What happens when Elspeth finally goes to the hairdressers

Yes, that really is me. Having got very bored with my hair recently I spent yesterday afternoon having some color, some highlights and some layers put in. Then, the hairdresser dried it straight!

Don't worry - the curls are only temporarily suppressed. Normal service will be resumed soon...

Catching up with the family

We're doing well on weekends away the moment: this time we went to Stow, as did Rachel, David, Andy, Sam and Isabel. It was lovely to catch up with the littlies again. Sam is full of his own thoughts and opinions these days, while Isabel has just started to talk and tries to copy everything Sam does. Meanwhile Rachel and Dave were introduced to the delights of Apples to Apples in a hard fought match on Saturday night.
Among other things this weekend we went to the playbarn, where Sam and Issy tried out the slides:


And a roman villa, where there were snails:

Tim captured lots of photos of everyone - there are more on his Flikr page. This was a stray shot, which made me smile:

Another Welsh weekend

Another camping trip, this time to our usual campsite in the brecon Beacons. but this time we had company:

A mother duck and her ducklings came to say hello on the first morning we were there. It was a perfect opportunity for Tim to play with his new camera - more photos are on his flikr page.

After the ducks had gone we were joined by Andy, Catriona, Ian, Will and Emily. Here we all are Planning a Walk:

This is the Walk Tim and I did on Friday, and this is the group walk on Saturday. It was all topped off with a trip to a cave/dinosaur park on the Sunday - bizarre but good fun!

All in all a good weekend. Next stop will be the Peak District in two weeks time for another camping extravaganza...

A new arrival

Congratulations to Trish and Cory on the birth of their son, Fraser. A month or so ago, Trish asked if Tim and I would be godparents to their new arrival, and we were delighted to accept! Now all we need is a free weekend to head up to Aberdeen and meet him in person...

Our Holiday

Looking back, I've not posted since last time we went to Wales - to buy my new tuba (which is still big and still shiny). Seems about time then to tell you about our holiday to Snowdonia a couple of weeks ago. We've settled on a mini tradition of having a few days away over our anniversary (three years...), and with tackling the coast to coast walk later in the year, we decided we needed a bit more walking than Bedfordshire had to offer, so away we went for a week in North Wales.

We camped at a lovely site at Llyn Gwynant, which was very peaceful - camped next to a little river flowing down to the lake, with no cars allowed on the field we chose, and indeed no people sharing our field for the midweek nights. Campfires and one-burner dinners: good stuff!

Mostly we walked: a slightly busy Cadair Idris on the bank holiday, setting the pace for the week in terms of the weather;

Carnedd Dafydd and Llewelyn, the next highest hills after Snowdon;

a demanding and fulfilling scramble up Tryfan;

and a walk in the Snowdon foothills around Beddgelert on the one day there was cloud on the tops: we met some local widlife.

We never climbed Snowdon itself - I think after the beautiful day on Cadair, the majesty of the Carnedds and the brutality of Tryfan we didn't feel the need to go up the biggest one of all. We did allow ourselves a day off to go on the Welsh Highland Railway (Elspeth's choice) and wander around Caernarfon Castle (mine).

We also had a really nice meal on our anniversary at this bistro in Betws y Coed which we'd thoroughly recommend to anyone going that way.

I am very thankful to various family members who have contributed to my birthday present - a Pentax DSLR - which I have been beginning to learn over the holiday and since - expect some more photo posts from me, and I'm always interested in hearing people's views, so comment away. I think this one is my favourite so far - probably because it's a big picture of Elspeth :-)

All in it was a really good holiday, and we're very looking forward to upcoming camping weekends in Brecon and the Peak District with friends, and to our two week walk in September! I am extremely proud of Elspeth for tackling Tryfan the way we went up - it was a challenge well surmounted - well done love.

Weekend walking

This is the Walk Tim and I did today - again, aiming for a faster pace than usual. It snowed in Bedfordshire today, so keeping going wasn't a problem as it was too cold to stop for long! Highlights of today's walk included a fishing competition with lots of very serious anglers at regular intervals along the canal and a very chilly tea break stop afterwards at the Bridgewater Monument.

I promise the next post will have some photos to liven this up a bit!

...and relax...

I have just discovered the delights of a good massage. I was given a gift voucher for my local beauty salon for my birthday, so on Saturday I headed off for a back and shoulder massage, facial, manicure and pedicure. All I can say is bliss! How have I managed to live this long without discovering the delights of a massage? I hadn't realised how tense I was until afterwards. I'm heading back in a month or so...

Weekend walking

We're still trying to get fit for the coast to coast walk this summer. This weekend we went for a Walk around our local reservoir - not a long walk, but our aim was to walk steadily, at a faster pace than usual. We did 7 miles in two hours which is what we were aiming for, then sauntered the last little bit back to the car (and adjacent tea shop).

Easter Fun, Part 2

I know, Easter was a couple of weeks ago, but I'm still catching up!

After the visit of the littlies, Catriona and Ian came over to spend Easter with us. We exchanged chocolate, ate roast lamb and a very nice ginger parfait, and played lots of board games. We also managed a quick trip to Burghley House for a wander round the scuplture garden. Apart from a few hail showers, it was beautiful spring weather and I played with the camera again: