Moments of Joy

It's been a while!
I have to admit that I haven't felt much like writing recently, as grief does interesting things to your priorities and to your brain! On the times I've wanted to write something, I haven't had the brain power to sit and concentrate... or other things come higher up on the list of current necessities and blogging gets put on the back burner. Then, there are days that you just have to go in to survival mode when you can only do the basics and the desire to blog is a far distant thought.
It's been a rough few months with many ups and downs...  and although the "ups" haven't been as up as I would like them to be..... I have tried to be diligent and consistent in plodding ever forwards, learning how to create a new, different life without Heni. It's often been a struggle along the way to search out those moments of joy that I mentioned back in a post  I wrote just before  Christmas .
Those moments of joy ARE there... they just take some searching for right now.  It's a purposeful activity. One in which if you engage in, opens your eyes and broadens your view.
Those moments often arrive when

Memorial Bench

A week ago today we got back from our yearly family trip to the Lake district here in England. It's one of my favourite places to visit... it's such a beautiful place that it draws us back time and time again.  When Heni passed away last October, we all knew that we wanted to return this year on a "memorial trip"... put a bench in a special place, and scatter some of her ashes on one of our "Heni" walks we do each year.

It took a bit of time and effort researching how to go about it all . As I approached a number of organizations to see what could be done, I felt repeatedly dejected to find that our idea was just not looking like it would ever happen.

The Struggle!

I'm now home after a lovely week in the Lake District and back in to catch up mode. I always love to do a few of our favourite walks while we are  up there and take in all the gorgeous scenery. This year we did a few of the usual's.... like Grasmere Lake and Tarn Howes.  We did however add some new ones to the list because we had to stay in the southern lakes due to the road up to Keswick being closed.... it had fallen in to the lake! (caused by all the flooding around Christmas)
We did a lot of Tarn walks....which included Loughrigg tarn, (and here), Blea tarn,  Little Langdale tarn, Moss eccles Tarn (where Beatrix potter loved to go)... and a lovely walk from Wray Castle down by the side of the lake! Some of the walks we took Heni on and others we did on her rest days. We even got to go back to Lucy's again this year for another meal catered to our food intolerances.

On one of the days, we also took a drive up over the hills to Glenridding at the other side of the pass.  To get there you have to go up a 20% gradient road, along narrow stone walled lanes that wind back and forth. The climb covers more than 4.8km of twisting road, cutting through what is a stunning backdrop and the road is aptly named...... its called The Struggle!

Digital Detox Time...

If you would like to catch up on Last Years Trip, see some more pictures of the gorgeous Lake District (Cumbria) and want to read more while I'm away, you can read about:

....Our Journey to the lakes - Traveling with Heni ,

....See some book reviews- Calm by Michale Acton smith and Alex Tew  (I read this last year on our trip....and  Beyond the summit by Todd Skinner, (which has some pictures of our climb up the Old man of Coniston!)

 ....Read about some places to Eat out with food Intolerances at Lucy's in Ambleside  , Chesters by the River and Greens of Grasmere 

....and find some  walking with wheelchair ideas: Grasmere Lake from Rydal car park
and fun ideas like our Four Wheel Driving respite day. 

Have a great few weeks and I'll see you on the 15th!

Jx

Respite ideas- Four wheel driving?

 .....and why not? 

All the fun stuff happens when you are on holiday... then its back home to the day to day house chores and caring duties again... so please bear with me and humour me as I elongate our holiday memoirs and tell you more exciting adventures from our Lake district trip (I'm going to need another holiday after this one to have some more experiences to write about!!)

As you can see in "Traveling to the lakes with Heni" http://henibean.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/travelling-with-heni-journey-to-lakes.html we traveled "up north" in convoy...partly because of the number of people and partly because we wanted to take the Land Rover with us so that we could do a four wheel drive experience while we were there (Hubby had previously only driven it on "normal roads" and used it for hauling his wood around in.)
I knew that we couldn't fit everyone in the truck alone,  so I had telephoned ahead of time to a company called KANKU  OFF ROAD 4x4 EXPERIENCE (http://www.kankku.co.uk/)and asked them regarding their vehicle availability.
Fortunately they had lots of slots open the week we were there, as most holiday makers had already been and gone home again.
We decided that the  two hour experience they offered between 3-5pm would be long enough for us.

Eating out with food intolerances - Chesters by the River ...Cumbria

More on eating out with food intolerances..... This is a follow on post from our Cumbria Trip
...see "Eating out with food intolerance's - Lucy's" ... http://henibean.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/eating-out-with-food-intolerances-lucys.html
 
One of the days on our Lakeland trip we decided to walk from Skelwith Bridge to Elterwater and back along the river..walking the map in reverse. It's a great flat, easy access route for Heni's wheelchair/buggy. Not too long for the oxygen to run out but nice enough to feel like we'd done something.  
see http://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/visiting/thingstodo/walking/mileswithoutstiles/mws11 for other easy routes

Half way point at the Britannia Inn in Elterwater

We did the same walk last year and started and ended the walk at CHESTERS BY THE RIVER (cafe).  The location is great, It has a lovely deck by the side of the river and has a very pretty shop attached to it, in which you can buy anything from cards to blankets to books. 
Last year we did the walk for the first time and had a meal at the end.... which was very enjoyable. The food was great and very tasty .This year we wanted to go back and have a repeat experience.  Frustratingly it was a  different story. Although we had a really lovely walk we didn't have the most positive end experience with the food.

Book Review- Beyond the Summit by Todd Skinner

We just got back from a weeks break in the Lake district (Cumbria, England) and on the last day before returning home we decided to climb “The Old Man of Coniston”. It's a 3000ft trek up the mountain starting with a nice gentle incline from the lake and ending in a sharp climb up craggy rocks... (we did it on a respite day without Heni of course!)

During the walk/climb/scramble…I was contemplating the journey up the rocky terrain and a book that I had read came in to my mind. 

The Old Man of Coniston... in the background

A signed copy of “Beyond the summit” was given to us from my niece and husband quite a number of years ago. I’d read it, enjoyed it and then forgotten about it until that point.

The book was written by a rock climber, Todd Skinner, who scaled the infamous Trango towers… a 20,500ft vertical mountain in the Himalayas. The book is a recount of his teams story and journey to conquer the tower but within it he gives gems of wisdom gained from the climb and lessons learned along the way.

Walking off your worries

Walking in the Chess Valley

Today I want to talk a little bit about something I do A LOT!
I've always been a runner (and I hope to be running in to my old age)... but running is NOT what I want to share with you right now. As much as I love running, In recent years I've cut right down on the amount that I do in favour of walking. Something I've done a lot of this week in the LAKES.

One of the reasons has to do with the total amount of stress I can or cannot handle.

Eating out with food intolerances - Lucy's in Ambleside ...Cumbria

On the waterfall trek- Ambleside

Unfortunately, food these days contains everything...YES...literally everything that you would never really recognize as food and it's causing a lot of problems for a growing number of people. Life with food intolerance means preparation is paramount if you want something decent to eat. It's a challenge at home but it can be even worse when out and about or travelling.

When we finally reached our cottage here in the Lakes on Friday night we were disappointed to realise that the Sainsbury's delivery didn't contain the gluten free wraps that we had ordered for our lunch packs.  I  don't usually like to eat the store bought gluten free wraps very often as they contain a bunch of rubbish (in place of the things that are taken out)... however when on holiday it's the convenience factor that outweighs everything else. The fact that they were missing has made life a bit more difficult for us when out and about on our Lakeland treks....and so our lunch packs have been ...well..shall we say... non existent!  Instead of taking a wrap (an easy quick thing to make for a big group of people - 3 of whom have intolerances) we have eaten out or at the cottage.

You would think that eating out would solve the problem....but again when eating out with intolerance's it can be even more of a challenge in trying to find an establishment that can cater to your requirements.
So far We've had both positive and negative experiences here in Cumbria.This post is a Review of one of the more positive examples.

On Saturday we hiked up to the waterfall in Ambleside (a lovely...but short walk to get the legs going up hill!) and then looked around the town at all the outdoor equipment shops. Then hunger struck!

Book Review - Calm by Michael Acton Smith and Alex Tew

During one of our stops on the motorway coming up to the Lake District I decided I needed to buy a book to read whilst I am away. Feeling stressed from the hours of waiting in stationary traffic on the M6 I decided that the little blue book called “Calm” was the one for me. 

Not only was the colour appealing to my senses but also the title held everything that I was currently… NOT

Maybe it’s the change in beds or possibly the change in surroundings, but last night I woke in the middle of the night and could not get back to sleep. What better time to pick up my little book of calm and start to read.

Within the first sentence I was hooked.

The Journey to the Lakes -Travelling with Heni

I’m finally here in the Lake District, sitting in the holiday cottage we have hired for the week, on the East coast of Lake Coniston, Cumbria. I think I’ve just about recovered enough from yesterdays travel escapades to begin to put words in type.

Somehow we always seem to have something “fun” happen to us whenever we go away. We once got a tree dumped on our villa during Hurricane Charley in Florida when we took the kids to Disney. Another time we got stranded at sea in a boat in the dark, when we ran out of petrol (again strangely on another trip to Florida!?) Yesterday on our journey here we had a smaller… but probably equally stressful, memory building incident, on the M6 motorway.