welsh hills again

Ok, now it is time to actually do something myself instead of getting other people to do things!  I am still coughing and bunged up but I persuade myself that doing something outside, however small, will make me feel better.  I like being outside and I wonder if this long, cold, dark and miserable winter has left me short of vitamin D.  First of all I cut back the other artemisia, meaning that this job can come off my list.  If I stick to my resolution only to have five things on a list that means something else can go on.  Time taken, about ten minutes.  This leaves a few minutes for admiring this hellebore being blown about in the wind and the weak sun. Then I decide that the big task of the day (and by big I mean little) will be to dig out some dandelions from the side garden.  And this is the beauty of the 100dayproject for me.  I have decided that doing one thing counts, so, despite the fact that digging six dandelions and four creeping ...

Yesterday was a fabulous bright and glowing day.  How easy it is to spend every hour of every day working and worrying, looking after people, driving up and down the country, baking, gardening, shortening curtains, making jam, working through the endless to do list.  Sometimes you just need to walk away from it all.  Yesterday was the anniversary of my mother's death.  It was a good day to look up, to breathe, to pull on our boots, lock the door and to set off over the hills and far away. Up the hill from our house, the Clwydians were bright in the sun.  It takes half an hour to get to the top, walking first a lane and then a rough track, gaining height with every step. On a clear day you can see forever, across to Snowdonia and right down the Vale of Clwyd to the sea.  Yesterday was as clear as could be, with tiny puffs of riding cloud. See what the wind does up here.  It was still and calm as we came out onto the top but the hawthorn t...

Wednesday 20th June Four Crosses to Carreg y Big 13 miles, 1091 calories used, 8.45 to 4.30 No more rest days now, just five days of walking to the coast. I was fired up with the knowledge that on Friday night I would be sleeping at home and we both felt stronger and fitter. Five days walking, no problem. To Llanymynech took us along the Montgomery Canal, about as different from the hills both behind and ahead of us as could be - ducks, swans, irises and water lilies, beautiful houses with gardens stretching down to the water. Then we began to climb, unable to see the views today in the haze. We were passed as we climbed by three walkers going at what seemed to us an unsustainable speed, the woman at the front setting a scorching pace, a man who seemed to be her partner just about keeping up and another man puffing at the back who looked as though he would far rather have been walking with us! By lunchtime it was raining again but not too hard and we trudged on to Carreg y Big . Grea...