We headed for the common, and despite it only being 7am, the sun was up, and it was warm enough for shorts and t-shirts.
By way of a change, and so SS could confuse me (easily done at 7am) we headed round in a clockwise direction, because we nearly always go anticlockwise, and things did look different from this perspective...and seemed longer....for example..normally, when I pass the control tower, I know that I have about a mile left to do before coffee, this time, it was at least 6 miles before coffee!
Nothing really odd to report about the common this week, there is still a distinct lack of rabbits and runners out there, but according to SS, ( her friend, who is a 'warden of the common' has told her this...) they are preserving and conserving Adders...now...I thought that was what they did at the pickle factory but I'm not one to argue....
Talking of pickle factory.....we did see a cow on the wrong side of the perimeter fence, therefore in the pickle factory garden, and the big debate between SS and myself was whether the cow had gone to get salad dressing to go on its greens, or whether the pickle factory workers wanted something to go with their horseradish????
Moving on...after a circuit of the common we headed to Costas for breakfast, a chocolate twist and cappuccino, before heading straight back out to the common, and this time going in an anticlockwise direction!
At Thornford Park end we dropped down into Crookham and made for the canal and walked along as far as Thatcham lakes. We wanted to cut through here to get onto Lower way as we were heading to the Christadelphian church hall.
At 11am there was to be a charity fair at the church hall, and rumour had it, that you could get a cup of tea (including a FREE biscuit) for 25p, AND there was going to be a homemade cake stall.....as SS and I are all for supporting charity (especially if it involves eating) this was where we were going!
Time wise, we were a little early, so we did a circuit of the lake, saw some gorgeous cygnets, met their ferocious mother (more scary than SS!!) and saw a stuffed fox in the shop, which we were both tempted to buy..but it was our cake money.....
And then we headed along Lower Way to the Church Hall, and what a sight greeted us in the car park...a bacon buttie stall! We thought it would be rude not to look at the cakes...so we did...and we had a cup of tea (with a free fig roll), and SS bought a lovely necklace and earring set (or two!) but the bacon butties won hands down!!
After suitable refreshment (spiritual and physical) we than carried on, as at this point we had only actually done 18 miles. We headed to the end of Lower Way, onto Hambridge Road and dropped down onto the tow path in the direction of town. We followed this through town up to Speen church, and then made our way to Donnington Golf course. By this point, the sun was at its highest point and it had really warmed up, so we walked around the course to the clubhouse in order to find some drinks to carry with us. We then left the first tee, and headed up towards the back of Donnington Castle and Snelsmore Common.
Being very hot, we did half expect to see Adders out up here sunning themselves, as the posters on the gate suggested, in fact, we did spend a little longer walking up here than usual as, with a kind of morbid curiosity it was a challenge for the first person to see one!
We saw lots of sticks that COULD have been Adders, and did jump a few times, and almost did the girly scream thing, but saw absolutely nothing, again!!
The way out saw us going down past the back of Donnington Castle and through the village of Donnington, past the pub, which took willpower, and along the road back to Newbury town centre. It was still hot at this point, only one thing for it, an iced coffee, courtesy of Starbucks, before heading home.
Heading home, out of town, we were talking challenges, and we were discussing a challenge that my brother Tim and his girlfriend SarahJane are doing.....a 6 week challenge, building up core muscle, and by the end of it you should be able to do 200 sit ups, straight off in one go..
http://www.twohundredsitups.com/
...what I love about Tim and SarahJane doing this challenge is that SarahJane is whipping Tim's butt - yay, go girl!!
What I love even more, is that when SS thought she would have a go at the assessment, to see how many sit-ups she could do before the 6 week course, she could do 200 straight off - yay, go girl again!!
So when I got home (via Newtown Road), I looked at the website to see what they classed as a sit up, and they mean 'curl or abdo crunch' and I got down on the lounge carpet to do my assessment - 112 straight off, those are the ones I counted when Mali wasn't trying to sit on me anyway!!
Nah, I'm not doing that challenge.....but when I tried to do the press up challenge, I did the grand total of......nothing!! Couldn't do it at all......perhaps Mr nice gym man (!!) will show me on Wednesday....
Once home I was sufficiently sweaty and smelly that fox pooh probably would have been an improvement, so I took Mali and Golda out for the 'Newbury Loop', ending up in City Park so they could have a good run around.
For the first time ever, as there was no said fox pooh, I actually came home smelling worse than the dogs!
Still, hosepipe out and a wash down for them....and a drink in the garden for me whilst I contemplate bath or shower???
Bath time!!
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