Marldon Apple Pie Fair Boxercise Demo!

Oh yes, today was epic!

The Marldon Apple Pie Fair Boxercise Demonstration! (imagine that being read out in an American Movie Style voice!!!)
I arrived! I met a few Bay Horse friends watching the 'Red Sparrows' what I can only describe as a bunch of people carrying small wooden planes walking in formation! It was perfect for a 'Midsomer Murders' style village occasion!

Amy arrived,then Shaun and to my surprise, the lovely Chris from the Pavilions!

Amy was there with her German friend who was very very sweet and handed out leaflets whilst we demonstrated! Lovely :)

So we watched a very off-her-face lady joining in with 'moves to music' another class from the village hall demonstrating on the main arena! And hoped she would do the same with us as she was very funny!

Then, our time was here! I took up the mike and gave us a good bigging up and invited everyone to come and join in the Boxercise aerobics!
Lots of kids and a local Martial Arts group joined in, it was really nice.

Then, the padwork! We all punched, I would say like Demons, but we didn't as we had to show that we cater for all levels of fitness, the Team were amazing and at the sidelines Wendy took these amazing photos, thanks Wendy :)

Then off for a pint! We then realised why the off-her-face lady was so drunk, as they has run out of cider! Haha, but a beer later we said our goodbyes and ended a brilliant afternoon.
I love my supportive friends, they are the best, thanks to the A Team!


xD

P.S. There was no Apple Pie there at all!

Kickboxing Quickie!

Hi all

No pictures on this one, just wanted to give a few words on tonight as I'm still wired from it and my feet have the most epic carpet burns!

6.10 the lovely Cy - Famous for Dartington Village Stores and being a Red Belt Kickboxer, picked me up, he already had our newest Kickboxer, Matt in his massive vehicle and off we went to Plymouth!

Down the A38, off on the 386 (oh yeah baby, I know my road numbers!) to Derriford and The Devonshire! Oh my life what a massive sorted place of exercise that is!

Anyway, we went in and I saw my most favourite sparring partner ever, Joanna (I cant spell or pronounce her surname as yet, but I will) and I knew all was gooooooooood :)

So in we went into a sort of 'rough-veloured' area (I dont know how to spell the fabric name sorry! Or even what it is) and got hot and sweaty!

It was a Kickboxing Seminar to be reckoned with the lovely Sir, Mr Houston is a man that I like a lot. He does a lot of punching, lots and lots, that's what I loved about my grading, he let me punch a lot! And we did that tonight and it was so so so so good I am excited, can you tell?

Anyway, the finish was a brilliant CV circuit, me and Joanna went head to head (without cheating .... unlike others!) and sweated or wotsits off!

Anyway, the main point of this blog is that I had another epic adventure! And the best bit was Cy's Amy Winehouse joke on the way back that had no punchline, that I still laughed at!

Night all, had a fantastic night and lost a whole kilo in water :)

My Mummy's visit

I wanted to give this blog justice and I've been busy!

My lovely Mummy visited me this weekend as she does every 2 months (more than I go to see her and I feel bad) but due to my recent job loss I was able to actually meet her at the station again and take her to the B&B (I have a tiny tiny house)

Thursday night consisted of a Totnes in Bloom meeting, a 'Tweetup' in the New Walk Brasserie (very nice) and then a bit of a session in 'The Albert' on the dark side of Totnes in Bridgetown. We met Albert the Springer Spaniel, a customer got an apple thrown at his head and I woke up the next morning with a bit of a headache!

Friday, I've already blogged our Zoo adventure! We came home and had Fish and Chips and a sober one!

Saturday morning, Boxercise out on the field, it was fantastic out there in the sun, and then back to change for our next adventure!

We went over to Tavistock. I used to go there with my best friend Sarah so I know Tavistock very well indeed but have never actually been there with my Mum.

We parked in my favourite carpark (I am sad) by the river and Meadowlands leisure pool! Walked into Town and to the Pannier Market. It was lovely walking round there with Mum but soon I was needing a wee (haha) a pint and some food!
We went to the Tavistock Inn, a pub I used to go in with Sarah and her Mum and Dad. We used to go in there and put songs on the jukebox, we had Kirsty McColl Days and always put on 'The Walk of Life' for Sarah's Mum!
The old jukebox is still there but no longer working, in fact the whole pub hadn't changed at all since we used to go there over 20 years ago! That's probably not a good thing haha :)

We had cheesy chips and then hit the town! Or should I say, the shops, which to be fair I dont think you go to Tavistock for.
Anyway, I decided to confront another viaduct whilst we were there! I made it near it anyway, it was a big one!

We had a BBQ that night and a lush walk back after a few Ginn Fizzes before bedtime (Waltons)

Sunday, I went for a cycle, run and my place of worship, the Gym whilst Mum went to sing hymns and see her Totnes Church friends.
Then we went to the Dragon Boat races at Longmarsh.

A beautiful afternoon by the river, we took the dogs (Murphy with his bandaged paw) and spent all afternoon there. My lovely friend Amy was there for the Steam Packet for their first race but then had to go to work, so we did have a brief visit to the Steam Packet to say hi, then back to see Britannia Royal Naval College just about beat the Rugby club team, erm, I mean Nelsons Waterman.

Then home for a Chinese takeaway and some wine! Perfect!

I miss my Mum and love and cherish her visits to Devon. I hope one day she will visit and never have to go back on that train back to Surrey again.

This one's for you Mrs Wright :) xx

Dartmoor Zoological Park

Evening all!

Wow! Frantic session trying to upload animal photo's! My dongle really doesnt like it haha ;)

So today me and Mum had a van trip to Dartmoor Zoo, I follow them on Twitter and also hear about them on Radio Devon all the time so thought we had better go there before the Epic Hollywood Film comes out!

It was lovely out this morning as we walked through Totnes Market so we had high hopes for good weather, but Dartmoor being Dartmoor yep, you guessed it, the rain came in!
Luckily we both had brollies and in true English Fashion we went to find some animals that were hiding from the rain :)

We, or should I say I, had the usual 'Dear' jokes as you would expect! Mum did fall for the what do you call a dear with no eyes joke on the way out which greatly surprised me! I'm the gullible stupid one in our family ;)

We wandered around, I spoke to a lot of animals as is my way, none of them answered back today, although Mum did do a good job of speaking for them just to humour me I think but they were all great!

A few didn't come out I am thinking due to the rain but the Otters gave us an immense display of playfulness which entertained for a long time!

We saw Big Cats, The Cheetah, Tigers and Lions and my most favourite of the whole day, the Wolves. Beautiful creatures!

We said hello to the Meercats, had a cup of tea (well I did) bought a copy of the book, 'We Bought A Zoo' and off we went back across to Cornwood and home.

Fantastic wet day at the Zoo with my lovely Mum.

Speak soon my lovelies :)

Dogs on Dartmoor and the Avon Dam

Good Afternoon all, and a very Happy Thursday to you.

This morning, the sun was out, the dogs and I had our usual cycle along the river path to Dartington. Thetdogs were as energetic as usual and I thought, why not completely wear the little worsits out before my Mum arrives!

Breakfast, washing and a bit of cleaning done and I lycra'd myself up and chucked the dogs in the van.

We headed off South Brent direction onto the moor and parked up.

2 very excited little pups legged it out of the van and straight into the stream! Bless!
Off we ran, and ran, and ran, I think you get the picture, anyway we ran up to the Avon Dam on Dartmoor. It was only a short run by my standards but we hit it hard and fast and broke into a proper sweat!

The dogs decided to go against orders and go into the danger area for a swim, then we hit the track back to the van.

Brief but epic adventure, hope you like the photos?

Now Paddy and Murphy are fast asleep and dreaming of their adventure

:)

Pedal Mad turns into to Mad Pedal

Well hello so swiftly from the last blog! Wasn't expecting that, but to be fair, I wasn't really expecting today!
Up early after a cracking nights sleep and off to Dartington Primary School for the Pedal Mad Mountain Bike Orienteering event!

I offered to help Kris with this event back at the time of the 103 mile challenge. I wasn't going to cycle as I only had the 'green bike' at the time (now at over £22 on ebay) anyway as Kris was so epic helping us staying up all night to give us our 4am lift it was only fair I try and help on his epic event.

Fairly good turn out considering but I will be completely honest and say that the Totnes end of South Hams Martial Arts was very very disappointing. Considering we were raising funds for our clubs it was very sad indeed :(

There were some pro guys there today and they eventually won and it seems that all enjoyed the experience.
Thanks Lesley for the cheese and cucumber roll :)
The 3 and a bit hours passed fairly easily actually and the bikers came back.

We cleared up and I offered to pick up some of the markers for Kris. Thinking that it was all flat and everything from my house to the 4 I was picking up! *why?*

I set off on my new lovely mountain bike, new to me anyway, and found marker 3, the one that everyone said had been stolen! Yay! I found one! Wooohoooo!

Then the next one by the watermill, then off to the Steiner School. I missed a bit of cyclepath, rode along the road and had to go back to find the marker, this was the first time I realised I am no good with maps and stuff like that and behind the table today on van rescue mission should it be required was my best job!

Found the third out of 4 and then up the lane past the kennels and found the little rocky muddy track that the last one was up!

My gears stuck, I had to stand up, fell off twice, tried again to change gear but I think the bike needs a service! I got off and ran up the track with my bike, so much easier! haha

Found the last one, checked out the map (hmmm) and thought I could just carry on......

Long story cut short, I ended up in Rattery! 5.5 miles from Totnes in the opposite direction!
Called Kris to let him know I had his markers and that I was lost and he laughed a lot, as I would, and did!

Anyway, declined the offer of a rescue mission lift and found my own way back to Totnes in under 30 mins! Woohoo!

It was fun, and reminds me why I never just turn back around and go back the same way! It's all about the adventure for me :)

Judgement Day - Totnes in Bloom 2011

As I said at the start of my Epic Adventures blog, it's not always all about the sport and extreme challenges.
My epic adventures will come in all shapes and sizes, from one extreme to the other.

This week, on my Mum's birthday we had the judging of the Totnes in Bloom local gardens competition.

The categories were

Best Front Garden
Best Commercial Premises
Best Communal Project
Best Container/Patio garden
Best Licensed Premises

We put the forms into the paper well in advance this year and we had 38 properties within all categories to go and judge.

The 3 judges this year were our current Mayor of Totnes, Judy Westacott, South Hams representative Rob Harkness, and myself. We were going for a Radio Devon celebrity but we had to suffer me, the Chairman of Totnes in Bloom instead!
This was my 5th year of judging the competition, I think we only had about 5 gardens to look at in that first year so you can see how much our competition has bloomed! *hangs head in shame for that one*

We got on 'Bob the Bus' the town bus (very different from the Town Bike! No further comments please) and off we went hitting Bridgetown first.
Epic parts of Bridgetown, the Edible Planters at Steamer Quay. They looked so much better than the neglected planters that used to be there. The Edible Gardens in Totnes have really taken off this year and it's the perfect town for it.
Totnes in Bloom isnt about floral displays and neatly trimmed bushes but it's getting deeper!

Looking back at the photos from the judging you can see what a real effort was made prior to the judging. The whole town is improving and it can only continue to get better.

There were some funny highlights, particularly when we were in Parklands, looking at a slightly weedy, shabby little patch of garden, thinking it a little odd that the really well maintained floral display round the corner hadn't entered! Luckily the owner of the lovely garden came out to water as we walked past and we realised that we got the wrong address! Oh How we laughed! *had to be there*

David, the last Town Clerk drove the bus for us and did a spectacular job, in particular taking out a massive chunk of bank with the bus step that hadn't retracted! He drove through some pretty tiny lanes but it all went very well, oh, and the lady who was going to set her dogs on us as she had forgotten that we would be judging that day. She looked out to find 6 people wandering around her garden, must have been a shock! haha

Diana, Ann and Tony came along too for the ride and Diana caused great amusement as usual!

All in all it was a very good 'epic' experience, we judged quickly, thoroughly and it was a fair competition.

The results are now out and can be found on www.totnesinbloom.co.uk we will have a presentation evening later in the year for the winners and I'm sure that will be epic too!

Thank you for reading!

D :)

New Beginnings Part Two - Preparation!

Hi Blog Followers! This is officially my most boring blog ever! But for me in my own girly *I cant do DIY to save my life* kind of way it was an epic adventure, so therefore had to be blogged! There are opportunities within for you to giggle at innuendo so it may make it more tolerable!

So, new beginning for me, I need a desk to study and also use for my 'Fighting Fit Devon' planning and preparation. To me having a desk made it 'proper' rather than sitting on the sofa doing paperwork.
It made it real!

Desk hunting wasn't going well, even desks in Totnes market and charity shops were expensive, so I did the bad thing and went and got an Argos value range desk and chair set! Very cheap but will do for now.

A very nice guy out with his family in Newton Abbot offered to help carry it to my van, I obviously declined being the stubborn cow that I am, even though it was awkward and I'd parked in the very corner of the car park!
Anyway, got it home, left it in the van overnight and decided to face it after my run on the Coast Path when I would be more chilled and focused.

So I faced the box of doom! After a brief struggle with the box itself I finally got all the bits laid out and stared at the instructions as though in some kind of Mexican stand-off!

All the parts were numbered and lettered, what joy! They knew it was me.
Bad part, my screwdriver battery was flat, I would have to manually screw together the whole thing!*innuendo opp #1*

So I actually read the instructions, insert this into that and screw! *innuendo opp #2*

A couple of times I had bits the wrong way round and had to re-do it! Typical girl, didn't read the instructions properly heehee :)

Anyway, by the end my hands were throbbing #3 and I was tired after nearly an hour of screwing #4 but I did it!

I finally had a solid upstanding erection in my bedroom! *Innuendo opp #5 and the best I think you will agree*

And I am now sat typing this blog at said erection, my new desk!

The End

New Beginnings Part One - Old Favourites!

Well hellllooooo there again!

It seems that my epic adventures are not as regular as my 103 training runs used to be :(
But here I am again!

It was my last day of employment on Friday, picture of me in the van for the last treck off to Ipplepen.

So what better way to spend a weekend than celebrating my new life and new start eh?

Thanks to Keiley Dennis for the gym training session and then the cake and wine celebration after, which went very well and the tweeting was hilarious. Only we can sit next to each other in the same room and tweet to each other haha

Anyway, nice classes Saturday morning and then a chilled out afternoon with the dogs, followed by a dog bathing session!

Early night Saturday, very odd indeed and up early to..... yep...... you guessed it, thinking the photos may have given it away, but I ran some Coast Path! Woohooo!

I ran Salcombe to Hope Cove and back again. It must have been a special rambling day as there were loads of them, but all very friendly, all got out of my way, and all made me feel very special indeed with their lovely comments. Thanks ramblers, you are ace!

Big test of the achilles today, and yes, it really hurt on the big inclines, but I ran on my toes a bit more and managed to deal with it.
To be honest I didn't care as it was just so so lovely to be back out there again loaded up and back with my pole! (ooer)

So running back to Salcombe there were no waves to speak of, and none at Bantham from what I could see from Hope Cove so I had a brainwave! (rare, I know)
I would paddle in the cold sea and help heal my ankle straight from the run, and if I go in thigh deep I can sort my legs with some cool water to prevent muscle ache!

So I did it, and all the holiday makers in their bikinis and trunks chilling out on the beach were suddenly confronted with me in my running gear pegging it into the water! I didn't care and after 10 mins I waded out and my ankle did feel better, or numb, or both!

So, part one, done, part 2 really wont interest you at all, it will be my most boring so far, dare you to read it haha ;)