Ceci n'est pas une résumé du dimanche ...

Well, hello there!

First of all, FOQ, thank you for all your lovely comments about the Sunday Summary Sabbatical – contrary to my cynical opinion, it transpires quite a number of you were still reading the blog! Yay!

FYI, if you ever feel compelled to leave a comment on the blog itself, you will need a Googlemail account. 

Otherwise, please keep leaving lovely comments under the FB post, either under the Quirky Brunette Facebook account or the link from my personal account if we're FB friends.

So, why am I poking my head above the parapet of sabbaticality? I hear you ask (though probably not in those words; most likely in the words that normal humans might use).

Well ...

Here's one reason why.

*Considers putting in a video here of Craig McLachlan's seminal 1990s pop hit One Reason Why then reads the stories of his being an alleged assailant and thinks otherwise.*

{If you get this spurious reference then you were probably born around 1982,
or your younger sister's childhood was probably filled with this kind of thing}

Or rather, here's one reason Wye.

In just under three months, Cousin Jo and I will be walking 55k from Chepstow to Ross-on-Wye as part of the Wye Valley Challenge (you'll see now wye why I'm flogging the Wye/Why pun to death).

You'll doubtless remember (and if you don't, I'll kindly remind you) that three years ago this May, I walked 100km from London to Brighton, slept for six hours, then went dancing. (And about a fortnight later, one of my toenails departed this world.) I also managed to raise a barn-stormingly fabulous £1,600+ for the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

This year, with three more years of existence under my belt (and a still rather controversial toenail that misbehaves if she's put under too much pressure), I've set the bar at a comfortable 55km which actually is still quite a long way especially across the hills and *insert ridiculous and mildly offensive Welsh accented* "valleyyyys" of the Wye Valley (clue's in the name there, QB).

Jo and I are raising money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association this year, a cause particularly close to Jo's heart. Between us, we're doing pretty well: Jo's already hit her fundraising target (yay!) and I'm only about £100 behind my £300 target with three months to go until the big day.

Jo's been the organised one, checking out the route map and the potential ups and downs of the actual walk and even booking us a B&B for before and after the event (props also to the fabulous Jim who will be our driver!), while I've been the one having a wig-out about not having the same rigorous approach to training that I had three years ago (which was at the expense of social engagements, mind, so I think a more laissez-faire/little-and-often approach this year – with a couple of significant long yomps as planned – is probably more acceptable).

The important thing is that we will do this – we can, and we will, and my word, we'll celebrate at the end of it.

{Jo and me, on the evening of 11th August}

But in the meantime, inspired by Cousin Jo's training photos on the Face Book, I'd like to share with you a few shots and shenanigans from my own 'training programme' (a loose interpretation there, although these photographs and maps ought to exist as proof that I dun did some walkin').


1 | Bank Holiday Monday | 7th May 2018

A gorgeous, hot sunny day (on a Bank Holiday Monday?! Who knew?).

The route: Watercolour // Nutfield

The evidence:

{Snacks on point ...}

Of course, I was just turning onto the Nutfield Road when I had a 'distress missive' from Ma QB whose flight home from Italy the next day had been cancelled, so I literally, literally hot-footed it back to Harwood Heights to organise Ma and Pa some new seats on board a later flight, as the sweat poured down my back and brow (lovely image; you're so welcome).

The stats: 6.4km in 1h 11m.


2 | Soggy Saturday Morning | 12th May 2018

... which wasn't all that bad, actually.

The route: St John's // Earlswood Lakes

The evidence:

{Last of the bluebells...}

{What else would you do when it starts raining but buy ice cream ...?}

The stats: 8.5km in 1h 33m.


3 | Sunny Sunday Yomp | 20th May 18 (that'll be today, then)

The route: St John's // Magical Mystery

The evidence:

Walk through this little gap in the foliage, and it leads to ...:

{This view!}

Fifteen and a half years living in this town, and I'd never been to the Common.

Of course now I've discovered it, it'll be busy as anything every time I visit. But eh. Just look at that view! 😍

{King George V Jubilee memorial}

{St John's again, and a gorgeous wildflower border}

Not shown: the moment I lost my footing slightly on the path around these parts, and freaked out both a dog and a small child. (Sorry, dog and small child.)

The stats: 3.5km in 39m.

---

While working to the Couch to 5k programme had its benefits (motivation, that sort of thing), the app tended to crash and restart itself whenever I tried to take a photograph.

Given I love to take a snap while I walk, something had to give, and the app has been deleted.

Motivation will have to come from elsewhere.

Pinterest, probably.

---

Well, this has been a strange but pleasant sojourn. While I have your rapt attention, I would like to assure you that I'm already actively thinking of ways to bring TQB back to life in a more manageable format; I've had a chat with a couple of folk about this, and I may have a Cunning Plan, but I'm not quite ready to execute it yet.

So in the meantime, I am likely to pop up now and then and share a few random shots from my training walks or similar, until such a time as I can consolidate my thoughts into something I feel happy to publish again on a more regular basis.

Oh! And the second reason for me raising my head above the parapet?

I already miss the writing and the photo sharing.

Even if both components took me for, like, ever.

qb xx