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Bank Holiday Activities

by Alan Cole · Tuesday, May 3rd, 2016

Tags: Borth Family Garden Geocaching Wales Windsurfing Ynyslas

Dawn Chorus in the Dunes

That was a good bank holiday. My usual early start but for a change I didn’t get up immediately but lay in bed listening to the dawn chorus. The blackbirds and sparrows were in good voice and they were soon joined by Skylark too. I’m sure there were robins and plenty of other birds as well but once they all get getting its impossible for me to distinguish one from another.

I was up at about 5.00am though and did a little bit of work on the computer, replying to emails and such like before I headed off for a nice little 2 mile walk around the dunes. I’m not sure what the person sleeping on the path was doing but she got quite a startle as her dogs jumped up and barked at me which woke her up with quite a shock I think.

There wasn’t anyone else out at this time of day, so it was just me, the birds and the rabbits.

Once back at home it was time for my first breakfast of banana and home-made yoghurt with a nice cup of coffee and then some chores around the house. Tidying, cleaning and doing the laundry. I then headed across to the beach for a windsurf session.

Windsurfing

The wind was good today with a decent 20 knot SSW blowing and smallish waves. I took my bigger kit over so went out with a 5.6m sail and my big 104ltr fee-rode board. Not a board I sail that often and it felt quite big but it was performing perfectly in these conditions. It became a bit too much of handful as the wind picked up though so I changed down to my 5m sail for a while until the wind eased off.

It was then home for my second breakfast of the day. This time a selection of freshly baked pastries. Mmm Mmm. I helped Morgan finish his off too.

Breakfast number 2

We had the stove on as well as it was pretty miserable outside. Wet, windy and still quite cold. A nice warm stove and some croissants and coffee was just what I needed after a cold windsurf in the rain.

Stove

Training

Next up it was straight onto the turbo trainer. I t was now pouring with rain so it was better then going out on my bike and with a brutal TrainerRoad session to do it was a tough workout. The workout was called Givens which consisted of two 3×3 minute VO2 Max intervals. One of the hardest sessions I’ve done to date.

Givens – VO2 Max workout

I managed to complete it, but it was quite a challenge and I had to give it my all, especially on the last 4 intervals.

I jumped straight off the bike and headed out for a little run though. It was still raining quite a bit and my pace wasn’t great but it was still a run off the bike.

The Sun Comes Out

By the time I had showered though and made a little video from the footage I took during my earlier windsurf session, the sun had come out so I went out into the garden to plant out the plants we bought yesterday. Just a few things to fill some gaps. Some Lupins, Some hardy Geraniums, a new Spirea and another little flower that I can’t remember the name of. Anna was cooking lunch as I did so which gave me chance to sit down for two minutes to eat it.

: Garden

: Garden

I then loaded my Stand Up Paddleboard onto the roofrack, packed my wetsuit and headed into Borth. I was hoping that the wind would continue to ease and that the cliffs in Borth would be providing shelter from it. That wasn’t the case, it was still pretty windy there and looked like it might actually pick up again so I decided against SUPing and headed back home to do something with Morgan

MTBing Geocache Maintenance

After a bit of persuasion we forced him out for a little bike ride into Borth, around the Animalarium and off to one of out geocaches that looked as though it had gone missing.

: River Leri

: Borth Bog

It had indeed disappeared so we replaced it with a new one and chilled by the River Leri for a bit. We then rode home along the banks of the Leri, watching Geese, Heron and Egrets as we did so. We checked another of our geocaches on the way as well.

Gardening

Back at home the wind was now quite strong again and I did contemplate going for a second windsurf but decided that there was still some gardening to do and some household chores. So it was back outside with my fork and weeder for a while and then some cleaning and vacuuming while Anna cooked our Pork and Blue Cheese Gousto dinner.

: Luxurious growth

: Iris

: Fresh Leaves

: Forget me Nots

: Fiery Spirea

: Bluebells

: Bee-Hive

THings are looking good in the garden though with plenty of fresh growth despite the cold weather we’ve been having.

Evening Walk.

After dinner we had no pudding so I persuaded Anna to go for a walk to the estuary under the pretence of stopping at the caravan site shop or ice cream van for an ice cream. The caravan shop was closed and the ice cream van drove off up the road just as we got there, so we missed out on the ice cream but did have a nice little walk through the dunes and along the beach.

We made up for the lack of ice-cream once back at home with bowls of cereal, chocolate and some ice creams that we found in the freezer.

Not a bad Bank Holiday Monday really, what started out wet, cold and windy ended up being a lovely day, and the miserable weather in the morning gave me plenty of time for windsurfing and training. It’s just a shame that we have to go back to work and school now as it looks like being a nice week weather-wise. Temperatures are set to rise at last, and the bees will therefore need checking as this cold snap we’ve had may have set them back.