OUR UK ADVENTURE

We're home, well kind of not quite sure where home is at the moment but we are back in Oz!

We had an absolutely amazing time although it wasn’t what you would call a relaxing holiday. I’ve never experienced Jet Lag before but it’s not nice. Cam and I have been waking up at all hours and I’ve never wanted to sleep so much, ever.

Anyway onto the good stuff, the holiday!!! It started with a trip up to Cairns for a friend’s wedding, which was just gorgeous, then the long flight to the UK, which isn’t too much fun when you’ve had a few too many drinks the night before and eaten way too much party food!

We had 2 weeks in the UK and thanks to our little Ford Fiesta and Cam’s fabulous driving skills (plus my navigational skills were pretty dam good too) we saw a lot of England, Wales and Scotland.

After flying in to Heathrow airport we headed straight for Wales as Cam wanted to be in the Brecon Beacons for his 40th birthday. We stayed in a great place and the next day we headed off to climb up Mt Pen Y Fan (the highest mountain in Wales, just what I wanted to do 4 days before the marathon, he, he). It was a great day and we made it to the top although as the fog set in I could understand how easy it would be to get badly lost, we actually nearly went off track although after some sensible decisions we decided to back track and go back the same way we came! (Brecon Beacons photos are the foggy pics below).

After Wales we headed towards the Lake District which would have to be one of my favourite spots. It’s so beautiful and the B&B’s are just amazing! I wouldn’t mind going back and doing a few of their walking tracks next time.
Next stop was Scotland – Loch Lomond National park. We ended up arriving late and found a great B&B which turned out to be run by the McGregor’s which just happens to be the clan that Cam comes from (Cameron Sean McGregor Dempster).

By now we were on a mission to get up to Inverness in time for the Marathon. We started early and stopped off at Hadrian’s Wall and drove the Marathon track into Inverness. This day the weather was miserable and I was starting to doubt whether the Marathon would even take place (check out the pic below of me getting blown away, this is near the start of the Marathon track).

We made it to Inverness early afternoon and we met up with the 11 other crazy Aussies who wanted to run in Scotland. We stayed at these great cottages about 30 minutes out of Inverness. It was such a great atmosphere and made the whole experience so much more fun having a group of us (thanks Nettie for organizing it all!).

The next day was the Marathon! Oh how I had been hanging out for this day to come. After months of running and preparing for the marathon, it was here. I was tired, I had been on the go but I was all fired up to do this thing. I’m so glad now that I had Phoebe and Mark to share the experience with as I don’t think it would have been as much fun without them! That night we all celebrated and it was so good to see a group of people so very happy with their achievements. It makes setting a goal and working towards it, all worthwhile.

Waking up the next day I was a little stiff but not too bad. If anything I was more frustrated with my body than anything else, for months I had trained hard and I’d achieved my goal “I’d run a marathon” although I wasn’t feeling as good as I should have. I was annoyed that on the day my body didn’t work how I wanted it to and it kind of took away from the happiness I should have been feeling. Two weeks on, I’m happy and proud although at the time I just felt frustrated. Maybe I need to learn not to be quite as hard on myself and appreciate how far I have come (I’ll get there one day!)

After the Marathon we had a few days in the cottages so we did some things around Inverness. We went on a Loch Ness Boat Cruise, visited Urquhart Castle, drove up to the Isle of Skye and had lots of drinks and pub food along the way. (Oh and some work in there too!).

On the way back down into England we stopped off at Glen Coe which is an amazing spot. The landscape is just stunning, it was definitely Cam’s favourite spot and we could have spent a lot longer there.

Then we were back into England and stopped off in the Yorkshire Dales before a very quick trip down to Paignton beach. Let’s, just say there beaches aren’t quite the same as Aussie beaches!

So after 2 weeks of madly driving around the UK we were ready for a bit of RnR in Thailand! We had 3 nights in Thailand and got to spend lots of time Cam’s folks. We visited some great restaurants and found even more reasons to keep going back.

So that’s about it. We’re back in Mackay although have just packed up a trailer load of goodies so I can move back into the house in Cairns (not looking forward to the long drive tomorrow!) Cam won’t be far behind as it looks like his transfer will come through about Chrissy time. I can’t believe we will finally be back in Cairns, I’m so excited!!!

I’ll be back again soon and hopefully reporting on how good my training is going coz at the moment I’m being a lazy bum!

Cheers, Hilds
P.S Thank you so much to everyone for your lovely comments. I've been a bit overwhelmed and it makes all the hard work worthwhile (I hope my crazy goals make you realise you can also achieve yours!). Sorry I haven't replied individualy to everyone.

EMAIL : hilde@getactiveonline.com

Posted By Hilde on Tuesday 20th October 2009 @ 21:19:16

Updated : Saturday 21st November 2009 @ 11:01:06 | Words : 1038 | Views : 28 | Comments : 1

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Sorry it's not about your UK adventure or fitness. I used to be in the Army with Cameron and was one of his closest mates. I now live in Adelaide and was wondering if he could give me a call. Thanks! Cooky.

EMAIL : darren.cook@asc.com.au

Posted By Darren Cook on Saturday 21st November 2009 @ 11:01:06

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