be pick up time. Kids aren't a problem but they all want to pet Bob and he gets a bit over whelmed plus the parents come to close to me without masks. 

295 Wednesday Walked up the Malvern Hills, through the woods and back through town. Started a new jigsaw and baked a date and walnut cake and some dog biscuits.

296 Thursday I had a full day and got home at 9.30pm absolutely shattered. Door step dropped some jam jars with an old school friend, called in at a friends, unannounced who has been having a tough time recently, a quick cup of tea and natter. Bob escaped from her garden and some random guy walked him up from the village towards the voices yelling 'Bob' Garden visit and cuppa with another friend, then on to collect a crochet gift from Hooks and Dragon then to visit grandchild and Daughter in Law for a walk in the woods and dinner. 

297 Friday Popped to a local charity shop to buy a toy pram and a vacuum cleaner for grandchild, into town for Novembers Gardening magazine and a Costa. Home to finally hang the curtains, but ran out of curtain hooks, ran the cleaner round, did some jobs in the garden and my friend visited with chips. Put together some quick Halloween decorations.

298 Saturday Off to Worcester in the final saga of the Wickes door return. Walked along the canal and the town, stopping for a starbucks, home, walked Bob in the pouring rain, spent the afternoon on the sofa watching TV.

On the blog this week:

#SP Socially distanced wine and cheese hamper in the garden

My Sunday Photo - Uptown Dubai

A visit to a Pumpkin Patch with Bob the dog

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Camping with a dog in Oxfordshire, Barefoot Campsites - Day out with my dog

 Bob and I were invite to join friends camping at Barefoot Campsites in Oxfordshire for the weekend. The weather was reasonably good, some rain, but it didn't;t interfere with our planned activites, a walk to the pub and we managed to get the tent dry before packing it up.

Bob has been camping with me many times, all in South Africa. He does get a bit smelly, but it doesn't interfere with his eating or sleeping, he's just happy to be outdoors as much as possible.

It was a long drive to Oxford, dropping Peter at Heathrow, back to Bristol for a COVID test so I could fly the following week. I was surprised at how much space there was for Bob to have a walk and stretch his legs at Reading Services on the way to Bristol and back to Oxford.

I have a super long lead for Bob so he can explore but not escape, he has NO recall at all.

Given half the chance, he would have spent the day in the tent.

The scenery was stunning alongside the Thames for walking.

Whilst the sheep were fenced off from the path, the cows and bull weren't and people were letting their dogs run straight through the gates into the fields.

So after lunch and a pint, Bob and I decided to walk back along the main road, which was 7 miles to avoid the livestock and inconsiderate dog owners.

The rain held off mostly, but we were both dressed for the weather.

We stopped at another pub for a rest and I purchased some flowers from a house selling them on the side of the road.

The last mile back to the camp site.

Both Bob and I slept well that night.

I'm hoping Bob and I can go camping again towards the end of September when I'm back in the UK and have done my 2 weeks isolation. Wish us luck with the weather as we're planning to go to the beach.

One Daily Positive - Week 42

My last full week in the UK before I fly home on Monday. I had the benefit of car hire for the rest of my trip so spent it catching up and saying goodbyes, dropping off Christmas, Birthday gifts and cards as I won't be back until mid February.

287 Sunday Spent the morning shopping for food for Thing 1's birthday on Monday. Finished wrapping gifts and writing cards. Popped into say bye to my niece Mini Me as I won't see her again until February. Child 2 and 2a came for dinner and we popped into the pub to see child 3.

288 Monday Off to visit child 1 and onto meet Sarah (Mumof3World) for a coffee and catch up. Visited Thing 1 for his 5th birthday for tea and cake.

289 Tuesday Coffee in Ross-on-Wye with instagram friend Alison (rubbishwife) posted a couple of parcels and complained to the local specsavers about them using the private car park as their own.

290 Wednesday Spent the afternoon with child 5 in Cirencester. Had to return the car hire to Birmingham and collect a new one. It was £127 for 2 weeks, but they wanted to charge me £524 to extend for an extra 5 days. So I booked new car hire for £71 plus the cost of fuel to get up and down from Monmouth. Popped into a friends in the evening on the way home.

291 Thursday Took mum to Newport for the morning, had dinner with a friend at her home in the evening.

292 Friday Visited child 2 and 2a's friends in a near by town as they invited me over for a cuppa. Lunch with child 3. Afternoon spent cleaning the flat preparing it for winter.

293 Saturday Spent the morning cleaning the flat some more and after a coffee called in to see ex MIL and niece, then headed off to the local coffee shop to blog and called into see child 2 and 2a who live nearby also. Child 5 flew out to the US this morning for a week with work. I'm so proud of all the children, their achievements, places they've visited and their future ahead.

On the blog this week:

A walk round the Forest of Dean in search of the stain glass window on the Sculpture Trail
A book review with Clever Tykes
What are they building now in Dubai?

An InLinkz Link-up

The Sculpture Trail, Forest of Dean

We used to live in the Forest of Dean from 1994-2002. We did make the most of woodland walks, activities and facilities while the children were growing up and we love to revisit when we're in the area.

One of our favourite areas when the kids were small was Beechenhurst and the Sculpture Trail. Unfortunately the kids weren't too intereseted in walking around the trail, prefer the play areas and cafe instead, so on our last trip Peter and I decided to walk the whole route. Sadly there are very few sculptures left, so we gave up looking for them and concentrated on the walk and foraging for chestnuts, that were falling with speed from great heights, meaning we spent most of our time looking up at the sky to avoid injury.

It was a bright sunny autumnal day and crunchy underfoot.