Saturday 28 April 2012

One of my favourite photographs

This is a photo of my sister, which I believe was taken at her first day at school. I love how shy she looks, the positioning of her feet and the conforting hand popping into shot.

My sister and I don't look anything alike now, but I have a drawing of me from when I was around this age and we look spookily similar.

Sunday 1 April 2012

Hill walking a go go...

Today I went out for my first hill walk of 2012! It also marked the start to my preparation for The West Highland Way which I am walking in August.
Just a gentle walk to kick things off, but with the lovely weather and lots of other walkers it was a great little jaunt. Cheryl and I had planned to take on 2 munros (Mayar and Driesh), but because of time constraints we changed plans and went into Fife to go up the wee East Lomond. We parked down in Faukland and took the steepest ascent we could find which seen us taking on a seemingly NEVER ENDING wooded staircase. This opened out and then we went up the steep side of the hill, above the forest area to reach the summit. It only took about 45 mins to get up, but it certainly got the heart pounding.
It was a nice way to spend a Sunday morning and there were lots of friendly doggies to keep us happy - including an adorable Jack Russell puppy which was a mere 8 weeks old! Cheryl spied it on our way down as it was being carried up in a make-shift sling made my its owner. Basking in the sunshine and enjoying the ride, it looked very relaxed and was super friendly! I wish I had snapped a photo as it really was beautiful, but didn't think until I was further down the hill and I certainly wasn't going back for a snap!
Driesh and Mayar are still on my hitlist for the near future, so I will keep you posted and let you know when I have been. One thing that became apparent today though was a slight issue I might have with my knees. I will get it checked out before I know for sure. I have arthritis in my hands thanks to my basketball days and I just think that maybe my past has taken its toll on my knees also. Fun, fun, fun! :/
Enough of me moaning...
As I mentioned at the start of this post, I am walking The West Highland Way this year with Cheryl and some friends. Most of us are raising money for MS Society Scotland and Cheryl has stayed ever faithful to Cancer Research UK, who she has championed for many years now. If anyone would be interested in sponsoring us, please have a look at our Justgiving page at: http://www.justgiving.com/claire-crystal-jane-katie-nikki/. Anything you could spare would be so much appreciated! It is over 95 miles and we have chosen to tackle it over a 7 day period. I cannot wait to be honest - it is by far the most challenging thing Cheryl and I have undertaken for charity yet!
Here is a photo of us and some of our good friends when we walked Ben Nevis for CRUK a few years ago. Unfortunately it wasn't very clear at the top so you can't see much! I promise we were there!