A summer well spent

Summer has gone :( We had our traditionally beautiful weather for the first week of September, but now the forecasts are full of dropping temperatures, rainshowers and high winds.


It was a great summer - I managed to make the most of the nice weather and enjoyed a range of different activities. How did my summer ambitions go?

1) To get surfing again - achieved! On one of my favourite beaches in Hendaye.

2) Do 3 ballet classes in one week - achieved! And I'm now planning to make two classes a week my regular timetable - not easy to do around my other commitments.

3) Spend some quality time working on my Spanish - partly done. I did use every opportunity on holiday to use my Spanish, even when the locals spoke to me in English, only reverting when I was completely stuck. It didn't go completely smoothly (there was one dinner where I didn't exactly order food we enjoyed!), but I at least gave it a go. Still plenty of room for improvement though!

4) See some live music - partly done. With the exception of rigging fireworks behind the stage at Marvellous Festival, I didn't manage to organise this. I would love to see a band live, and did get as far as looking up gig lists, but that was it :(

5) Make sushi - still not got any further with this one (although I have eatten sushi on several occassions). Autumn/winter will have to be the time for sushi.

6) Make more pies - achieved! There was the chicken and ham cobbler, and the slightly disasterous but eventually recovered quiche. Almost pies :)

Additions to the list:
7) Get to work crocheting again - achieved! I have been rippling all over the place!

And now I enter autumn having visited more places, eaten more food and tried some more great activities...

What I love about Biarritz and Hendaye

Isn't that amazing?! It was 2pm and we were sat on Hendaye beach, enjoying the sun and waiting for our friend J to arrive.

Why were we waiting for J? Well, apart from the fact that he lives in the area and we were looking foward to catching up after 4 years, he was bringing his surf board!

Not me :) J showing how it's really done.

Because of it's position on the West coast of France, Hendaye usually has really good waves for surfing. It was the first place I ever tried surfing. I have face-planted into these waves many times!

J's board is a beautiful 9' long board - so much more stable than the foam boards I used in Devon and Tenerife. Unfortunately this type of board is very expensive so I won't be getting one any time soon, but it's definitely on my wish list!

It was so good that every time I caught a wave, I at least got my feet on the board; in the hour or so that I was in the water, I even managed to properly surf one wave :) That might not sound like much, but it's much better than my progress in Tenerife last summer! I mostly put the improvement down to the board, but also to J's tuition - it's so handy to have someone watching you and giving new tips each time you fall off.

But it's not just the surfing and beaches that make this area great. It's also the food (for example, my amazing seafood and jacket potato from La Dauphine in St Jean de Luz), the company (I love having friends to visit in different parts of the world!), the fact that Spain is a 10 minute boat ride away and the sunsets...

Summer ambitions

I've read some fantastic Summer Bucket Lists recently, including this amazingly long one from meals and moves. That is going to be one fantastic summer!

My list is somewhat less "wow", but I've tried my best to add in some ambition along the way!

1) To get surfing again. I don't mind if it's in the UK or during my summer holiday, but I've got to get back on the board and work on my skills! On the girlie surfing weekend last year, I just about stood up a couple of times and I desperately need to practise more to master this tricky skill. Note to self: do some upper-body workouts before surfing to limit muscle soreness afterwards!

2) Do 3 ballet classes in one week. I'm all set with a timetable of drop-in classes with teachers that have been recommended to me, so there's no reason not to up my number of lessons :)

3) Spend some quality time working on my Spanish. I'm not great with languages and often freeze up when abroad; hopefully a bit of revision and practise will up my confidence and make sure the words that I do know are close at hand in my brain :) Maybe...

4) See some live music. Erm... This one is totally unplanned so I've no idea how and when it might happen. I'll be in the vicinity of live bands in a few weeks when rigging a firework display, but that's hardly the same as being in the crowd.

Pic from last year's Marvelous Festival, expertly taken on my phone!

 5) Make sushi. I've just been gifted a great iPad video-book-guide-thing and have to try it out!

6) Make more pies. I had a bit of a flurry of pie making after Christmas (after receiving two great pie recipe books) and then haven't touched them again!

What are you going to do this summer?

A catch up on the activeness

In the last few weeks I've hardly posted anything about sport/fitness/etc, so I thought I might be due a catch up post :)

Ballet - still my sport of choice at the moment! I am loving my dance, so much so that I even tried going to class with a dreadful headache one week (and no, that didn't go very well!). My brand new leotard will had its first outing this week too! At the moment I'm trying to find a class for the summer because my teacher only runs classes in term time and I don't want to have a six week dancing break!




Running - hmmmm. Well, I have been running a bit - about once a week. But I really should try and fit in a bit more. I'm finding it much more tiring than previously, which I'm guessing is a combination of not training so often and of trying to mid-heel strike. My running coach (who I must make another appointment with) did say that I'd be exercising lots of different muscles so I shouldn't be surprised. I can't quite face my second coaching session until I've done a bit more practise! 

Dreaming of travelling

In the cold and darkness of this time of year, I feel the urge to make plans for next year - trips and events to look forward to. Some to places I've been before, some to explore new places...

None of these plans are solid, partly because they're so far away and partly because I'm liable to jump in the car/book a flight and disappear off for a couple of days :)

Edinburgh:
I've been to Scotland a few times, but mostly as a child, and never to spend time in a city. And I've heard lots of lovely things about it. With any luck, this trip will combine with a visit to Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in the UK. Despite my rubbish-ness at climbing hills and mountains, I will be getting up this one!
Will need to pack: stylish but warm clothes for exploring Edinburgh (with comfortable shoes) and serious hill climbing gear.

The Norfolk Broads:
As a teenager and young(er) adult, I spent many happy weeks and weekends sailing dinghies up at the Broads. It's one of those places where you slightly step back in time: the pace of life slows and you spend the entire day out in the fresh air. This year I'm hoping to be sailing much bigger boats on the Broads - a real adventure :)

Will need to pack: suncream, hat, buoyancy aid and full waterproofs!

Croyde, West Devon:
After this year's girlie surfing trip, the plan is to head back for more! Maybe even make a slightly longer break of it this time. I am excited already!

Will need to pack: bikini, warm clothes (the weather in the UK is never guaranteed!) and a good book to read on the beach.

Spain:
In an unplanned manner, I've somehow or other made it to Spain for the last four years in a row. Two years were road-trips through France to Spain and back again, full of happy memories of munching on fresh bread and fuet (a Spanish cured meat) and rocking up at campsites late in the evening :) Then there was a work-related trip to Barcelona and this year's brief trips to Tenerife and Alicante. I really like Spain and I think it's likely I'll turn up there again during 2012.

 

Will need to pack: Spanish/English dictionary and phrase book (I speak a bit, but not quite enough!), shorts and summer-y tops, flip-flops and a kindle full of books...

Fabulous - that's enough plans for me to get excited about. For now at least :)

Surfin' the waves

About 5 months ago, I received an exciting invitation - a girls' surfing weekend in Devon. It was completely unexpected as the invitation came from a new friend (more of a friend-of-a-friend). All I could think of was, "I'm not going to miss this opportunity!"

We travelled to the delightful (if slightly busy with tourists) village of Croyde and stayed in a very cool surf lodge called Baggy Lodge (you can find out about the accomodation here - highly recommended).

photo from the Baggy Lodge website