One down,two to go

Here we are in the foothills of Snowdonia, at the start of Beddgelert boot camp. More hill walking and food and drink as the preparation for upcoming activity holidays continue

Today a 5 mile stroll to Rhyd Ddu and then the Sherpa bus back. It was not quite to plan as we had hoped to take the bus first and then walk back, but in hindsight it worked well as the altitude increase helped the old cardio vascular.




The first part of the walk meandered in and out of the Welsh mountain railway,






We then entered Beddgelert forest and later circumnavigated Llyn-y-Gadair. The sherpa bus is not quite like the reggae bus in Barbados, and it was 15 minutes late. Given there are only three a day lets hope they don't cancel any of them!!



All in all a good start to the camp. Nobody has mentioned the rugby yet but there is still time. Bar meal tonight then prep for tomorrow which is a planned alldayer!!

A Porsche, a Porsche, my kingdom for a Porsche

The Six Nations rugby season is now well under way. The 'S Club' met up in London last week for the first England match v France, we were joined by a couple of Simon's who qualified by name(!) and various sons and friends, making it a very enjoyable first outing.

5pm kick-off's are always tricky, particularly for the spectators, but we were lucky enough to get a table in the White Horse pub in Richmond, just behind the Red Cow. Apparently the Black Dog, Green Dragon  and Pink Flamingo were all fully booked.

Pre-match discussion centred on business and Brexit, and neither came out too badly, as two of the crew had, only the day before, independently ordered new Porsche's as their new family runabouts.....I really must get those virtual reality goggles out and see what all the fuss is about. I am not sure a Porsche 911 or Boxster would suit me though as I am quite tall  and I am well past the SUV stage. Looks like a Beamer for a few years yet then.

As well as an inconvenience for the crowd, the 5pm kick-off did not seem to appeal to the England team much, and after a very rusty first half they managed to squeeze past a spirited French outfit right at the death. They seemed to adjust better to it yesterday though when they challenged Wales in Cardiff.

It was always going to be a tough day for me. One of my golf chums, George, was making a comeback after falling down the stairs a few weeks ago. George is 83 so its not in his best interests to start free running at his age!! anyway, we got him round 18 holes in one piece, and as it was a team competition we were able to make a good stab at winning. We were 6th in the end, our best result for some time in these things!

I then had Plymouth Argyle v Exeter City, Wales v England and Liverpool v Tottenham Hotspurs to contend with. Argyle did the business 3-0 so that was the most important result of the three. Spurs were blown away by Liverpool, well Mane actually, so that's the title challenge finished for another season, so that left England to continue their quest for a second consecutive grand slam, something never before achieved in the Six Nations era.

Well, it was a proper game of rugger, and one could not have begrudged Wales had they have won, but after getting a battering for the last 20 minutes of the first half, England once more showed their resolve, and not a little skill, to close the game out in the last few minutes. SWMBO and I are off to Snowdonia tomorrow to continue our climbing fitness programme, I might have to turn over a few stones, as I bet I won't be able to find a Welshman when I want one!!

Just the ticket

We were fortunate to have a very enjoyable  2016, albeit we lost some dear friends and relatives during its course. We now enter 2017 hoping to experience new and rewarding adventures at home and abroad, while maintaining our health and that of those closest to us.

The first thing I have to look forward to is a trip to Anfield on Sunday to see Plymouth Argyle take on Liverpool, and to see how the Green Army fair against the Kop. Argyle see themselves as a Championship side at minimum, but some of the build-up surrounding the game, and the ticketing in particular has been non-league at best.

I appreciated I did not have first dibs for away end tickets as I am not a season ticket holder, nor a regular attendee. but as a registered member I was able to obtain tickets when they went on general sale on Tuesday. Now, up until Tuesday, the tickets were available via the club website hosted for them by Ticketmaster. As of Tuesday though they were only available to the general public by telephone. Five hours I tried to get through before I managed at least to get in a queue. when I got through there were only restricted view seats left but at £11 each I could not really complain.

Subsequently I have been invited into a box to watch the match, so I will do a bit of Green Army and a bit of corporate as a mix 'n match.

Following on from Anfield we have a stamina building weekend in Snowdonia before our skiing trip later in February, then it's off to Portugal for the El Tel Cup before a couple of weeks warm weather training in Barbados. Slot in a few rugby internationals and that is the first part of the year taken care of. Decorating and gardening might have to be delayed for a few months!!

One sad piece of news emanating from Wallasey Golf Club, however, was the notice informing members that Neville Thompson passed away earlier in the week. Neville was 104 and up until the last couple of years had been a regular figure in the Club at lunchtime.

Neville was the last surviving Wallasey member who can recall watching Bobby Jones play the links in 1930 on his way to qualification for the Open finals at Hoylake. He won there and went on to complete the grand slam of golf in the same year, a  feat which remains unique to this day. 104 is a good innings. Golfers always hope to one day shoot a gross score lower than their age, many never do it, some do it with regularity, hopefully Neville was one of the successful ones. Either way he remains a modern day legend in the Club, in the way Bobby Jones was in the world of golf,  all those years ago.