Warm and sunny England
I’m finally in one place (and a place with an internet connection) so I have a chance to update the blog. It's a major task now so I’ll be brief and add some pics to give a flavour of the holiday so far.(Well I intended to add some pics but for some reason blogger is not letting me do it at the moment. I'll add them in later if I can)We’ve been away for nearly 3 weeks. It’s flown by and Mr lulu has flown off back to Sydney already. I’m now back at my parent’s house down in sunny Dorset. It’s sunny now but when we arrived in England it was cold, grey and drizzling with rain.
On the running front we started off well with a run around the local marsh, attractively called Stanpit Marsh. It’s much prettier than it sounds with the wild ponies grazing and a lovely river and harbour as well as a great view of the local abbey which is 1000 years old in parts. I’ll try and get a good pic of the view before I leave.
Then it was off to Devon, which for those not familiar with UK geography is the South West of the UK, and is a very pretty part of England. Not that we could see much of it as it was blanketed in fog for the first two days we were there. Undeterred we did a couple of walks and runs and after a few days the weather did improve to be moderately cold with a few glimpses of sun. Picture proves that I have done some running and also that the English country side can be very pretty.
After 4 days in Devon it was back to Mum and Dad’s for one night before heading to Surry to stay with my friends Liz and Mark. I’ve known Liz since I first started work 20 years ago so we always have a lot to chat about! We did two runs from their house; one along a stream and through some woods along a path which is part of a walking track that goes all the way around London. That was about 8km. The second was just a short loop of 5.5km that Liz had shown us when we arrived.
Next stop was Venice which was fantastic and is where the running came to an abrupt stop. Mr lulu was still nursing his sore calf that stopped him doing the SMH half and I’m still not 100% happy with my left knee/itb/hamstring or something. As Venice is not really ideal for running it seemed like as good a place as any to have a holiday from getting up early too! Instead we did masses of walking around the canals and alleyways of Venice. We did lots of boat rides on the vaporettas (water buses) and generally enjoyed ourselves. Our hotel was excellent. It was positioned in the back streets on a small canal and it’s claimed that Marco Polo used to live there. Fortunately they’ve renovated since then though. Pic below of me on the balcony of our hotel. It was a great location close to the main market where we brought some fruit for breakfast and tucked away sufficiently that we could get away from the hordes of tourists.
Food and wine was fantastic as you’d expect; everything is so fresh and we had lots of fun trying out the local Italian wines as well as experimenting with our basic Italian. It’s safe to say we are very proficient at ordering food and wine and that’s about it. Still what else do you need? A number of years ago I worked for Pirelli and was still in contact with one of the guys I used to work with. He kindly made the 3 hour trip from Milan to buy us lunch and we are pictured below as well as a lovely pic of Mr lulu and I.
After that it was two days in London staying with some more friends and having a great night out at a French restaurant; more lovely food and wine and still no running from me although Stephen took our host out for a quick blast around the local streets of Richmond whilst I caught up with the gossip with the hostess. The weather had dramatically improved now we’re back in England with temperatures up to 27 degrees.
On Saturday I had to bid farewell to Mr lulu who is now safely arrived in Sydney and I returned to Mum and Dad.
So finally after 10 days off running I finally dragged myself out this morning for a trot around Stanpit Marsh again. I felt quite spritely and the time off has definitely been good for my niggles although the left quad/itb is still not feeling 100%. Consequently this morning I felt a short run was all it was up for and so I just did one Stanpit loop: 4km. I’m going to try a longer run tomorrow along the beach front and see what happens.
I’m quite amazed that despite all the eating I’ve been doing I haven’t put on any weight and now I’m back to Mum’s I’m back on the protein shakes for a few days. I’m hoping that I’ll still be the same as when I left when I get back so that I don’t have to start again.
posted by Lulu @ 2:25 AM
8 Comments:
Hello darling!!!
Sounds like you are having a wonderful time. Can't wait to see the photos. See you when you get back (at the Lindt cafe maybe!)
Take care,
J xx
Lovely to hear about your adventures. Enjoy the stay with Mum and Dad.
TA
Ah, I turning green with envy reading this. Mmmmm, Italian wine :-)
Must be nice getting looked after by your folks. Do they and your old friends think you a little crazy with all this 'running stuff'?
Sounds a fabulous trip. Eating and drinking those italian protein shakes must be good for the health and diet.
Weather has been wet and cold here, don't hurry home.
What a wonderful holiday you're having. You know we're all terribly jealous :)
Looking forward to the pics.
HEY!!!! Great to hear from you! Oooh I am green with envy. Venice sounds fantastic :-)
Can't wait to hear all the detals when you get home.... mmmmm maby another lunch or coffee will be in order!
Take care and see you soon
Katie
yep - joining the jealous brigade! have missed you loads and looking forward to getting you back (for purely selfish reasons) although i can per-happpps see the appeal in the destinations so far... glad you are having a great time! and see you back at sweat soon :)
I'm glad you're having a good time Lulu. V.v. jealous about Venice.
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