grendel

well I have made it to day 5, and i estimate I have covered about 10 miles in these walks so far, today I was exploring some of the smaller paths, I found this wonderful tree house that someone had fun building, then carried on via some of the smaller paths to the pond, where I found Mrs Duck shepherding her brood around in one corner. then i headed back, by different routes to those previously used, where I found some nice trees to photograph, not sure whether this was an oak that was blasted by lightning, but it looked good. then it was time to head back home, 1 hours walk.

i went on the Renault website as they said they would recommend which electric car to choose, went right through their questionnaire, and was recommended... A diesel car, not even a hybrid. as long as this is the case i cant see how the government can expect to do the changeover from fossil fuels to electric. i have nowhere at either end to charge, and do more than the range of most electric cars daily.

i thought the whole idea of throwing it sideways was to get an angle on the rope.

well today I think I can say I am starting to feel the benefits of all this exercise, I had a 2 mile stroll today, heading past the pond and up the easy route to the top, I avoided the hard route and did a big circular walk back past the trenchworks where I stopped to get a few pictures, a bit colder today but the walk kept me warm, tee shirt and shorts weather. I arrived home feeling less washed out than previous days and the sit down and recover time seems to be getting shorter.

I had used the telegraph they would have known I was coming before I left too.

I took the wrong path because i was using the sun, , both paths headed off then turned slightly, so I needed the other one - that seemingly headed the wrong way.

the splash always gets me no matter which direction I throw it

causing many a furrowed brow.

Ahead of this year’s tourist season, the Broads Authority and partners have released a new series of videos, to help inform all boat hirers how to stay safe on the Broads. The new ‘how to’ boating videos are intended for new hirers and new private boat owners to watch before their visit, to help them get the most out of their time on the Broads. Hirers will be emailed a link to the videos before their holiday, to complement the safety handover they receive when they hire a boat. It is hoped that the videos will help to acquaint visitors with their boats and improve handling skills. When the first lockdown ended last summer, the Broads experienced a very busy tourist season, as many visitors stayed locally instead of heading abroad. The Broads welcomed an influx of new visitors to the area, including those who had never been paddling or had set foot on a boat before. Broads Authority Chief Executive John Packman welcomed the videos and said, “In anticipation of another exceptionally busy summer, the Authority and its partners are focusing all efforts towards keeping visitors safe on the Broads. “I hope these engaging videos will really help people get to grips with the basics of boating and paddle sports. We are encouraging all our partners, hire boat companies and visitors to share them widely to help raise awareness of how to stay safe on the water.” The videos cover topics such as: preparing for your holiday before you leave, how to stay safe, what to do if someone falls overboard, navigating bridges, ropes and knots, how to moor up, crossing Breydon Water and a guide to paddlesports. Watch the videos here: https://www.broads-authority.gov.uk/boating/navigating-the-broads/boating-essentials?fbclid=IwAR2Z98_kgsdLWTGqA0X6YWZ7EXcX8RDb968dSNbwOtLDRPxOXrzyZGjJNCQ Read more:https://www.broads-authority.gov.uk/news/new-safety-videos-released?fbclid=IwAR0N1RTxJPAoknZf1iAYg_dEoDM5LvVpmZf1l7IbxXsYvU4ukN-RdrzdABk The videos were produced by the Broads Authority in collaboration with the Broads Hire Boat Federation, Broads Beat, HM Coastguard, British Marine, the Royal Yachting Association, and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

attached is a snip from google maps, showing the woodland, my house is near the home marker bottom left, and the pond as you see is about half way along the woods. I do have to say that at the east end of the pond, where it shows a path, the slope is steeper than the stairs at home, the land literally rises about 20m in the space of 20m, so at the moment I have avoided progress further in that direction. there is plenty more to explore, and I have yet to learn enough landmarks to not get myself lost, even navigating by the sun, if you get one path out, it can take you quite a way off your planned route, not a problem on the way out, but when you miss the right path on the way home it can add a detour.

No, I would need to drive to get to Blean woods, as they are several miles from me (with several very steep long hills between) these are the woods that were part of the barracks at canterbury, if you look at early maps My house is situated on one of the old rifle ranges, they were used for training soldiers, and you can see areas where trenchworks and emplacements have been dug, also some evidence of bomb craters. as woods go they are quite open in some areas, with heath land as well as woodland. I have yet to see many butterflies, though I do see rabbits.

todays walk was a bit of a fiasco, I tried a different route and took several wrong turnings on the way back, meaning I suddenly found myself back on my earlier route, so after backtracking a bit to get back on track, so todays total was 2.3 miles, but i arrived home aching

as i get through a set of tyres every 30,000 miles on average (in a normal year its a new set every year, I usually go for mid range tyres with a good wear rating.

to be fair Chris, if you are on a hire boat none of those options will be available to you, so Andrew, its always worth asking for a second mudweight, if its windy, dont deploy them fore and aft as if the wind direction changes they will pull out, but stick them both off the bow fairly close together, and with plenty of slack, and check you have a boat length to swing with the wind in all directions.

also if you are laying the rope into a coil, make sure you coil in the right direction, as if you go against the grain the rope will not lay flat to the deck, it usually takes several goes to get the mooring lines to coil nice and flat on the jewels on lads week

thats the tricky bit, finding the time to do all this exercise, i start work at 6am, so it has to be after work, fortunately I finish at 3, so its get ready and head straight out for about an hour, at the moment though I am finding that leaves me not wanting to do anything for the next couple of hours after, though hopefully that will improve. theres no choice though, if I want to regain some measure of fitness I need to keep this up, I realise now that if I had started this at the beginning of lockdown last year, i would be in a much better situation now.

phew, its a bit on the warm side out there, day 2 and I progressed with my exploring, there is a pond in the woods, so todays goal was to see the pond. well I made it to the pond and back 1.75 miles, interesting to see some fishermen set up there with a big tent, plus the obligatory bathers, the woods were busier today. en route I disturbed two squirrels, a fox and a rabbit.

this would apply to my office as well, most of them are young bright people in their 30's, whereas I am not, I have had both jabs now yet none of them have had any yet, that said I dont believe we will be enforcing a return to the office every day for some time as the company have found that with work from home, we dont need as big offices any more if we only have half the office staff in at any one time.

I took water rail to the new mills pond, its really shallow to one side so stick to the left going in, deep water by the mill races to turn, and stick to the route you came in on the way back out, watch out for the weed on the way up and back, keep to the middle unless there is someone coming the other way and you will be fine.

i have a rowing boat, the record so far is used once sunk once, I am not going to try and improve upon that.

actually i was hoping by lads week to be fit enough to chase you from one end of the boat to the other to administer said punishment. all i have to do now is stick to it, and thats why i posted here, so i can update regularly.

well its happened, the doctor has told me i need to get more exercise and lose some weight, 10 minutes on the treadmill indoors daily isnt cutting the mustard, so I decided to look for some local walks, living in a city there havent traditionally been any good places to walk to, that could be described as countryside, however, it suddenly struck me today, that the army land is not far from my house, and when I looked it up, there are a few footpaths crossing it. so today I set out for a real walk, the big problem is that the first 1/4 mile to the woods is uphill all the way, that nearly killed me, but I pressed on and had a nice quiet walk round the woods, being my first day I didnt go too far, totalling a mile, up hill and down dale, there is an area of woodland 4 miles by 2 miles in total that can be explored, so i will be slowly pushing a bit further each day. hopefully this will get me fitter and allow me to lose some weight.

Considering that it is the government guidance issued today it is clearly relevant, and clearly the govenments intentions are now clear, no overnight, no uk holidays, no holidays abroad.

it clearly states it in 2 sections, no overnight stays, and no uk holidays, couldnt be much clearer, i think they have seen the misinformtion the news papers and others have put out regarding the legislation and decided to make the guidance crystal clear.