Happy New Year

[Lizzie_NewStart]

I was a bit worried that my (unintentional) break from running over Christmas would have had a detrimental effect but it does not appear to have.

One of my boyfriends friend had booked a cottage for over Christmas but was invited to visit relatives in New Zealand with free business class flights and forgot to cancel the cottage until it was too late. Rather than waste it, he offered it to us. It included a Christmas dinner at the village pub so how could we refuse.

We took our running gear but there was nowhere we could run safely, the roads around there were very narrow and twisty and the locals drove like lunatics. The footpaths were hard going in wellies as the mud was deep and sticky. Luckily the cottage was 'dog friendly' and had a little shower in the boot room at the back which was used extensively!! I don't know how far we walked during the week, but the dogs slept a lot.

Other than a really nice Christmas dinner, cooking in the cottage was a bit hit and miss and we did not eat a lot. I naively assumed a multi fuel Aga was electric and gas, Nope. it was coal or wood, and it provided the hot water too. Other than a fry-up which went quite well, everything else was a bit singed on the outside and just cooked in the middle at best, but usually raw in the middle and charcoal on the outside.

With a varying TV signal, no internet, a log burner provided my evening entertainment most nights. A pamphlet titled "Man Make Fire" with a picture of a caveman on the front was supposed to provide instructions on using the stove and wood burner. My man can just about make fire, then it goes out!!

Once back home, we could not wait to go running. the weather did its best to put us off but luckily it all went quite well. We are up to 35 mins per run now.

Happy New Year all.

[Yesletsgo Ambassador Graduate]

That's a very memorable start to 2024 for you! Turning your back on the 21st century and what do you get - no food, no tech, back to the dark ages. One way to make you appreciate being at home

Happy running now you're back in civilisation

[Lizzie_NewStart Graduate in reply to Yesletsgo]

It was surprisingly relaxing even if most of the time in the cottage we were trying to light fires or battle with cooking. I am sure given time we would have got the hang of it. I was just glad the weather was quite mild, the only source of heat in the bedroom was to leave the door to the hot water tank open. Life must have been hard for people back when the place was originally built.