It started with a text. From Maice, to Abi, Jane and myself. It said, and I quote……’anyone up for a walk, coffee, snack tomorrow? Need to drop off a parcel in Weymouth so propose a walk over the hill from my place, coffee at the Lookout, drop off parcel, lunch and walk or get the bus back’. FYI......tomorrow being Saturday, the hottest day of the year! Of course Abi and Jane very sensibly texted back immediately with a categoric NO. I mean let’s face it. Who in their right minds would even contemplate walking in this heat! So I said yes, only to keep Maice company on her walk into Weymouth you understand. Why, oh why had I too not said NO?.....bad choice number 1.
Smothering myself with sun-lotion and wearing my cut down jeans shorts I headed off to Maice‘s, arriving at the allotted time of 10am. I‘d packed my swimwear, just in case we‘d stop for a swim on the way there, or back, but we decided that if we were going for a swim we’d come back, pick up our stuff and drive off somewhere rather than lug it around with us and with this being the hottest day of the year, we wanted to travel light. We didn’t even take our foldup chairs! Although the day was becoming increasingly hotter there was a cool breeze so we refrained from taking our sun hats with us as it was too windy.......bad choice number 2.
We set off, with our now lightweight backpacks and Maice carrying her shopping bag containing the ‘heavy‘ parcel, on this, the hottest day of the year. I did suggest that we drive to Weymouth, drop the parcel off then drive back and then start the walk, but Maice was having none of it......bad choice number 3.
We’ve walked this route on many occasions, it’s such a lovely walk and always found it particularly easy and today was no exception, at the beginning, that is. There was a gorgeous billowing breeze keeping us nice and cool and we even managed to grab some delicious blackberries from the bushes as we walked along, this being our breakfast, which neither of us had thought to eat earlier......bad choice number 4.
Coming across a field of crops, which were now well over six feet tall, gosh how they’ve grown since we last saw them, we decided to take some photos of us inside them, you know, for something different, not realising that there were also stinging nettles around the area. We were stung to pieces and not a dock leaf in sight......bad choice number 5.
The more we walked, the hotter it became and then the wind dropped. Our legs were getting heavier, they were itching due to the stinging nettles, our feet were aching, we were hungry, we were hot and we were very sweaty! Thankfully we had enough water to keep us going, so we trudged on, on this, the hottest day of the year, when most people were heading off to the beach! We weren’t even half way to Weymouth by this point and we were exhausted. There was no shade whatsoever as we continued on beneath the heat of the 30 degree sun, Maice carrying her parcel which was getting heavier and heavier with each step. We stopped for a bit of respite under the shade of a tree at which point Maice started to feel a tad lightheaded. Thoughts turned to the ‘episode’ on the flight to Cyrpus last year........oh no, we didn‘t want a repeat of that. To make matters worse, where we‘d been stung by stinging nettles our legs were now coming up in a rash and our legs were looking all bumpy and red. Gulping down some water, I took over carrying ’the parcel’ and we continued on into Weymouth until we came to the shop where Maice handed over ‘the parcel’. Thank goodness for that! We headed off into town for a regroup in Coffee 1 where we enjoyed a frappe, a couple of Welsh cakes and a sit down in the air-conditioning. It was bliss. We must have stayed there for at least forty minutes, recharging the batteries and getting our energy levels back to normal.
We had by now taken over 15,000 steps to get here and done just over five miles. Now all we had to do was walk back....bad choice number 6.
We decided to walk back the way we came, cross country but first we’d have lunch at the Lookout Cafe. We walked along the promenade, dodging all the holidaymakers as we went, walked up the hill and, already feeling hot and tired we plonked ourselves down on a bench in the full sun. It was far too hot for us, being in the delicate state that we were so we moved seats to a shaded area under the canopy of the Lookout Cafe. You can tell we’re getting older because a) we can’t sit out in the sun like we used to b) we can’t sit on the ground like we used to c) we prefer to sit in the air-conditioning and d) we keep repeating ourselves! Ordering ourselves two crab sandwiches and two mango smoothies we relaxed, cooled down, counted the number of cruise ships in the bay and admired the view. Eight ships in today, although sometimes it looked like there were only six or seven, depending on the angle you viewed them from. ‘Ah, aren’t we lucky to live where we do‘ we said for probably the 1,000th time this year.
To say it was hard work, gruelling, hot and sweaty, was an understatement. It was, an ordeal. It was hot. The sun was beating down on us and there was no shade to be had. We walked on, UP the hills, until we found a little shade where we took respite. Maice feeling lightheaded again, me feeling not so good we dabbed our wrists and other pressure points with water to cool them down, although the water from our water bottles was by now up to boiling point! The sweat was by now dripping off us……why do we allow ourselves to get into these predicaments? We needed our hats, but of course we’d left them at home. Think, what can we do? Realising we’d both brought our micro towels to sit on, in place of our camping chairs, we wet them, folded them over and stuck them on our heads. We just needed to protect our heads and cool down and this was the best way we could think of. Yes, all that Girl Guide training back in the day has certainly came in useful.
We continued on, very slowly, stopping each time we found a bit of shade. Without our chairs we had to sit on the ground, which was fine until we had to get up. Honestly, how old are we? It was such an effort lifting ones body off the ground particularly when ones whole body is aching all over and the legs just don’t want to move! Rearranging our new headwear into a turban, we continued on, on this, the hottest day of the year until we eventually left the countryside and were heading home to Maices abode. How we managed to make it there I’ll never know but it was such a relief to drink a cold glass of water, rather than the now very hot water in our water bottles and to sit down. Ah, to sit down on a nice comfortable sofa…..what bliss.
We sat like that for at least half an hour, comparing our ‘wounds’, our aches and pains. Maice, seemed to come out of this ordeal far worse than me due to the fact that she’d recently applied a foot mask to her feet. Apparently the old skin peels off and new skin is reborn, which is great if you’re not going to walk on them for miles; you see they become very tender whilst the new skin is growing......bad choice number 8.
So it took us over 32,880 steps to walk to Weymouth and back, all to deliver a parcel, on this, the hottest day of the year. How many miles did we walk? Well, according to our apps, I walked exactly 13 miles and Maice 12.6miles! How can that be?
So, on that note, what’s needed now is a shower, to wash away the sweat and grime of today‘s daycation, and to sit down, feet up with a nice glass of chilled wine......Definitely the best choice we‘ve made all day!
Until next time.....
A very weary and tired M&A xx
Loving the turbans. 💜