Day 182 - 08 May 2011

Sunday
8.5 miles @ 5.2mph

Another route with my husband Ian this morning.  We wanted a tough route that included hills as a training session for the Moonwalk on 11 June in Edinburgh.  So we took in the summit of Hengistbury Head as the first leg of the journey.  The weather was 13 Deg C with a SSW wind blowing 15mph with gusts of 22mph.  However, because the pace was very brisk, I scarcely had time to notice.  The skies looked heavy to begin with and there was a real risk of rain, but thankfully, the entire journey was dry.

Walking towards Hengistbury

I kept my eyes on the ground throughout the entire journey as it was literally strewn with snails, slugs and worms, following yesterday's rain.  I was aware of trying to keep my shoulders back and my overall form upright, but there was no way I could take my eyes off the road this morning.

About to go up to the summit

Christchurch Harbour - Tide's out!

We reached the summit quickly and made our way around the circumference of Hengistbury before making our way towards Christchurch and then heading south up my Nemesis Hill (which these days, feels so easy, that I really should re-name it).

We then headed towards the High Street which was empty at such an early hour on a Sunday before turning towards the sea.  By now, I had taken my fleece off, as the pace was so brisk I was sweating.  The sun was poking through the clouds so it was really pleasant by the time we reached the cliff tops.  Instead of keeping to the pavements along the sea route, we took the grass areas (which is now a protected nature reserve) which were undulating and really enjoyable, as the ground varied so much with every 10 yards or so.

The sun shining through the clouds by this point

We reached home in good time and have planned to do this same route next Sunday - but this time twice...