Catching up and counting down!

So much to catch up on but not enough time, poor blog. I seem to have got out of the habit of posting which is silly 'cos I enjoy looking back at things. Maybe I should just move to Instagram? Or maybe not!

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First we have our garden visitors:

Mrs Woodpigeon is on her second brood and this time she's nested in the hedge alongside the driveway. I took these snaps whilst washing up the breakfast dishes.

Some visitors aren't quite as welcome as they have devastated our apple crop and vandalised the other fruit trees. I spotted this magnificent Stag down by the pond early one morning - I think he looks more like a cow with stick-on horns rather than a Deer!

Then I was treated to a lovely Sunrise in the front garden:

This is a different stag and his mate and I keep seeing them in the orchard in the early morning. I wish they'd stop eating the branches of the apple trees!

The purple Buddleia in the front garden has been covered in Butterflies for weeks and when the sun is out the air around it is sickly sweet! Here are just  few:

Peacock

Red Admiral

Comma

Silver-washed Fritillary (I think!)

We're still busy digging out the next bed to plant in the front garden and it's jolly hard work as there's only about 3" of topsoil covering the rock-hard yellow clay, then we have to barrow more topsoil to raise the level!

The Yukka has been magnificent this year

The new bed next to the shade garden has settled in well and has been in flower for months

The 'Cherry Pie' plants above, so-called because they smell of cherries and vanilla, have been magnificent and although the leaves on the Canna lillies make a lovely contrast hey haven't produced any flowers which was disappointing. Their bright orange flowers would have contrasted well with the deep blue.

Part of the herb border - I love the mustard yellow of the Curry plants set against the Lavender and the white flowers of the self-seeded Feverfew bring a brightness to the planting.

The Countdown has begun

Yep, at last I am finally counting down the last 10 marathons to reach my 200th marathon having had to put everything on hold due to Covid! As usual, details of what I'm doing can be found on my fund-raising page here: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/extremeknittingredhead and all donations are most welcome.

191 was an event I hadn't done before - 28 miles of rather gruelling trail on the South Downs. It was really hot and I was even slower than usual and walked most of the uphill sections. At least I finished within the time limit! Plus, my photos didn't come out very well as my light settings were wrong so here are just a few to give a taste of it:

Next up was another Saxons, Viking and Normans event at the Cyclopark in Gravesend which was a complete contrast to the rolling hills of Sussex! It was the first event in a 12 day extravaganza called the Zodiac Challenge in which people can choose to run all 12 or just dip in and out, which is what I'm doing.

It was nice to catch up with some people I haven't seen for over 18 months. I didn't take my camera as it's not the most scenic of routes! I've entered 5 separate days to get my numbers up and started with 'Leo' yesterday. 

It's a rather nice medal and the central section swivels round:

On the Knitting Front:

I finished another cardigan and it is lovely. I really enjoyed working with this yarn and am delighted with how it looks when worn.

It's the Gambit Cardigan and the instructions are absolutely brilliant with videos for the different techniques used. It was an absolute joy and I finished it really quickly, which is unusual for me, and I've just realised I haven't updated my Ravelry page for ages - oops!

The wool used was Black Elephant slub in the colour 'Delirium' (which seems appropriate for these challenging times!) and I really enjoyed its nubbly bits, flecked with turquoise and dark purple.

Currently on my needles is the Scout Shawl by Florence Spurling - https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/scout-shawl. I purchased a kit from Loop London and it's very absorbing:

I'm sure I've missed some things out but my mind's gone completely blank now so I'll leave you with some cute kitty photos - Shelley enriches our lives every day, bless her! Her favourite things, apart from playing games with Mike or playing chase with me, are sunbathing & sleeping.

On a final note, Blogger is really pretty rubbish these days with no spell checker and other annoying quirks, the most annoying being that I can't edit my profile so it looks as if I'm still on 185 marathons - grrrr!

149 and feeling fine!

Since finishing my 100 mile Challenge back in March I've just been coasting along, knocking out a marathon here and there and just generally enjoying running in our beautiful countryside.  Then yesterday I realised I'm nearly at 150 marathons.  How on earth did that happen?  I still can't quite believe it!  I think it just goes to show that you can complete the seemingly impossible with hard work and determination.

I hadn't intended to run yesterdays event but then sneaked in at the last minute because it honoured the brave men who fought for the freedom we enjoy nowadays.

Last month it was 75 years since the Dambusters raid and yesterday we had the opportunity to run along the coast by Reculver beach where the devices were tested all those years ago.  One of the so-called 'bouncing bombs' was washed up on the beach recently but it has been removed now so we didn't get to see it.  It would have been perfect if a Lancaster had flown past - we do sometime see one at home en-route to various air shows.

We had a very early start at 7am which meant I had to get up at 4am (yikes) and I left home at 5am as it's quite a hike to that part of Kent.  Thankfully the traffic was light at such a ridiculous hour and so I arrived in plenty of time so took a few photos before the start:

I was reminded of Castles in the Sand by Jimi Hendrix.  This is just an instrumental version as I can't find the original which is a shame.

I love the big skies and amazing light in this part of the Kent coast.  It's no wonder JMW Turner spent so much time in Margate.  Throughout the day there were times when you could hardly tell where the sky ended and the sea began.  It was beautiful.

At the pre-race briefing there were the usual celebrations - a 200th marathon, someone heading toward their 100th etc etc.  The local council had insisted on the early start because it gets very busy along the paths and they wanted the race to be finished asap.  It's a popular place for tourists, dog walkers, families walking, cyclists etc and even thought the paths are quite wide it can be tricksy at times (especially when you get people walking 4 abreast or cyclists in small groups coming at eachother from different directions!

The route was 2 x out-and-back stretches of 3.8 miles followed by 2 x 9.28 mile loops up past Reculver Towers and a bit further (fabulous views from the top!).

About 1/2 mile in and focused on trying not to go out too fast.  Neil, in the red top, is just behind me there but soon came level and we ran the first 2 shorts loops together.

The tide was going out when we set off.

At the end of each lap we got our cards clipped but after 2 laps Neil headed into the aid station whilst I carried on as I didn't want to stop.

As well as the glorious views there was plenty to look at en-route including these two alternative modes of pedal-powered transport:

I resisted taking too many photos for as long as I could but  on my last long lap I just had to take some more:

There was a Junior Parkrun taking place on this slope and it was lovely watching the little ones push that little bit harder when I shouted "well done!" to them.

 

I trotted home in 5:11:42 and was quite happy with that on such a hot day.