Me and Storm Francis go to Lincolnshire

With options for travelling abroad reducing and countries requiring quarantine on return increasing, I can feel the cabin fever creeping in so I'm going to experiment with working from different locations in the UK and combine with adventuring closer to home. First stop Lincolnshire...

I've only been to Lincoln once before, for work last December. I got off the train, walked (in the rain) to the client office to deliver some training, walked (in the rain) back to the station via McDonalds and went back to London. Not exactly making the most of the area, so it was great to go back and stay with my pal Katy who I met on my Action Learning Facilitator training in February...

After working at home on Monday I cycled up to Kings Cross just as Storm Francis hit London, so arrived at the station like a drowned rat. But once I'd settled into my seat (with bike in fancy hanging rack), it was only a 2 hour journey to Lincoln. And all for the grand total of £14 return. BARGAIN!

On Tuesday (Storm) Francis ramped up to 50 mph winds and heavy downpours but it was great to get out for a blustery dog walk after work before an evening of cooking up a different kind of storm with Katy and the kids.

After another morning of work on Wednesday I had the afternoon off, so with a break in the rain and the wind down to half the speeds of Tuesday I headed off for an 80km bike loop round the Wolds. Main traffic: tractors and swans (-:

After a quick transition off the bike, Katy and I headed off for a different kind of ride - my first time on a horse in about 8 years! Was surprised I even remembered how to pick out hooves and tack up. Turns out it's just like riding a bike horse...

One last run with (my fave shhh) dog Benji on Thursday morning and I headed back to London where (Storm) Francis was waiting to drench me for my bike ride home!

Alys's Birthday Bivvy!

In a year of staycations I can't believe this was the first weekend I managed to get out for some wild camping. At one point I thought my own terrace might be as wild as it would get this year, but thanks to the recent easing of lockdown and my friend Alys's return to London along with her car, we headed out to the Surrey hills with the promise of clear overnight skies and armed with a bottle of birthday champagne and a disposable barbecue.

We started off, as all good microadventures should, with a spot of gin tasting at the Silent Pool gin distillery https://silentpooldistillers.com/ in Albury. Good thing Alys was driving and we kept it to a couple of thimble fulls, otherwise I think we could have stayed all afternoon (-:

We then headed off for our 10km hike in the Hurtwood and Holmbury Hill. The plan was to look for a suitable place to bivvy but being the maximisers we both are (read 'The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary' by Catherine Gray) we kept walking 'just one more km' to find the perfect spot.... until the opportunities for perfect spots ran out and took us back to the car! Still, good exercise carrying all that kit, especially because Alys added a few rocks to raise the disposable bbq off the ground....

So with the hike done and the sun starting to go down, we drove back up to Newlands Corner near Shere and found a spot just off the North Downs Way just as the sky softened into a lovely pink sunset. Dreamy stuff, and the perfect first bivvy experience for Alys. Somehow the sky was clear enough for amazing stars but still mild enough that we didn't even need to sleep in hats. 

I'm still recovering from the 4:45am sunrise but sooooo worth it, especially for the post bivvy brekkie over the road at the Plucky Pheasant. Need to do this more.....................