Pastoral England

Thankfully the long travel day is behind me. I have had a good sleep, the weather is sunny and warm and a hike is planned for today. Life is great!
Yesterday's arrival at Gatwick went so smoothly, I was able to collect my luggage, breeze through officialdom and catch a bus to a small town by the name of Ringwood where my friend C collected me. Right from Gatwick the scenery was pastoral starting with a field of lovely horses, continuing on to flocks of sheep with their wee lambs, yellow fields of canola, charming villages, lovely Arundel Castle (where in the 40s Mom stayed with relatives in the dowager house) and forests. Of course everything looks better on a sunny day and it was certainly that .... perfect. We passed through Chichester (Sheila! I thought of you and your sister), Portsmouth ( I did not realize that Charles Dickens was born there) and Southampton (Mom, I believe you sailed into and out of Southampton on your journeys to and from Britain?) The bus journey was 3 hours long though and having been without sleep for about 30 hours, I was quickly fading by the end. Soon enough my destination was reached, a warm greeting from my friend C and off to her comfy home and charming garden. We immediately went for a walk, mostly to keep me awake. One thing about England, I am never short of a dog fix, the English love their pooches. We are in The New Forest where horses and cattle roam free. We saw many horses on our short walk. The terrain was mostly heath land with lots of heather and low growing plants. I was done by the time we had dinner but hey I managed to stay awake until 9pm.

My hostess with the mostess. We met 5 years ago while hiking Offa's Dyke. I love the blue hair!

Day 2 We set off early headed towards Corfe Castle on the Purbecks. To get there we took a small "chain" ferry on a short 5 minute crossing. The roads here are very narrow, so glad I am not driving, thankfully C is a very excellent and confident driver.
The 12 km hike was up and along a ridge along the Purbeck way. Beautiful but misty views with many horses, cattle and lambs along the way as well as a few other hikers, most of them with their friendly and very happy dogs.
I am so chuffed (I have not yet heard anyone here actually use this word but it is such a great English word) to be hiking in England again. The system of walker's right-aways through private property is amazing. There are walking paths everywhere with lots of folks using and respecting them. I noticed no garbage and all gates were securely closed to prevent the farm creatures from wandering.
The weather was cloudy and cool to start but by noon it was tshirt weather. At the end we walked a bit on the "up and down" coastal trail, stopping to eat our lunch on the sandy beach. Every few minutes another dog would arrive, that was our luncheon entertainment, watching the dogs happily plunging into the sea to retrieve their balls. Once we tired of that we made our way into the small touristy town of Swanage. We strolled through the town to the train station where several steam engines and other not quite so old trains were running. We caught one of the 1920s versions which got us back to our starting point, the almost 1000 year old Corfe Castle, situated high on the hill. So our hiking was not quite finished as we climbed up to check it out. The castle was wonderful with exactly the right amount of crumbliness.

 I am still training so am porting my 20.         pound "rucksack".

Omg I love the bangs. These 2 were hanging out at a gate insisting on some attention before we were allowed through.

 Looking toward Swanage.

                            Lunch time

            I did not expect to be sitting on an                 English beach at the end of March!

     Corfe (means gap in Anglo Saxen) Castle

   Looking down on the charming town of Corfe

As we drove home we listened to BBC radio, as 1 would imagine all about Teresa May and the Brexit situation ... But then ... It was all about Justin Trudeau and Jody Wilson Raybould and the just released taped phone conversation. I guess the Brits take some comfort in other troubled governments.
Whew, this blogging takes more time than I thought. I may not be posting every day!

I have said my goodbyes and am waiting to board the 1st leg to Gatwick.
Yesterday DH and I dropped off the schnauzer for an overnight at a kindly friend's home then made our way to the ferry. Bit of a glitch ... we were 1st car left behind which would make us late for what was to be a surprise birthday dinner in Richmond. DH was wondering why I was so upset. Everyone involved had kept the secret so well and now I blew it at the 11th hour. Anyway the friends and family happily visited while waiting for us, in the end we were only 45 minutes late. The restaurant I had chosen was The Boathouse, the service and food were great.
DH and I stayed at a hotel close to the airport while our dinner companions all had long drives home.
After a difficult final goodbye at the hotel I boarded the shuttle and, as usual, arrived at the airport way too early.

 DH won 2 bits off me while waiting 2 hours for the next ferry.

 DH's son with our perfect grandaughter.❤

 DH's 2 sons with their wonderful partners. ❤❤

Saying goodbye to friend K ... by walking together of course.

Perfect timing ... Now boarding.

Can I walk 29 Kms?

DH took our schnauzer Chip to work today so that I could have another full training day. I decided to walk the E&N Rail Trail. My initial plan was to walk until about 4pm then take a bus back to James Bay. I started later than I wanted, it was 10:30 before I had finished getting ready. It was cold enough to wear gloves, about 5C with clear blue sky. I walked along the waterfront and over our lovely Blue Bridge and along the Songhees waterfront before joining the trail on Esquimalt Rd just past Spinakers Pub. I have walked this portion quite a few times so I do find it rather boring, especially this time of year before the spring flowers start to appear. It took me 1.5 hours to get to Admiral's Walk, my Aunt and Uncles neighbourhood. My dear Uncle G has recently passed away after living with dementia for many years. I wanted to pay my respects so I dropped in. Luckily three of my cousins were there so I visited for about 40 minutes. My cousin S is visiting from Toronto, we are the same age and were even in the same grade 1 class. I am very quiet and passive, she is not. S tried on my backpack and walked around with it for a while asking many good questions and making great suggestions. I told her that I have always admired her curiosity and that I am working on being less passive and more curious, that she is my inspiration in this endeavor. I love this family of cousins and my aunt and uncle. They are a diverse and accomplished family. Unfortunately I was unable to see Aunty H as she was sick in bed. She and cousin A had been taking care of Uncle G and were able to keep him at home until a few days before he died. I assume that they are both exhausted.
Then back on the trail, I decided to go to Thetis Lake where I could hike up some hills and through the woods. I stopped to sit in the sun and eat my snacks and put a few bandaids on my feet. I had such a wonderful sense of well being as I walked around both Upper and Lower Thetis. I stopped to talk to a few dogs and their owners and marveled at how much of the Lakes are still covered in ice. One dog walker told me that she had seen a family of otters swimming in the lake. It was about 3:30pm when I exited the park and began retracing my steps back to James Bay. I was getting tired so put on the tunes which put an extra bounce in my step.
Once I got home at 6:15 (after a detour to downtown to complete a couple of errands) I was amazed to see that I had walked about 33 kms, my feet were tired but my back felt fine after carrying a 15lb pack all day. This is good news as day 3 of my camino will be 29kms, I am feeling more confident.

from Songhees looking towards home.
The destruction of Laurel Pt is visible with
our condo building behind ~ the tallest 1.

Training

I tend to walk quite a bit in my regular life. I do not own a car and since I live close to downtown I am happy to do all my errands on foot. The last few weeks have seen me (and sometimes with my schnauzer Chip) walking the streets wearing my backpack.
I love my backpack, purchased a few months ago from our local outdoor store Robinsons. They were awesome, helping me select the best backpack for my size and for my adventure. The saleswoman spent much time fitting the backpack to me and stressed that I should come back just prior to my departure, with my packed pack, for any last minute adjustments.
I am a very poor packer, always packing too much. I am a planner and like to be prepared for any occurrence.  Fortunately I have done much research and I think I have this all under control. We'll see. The plan is to keep the weight down to 16 pounds (without food and water). Even lighter would be preferable. Again ...We'll see.
This February Victoria has had lots of snow and mostly temperatures below freezing. Not conducive to training. I could have exercised up (& down) the stairs in my 11 story condo building but I did not. But I am very disciplined about daily doing a 40 minute DVD workout which includes a lot of leg work.
So yesterday I set out with a 14 pound pack, taking the bus to Beaver Lake. My first mistake was getting off 1 stop too early. On the way to the proper stop, the bitter north wind blowing in my face ... bringing tears to my eyes, I spied a "shortcut" to the lake. It turned out to take me by way of the fields that one sees from the highway (remember Kathy when we walked that way?) . Well the fields were flooded and then frozen with ice and then some snow. It was a difficult slog trying not to slip .... no broken limbs for me thank you very much! That short cut took about 30 minutes longer due to the conditions. I kept telling myself that it was all good cuz I was walking ... and it was fine. I managed. Once I got to the main trail there was little ice and conditions were better. It was my original plan to detour up Bear Hill, I changed my mind thinking that it would be icy as well.
A great walk in all, I saw a beautiful Great Blue Heron, a flock of American Coots,  a Pileated Woodpecker, many friendly dogs (Chip went to work with Keith) and a flock of young moms with their babies in snugglies. The sun was shining full force, it was cold but I was dressed for it. My pack felt light, I was in my happy place.
I walked all the way around the two lakes then took the path to Pipeline Rd and then on to Village Restaurant where I stopped for lunch. Soup was on my mind but as there was alcohol in the soup (alcohol, even cooked in food provokes my mild epilepsy and gives me a seizure) so chose another item. I have made up a note to pass to waiters in Spain to explain my issue. That is one thing I am concerned about, but will not dwell on.
Onward through the tunnel under the Pat Bay highway, along Rithet's Bog Bird Sanctuary and then eventually joined the Galloping Goose which took me back to James Bay. I do love Victoria and that I can walk all day, mostly on trails and only have 3 traffic light crossings. So 6 hours walking including lunch stop netted just over 24 kms. A very good day. My feet (& my eyes ~ the wind!) were certainly tired but it was a good tired. There will be many more long days of training ahead. Life is good.

That evening I received a WhatsApp message from my friend C in England. She sent a photo of her hiking the previous day ~ in short sleeves! While I was slogging in ice, snow and wind. Oh well, I will soon be in sunny Spain.

That melting snow has to go somewhere. Elk Lk is very high, note the bench surrounded by lake water.