Walking and other bits.

Monday was a walking day and the weather was nice and warm which made it perfect. Each year our church members do a walk to raise money for the Children's Society. The walk is organised by someone else but John is asked to check out the route and that the instructions are correct. Our friend Tony is always happy to walk so he came along as well but we left Scamp at home as the route was around 10 miles and he is only a small dog.

The walk was from Hazelmere in Surrey and took us to Black Down and the Temple of the Winds following a circular route back to Hazelmere. Black Down is the highest point in the South Downs National Park. This was a great route for big views but in parts it was misty.
We enjoyed a coffee in Hazelmere before starting and very near the beginning of the route we spotted an old town well.

As we walked we got promises of views between the trees,

and it was fun to watch these two horses playing.

The views at The temple of the winds were fabulous but misty in the distance. Just beyond the horizon is the sea.

The Temple of the Winds is named after a Bronze Age circular bank. We ate our lunch here seated on a circular stone bench, whilst enjoying the view across Surrey and West Sussex towards the English Channel. It was very quiet and relaxing.

After lunch we continued our walk. At this point we had walked 31/2 miles and still had most of the walk to do. We went down the side of Black Down and our path followed a stream bed, well I think the stream followed the path to be more exact as no stream was marked on the map but there is certainly one now. The descent was steep and muddy in places.

We hadn't had any rain for several days so it wasn't a problem but this will be an interesting route for the church walk in September if we have rain in the days before it takes place. Further on and once again on solid ground we walked between high banks with the roots of trees fully exposed.

I took this picture as I walked along the lane so I'm looking up. I'm 5 foot 6 inches tall and the bank was way above me. When we go walking I generally find Tony and John are ahead of me. They say I spend too much time taking photos or looking at flowers!

Talking of flowers, I saw a lot of Rowan trees (also known as Mountain Ash) along the way and they were generally loaded with berries. This one was a bit sparse but it was a young tree.

Having descended from Black Down we stopped at a pub for a drink. At this point we had completed 2/3 of the route. I didn't take any photos on the last part of the walk as there were several steep climbs with matching descents. The climbs left me a little breathless as I haven't had much time for exercise recently. Back in Hazelmere we found a nice tea shop and enjoyed tea and cake. I had a slice of lemon drizzel cake which is my all time favourite. They had lots of other fabulous looking cakes but I love the tang of the lemons.

In the evening I picked up my hand stitching whilst chilling watching a film. Tuesday I caught up with some more marking ( yes I know I'm on holiday but it has to be done.) I also did some household chores, changing the beds, laundry and cleaning. No sewing happened on Tuesday at all which made me a little sad but today is a good day to catch up. So far today we've walked Scamp, picked up some euros for our trip and a few groceries we needed. 
Now I'm setting up the machine and getting down to some sewing. I want to get some stitching done on a jacket I cut out ages ago. I wanted a new jacket for autumn and this fabric is just the right weight.

As you can see the pieces are all cut out. I also have fabric to make a skirt but that will be next month.

I'm planning on working on the jacket for an hour and then switch to work on the quilting on the 9 patch quilt.

I must remember I need to iron a couple of bits for tomorrow's trip but I can fit that in whilst I press sewing bits. I'll tell you how I get on with my sewing before we head to Heathrow airport.

Lyndsey