Not much exercise going on.

These last couple of weeks have been a bit lax on the exercise front. Part laziness, part busy with other things.

A week last Monday I did a 3.25 mile run in the evening and quite enjoyed it apart from getting cramp in my right calf.

On the Wednesday I would normally have gone to aquafit if I wasn't working but I was on a mission to get a special cake for a special person who I 'know' through another forum. So I also had a nice afternoon trawling around the charity shops in Ilkley (that's a fairly upmarket town a few miles from where I live). Didn't get anything though as they had fairly upmarket prices as well.

On the Thursday I would normally go swimming and circuit training but Peter and I had a trip to Amsterdam booked as I won the trip with DFDS Seaways. We set off a bit later than planned and we nearly had a fit as we got to the check in desk about 2 minutes before it closed, phew! Unfortunately that meant we had nothing to eat before boarding the ferry and once you are on board you are a trapped person. You have to eat their food. 22 Euros for a burger and chips and a warm chicken sandwich and chips, ouch! That was the cheapest option we could find.

We bought some cokes and settled in the club area to listen to the band and I had a game of bingo too. One number from a full house, darn! The band were called The Energy Band and they were brilliant. The diminutive girl singer certainly was full of energy and she really could sing. They covered everything from The Beatles to Katy Perry.

Thank goodness we had paid for breakfasts both ways. When we got up we went down to the restaurant and we had a beanfeast. We filled up and literally didn't need anything else until 7pm that night.

Peter is struggling with his 2.5 slipped discs and cannot walk very far or very fast but he did his best. We visited a lot of shops on the way down to Dam Square in Amsterdam. I managed to find a bright red scarf which I had been hunting for to liven up a blue and white spotted top. We also got Isobel a pair of pink faux suede cowboy boots for 10 Euro, bargain! How many people do you know who go to visit a foreign capital and purchase bin bags? We did!

DFDS has several disadvantages over P & O for us. The former takes 2 hours to get to, the latter one hour. The former is a 16 hour sailing whereas the latter is a 9 hour trip and last but not least the time in Amsterdam with DFDS is only around 4.5 hours whereas P & O it's around 8 hours. So time went to quickly while we were there.

We did however find a couple of quirky places. One was a doorway with some interesting stonework above it and I didn't take a photo of it. Peter headed for the doorway despite not knowing where it lead to. The door was open and people were coming and going in dribs and drabs. We could see a nice tiled floor and some steps so we went down them. It opened into a square of houses with a church in the middle. Reading the info it was a place where devout catholic women who didn't want to take the vows and become nuns lived. They did good deeds and lived in this area which was an enclave in the middle of a protestant area. It was a serene area in the middle of the hustle and bustle of a capital city.

The other place was a restaurant but had originally been a photographic studio. The exterior was a beautiful mosaic in Art Nouveau styling.




Anyway the crossing going was like a mill pond and the return journey wasn't too bad at all.


Setting off from Ijmuiden

When we got back we went to visit my brother as he lives in Newcastle. He was at work but his girlfriend, Roberta was there. My younger brother Francis and his girlfriend and her daughter Erin were staying the weekend so when everyone arrived back there was only my eldest brother missing.

Speaking of whom, it was his birthday that night so once I got home Isobel and I went over to visit him. He was sat in the lounge of his sheltered accommodation alone eating Ritz crackers and drinking cider. For a change he wasn't drunk though and we had a nice chat. One of the other residents came in. She was in a wheelchair and told me she had the big C. Having said that she seemed to be a very positive person. We had a lot of laughs, listened to some music, I danced and she was good company.

Amsterdam

Not strictly training but it might be counted as 'cross-training'.

Isobel and I went on a mini-cruise with P&O Ferries. Peter was supposed to come too but he has a slipped disc and can barely walk. We set off Wednesday afternoon and stopped off at Pizza Hut to get something to eat. We boarded the ferry and took our gear up to our room. The had game of bingo, nearly watched the act that was on and decided to retire for the night.

Early Thursday morning I heard them delivering coffees to the rooms nearby and waited for mine. Strange, it didn't arrive. When I looked out there was no-one to be seen. So I got dressed went down to reception and he said they would get it up to me. It arrived a few minutes later. I'd ordered one but two cups arrived, oh well I managed to down them both. A bit of breakfast in the continental cafe and then we were disembarking for the buses to take us to Amsterdam. Nearly two hours and we arrived at Central Station but which way from here? Looked at a map and decided the nine streets that were supposed to be a shopping area were to the left.

We walked a way before we hit shops but there were some interesting things and we bought cheese in a speciality cheese shop and some other goodies in a 'Blokker' shop. When we got to the end of the street we turned off in search of more then walked back in the general direction of the station or so we thought! We walked for ages and turned various ways by which time I was dying for the toilet so we nipped in to a cafe called Razamataz. Isobel had a vast cup of Hot Chocolate and I got the weeniest cup of coffee but we got to use the loo thankfully.

We enquired which was the general direction of the station. The waitress asked if we were walking or on public transport. When I said we were walking she looked a little alarmed. She pointed out the general direction but said it was about half an hours walk and maybe we should try the bus. In hindsight that would have probably been wise but we didn't. We walked back roughly the way we had come but missed something somehwere and seemed to be walking an awful long way before we eventually spotted the station.

Heaving a sigh of reliefwe set off again looking for the livier parts of Amserdam. This time we found the shops. We walked up a long street of varying shops, stopping here and there for a look round. We took a side road off and got something to eat and then carried on back along the same street. We managed to get to a big open square where Poseidon was posing on a small platform waiting for photo opportunities with people. One of my biggest regrets is that my camera isn't working so I couldn't take any photos to remind us of the visit.

We then returned along another street but I couldn't resist a mooch round C&A and we came out with various bargains from there. Then back along the street we had originally come up. We watched the river boats for a while and marvelled at the myriad colours and shapes of the bikes parked outside the station, thousands of them!

By now our feet were killing us and we were lugging fairly heavy bags. A quick loo visit at the station and we got a slightly earlier bus back to the boat. Both of us nodded off.

That evening was pretty nuch a repeat of the previous one and we retired to bed about 11.00pm. I woke at 3.30am and could not get back to sleep. I tossed and turned and so did the boat. I looked at my watch 5.30am! I had just fallen back to sleep when there was knock at the door and coffee arrived.

Anyway after a very long disembarkation, due to immigration checking passports thoroughly, we set off home.

I was tired today and put off the run I was going to do with Liz and passed on canoeing too. Cycling tomorrow so I need to get some sleep tonight.