Fitter than 20 years ago

Well, when a friend signed up the Swimathon 2012, I had a moment of madness and decided to do the same. It's an amazing year, so why not have a challenge. Ali decided to sign up too, when at the time she struggled to swim 20 and I hadn't actually have done any proper swimming since a child, and last did the Swimathon 20 years ago! After months of training, it was time to swim.

I was slightly nervous, probably more becuase I had done it before and worried I couldn't still do it. Waiting for what felt like eternity, it was into the pool and picking the same colour hat I've worn for every swimathon, red. This was my 4th Swimathon, 3 between the ages of 9-12, but the pool had always been closed but this time we just had one lane for everyone, the one mile swimmers and the 5k people. This took my mind off the first 64 lengths before the mile swimmers got out as it was like having a slow pacemaker in a really wavy pool as the kids on floats caused waves in the water which mean I swallowed about half the swimming pools worth of water. 100 lengths done in 1 hour, 4 minutes so I was well underway for my goal to finish below 2.5 hours.

At length 150 I hit the wall, my knee was killing me, my shoulders were siezing up and all I could think of was that I had to get as close to 2 hours as possible. Lengths 150-160 were the worse but as there were only 3 of us doing the 5k, and Ali and I were 2 of them, it was a quiet lane. I finished first in 2 hours 10 minutes and 20 seconds but as Ali still had 50 to go, I stayed in and completed another 50 with her. I was so proud of her as she doesn't like water, has never swam very much, nor has much upper body strength so I'm so pleased for us both.

The last time I did the Swimathon in 2 hours, 22 minutes so I've proved I'm more fit than when I was 12 and swimming most days. However, I don't fancy feeling like this again, I don't remember every muscle hurting like this last time.

No running with a fish in your arms at Milton Country Park

Milton Country Park, just north of Cambridge is made from old gravel pits, 95 acres of some great paths, lakes, fishing points, playgrounds and the best bit...lots of poo bins. £2 to park but you don't mind it when you have so many things like the cafe and toilets. We did about half of the park but couldn't find one part so have decided to do that at a later time. But, it's definitly a must visit place. They have events, lots of chiff chaffs and we saw a great crested grebe on a nest and swans. My favourite sign has to be the Environment Agency sign with a person running away with a fish. no running with fish at Milton Park! Luckily, we didn't take a fish with us, nor did we run.

Ripped trousers at Swineshead Woods

Our first Woodland Trust owned wood, 22hectares of SSSI and absolutely covered in bluebells. Swineshead Woods is quite vast but to get to it was a chore as we tried to enter via Kimbolton but the track is closed between October and May so we decided to drive to the other end of the track where we packed, and walked up the woods. You could fit 2/3 cars in the car park, but I wouldn't want to drive up the track to be honest so I'm glad it was closed.

We decided to walk the perimeter walk, but it was so big we only managed to do half of the woods. We saw one other dog, unfortunately it jumped up on my a couple of times and ripped my trousers and scratched Ali. We saw buzzards overhead and plenty of bluebells and primrose. A gorgeous wood, we will definitly be back.

Waresley Wood and irresponsible dog owners

It's such a shame that irresponsible dog owners and a view of the neighbouring sewerage works kind of distorts our thoughts of Waresley Woods. It's actually really nice when you get through the gates, with a carpet of bluebells, snowdrops and primrose. It feels like spring is just around the corner. There are also organised blue bell walks courtesy of the Wildlife Trust. The Woods have a huge gravel car park, and one central muddy footpath with many footpaths off of it so you can easily get lost and not see a single person for quite a while which is refreshing. I'm just trying to forget the number of poo bags at the entrance of the woods, despite the many signs. A must for blubell sightings.