Southern Sojourn
Posted on 22 Jul, 2010 by Lynne Walker | Filed under Blog • General
Alternative titles could be ‘Avoiding the Scottish wet start to July’ or ‘The other side of July’. We visited my sister in Buckinghamshire for a few days and then had a wander around the Cotswolds and Malvern area before return north. I also carried out a couple of assessments while south. It turned out to be quite an eventful time!
The weather was hot and sunny for a lot of the time we were south. It did not take much to bring you out in a sweat and so any exercise had to be accompanied by taking on lots of fluid before, during and after exercise. Travelling was quite draining as the van does not have air-conditioning and the fan was only able to blow warm air at us. Sleeping also proved to be a bit of a problem with room temperatures in the low 20C overnight. We are just conditioned to cooler climes!
Paul was able to put in some long runs alongside various canals while I was assessing. This gave him a chance to do the distance without the hills and on a reasonably kind surface. We both also ran on the ridge above Cheltenham – Cleeve Common. This was really nice ground – short cropped grass, undulating, some paths and good views. One day I dropped Paul off and he ran to the car park by the masts while I ran a circuit of the Common. He saw me from afar and ran down to join me, following for about 1km before I realised he was there. So lots of photos of me from behind! The following day Paul dropped me off so I could run along a ‘shelf’ before doing a short circuit of the Common.
While staying with my sister we had a day in London, taking a trip on a boat down the Thames. The boat left from Westminster Bridge, calling at St. Katherine’s Dock, Greenwich and then on down and through the Thames Barrier. The commentary was lively and informative. It was very interesting to see the total change to the area east of Tower Bridge and the contrast between the developed north side, with thousands of apartments and office areas and the south side which looked quite forlorn in many places – areas being cleared and decontaminated, the O2 arena, few people on the walkway etc.
We got off the boat at Greenwich on the return journey for a look around. As well as seeing the college, I really wanted to walk up the hill to the Greenwich Observatory to see the Meridian line. It was busy but a fascinating place to browse around. We did not go into all the buildings or look at many exhibitions. It would be worth a return visit when a bit quieter.
The day was rounded off with a meal at one of the many restaurants on the south side just east of Tower Bridge at Spice Quay. We then walked along the south bank to the London Bridge tube station to catch the train home.
After the photos below, there is more to read!
It was not a trouble free trip south though. On the morning we were due to leave my sister’s house a car rolled down the drive opposite and straight into the side of van, denting the middle offside panel in a reasonably spectacular fashion. We were not in the van (Paul was still in bed and I was heading for the shower); a young child had climbed into the back seat of the car to go to nursery and a horrified mother watched the car roll backwards. It is thought that the handbrake was not on fully and the kid getting into the car was enough to mean it did not hold. Very fortunately no one was hurt. The van was still driveable (we did get it checked out in case of chassis damage) so we carried on with our break and came north on Saturday 10th July. Since then we have heard that the van has been declared a write off by the insurance company. More about this in a later post.
I am a level 4 orienteering coach and a qualified Assessor & Coach Educator. I have been orienteering for xx years and have coached on many foreign tours.