Caerhays Castle Coastal Walk In Cornwall

When was the last time you woke up on a Saturday morning with nothing to do?
We, like many couples live rather hectic lives with a whole host of activities that keep me and my fiance busy, renovating our house, planning a wedding, training for half marathons and both working full time. All this means we are very rarely able to spend time together, but sometimes you just have to take some time to be a couple and especially when living in Cornwall enjoy the county that we work so hard to live in.

With a few hours to spare we decided to explore some of the south coast of Cornwall and picked a place name that we had never heard of before and headed to Portholland.

What a beautiful place! Why had we never been here before??? It's so easy, when you don't get much time off to head straight to the classic tourist destinations when you get the opportunity to get out and enjoy the area. For us this usually means a trip to Falmouth, Padstow or St Ives.
But during the summer months most of these popular towns are swarming with people and they feel more like London's Piccadilly circus than quiet quaint Cornwall.

Portholland Beach Cornwall

 

 

 

Cool little lizardy newt chap on a bench on our walk

 

Picking place names off a map that we haven't heard of usually suggests that the location isn't that popular and well know and will hopefully not be too busy! When we arrived and parked the car on the front we were stunned with how beautiful the little beach was. There is barley anything in this little village, a small post office and cafe in one property and a few holiday lets but other than this the little cove was unspoilt.

We took a walk across the beach and decided as it was such a lovely day that we would head on up to the coast path and walked to Caerhays Beach and back. There was a gorgeous little cafe here overlooking the beach and stopped for a bite of lunch before walking back along the coast path back to the car.

 

 

 

It's only a short walk across coast path and fields, and although it is steep in some places it wasn't too far and made a really pleasant couple of hours out of the house.

The Bideford 10km

When a friend mentioned they were running in the Bideford 10km I just knew I wanted to take part too.
I have grown up with Bideford as my second home. My Grandmother lived there and so did my cousins and Aunties and Uncles and I had spent many a happy summer holiday in the North Devon town.

Realising that I was available on that Sunday and there were still places left I signed up straight away.

The morning of the race arrived and as with most races my alarm clock went of at 6am. I jumped out of bed, fueled up and headed out the door to drive the 90 minutes up country to North Devon.

Pre race breakfast of pancakes and blueberries

My race number pinned to my bib ready to go.

It was such a brilliant drive. The coast road up the A39 from Cornwall to Devon is stunning at the best of times but this morning the sun was shining and there was a classic car show going on in Bude and the road was filled with beautiful classic cars.
Every car that I past filled me with excitement and there were a few odd occasions where I thought perhaps I should boycott the race and head to the classic car show instead!!!

I continued to the race and arrived in good time and lots of people were arriving too. It felt so lovely to be back in Bideford. The sun was glorious and it made the town look even more stunning. The sun glistened on the water and I did my usual joining the toilet queue immediately!


Being a more local race for myself there were a few other runners from Newquay Road Runners and a friendly atmosphere all around.

Newquay road runners ready for the Bideford 10km

Arriving early for the Bideford 10km

Runnerrs assembling ready for the Bideford 10km

Waiting for the race to start amungst crowds of runners

Everyone crowded on the pavements waiting patiently to assemble at the start line on the road. Before not too long the road was temporarily closed and we flooded onto the road. The race was off and we headed along the river bank towards the old bridge before crossing the river and following the road to Instow.
It was such a lovely day but it was hot. The trees lined the road and kept any breeze away and the sun was beating down on all the runners creating a crowded bubble of heat slowly running along the coast road.
On arrival at Instow we turned off the road and headed back on ourselves along the Tarka trail back towards Bideford. Although, heading back towards Bideford the little white town looked really far away but for the return leg of the journey we fortunately had a sea breeze to cool the runners down.
With a water station and the breeze I had a second burst of energy to complete the race finishing with a time of 00:54:26 which was another PB beating my previous time at the Cardiff Bay Run by 1 Minute and 23 seconds. That might not sound like a long time but for me that was a brilliant result and meant I was running around 15 seconds quicker on each mile on a 10km race course.

Finished the Bideford 10km with my race medal

Over the moon with the result I collected my medal and collected my race T-shirt and decided to head to the near by beach at Westward Ho! For a little rest in the sun and refuel before getting back on the road and heading back home to Cornwall.

Westward Ho! In the Sunshine

Putting my feet up for a rest after running the Bideford 10km

It was a really good day out and a really well organised race and I thoroughly enjoyed it. My only criticism is that the race wasn't UK Athletics registered meaning that the time doesn't officially go on my power of ten records and therefore doesn't officially count as a personal best!

The Cardiff Bay Run 2017

I'm going to start this blog post with worrying where on earth the year is going? I had all the intentions in the world to keep writing regular blog posts and keep my blog updated with regular posts about my life and so far my life must appear to be very boring as my blog is so very quiet.

It is actually the complete opposite in my life and I am so busy away from the computer that I barely have time to blog anymore. When the weather turns nasty and the rain pours down the window I peer outside and don't want to venture anywhere. Suddenly, writing a blog post with my feet up on the sofa seems like a much better idea.

Back in April, I took part in the Cardiff Bay 10km road run. For some reason I have a real love with road running in Cardiff as this was where I took part in my first ever half marathon back in 2015.

Like with any event I train each week and hope that the injuries and illnesses stay away and that the weather is kind and the Cardiff Bay Run couldn't have been more perfect.
Setting the alarm clock for 5am and piling into the car and leaving Cornwall the sun was just starting to rise. It was a beautiful morning and we were on our way to Wales.
Unfortunately I suffer from IBS and I have no idea when it is going to effect me or not and for some reason whether it is stress or excitement this morning was full of a terrible stomach ache.

After a little sleep in the car whilst my partner drove and I rested, we were arriving into Cardiff and into the car park alongside hundreds of other runners.
Then the excitement starts to hit and the adrenaline starts whizzing around my body.

I pinned my running number to my vest and headed to the start area for the race and soon started to realise that this was a pretty big event with thousands of runners. The sun was shining brightly and there wasn't a cloud in sight. The atmosphere was fantastic.

Waiting for the start of the race

After a ritual of using the loo what seems like a thousand times I was then herded into my starting pen ready for the race to start. Luckily being a large event it is chip timed and so starting near the back and hearing the starter klaxon go I knew I wouldn't be starting to run for a little while.

With thousands of runners waiting to start

Nervously waiting at the start of the race

As the runners started filtering across the start line I started to jog and gradually picked up to a run to officially begin the run.

It was hot! I tried to tactically run in the shade where possible but it was such a busy race this was hard. The race was whizzing by and I was pushing hard. I ran my way out of the city onto the sea wall for the out and back and the atmosphere was amazing. Whilst I was running on my way out, hundreds of runners were already passing me that bit closer to the finish. There were good water stations available and a brilliant atmosphere that kept my speed up.
I managed to complete the run in an official time of 55:49 which was a 10km PB for me.

Amanda Brooks official result

I'm over the moon and super pleased with the result as my IBS was playing up and I had a stomach ache the whole way around and felt like I had to hold back on sections as I was in so much discomfort.

I would highly recommend the Cardiff Bay Run as it is a well organised event, with good crowds, a lovely medal and an awesome T-shirt and most definitely worth the drive up from Cornwall.

Super proud with my medal and my time

Cardiff Bay looking stunning and the perfect place for a run

Crowds at the Cardiff Bay 10km run

The sun beaming down after finishing the run

Chelmsford Park Run

Saturday saw me attend my 38th Park Run.
Since going to my first Park Run in 2014 I have really fallen head over hills in love with running but that love of running has seen me sign up to lots of events and that has seen me drop Park Run on Saturdays in favour of saving my legs for long runs on Sundays.

This week whilst in Essex my training plan allowed me a recovery run at Park Run. It's incredibly hard not to want to run fast and push for a PB but sometimes it's nice to take things a bit easier.

Although after seeing my time maybe I took things a bit too easy! My sister lives in Essex and is a bit slower than me and as I had run around 18 miles already that week I decided I would run with her and I would go for a nice easy run.

The weather was scorching and was already over 24'C in heat at 8am in the morning and the air felt thin. With a beast of a headache and sweat already forming I was greatful to be running slowly.

Me and My Sister At Chelmsford Park Run

As we started on the 5km route the crowds started to spread out. At the Chelmsford Park Run there are well over 500 hundreds each week that all turn up, run and dissappear as quickly as they arrive, It's fantastic.

After about half way the clear blue sky that was there when we started started to fill with clouds and the seccond half of the run was slightly cooler. I think I had wished for the cooler weather a bit too soon and before we knew it we were running to the sound of thunder crashing and lightening striking in the the sky.

A very hot and sweater 'After' Park Run Photo

Storm Passing over Chelmsford

The Lake at Central Park Chelmsford

The Storm Passing Over Chelmsford

I find Park Run fascinating. One minute there are hundreds of runners, spectators and marshalls and then the park is empty again. It's a brilliant event to be a part of and although I was 7 minutes slower than a previous PB at Chelmsford Park Run I had a wonderful run and a great social run and chat with my sister.

Although I do Park Runs few and far between I'm getting closer to getting my Park Run 50 T-shirt!!