Frost's 15th on Foot

Yesterday the weather held out for the Frost's 15th Anniversary Sponsored Walk, in aid of the Rainbow Trust Children's Charity and in tandem with my own efforts as the Princess of Purple.


We set off at 12.00pm from Frost's Chequer Street branch (although Mum and I had actually walked from Harpenden to get there, so that we could prove to everyone how easy the walk was). Then, as a slightly fractured group of Frost's staff, family and furry friends, we walked to the the Leyton Road branch of Frost's in Harpenden.


The picture above left shows us all ready to go (with me and my Mummy and Molly and Coco on the far left).

As a few people got distracted by the cricket being played on Harpenden common, my Dad managed to arrive first, at 1.20pm, and to ensure success sprinted the last few feet - which was very amusing to watch. And then everyone else arrived ready for champagne and to be taken for a three course celebratory lunch at the Harpenden House Hotel.

So here we all are at the Harpenden branch with our champagne. I'm drinking mine from a special hiker's wine glass that my friend Robert bought me - the thought it was the first thing I would need to get through my training, and he wasn't wrong!


So, to reiterate, Mum and I had already done the 5 mile approx walk twice, but then Mum decided to see if anyone would offer any more money for her to walk it again, and when £140 was speedily laid down on the lunch table (inlcuing £20 from the waiter), we reluctantly set off again back to St Albans.

So in this final shot we have a picture of me half way between Harpenden and St Albans collapsed under the PYO sign!

It was a really fun day though, and I look forward to everyone's sponsorship money rolling in!

Celebrations

I feel terrible that it has taken me so long to write an update, but I've been sooooooooooo busy with everything that blogging just went out of the window.

At the beginning of July, G and I went to France for a week's hiking holiday. We stayed in her family's newly built pad in Brittany and despite the fact it rained and was pretty chilly most of the time, we managed to do a lot of walking and a good deal of relaxing. Over the trip I totalled about 40 miles (one 20 mile walk). The only downside was that there weren't many hills for me to practice on, so I need to get some hill action in in August sometime. Anyway, there aren't any photos because the weather put me off taking any, and it was nice to forget about recording everything for a while and to just get on with it.

As soon as I got back we had a huge family part to celebrate my 30th (which isn't until September), my Dad's 60th and my Grandpa's 90th. The evening was wonderful. I got to catch up with so many friends, family and family friends and was lucky enough to receive a massive dollop of sponsorship money and some rather special gifts (more about those soon!). We also raised money on the night by asking people to vote with their wallets on which of my parents would embarrass themselves singing Karaoke (Dad Michael Jackson's 'Bad', Mum Shaggy's 'It Wasn't Me'). Dad won by a large margin, but lucky everyone, I made them both sing! Words can't describe horror!

Here is a picture of the birthday trio...

The next day I got to count up all the donations and these, along with a fortuitously timed and extremely generous donation from my friend Jess and her Mum Kim, meant that I made my £5000 target! So its been celebrations all round!

Of course, being the over achiever that I am, I'm now looking to raise £8000, so don't think I'll be resting up now I've made the (first) target!