Fabulous Fortieth Birthday Celebration

In the summer of '69 man landed on the moon and Bryan Adams bought his first real six string - and I was born on 12th August! So I'm a sixties baby by only 4 months.

After much deliberation, I took up Husband's suggestion of a weekend away with my buddies in the Forest of Dean - on the understanding that he would organise it all. He did a superb job - as did my uni friend E who acted as local fixer as she lives there.


We arrived with G on Friday evening, meeting up with my Fabulous In Laws, M, C and M's offspring JA and MA. We had a wander around Parkend village - lots of woodland, a pretty church and some mud! Met up with everybody else for beer and a meal. Surreal moment when a sheep vaulted over a wall into the beer garden!

On sunny Saturday morning, Husband, CS, X, S, Fabulous in Laws and the As headed with me to Symonds Yat where we spent the morning cruising down the Wye on big canadian style canoes. CS and I made the most of the river, investigating every bit of bank, tree, rock and swan - nothing to do with our steering! Green and pleasant. Lunch by the river then we went to a bit of forest close to Parkend to do Go Ape.

CS, G, Kitty, Goldfish, S, X and me made up the first group, with the As following an hour later - we couldn't get a booking together unfortuneately. We were harnessed up & briefed - all the time we were above ground we were attached securely to wires. X was amazing - she seems to have no fear and was very balanced, scampering across the course. I wasn't so good - but agility and balance don't really fetaure in my skill set and I'm nervous & shaky getting up the loft ladder at home - so perhaps I should apply some perspective! CS opted to be our photographer after the first section - very much appreciated and I love the sillhouette pic you can see here. G looked very Lara Croft down the zip wires, Goldfish managed to drop his specs (retrieved safely) so completed the course in soft focus, S did well to follow X and Kitty had a very determined look! M is a climber & reckons that the trick to a lot of the sections was to do them quickly. My arms ached afterwards & I'm keen to try it again.

Barbecue followed by cupcakes and rounders in the dark where we girls beat the boys (assisted a little by the fading light). Lots of fun.

It was a bit chaotic on Sunday for cycling - E & J were having major problems with their & their kids' bikes. I enjoyed a 22.8km ride with J - he was doing very well on a road bike on the forest tracks. Husband explored the mountain bike course with Goldfish, S and X.

Finished my weekend with lunch at a crafts centre - excellent ice cream in a sunny garden. I'm really grateful to my friends for giving me such a fabulous weekend for my 40th!

Scooting around BC in an RV

Just back from hols - just over 2 weeks in a motorhome in Canada. As usual, I've failed miserably to blog whilst away. I'm only going to focus on the activities we did, following the objective of this blog as an exercise tracker:

Vancouver: On our first full day, we rented bikes for the afternoon & pedalled around Stanley park & then around the creek to Granville Island then onto Marine Drive - great way to see the city. Saw the giant glass golf ball science centre, ice hockey stadium and half built Olympic village.

I took advantage of waking jet lagged way too early the next morning to join the many women jogging along the coast, up to Stanley Park. There were some blokes too - but definitely outnumbered. In line skating seemed to be more of a boy thing - they get to use the bike lanes on the paths. So beautiful (see photo!) that I switched off my ipod and doubled my intended distance - but I wasn't fast.

Whistler: Mountain Biking on trails around Lost Lake - technical enough to keep Husband interested but not as gravity defying as the bike park! I still can't do board walks. We did a gentler ride in the afternoon, sightseeing along the Valley Trail with bald eagles soaring overhead. It's a lovely spot, but the sound of Olympics construction (Winter 2010 - behind schedule and over budget) was a little omnipresent.

Tod Mountain Ranch: I've only been on a horse a couple of times before and didn't really enjoy it. Husband has never been on a horse. We weren't sure if we'd give riding a try at Tod Mountain Ranch - my friend T's fab new guest ranch in a quiet, scenic u shaped vallley near Kamloops - but figured it was an opportunity that we may not have again. T and her wrangler were very patient with getting us mounted onto Cash (sweet and tolerant brown horse for me) and Billy (huge painted horse that looked strong enough to carry anything for Phil). Big armchair saddles and the laid back western riding style made it all easier - Billy didn't even have a bit thing in his mouth! It felt pretty good heading up on the trail and the horses were calm and immaculately behaved - although Billy farted constantly (Husband appreciated this!).

Enjoyed it so much that we were glad to be able to give it another go the next day. Same horses, but a trickier route - we had to hold on when the horses picked up pace to get up a steep narrow section. This really helped my confidence and I panicked less when Cash needed to be slowed (he tended to trot when the horse behind was too close).

T's got a fabulous set up and the first guests arrive tomorrow - we're definitely planning to return! Location is great, food was fabulous, lodge and cabins are a really high standard and the riding was fun.

Wells Gray: Whitewater rafting with a group of pizza restaurant staff from Kamloops (very cool sounding reward programme!) that started with my first ever experience of hiking in a wetsuit - not an ideal outfit, but it came in handy at our destination - Moul Falls where we scrambled behind the waterfall. This was scarier for me than the rafting through sabre tooth rapids.

Canoeing on the remote Clearwater Lake - weather started well, but we had a thunder storm complete with hail - so we had a boat full of ice and got very cold. Later that day, back to shorts & t-shirts weather - weird.

Mountain biking, yelling "Hey Bear" at every blind corner & summit to avoid bear/bike interfaces (we did see a few but only when we were in vehicles). Just me, Husband and 3 guides! One of the guys was semi pro - he made jumps look elegant - and is also the 6th best snow mobiler in BC.

Gentle rowing around the lake near our campground looking for painted turtles - successfully. We had a swim in the lake afterwards - brief for me, much longer for Husband which seemed to intrigue a loon (duck, similar to a diver).

Salmon Arm: Brief walk along a river and gentle swim later in the campground's pool. Project head under water continues!

Revelstoke: More gentle walking in Mt Revelstoke and Glacier national parks. More swimming - this time in hot spring heated water with a great view of the mountains.

Okanagan Lake: I had a bit of speed walking when we discoverd that the RV had a flat tyre, my mobile was flat, and the nearest phone box was a kilometre away! But this walk was through Okanagan Lake Provincial Park with many fat gophers to entertain me.

Much more enjoyable was cycling the Kettle Valley Railway in Myra Canyon - 24km route along a disused railway that manages to be virtually flat by using tunnels and wooden trestles clinging to the side of the canyon. Stunning scenery, wildflowers, more gophers and discovered that BC rabbits have white socks! It was a little surreal afterwards - we'd met the bike shuttle service in a supermarket carpark, so I was able to change in the RV.