DAY 31 - HOMESICKNESS IS AN ILLNESS! I AM SURE OF IT! I HAVE THE SYMPTOMS TODAY!

DONCASTER TO WORKSOP

Terrrible nights sleep, woke up at 1.30am and couldnt get back off until 4.45am!  Just in case you ever need to know in the future, Doncaster Minster clock rings its bells every 15 minutes!  I benefited from a Minster view in my room which looks wonderful in the day but is not so great at night!  (So much for the Premier Inn guaranteed good nights sleep!)  I didnt have the energy to complain or find out how to get a refund so just checked out and walked to the train station for my hour long journey to Worksop!

Worksop! Never been there before and it sounds all industrial and coal mining area'ish but still have seen a mine!

It was a beautiful sunny day but it was hard to quash my increasingly serious symptoms of Homesickness which i am beginning to think is a real illness!!  I checked into The Station Hotel (although i was more suited to The Priory today!) to be given Room 4 and it was like a hot house even though the window was wide open (enough for me to jump out of should i feel that way inclined later on!)

The internet is not working apparently but it wasnt a priority on check in and i was more concerned with putting my heavy bag down and getting rid of my sweltering Red Riding Coat!  I decided to try and inject a bit more energy into my walk today and at least reach double digits so set off just after 2pm to walk directly to Clumber National Trust Park around 5 miles away. 

The road took me through the pedestrianised town centre at the beginning so i got my fix in Poundland briefly, then into the open countryside along a pretty busy road for a mile or two but with a narrow pavement, at least i wasnt dicing and dodging all the traffic!  (just getting caught in the slip stream of the big lorries was enough to contend with and give me my adrenaline rush in the absence of any Starbucks caffeine here in Worksop!)

I reached Clumber Park (free entry without a car! Hoorah!) and walked through to the Church and Cycle Hire area and bought a 50p map in readiness for cycling tomorrow when i will have my bike! More Hoorahs! It looks like there is a 10 mile route around the Park and it also meets the Cycle Route 6 which takes us down to Nottingham so depending on how energetic i feel tomorrow, i can make up some mileage on two wheels instead of two feet!  Oh Joy of Joys!

It was a hot, hot walking day today but i made it back in time to collect my daily salad fix from M & S and then munched it in my room, trying hard not to doze off too early incase there is a repeat of last night - why is that hours awake in the night seem so much longer than those in daytime hours?!!

I spoke to all the children (except Meg) tonight, Sam with his (great!) exam results, Zak researching Motor cross tracks and iPhones for his birthday and Olivia making Cottage Pie in the microwave! Ahhhh, domestic bliss - i cant wait to get my own fix in another week and counting!! :0\

DAY 30 - SUNNY DONNY!

EGGBOROUGH TO DONCASTER

A good nights sleep and i enjoyed the self service breakfast facilities as it meant i could have breakfast in bed to celebrate Fathers Day!!  I checked out at 11am with Molly and then sat for 1/2 hour in the sunshine on the bench outside waiting for my bus to Doncaster.  Molly ran down the road after i had left to donate £5 to Grove House so that was such a lovely thing to do, it really lifted my spirits along with the sunshine!

It took an hour round the villages to reach Doncaster and i got off just by the Minster and walked through the town centre where there was a really wonderful market going on with loads and loads of stalls with tempting bits and pieces to eat!! Yummy!! I did resist however and instead got my normal salad from M & S to eat later in my room!! :(

It was very busy at all the stalls and my favourites were the Dutch Pancake stall (Surprise surprise!) and the chocolate drizled marshmallows and strawberries! There were also wonderful savoury dishes of creamy garlic mushrooms with herby potatoes and indian stalls and even Kangeroo & Ostrich burgers being sold!  HOw cultured they are Up North!!!

I checked into my Premier Inn room at 3pm and after unpacking a couple of bits i went out for my planned run along the riverside - however after 4 dead ends and no path whatsoever to follow, all i could do was road run and it was a horrible route and my commitment to the run dwindled as quickly as the paths ran out!

I therefore returned rathr deflated after only a 3 mile run which had hardly even left me warmed up! Just frustrated with the lack of direction and route to follow!  I had thought that running was easy peasy - to just follow a pavement and go but with a traffic light every 50 metres and then a roundabout and so many junctions to negotiate, all the stopping and starting just left me annoyed and hot under the collar!!

It was way easier to get into my book and order a meal at JD Wetherspoons for £3.79 including drinks -  Chilli noodles with Chicken  were enough to warm my cockles and put me in a good mood for the rest of the evening!! One more weekend ticked off and only one left to go now as i begin the count down to my last week.....

DAY 29 - POWER STATIONS ON LOW

YORK TO EGGBOROUGH

Well, i seem to have reached the bottom of my energy reserves today and whilst my feet are now all hardened up, the obstacle today has been my levels of get up and go which seem to have (temporarily?!) got up and gone for now..... Hmmm.

I didnt sleep all that well for whatever reason but had a nice breakfast before packing my bag and leaving it in the reception area for the day whilst i went out to enjoy York!

Sadly the weather wasnt up to much and as i walked the streets and explored the nooks & crannies of the city, i slowly realised it was my 5th Saturday away from home and i am well and truly homesick!!  Whilst on my downer day, please forgive me to just get it all off my chest in a vain attempt to feel a bit better .....

• I AM MISSING THE CHILDREN, BIG TIME!
• Fed up of packing / unpacking and repacking my bag every single day!
• Tired of wearing the same extremely limited wardrobe, day in day out!
• I dont want to walk another step for ages!
• I cant face another cooked breakfast right now but it seems such a waste not to have it when its been included and paid for and is so readily available - what a dilema! It was a great treat to start with or maybe once a week but now i am on overload!!
• I am missing my car and just getting in it to go round the corner!
• Fed up putting in a new wireless code everyday to get the internet! Even my own computer is confused and weary!
• I am missing the simple things like just going shopping for milk!
• Hair straighteners! I NEED THEM! they are now categorised as 'essential' for my mental wellbeing!
• I dont want to watch anymore mindless TV in teh evenings!
• Fed up wearing trainers or walking boots, walking boots or trainers! Where are my high heels & FitFlops?!!!
• its Fathers Day tomorrow and its the first one i have missed so the children are having to do everything without me....(thank you Megs for standing in for me!)
• if i have to see my Big Red coat again this century, it will be 100 years too soon!
• i just want MY bed, MY pillows, MY bath and MY own home remote control which i know how to use!

Ok, that is it for now! Thank you for listening! I am sure that therapy will help me feel better once i am dosed up with an early night and a bedful of sleep tonight!!

After a few hours at the David Lloyd again, having a workout and swim and steam, i walked back into York and collected my pack and went to the Station where i had seen mum off only 24 hours ago.....I climbed aboard my own train for a 20 minute ride to Selby where i picked up my 20 minute bus to reach Eggborough, giving me my first glimpse of the huge Electrical Power Stations that are plentiful in this area and keep the local economy employed.

Molly was waiting for me at the Old Post Office Guest House on Selby Road with a wonderful set up here of B & B for the power workers who mainly stay Monday to Friday i think....each large room is all beautifully equipped with a small fridge, microwave and basic cereals, milk and juice for a DIY / self service affair in the morning and she has 6 rooms all with wonderful modern bathrooms ensuite and newly furnished.  A great combination and i am sure she is on to a winning formula here for her efforts as it was all lovely!

I collpased onto my bed at 6pm, still exhausted and it was all i could manage to go downstairs again to ask for the WiFi code to connect to her internet!!! (how pathetic!)

So, as you can probably tell, today has been a bit of a downer for me, low in energy and mood but nothing that i am sure a good nights sleep cant sort out.  I really am on the homeward stretch now, i need to keep telling myself, only 7 more sleeps before i see the children again and i can see St Albans on my radar getting closer and closer!! COME ON CAROLINE! GET YOUR FINGER OUT! lets see what Sunday can bring!

DAY 28 - INGURRRLANDDDDDDDDDD - OH PURRRLEASE! NOT ANOTHER DRAW!?!

THIRSK TO YORK

Hmmmm, unsurprisingly it was another slow service at breakfast-time with only a teeny overlap of one other couple to contend with for the Waiters attentions!! Although the content of the breakfast was on the whole good to middling, the coffee was spilt over the lovely clean table cloths and i have a pet hate developing of having to wait for my brown toast once my cooked breakfast has been served!!!! By the time it arrived, my eggs were going cold and it is really annoying!! Hmmph!

Anyway, maybe it was the overcast day but things didnt improve much when we got to the bus stop (ultra early by at least 40 minutes!!) for our Number 58 which was supposed to arrive at 10.10am (next bus only due at 1pm!!) and it didnt!!! Still no sign at 10.30am - 'Gracious, this is unheard of '(!!) echoed around the locals at the market square .... and then at 10.40am, it finally rocked up, having broken down in the countryside and having had to wait for a replacement!!! Gracious, its all action here in the middle of nowhere!!!

Anyway, due to its tardiness, the driver made a slight detour and came in to York on the road that my B & B was on, so this was a bonus for me as i was able to be dropped off outside the Apple House to leave my bag while mum carried on to the Railway station to leave her bag in the left luggage until her train this afternoon.....

We met up with Sharon, a pal from my Nepal Annapurna Circuit walk with Zak last year, to walk our miles today around York.  As Sharon had been waiting a little while, she had collected some maps from the TIC and was already versed in the options avalable to us ... we opted for a walk around the Ramparts of York and then detoured off down the river path for a couple of miles before rejoining the remainder of the unwalked Ramparts with Sharon whilst mum made her way back to the station to catch her breath and get ready for her train.

We all rendezvous'ed again just before 3pm, Sharon had a train back at 3.08 to Leeds and mum's train to Kings X was at 3.11pm.  So by 3.15pm i was once again, all alone, with an empty weekend to myself before my next visitor arrives for back up to keep me on track from my very last whole week!!

Feeling a bit sorry for myself, which even a Starbucks couldnt make a difference to - especially as they have increased the price of my Mocha Frapp light by 15p a cup!!! :(  i walked to the David Lloyd which added 2.5 miles each way to my mileage as it was on the outskirts of the town centre!  I managed a quick workout and swim before collecting a Morrisons salad on the way to the cinema - i didnt really want to watch the football so thought the cinema would be empty (it was!) but unfortunately chose a rubbish film which i wont even embarrass myself by revealing as it was truly cringeworthy!  (thank goodness i hadnt dragged along my usual victims!)

Anyway, it served its purpose by keeping me from the footie and the only downside was it had cost £5!  With over 14 miles covered today, and not much sitting around except on the bus to York, it was a good day overall....

(Quick heads up on my plan tomorrow which is to spend the day here in York before going to Eggborough later in the day as i think there is a wee bit more going on here than there?! Maybe i am mistaken but i'll take my chances!)

DAY 27 - GPS CONFUSION & WIFI FRUSTRATIONS ....

DARLINGTON TO THIRSK

I wasnt too sure what to expect from Thirsk today as when i looked it up on the internet, it seemed its only interesting feature was the James Herriot House (that is from All Creatures Great & Small for those of you old enough to recall that far back! Apologies if there is anyone younger reading!?)

However, we have had a delightful day here and our walk has been wonderful!

We left this morning (breakfastless!) in time to catch the 9.44am train (12 minute journey!) to North Allerton (where???!!) and then had a 9 minute train ride to Thirsk where we walked from the train Station to find our overnight B & B - Oswalds Church Farm actually located in Sowerby - it is a beautiful looking place and we are in a twin room in the Stable block complete with study and small sitting area. We were able to check in straight away at 11am so after unpacking a few things we went straight out to walk and decided to manage without any guidance or directions and do a Caroline Special and just follow the footpath!!

Well, needless to say, it all went a bit pear shaped half way into the afternoon as the path ran out and eventually led nowhere! So we made a detour and headed into another woodland (only to come out next to the local rubbish tip!) & eventually found our way into Thirsk Town centre more by luck than any judgement, which was lovely. We stopped in the Weatherspoons (for mum to eat her roll!) & for me to have a soda water and lime and then once refreshed we carried on another mile or two along the canal.

On our way back to the room, i double checked on the buses for tomorrow only to find that instead of going 1/2 hourly as i thought when doing my research, they actually go every 2 hours!! We have earmarked a 10.10am bus but I just hope and pray its not like in Otterburn where not everyone gets on!!! Hmmmm!

It was lovely to relax in the room for a couple of hours as we had covered another 11.5 miles and mum had got blisters coming up on her heel.... not sure why i am the only one to have suffered so badly on my little toes but I've not had a repeat of this problem so i have probably tempted fate with that comment now!!

We were pretty hungry by 5.30am having only had a yoghurt and piece of fruit for breakfast so we went down to Oswalds Restaurant for dinner and benefitted from their lunchtime set menu which was still available til 6pm. Thankfully we were the only diners at this time as it took an hour and a half to progress through our meal as the service was quite slow, but all the food we did have was really nice and the service very friendly so at least there was no indegestion over our meal!

We needed to finish by 8pm as we had a date on the computer to book mum's Pilates class for next Thursday but alas, i after spending over an hour trying to connect without any luck, we missed mum getting her class and i was unable to do anything constructive for work other than bits on my iPhone (HOW ANNOYING IS THAT??!)

I eventually got so exasperated i went down to the bar area only to be told they had given me the WRONG code - it has NO 'S' on it if you ever do come here! Uggghhhh! Hey Presto! All working now but mum has no Pilates class now as its full and i have wasted an evening pratting around being unable to do what i needed to! 

(I think i must have a bit of mild sun stroke as i am way more irritated than the situation warrants so hopefully a good nights sleep will sort out my bother boots! Or maybe its 'swimming pool withdrawl' symptoms - there is one in York that i can use - another David Lloyd epicentre!)

PS Also, thank you to my lovely neighbour at Number 47 for sponsoring me today! Cant wait to be home and thank you for keeping an eye on my house! :)

DAY 26 - SUNSHINE & WASHING DAY!

DURHAM TO DARLINGTON

Hooray! Another day of sunshine!  (I hope mum doesnt take it home with her at the end of the week?!)  We followed the same routine this morning with breakfast a la Bannatyne Health club cafe, and although i was very tempted by their amazing fresh fruit salad again, i  stuck with my good old Fruit and Fibre just because i should! (boring i know!) 

We sadly checked out of our lovely (fantastic value!) room and walked to the bus station covering 3 miles in the process as i got us a bit lost (well the GPS wasnt working on my iPhone and my internal GPS was on go slow!) Anyway, with 4 buses an hour to Darlington, there was always 'just another one about to arrive' so we caught the 9.27am Number 7 and took a lovely villages route to our destination. 

We managed to navigate our way to our next Bannatyne Hotel which is a wonderful hotel conversion of a beautiful building and quite different from our last night Banatyne experience although still a fantastic standard with very friendly and helpful staff.  Sadly the only downside is that the Health Club isnt right next door but it will add to our days mileage so a little blessing in disguise really!! We were also able to check straight in as our room was again all ready and we have a beautiful room overlooking the gardens...... Very nice.

Unfortunately i had a pile of washing that needed addressing today (well its better than blister talk again!) so we headed up the road, with our GPS and mileage being measured (!) along a pavement splattered in a BLOOD trail (?were we actually on the Murder Mystery tour of Darlington?!!!) to find Irene at The Launderette who helped me put my very small load of washing on in her massive big industrial washing machines which could have taken 4 times the amount!  A wash at the Launderette up here costs £3 in case you needed to know and only takes 1/2 hour at 40 degrees! (its an extra 80p if you dont bring your own washing powder but i have been carrying around my liquid gel washing capsule so it finally had its opportunity to be used!)

We asked for directions to the Tourist Information office and were directed in 2 different directions being told it was 6 of one and '3 by 2' the other way! (that must be a nothern saying but i like it!)  Anyway we nipped to the centre of town and looked over some maps but nothing really looked inspiring enough to commit ourselves to so we walked back to the Launderette and stopped for mum to initiate herself with her first Mocha Frappuccino Light and her own brainfreeze experience!  All caffeined up, we made it back to collect the clean washing in double quick time and then walled back to the room to hang it all up and drape it over everywhere to dry!

I decided to wander down road the mile or so to the Health Club while mum decided to have a mosey round the shops.  The gym was lovely and not too busy at 4pm so i worked out for an hour then swam and had a steam room before walking back to meet mum for dinner, via the railway station to check timetable for tomorrow (....and trainspot a few engines?!!??!).

We decided on Pizza Express as it was just round the corner and had our latest evening meal so far only finishing at 7.45pm! Another 'first' for mum trying a Leggaria pizza (this is a pizza with a salad in the middle for those of you who arent regulars at P.E!)  Very nice.....

And we were all back in time for 'Three in a Bed' (C4 TV programme - sorry nothing any more risque than that, i am away with my mum!!!!) and an evening watching my washing dry! (more anorak behaviour methinks??!!)  (P.S. I covered 11 miles today in one shape or another not counting my lengths swimming just in case anyone is still counting!?!!)

Day 25 - BANNATYN'ED IN DURHAM!

DURHAM - REST DAY 2

My 2nd rest day today was marked by a 7.20am lie in and it felt funny waking up in my twin room with mum!!  (Funny but nice!)  We checked the weather and were pleased to see a good deal of sunshine and decided to get up and get going for our stroll in Shincliffe and following our 40p route map we bought yesterday.

We frequented the Bannatyne restaurant next door in the sports club and enjoyed a £1.30 great value breakfast to start us on our way and have been very impressed with the whole set up here of the Bannatyne Hotel and Health Club - the use of all the facilities is completely complimentary and we have free WiFi, free parking (not that i needed to park anything more than my behind!) all included in our room rate which has made it great value.  All the staff have also been very, super friendly and helpful and i might even write to Duncan himself to let him know how impressed i am!

We walked the 2 miles to our starting point for our walk in Shincliffe and decided to follow Walk number 5 which was the boundary walk around the Parish.  This treasure map was quite easy to follow and took us through the village, along the river, through woodland and across fields.  After a few hours mum decided to head back to the Seven Stars Public House (our starting point) and i crossed over the A1/M to just stretch out my legs a little further (and also to look longingly at the most major road that could actually take me to within 5 miles of my front door!!) Mum and i then actually met up within 10 minutes of each other as mum went on her own little detour on her 'direct easy route' back to the pub!

I found her with her coffee fix at the pub but we decided against an expensive bowl of soup there in favour of a walk back to our great value Bannatyne restaurant where we got soup and a roll PLUS a big fresh fruit salad all for the same amount as we would have paid at the 7 Stars! Bargain Bannatyne!

We had another swim and steam in our Health Spa to while away the afternoon hours and then i caught up with some emails before we headed to Pizza Hut for our 'all you can eat salad cart' - much better value for me as i can eat way more than most!!  I think mum legitmately had the reason of the sunshine and the exercise today to make her feel sleepier earlier but we had an evening on BBC2 planned so needed to get back for 7pm!!

I'm beginning to feel a complete 'ANORAK' doing this walking holiday and watching BBC2 all evening on a Tuesday, going to bed by 8pm and especially when i see these pictures of what i am looking like these days!!!! (Is there somewhere i can check out my credentials and see if there is anything else i need to do to qualify as a fully fledged Anorak?!)

Oh and a huge thank you to my Big sister Sue who has added another £5 donation to Grove House today to enable me to reach my Full Target....... Please feel free to still keep donating though  if there is anyone still reading this that hasnt yet managed to contribute...!! :)   It is all such a great and worthwhile cause and i certainly have had the blisters to prove my commitment!