WEEKLY BLOG EPISODE 113 | EASTER WEEKEND

How was your Easter bank holiday weekend? What did you get up to? Use the time to do something fun? Or were you one of the many people who still had to work? Either way, I hope you were about to get outside to enjoy the (fleeting) sunshine.

I was fortunate to have a whole five days off this weekend – one day of annual leave plus the Easter bank holidays. And it’s been wonderful. More (lots more) long weekends off, please!

We, my husband and I, made the most of it, I feel. Around the usual at-home chores, we headed over to Lincolnshire to celebrate my parents’ Golden Wedding Anniversary, which also gave us an opportunity to catch up with family and friends, had a wander around Lincoln – our first look since we moved away five years ago, went out for dinner in a lovely local Italian, and I got in a very pretty day hike back home in the Cotswolds. Oh, and we also found time to celebrate Easter both on Good Friday morning and Easter Sunday, that being the reason for the holiday after all.

And yes, I made it to a second weekly blog in a row (read last week’s), so I must be on a roll! I’m currently sitting cross legged on my office chair in my comfiest clothes having had a long soak in the bath – it’s back to the normal routine of work tomorrow, but first I’ve got some writing to do…

Golden Wedding Celebration

It was lovely to be able to head to Lincolnshire this weekend to wish my parents a happy Golden Wedding Anniversary in person. Celebrating fifty years of marriage is no mean feat, and they did so by inviting family and friends to join them for afternoon tea at the White Hart Hotel in Boston. I even managed to deliver the four tree saplings we bought for them (and I’ve been trying to keep alive for the last week) successfully!

The afternoon tea was good – we had the Riverside Restaurant all to ourselves, and were served with plenty of tea and cages of finger sandwiches (with the crusts cut off, naturally), warm scones with clotted cream and jam, and a selection of little cakes/desserts. The desserts were very VERY sugary, especially the flapjack which was delicious but basically just syrup – I unquestionably had a sugar crash an hour after we’d finished and certainly didn’t need any dinner that evening! Definitely no complaints, though!!!

It seems I’m not back into life as a weekly blogger though, as I failed to take any photos of the afternoon tea itself. I did get a lovely snap of my parents, which more than makes up for that! The highlight of the afternoon, of course, was spending time with family and friends we see rarely – a most excellent excuse for a get-together.

During the afternoon we had a look at what was in the news in April 1973… The main topics of the day were inflation being at “a ridiculous” 8%, workers going on strike over pay, and how terrible it was that gas and oil prices had increased to an all-time high. Fifty years on and times really haven’t changed, have they?!

What’s Changed in Lincoln?

During our visit to Lincolnshire, we found time for a quick explore around Lincoln. We really had just one intention, to have a look to see what’s changed in the five years since we moved away.

Turns out, a lot has changed – and at the same time, it’s all the same. I mean, there’s a massive bypass, the Cornhill has been completely renovated, and the University has expanded again. But then there’s all that medieval history, which is incredibly grounding in that it never changes.

We started with a somewhat disappointing milkshake from Eskimoo. I used to work around the corner and was a very frequent visitor, but it did not live up to the memories. It seems they use powders now rather than actual sweets and chocolate bars, which is a real shame. I mean, there was no cookie dough in the cookie dough shake, and no sign of actual Werther’s Originals in my go-to Light Headed Grampa. I should have just left that one to the memory bank and gone to one of the new places that’s opened up instead – there’s a Naked Marshmallow Co shop on Steep Hill, and Doughnotts in the Cornhill looks really good.

Walk Up Steep Hill

With our disappointing shakes done we wandered around the Cornhill and through Waterside Shopping Centre – now with a Nevisport, which was cool to see – and then through the city and up to the Cathedral. Of course, we had to walk up Steep Hill for old time’s sake, it would have been rude not to. That hill still makes me pant!

It was busy, which wasn’t a surprise given it was bank holiday weekend – but it was great to see the city bustling with people, and with heaps of new (to us) shops and restaurants open. No sign of a closed high street in Lincoln!

We didn’t have long to explore, it really was a fleeting visit, but it was good to have a mooch. We’ll make sure it doesn’t take another five years before we return again.

Not been to Lincoln? I highly recommend it as a city break location here in the UK. I wrote this post about what to see and do when you go.

Walking in the Cotswolds

Over the last few months, I’ve been working on a project with a local company to curate a series of short walks for their customers. It’s taken a while for all kinds of reasons, but I went out on bank holiday Monday (yesterday) to test out the last walk in the series.

I’ll admit I had to put on my “go anyway” pants for this one. The forecast showed persistent rain for the first hour, maybe longer, and then a bunch of heavy rain showers through the day. I kitted myself up in head-to-toe waterproofs and went anyway. It was hard going to begin with, the wind and rain was miserable, but the sun did show itself more than once, so it was the right decision.  

Second Time Lucky

The walk, which is the biggest of the set – the team wanted one day hike to include – was just shy of 14 miles and took something over five hours. I actually tried to test this one out last weekend but abandoned it after a couple miles having waded through boot-deep water and with no end to the misery in sight. Thankfully, the better weather over the last week meant the waters had receded in the main and, although the tracks were incredibly muddy in places (I was such a mess when I got back to my car, I had to change!), it was a much nicer route this week.

I really do love walking in the Cotswolds. I miss Lincolnshire in a lot of ways, but the walking there simply can’t compare to the walking I can do here. There is so much variety; in my five hours out yesterday I had woodland, farmland, hilltops, little villages, meadows, and riverside paths. The biggest difference? The footpaths in the Cotswolds are well maintained – most of the time, anyway – even if they are particularly squelchy at the moment.

I know it’s annoying, but I’m not going to tell you much more about the walk here for now (there are some photos over on my Instagram stories if you’re quick enough to catch them before the 24 hours is up), as I will wait for the go ahead from my partner before I do that. In the meantime, if you want some inspiration for some great walks, then take a look at my Six Short Walks in the Cotswolds post – should provide some ideas.

Have Craghoppers Discontinued the Kiwi Pro Stretch?

Talk of walking leads me onto this important question. My Kiwi Pro Stretch hiking trousers are just about done – they’ll probably be okay for the Cotswold Way later this month (eek!), but that will almost certainly be the end of them. So, in order to ensure I have a constant supply of my favourite hiking trousers, it’s time to buy a couple of new pairs.

Looking on the Craghoppers website, I see things have changed. Are the Kiwi Pro Stretch I know and love (so much so I wrote this ode to the trousers) no longer available? Noooooo!

We seem to have the Kiwi Pro II, the NosiLife Pro II, and the Expert Kiwi Pro Stretch, the latter of which are more expensive than the Kiwi Pro used to be… These all say “stretch” in the description, but I’ve tried on the Kiwi Pro II before and they are nowhere near as stretchy and comfortable as the Kiwi Pro Stretch in my opinion.

Does anyone know what these updated trousers are like? Has anyone bought the ‘Expert’ ones, or found the Kiwi Pro II to be as good as the old Kiwi Pro Stretch?

Or… is it time to start working my way through other brands to find my new favourite hiking trousers?! What do you wear on your legs when you hike? Does everyone else have the Fjallraven Abisko Tights?! I don’t think I want leggings (and £120 is too much, in any case). Sensible suggestions more than welcome!   

If You Think You Can…

I was reminded of a famous quote last week. I don’t know what it is about quotes like this, but sometimes I just need to hear them. So here is this week’s wisdom… courtesy of Henry Ford.

Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.

Read this article to see whether this is really a Henry Ford quote or not!

Although, oftentimes, quotes can be more of a put-off than a motivator. A little sickening, even. So, if you’ve not discovered it yet, you should definitely check out Disappointing Affirmations over on Instagram. Created by Dave Tarnowski and billed as sharing a “realistic mental attitude”, I haven’t read one of the “quotes” that hasn’t made me smile yet. Just something fun to add to your feed.

See You Next Tuesday

It’s early days in my new blogging routine, but I think I like posting my weekly blog on a Tuesday morning. I don’t know why, it just feels right. I really hope I can turn this into a habitual fun expression of the life and times of Splodz, and that you enjoy coming along for the ride each week.

Next week I will be using my weekly blog to celebration National Trig Week… and to let you know if I’m ready to hike the Cotswold Way. See you then!

Buy Me a Cuppa?

If you enjoyed this weekly blog episode and fancy supporting me and my mini adventures in 2023, you can “buy me a coffee” (well, tea, if that’s okay). If you enjoyed this post and would like to support what I’m doing, you can opt to head over to Ko-fi to find out more. Thank you.

Read all my weekly blogs