On the loose

Coffee wasn't my highest priority as I awoke from a deep slumber of about three hours duration: IBUPROFEN was the first necessary fix of the day! The legs were fine after the first day's walk but my shoulders and back were loudly protesting after my night spent on the rocks. There were also quite a few insects buzzing nearby and at least one of them was a mosquito! In addition, a heavy dew had drenched everything! 'Camp Chaos' was living up to its reputation: but it didn't take long to brew some coffee, make some instant porridge and hang everything on a nearby fence to drip dry. I was away by 6 am, continuing along the narrow path through woodland that was slowly climbing out of the valley around Rushock Hill. I rested for a while on a log bench that told me to "Look deep into nature and you will understand everything better." There was a lovely view down in to the next valley and I had a pretty good look but I still didn't really understand why I was

  Day 1-2 Friday evening found me driving towards Brecon in my faithful van, "Trusty Rusty", having spent the day in London at the Stonehenge Exhibition. Fran was off to Somerset for a few days of grandkid sitting and I was escaping to the hills! The plan is to walk the southern portion of Offa's Dyke but first I had to find a suitable location to spend the evening which would be my first in my recently modified vehicle. I had even purchased a new airbed for the sleeping platform and the previous evening I had pumped it firmly up, using its internal pump. I was tired after a day in the big smoke and I was looking forward to a great night's sleep before commencing my five day walk in Knighton next morning. I pulled into a concealed rest area and climbed into the back of the van. The air bed was as flat as a pancake! Luckily I had a foot pump but the connecting tube was too short. I had to half balance the airbed out of the van to re-inflate it and the connection was no

  SPOILER ALERT! IF YOU HAVE READ MY NOVEL "THE BELL THAT NEVER RANG" AND DON'T WANT TO KNOW ANYTHING ELSE ABOUT MARIE, DO NOT READ THIS BLOG! IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT YET, YOU SHOULD PROBABLY ORDER A COPY FROM AMAZON NOW, BEFORE READING THE BELOW! https://www.amazon.com/Bell-That-Never-Rang/dp/0473615150/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3SV1R4H9MB4SN&keywords=The+Bell+That+Never+Rang&qid=1657187184&sprefix=the+bell+that+never+rang%2Caps%2C142&sr=8-1 IF YOU DECIDE TO READ ON YOU MAY WELL END UP KNOWING TOO MUCH! But in defence of this post, many people have asked about the character Marie!  Is she real? Did Jim really fall in love with her? Did theYoungs ever farm at Barry's Bay?   I can now real that Marie is a totally fictitious character. I knew I wanted a love interest to hold the second part of the book together but I had no idea who she was or where she came from. Just after the first lockdown lifted in New Zealand (June 2020) I escaped to Christchurch and was