Tuesday 24 February 2015

Almost two weeks ago, my life was completely turned upside down. I have thought long and hard about whether to say something on this blog, whether to take a break, whether to start afresh. I still don't know whether saying anything at all is a good thing or not. I do know though that I don't want to stop writing this blog and I don't want to carry on as though nothing has happened and everything's the same as it was. Because it isn't.
Without going into too much detail, my future has changed completely and I'm having to rebuild my life. The holiday let is on the back burner and when it does happen, I don't know if I'll be involved - I don't know if I'll be able to. Very much out of the blue I'm having to put 10 years of history and what I thought was happiness behind me. I am a strong person and I know I'll get through it, but right now, the confusion, anger and above all the sadness is overwhelming. To have my trust so completely betrayed is a bitter pill to swallow.

Last weekend, I put our two bikes on the back of the car and drove to Felixstowe with 12yo. Like any other 12yo, he loves his electronic gadgets. His iPad, Minecraft, YouTube, headphones, lots of giggles - I'm sure it's a scene familiar to many with a young teenage boy. But 12yo is also always up for going out, specially if it involves physical activity. He loves cycling - definitely some Dutch genes there! Like me, he likes the beach and Felixstowe, and I figured a day by the sea and some exercise would blow some cobwebs away.
We started off at Landguard Point, the most southerly point of Felixstowe where all the cranes are and you see all the big container ships coming in.The plan was to cycle north along the coast towards Felixstowe Ferry where I'd only been once before, with parttime dog. There was a cold wind, but the sun was shining and as soon as I was out on the bike, I felt better for it.

 

The southerly and northerly point of Felixstowe are very unspoilt. Not touristy pretty, but quietly unassuming, whereas the middle bit is full of arcades and seaside snack stands. We stopped at Felixstowe Ferry by the river Deben and warmed up with a hot chocolate (that in fact, was so hot that I burnt my tongue and mouth!) while watching the seagulls and a little boat being dragged onto a trailer. I let 12yo decide how he wanted to cycle back - retracing our 'steps' or another part of the circular route we were doing. He chose to go back the same way - which was with a strong headwind that had picked up during our ride, and a lot of uphill too.

After another hour we were back at the car park at Landguard Point, by which time we were both ready for a spot of lunch. There is a new-to-us visitor centre with a little cafe doing, by the looks of it, a roaring trade - we were lucky to find a table near the window. Not that 12yo had much time to look out of the window...

Fifteen miles and he was HUNGRY - I just about had time to take a picture because five minutes later his plate was clean!

Although initially I found it hard to pick up the needles again, now I find it brings me some calmness when my thoughts won't stop falling over themselves. It's odd, because I don't need to concentrate on knitting, but the repetitive action seems to be therapeutic.
Back in January, I signed up to take part in a Dutch blanket KAL or knitalong. Dad bought me a book about the history of Dutch fisherman ganseys, a garment I have always liked. Last summer an exhibition was held in the south of the Netherlands to go with publication of the book, but rather than have all the visitors touch all the old and sometimes fragile sweaters, the organisers decided to knit squares with all the different motifs and sew those up into a big blanket. It proved to be a huge hit with visitors and the idea of a knitalong was born. For five months we get sent 5 patterns for 5 different blocks, and you end up with a blanket of 25 different blocks. I'd been given some undyed sheep's wool for my birthday and decided to use that for my blocks, so my blanket will be varying shades of brown. I'm really enjoying taking part - there is a very active Facebook page with 416 members where we all show our progress and exchange hints, advice and lots of laughter. I believe the total number of participants is more than 1000 already...

Anyway, these are my first five blocks:

 And the first block in more detail:

I'm going to knitting group tonight where I'm planning to cast on for the sixth block. I'm not sure my blanket will be finished by the summer, but I love knitting it and I have seen so many different colour combinations, that I suspect I will be knitting a few others when this one is finished. One in traditional fisherman gansey blue for example...

Wednesday 14 January 2015

I still do bike rides, at least once a week. Every Sunday morning B. has race training at the dry ski slope in Norwich, and I come along and cycle for almost 3 hours. Getting up at 7.30am on a Sunday morning isn't always easy, but then when I ride out of the ski club into the fresh air, I feel quite smug at being out there so early.

Of course, the location and time limit my range a little bit - always starting from the same location means you always explore the same area, and I have to be back by the end of the morning, even though B. doesn't complain about a few extra runs if I'm late. Oddly enough, most Sundays I seem to be able to find something new - a little country lane I hadn't spotted before or had always wanted to go down but had never made the time for, a church or nice building I haven't seen previously - and I've also developed the knack of being back just when race training is finished and all cleared up.

Last Sunday was my first bike ride of this year. During the week I keep a close eye on the weather forecast - I can cope with most weather conditions but relentless rain is not one of them. I'm very fortunate in that most weeks, the weather is kind enough for me to go out. I sometimes get the odd shower, but lycra dries very quickly (and by now, I have a big sports bag full of tops and leggings!). This week it was windy - very windy - very icy windy! I thought beforehand that it was warmer so only wore my leggings, not my thermal leggings underneath, and boy, were my legs cold at the end. I only warmed up properly once we were visiting B's dad in hospital that afternoon.

Anyway, on to some photos.

St. Remigius at Dunston

First snowdrops!

St. Mary's at Swardeston. The father of Edith Cavell was rector here, and she is mentioned on the war memorial. Last Summer I had a proper look inside the church, where there is lots of information about her. A very sad story.
The lychgate was built and donated by a member of the congregation in memory of his wife at the end of the 19th century. I don't know why but I do like this lychgate - maybe because of how it came to be, because of how good it still looks more than a 100 years later, of because of its honest simplicity.

St. Peter's at Swainsthorpe, sadly locked, but with a bonus cat...

St. Edmund at Caistor St. Edmund. I've cycled past this church many times and you can also see it when you drive along the A140, the main road for us into and out of Norwich. Considering its location (at the edge of a Roman town), I had expected a bit more of it, but I found it slightly disappointing. It probably didn't help that every time I stood still, I noticed how cold I was, as this was towards the end of the bike ride!

Every church has something unique though, and this one's no different. Most porches have corbels and they're often angels facing outwards. This one has a bishop and a king, and unusually they face each other.

The highlight for me was the church graffiti - which you find very often - but this one, they think, represents Norwich Cathedral. It certainly looks like the cathedral!

20 miles in total - a bit shorter than usual because of the strong wind. We warmed up with a hot chocolate at the club house and then went on to Hughes Electrical to buy a fridge/freezer, dishwasher and washer/dryer for our almost-finished holiday let - but that's a blog post for later this week!

Wednesday 26 June

I have written my first ever guest blog post!
Hop on over to In Norfolk to read all about my cycling adventures in Norfolk.

Thank you to Lucy for giving me the chance to post on her blog!

Tuesday 4 June

After completing my month of blogging challenge, I felt at a bit of a loss as to where to go from there. I'd actually got quite used to thinking about what to write about each day, and now there was no subject supplied, I couldn't think what to write about even though I wanted to keep posting more regularly. I've had a few ideas though, so let's see if I can bring them to fruition!

Last weekend I managed to fit quite a bit of exercise in. On Friday night after work I cycled up to the ski club from B's house. After the very long, grey, drizzly and miserable spell (can a spell be long?), we finally had a taste of summer and it was lovely to be out on the bike in the early evening sunshine. I got to the ski club a little before the end of the race session so cycled along the river that I normally only see in winter time. It was glorious - lots of birds, many of them with young. The goslings were so cute! No photos, apart from this one, which was my treat after cycling 17 miles:

On Saturday we had to get a few things done so it wasn't till mid afternoon that I got on the bike. Earlier in the week I had been back to the Bike It! website run by South Norfolk council, where you can find 8 or 9 bike routes of varying lengths. I have done quite a few of them in the past and very much enjoyed them, so decided to tackle one which I hadn't done before. It was a 5 or 6 mile ride to the start point though, plus 23 miles without detours (or getting lost!), and another 5 or 6 miles back - which would take me several hours. I really lacked motivation as I got on the bike and during the first mile or so I almost turned around to go back home. But I ignored the 'negative voice in my head' (best fitness advice I've ever read!) and carried on, and when I returned just before 7pm with 32 miles under my belt, I was glad I had made the effort. A few photos:

 Shimpling Church, just north of Diss

 Burston Church

 Burston Strike School

 A hedgerow find! No, I didn't bring it home...

 Frenze Church - no longer in use but still beautiful

On Sunday, B. had a ski race in Milton Keynes and left at 4.30 in the morning. After catching up on a little sleep I returned home and fetched parttime dog for a decent walk out. I'd printed off a walk that started off in Hartest, a pretty little village a little south of me. It didn't disappoint - hills, painted Suffolk houses, history, a lovely church and glorious sunshine - what more can a walker and a dog ask for?

 Hartest Green

 Sheep and lambs at Giffords Vineyard

 That white blur is parttime dog wondering why I'm not following close behind

 Rape fields - almost past their best

 A neglected little house in a farm yard

 Holy Trinity at Boxted

 There'd been a wedding the day before, the flowers were still up

 Stunning roof

 Try and work that one out... (someone said it was brother and sister who married sister and brother)

 The church is full of history about a local family, the Poleys and the Weller-Poleys. Allegedly, they were the inspiration for the nursery rhyme A frog he would a-wooing go.

 Boxted Hall, a private hotel

 A scratch dial - an early form of sundial which would indicate the times of services

The village sign at Hartest

A lovely walk, just over 6 miles long due to getting lost a little trying to find the church - even my legs were getting tired by now, and parttime dog was struggling a little on the hills. I've given him a couple of days' rest to recover...