Starlight walk for St Johns Hospice

Swift asked me to do a 10km and I said yes, without asking who it was for, where it was, or what it was. All I knew was that it was starting at 10pm so Swift was going to pick me up. I hadn't quite realised we would be driving to Moggerhanger and St Johns Hospice to join a 600 walks. We registered and received our t-shirt. We bought a stars headband and watched the warm up, while sat on a hay bale.

And we were off. We walked on footpaths, through fields, on the pavement and on roads. We walked through the colour spray paint where we were covered in paint. Half way around we were given a drink and snack and then two hours later, we were walking over the finish line and greeted with a proper medal and bacon sandwich! 

I couldn't believe how amazing it was. The thought that went into the walk was top notch. The CEO started the walk saying that there are 15 people in the house and that's who we were walking for. Then before we finished, we were given a star and had to write a name on it for someone that has passed. We walked through the memorial garden of hundreds of fairy lights and hand to put our star on a tree. It was so emotional to finish an epic walk.

Having done Race for Life earlier this year, they just don't compare. For Race for Life you don't get a proper medal and the personal touches just aren't there. I'm definitely joining again next year.

Duke of Edinburgh Diamon Challenge - on my birthday

Earlier this year I signed up to the Diamond Duke of Edinburgh Challenge to celebrate 60 years of D of E. I've got my bronze, silver and gold and really wanted to do the Diamond challenge. I thought of the activity that I'm worse at - cycling. So I decided to do an Olympic triathlon - 1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km walk. Oh my gosh the training was dull. I needed a whole day to finish it so my birthday was ideal.

I completed it in 4 hours and would I ever do it again - NOT A CHANCE. Oh my gosh that is hard core. I don't know how people compete against others. I was just competing against myself and just wanted to finish. I was so relieved when I finished the 10km. To celebrate, Ali bought me flowers and treated me to lunch at Betty Bumbles Vintage Tea Rooms for afternoon tea. It was just us in a war themed room. There were lots of little touches like the 50's style music in the background. We ordered fishfinger sandwiches for our afternoon tea.

We ended the day watching Bridget Jones' Baby at the cinema. I have not laughed that much in years.

Birthday treat to IWM Duxford

When asked where I would like to go for my birthday meal, it's a no brainer - Morrisons salad. My favourite. So we started my birthday treat day with a Morrisons salad and then drove to IWM Duxford on Tesco clubcard. We walked inside concorde, many old aeroplanes that had silver service and vanity cases for every passenger. We saw planes that could carry nuclear weapons, old war planes, Blenheim, American planes....and had fun trying on the uniform. We were the last to leave the museum, just before it closed. What a great visit but gosh 5 hours of looking at planes is immense.

Badger's 18th to Parliament

Where do you take the future Prime Minister for their 18th? Parliament of course. Badger didn't have a clue, we met her at the station and travelled to Westminster. Lunch in the Parliament café and then we collected our audio guides. Having done the tour too, I think I prefer the audio guide as you can go around at your own pace. New Dawn, to commemorate suffragettes has been added since our last visit and it's stunning.

While walking around we saw  the congregation of a wedding walking through to a room. What a stunning venue for a wedding! We sat for ages and ages waiting to see the happy couple and didn't see them. So made our way back to Westminster Hall and while we were handing back our audio guides, the 100 person congregation joined together for a photo. Then the happy couple arrived, two men. For someone in a same sex marriage myself, I'm amazed I was surprised but we were all really surprised. How amazing is it for a same sex couple to be married in the Houses of Parliament. A great visit.

First and last baking competition

Midway through the weekly Great British Bake Off Challenge, I thought that taking part in a baking competition wasn't a bad idea. So I entered the traditional cake category in a cake competition in the community centre. The initiative is great because it gives cakes to families in need. When I entered the room, I walked back out again. I saw the showstopper novelty cakes and oh my gosh they were immense. I placed my white chocolate and raspberry battenburg on the traditional table and then left for the judging.

2 hours later I returned to hear the results. However, they were still judging them. In the end they took 4 hours to judge the cakes and then had the cheek to say that my cake was dry. Of course it was! It was left out for 4 hours before they ate a bit off the end and not the middle. And they compared it to drizzle cakes that are wet to begin with. I'm not bitter at all.

So this was my first and last cake competition. I disliked the competition element and feel that competing takes the fun out of it. Never again.