The Langdon Hills Leggies Diary: Come Rain or Shine...

The Langdon Hills Leggies Diary: Come Rain or Shine...: May 2012 " Sweet May hath come to love us, flowers Tree, their blossoms don;And through the blue heavens above us the very clouds mov...

Come Rain or Shine...

May 2012

"Sweet May hath come to love us, flowers Tree, their blossoms don;And through the blue heavens above us the very clouds move on." Heinrich Heine, Book of Songs.

'bout time n'all the flippin' clouds moved on!  I thought for a mo that spring was going to bypass us  altogether.

Rachel, Mandy Laura & Sue brave the rain
to see the sunrise (or not) to the sound 
of the Morris Dancers bells.

In spite of a few minor drenchings we have had some terrific walks and early morning adventures that for those of us there,  would not have missed for the world. Like when on the1st May a few of us arranged to meet up and see the sunrise at 5:00am.  The rain was battering my window at 4:15 am and every single bit of me wanted to roll over and snuggle back down under the duvet.
As daylight began to emerge  a blanket of clouds obscured the sun and the dawn chorus was literally drowned out by the rain that fell in sheets upon us. We did not let that deter is whatsoever and we took hold of our batons and danced a  merry Morris jig, all that was missing was the men in white coats! Thankfully we were not take away and live to tell the tale. Can I persuade anyone to join us next year?

The Alternative Olympic Legacy 
I am persisting with my aim of giving away 1000 free tasters this year. I have now reached 123 that leaves me with 877 to do. If you have any ideas or know of any events I can attach myself too do let me know. I really want to achieve this and I am happy to turn up and pitch up a stall to hand out leaflets & give tasters. I have also expanded my offer to giving Free Pilate's Tasters and Free consultations for the Health Programme I run at Pitsea Leisure Centre. You can check the times for these on my website. I am currently having some flyer's and posters printed which should be ready this week. If you would like some to hand out just let me know. You can also send people to my website suehayeshealth.co.uk where anyone can register for any of the tasters or consultations.

My Alternative Olympic Legacy numbers were given a great and well needed boost this week when the Athena and Harlequin Ranger took part in  a free taster. This was followed by hot chocolate and smores around a camp fire. If you've never had a smores before then here's the recipe... it's  a must try if you want to hit a sugar rush like no other!

Athena Rangers & Harlequin Ranger
get into the Nordic Walking Swing 

Smores Recipe

Ingredients
Chocolate Digestive biscuits
Mini Marshmallows
wooden skewers
Method
Skewer half a dozen 9or more) marshmallows
and hold over a hot fire for 3 seconds
Sandwich skewer between two chocolate digestives and slide out skewer leaving marshmallows between chocolate biscuits.


Eating recommendations for maximum  enjoyment of sugar rush

1. Take a big bite and let it dissolve in mouth.
2. Take large swig of hot chocolate to wash it down.
3. Repeat above steps 1 & 2 as many times as you wish until marshmallows and chocolate biscuits have all gone.

Don't expect to go to sleep to early after that, but hey what a treat!

Graduation time ....

Welcome to our four new graduates, Tim and Wendy Morris, Zoe Edney and Julie Webber who have completed their Nordic Walking Technique Course. Tim and Wendy couldn't wait to get started and have been taking part in extra curricular activity by  joining us on couple of walks including the Bluebell and Wild Orchid walks taken by the Langdon Hills rangers. Watch out for other events offered by them, I will include the walks in my schedule. It can be really interesting to walk with the Rangers, they have a lot of knowledge about the area and it adds another dimension to our walks. Looking forward to seeing Julie and Zoe soon.

Wilting, weary & still smiling after an adventurous Coal House Fort Walk
( Doesn't Glyn look fabulous in Gillians Hat!)

How lovely to end May with a heatwave. Although we do need to replace the waterproofs &  wellies with sunscreen and hats to protect ourselves! Drink lots of water too. If you could see me now you would tell me to follow my own advice. As I write this I look down on my fried arms and can feel the heat coming of my burnt shoulders, the scars of our adventurous walk at Coal House Fort on Sunday. My map reading skills let me down and after a beautiful leg stretcher along the sea wall we ended up it the middle of a quarry that seemed to go on forever. It felt like a desert as there was no sea breeze to relieve the heat of the sun, it went on forever and there seemed no way out. Our energy depleted, exhausted with the heat and running out of water,  when to my immense relief we saw other human and animal life. Proof that it is  possible to survive amongst the rubble in this forsaken place.   A hurly burly security  guard (who didn't have many clothes on) and his ferocious dog ( looked like a little Jack Russell who was as wide as he was long!) was purposefully marching towards us. We were informed we were on private property and at first I thought he was going to force us back from whence we came. The only alternative was to climb over a gate that in our current state looked like a mountain to climb. To my further relief he softened, (I think Val fluttering her eye lashes at him did the trick - he was rather bronzed too,  and had a lean and mean look about him), instead he escorted us back to the main road and unlocked the gate. Phew only  few minutes back to the Fort where we all collapsed with an ice cream! It was one of those walks when you can smile about it afterwards, we're a hardy bunch us Langdon Leggies! 


Until our next adventure ...keep cool with a hat, use sunscreen and keep drinking the gin... er...I mean water!


Wishing you a Happy Summer 


Sue X

April 2012?

Oh..and what happened to April? I've somehow lost a month! My guess is it probably drowned! April 2012 was the coldest April since 1989,  the dullest since 1998 and the wettest since 2000. There has been only three Wetter Aprils in 285 years of records in England, Wales and across the UK as a whole. It as been the wettest April for at least a century . The Leggies did however make the most of the few 'windows of opportunity ' when the rain did stop, or we carried on regardless when it didn't!




While the paths were slowly turning into mud baths and new springs and tiny waterfalls appeared at Hockley Wood, we did get to see the bluebells at their best on several occasions, and also  the very first Wild Orchid that  had nudged it's  way to the surface in Lincewood.  

We had seven graduates this. Welcome to Val, Nichola, Michelle, Paul, Donna, Alan and Marion, we  look forward to seeing then all on our walks, I hope they don't get put off by the rain they are not quite as addicted as us old regulars!


Walk of the month
For me  this has to go to the Sunday Morning Bluebell Walk which also happened to coincide with the introduction of the Sunday Stroller at 9:15 before the Leg stretcher at 10:15. It was great to see so many turn out for both walks and I will be making both a regular feature on a Sunday if the demand is there.


The Alternative Olympic Legacy 'Free Activity Taster' (FAT Taster !) Update 
In spite of the rain 7 people tried Nordic Walking for the very first time and all are taking part in the  Nordic Walking techniques course in May, YEY! 


I am also giving Free Tasters and Consultations for Pilates  and Exercise Referral From now on  I am also  going to include these Free sessions in my monthly totals as both are encouraging people to try an activity that may lead to a more active and healthy lifestyle!


That brings my total FREE TASTERS too 99. This breaks down to 87 Nordic Walking Tasters, 7 Pilate's Back to Basics and 5 Exercise Referrals.Giving me a total of 901 to do. 


Please refer all your friends and family to www.suehayeshealth.co.uk and get them to register for their FREE TASTER SESSION. You never know it could change their life. It's also a great way for people to build confidence and see if it is something they would enjoy.


Keeeeeep walking and talking about the FREE TASTER's!


See you all soon SH