diet and exercise: June 2004 Archives
I've been away the last week, which is why the updates have been a bit thin on the ground. Non-existant, in fact. I spent the week in Anglesey, staying at a very nice bed and breakfast, and taking part on some of the coastal walks as part of the Anglesey Walking Festival. This is the fourth time in five years that the festival has been held, the hiccup being during the foot and mouth crisis. Here's the diary for the week:
Monday
After my alarm clock went off at 7:30am I finally woke up on the stroke of 9:00. Not a brilliant start to the week! Loaded the car up with bikes, suitcases, cd's, rucksacks, sandwiches and anything else that I thought I might need. I left the kitchen sink at home though. I enjoyed an extremely pleasant drive through glorious sunshine all the way across the north coast of Wales, the only downside being that I couldn't easily stop to take photos of the scenery. Arrived at the B&B at 12:15 to be greeted by a young man who told me that the proprietor had just gone out for a couple of hours and he'd put me in the room he thought I should be in. Not a problem, I thought, I could go out on the bike for a bit to pass some time. Took a ride to Cemlyn bay which was, in the early afternoon sunshine, absolutely beautiful. Certainly beats being at the office, I thought to myself. The waves were lapping gently on the pebbly shore, the terns in the local bird sancutary were chirping and squawking away, and the sea was blue and calm. And I thought to myself for the first time this week, you don't need to travel halfway round the world to look at a breathtaking scene. I took a little walk up the hill to have a look round, and straight in front of me was a huge industrial looking building, completely ruining the view. I later found out this was a nuclear power plant. H'mmm.
Upon returning to the B&B I met the proprietor (a lovely lady by the name of Mel) who told me that I was indeed in the right room. So I unpacked and got in the car to start the first walk of the week. This was a four-mile walk around the Penrhos Coastal Path, near Holyhead. While driving to the meeting point I was thinking I had to get something to eat at some point, and as luck would have it I came to a set of traffic lights and straight in front of me was the Valley Hotel, with a big sign outside offering food all day at reasonable prices. That'll do for me, I thought, and the sign wasn't wrong, either. The walk itself was a gentle stroll on the flat, which is a good way to start. There were about 30 people on the walk, and with clear blue skies, blue seas, cliffs and a strong smell of garlic in the air at one point, it was extremely pleasant. The walk started at 7pm and finished at 8:30 - not bad at all.
Tuesday
This time I managed to get out of bed when the alarm went off! Following a very hearty breakfast I set off in the car to the start point for the second walk, this time a six-mile hike starting at Llaneilian on the north east coast. Stopped in Amlwch on the way through and got myself a bite to eat for lunch - you never know when a sandwich would come in handy! Again there were about 30 to 35 people on the walk, and we set off at 9:15am. We climbed a bit, then a bit more. Followed by some more uphill walking. Then a bit more climbing. Just when I'd had enough of getting higher and higher, we stopped for a mid-morning snack (good job I'd also brought some chocolate with me!) at Mynydd Eilian, which stands 177 metres above sea level. The views were spectacular. After a 20-minute break it was downhill to Amlwch port and lunch at 1pm at the Harbour Visitor Centre. A well-earned one hour break there! Finally back to Llaneilian for about 3pm.
I was planning to do another walk in the early evening so I went back to the B&B for a shower and a change of clothes. As I had a few minutes to spare I lay on the bed and closed my eyes. Next thing I knew it was 6:30pm and I'd missed both the last two and a half hours and also the start of the next walk. Ah well, never mind. If you can't have an afternoon nap when you're on holiday when can you have one!
Evening meal was at the Douglas Inn, a two-minute walk down to the main road from the B&B. Even though they were showing Euro 2004 on the big screen, there were still only about half a dozen people in the place. Which suited me down to the ground, as I don't give two hoots about football and even less about beer-swilling football fans!
Wednesday
Big walk today. Nine miles from Llanfaethlu via Carreglwyd to Porth Swtan then up the coast to Cemlyn bay with a coach back to the start point. This was the busiest walk I'd done so far, with about 45 people attending. The walk lasted all day, not getting back to the B&B until 5pm. Once again I had intended to do another walk in the evening, but blisters on my feet made me think again about that one. It also made me think again about doing another walk on the Thursday! The day started off cloudy but cleared up later on. Besides, you don't really want it to be scorchingly hot when you start a walk as you'll only end up getting hotter and hotter. At one point I turned to the person behind me and said "this just goes to show you don't need to travel halfway around the world to see beautiful scenery" only to be given the reply "Actually, I'm from California."
Evening meal was a very tasty but distinctly unhealhy burger and chips from the cafe in Llanfaethlu (not that there's anything unhealthy about their food, all I'm saying is that there are healthier things to eat than burger and chips!)
Thursday
Giving my feet a chance to recover today. Those 1000-mile blister-free socks I spent a small fortune on last week obviously weren't as good as they were made out to be, but never mind, eh? Got in the car and just headed here and there, hither and thither, this way and that, taking photos of anything interesting I saw along the way. Which wasn't a lot, I must admit. So no photo gallery for today I'm afraid. But it made a change from walking! Ended up at the visitor centre at the power station, thinking I must have been scraping the bottom of the barrel to find things to do. I was pleasantly surprised there, as it turned out to be rather interesting.....
Friday
Came home. End of holiday. Boo.
