Post-Holiday Fitness Campaign

L and the Lad both start the week moping around with post-holiday blues. She has also either picked up a cold or is simply allergic to being back at home. Despite this she declares, as she always does, that the post-holiday fitness campaign starts now and heads off to two Pilates in one day although she isn’t impressed with either of them. 

Personally, I thought we had a pretty active holiday, it’s not as if we sat for two weeks on a beach. I mean, look at the state of the Lad. He’s exhausted. 

I open the week with a committee meeting which means I miss my post-holiday fitness campaign track cycling. Then I come home and binge watch other people cycling e.g. La Vuelta. 

L’s post-holiday fitness campaign ticks up a notch on Tuesday with a gym and another Pilates class that goes down better than Monday’s although she says she aches from those tame ones that she didn’t like. The Lad has a shock to his system when he’s back at dog training for the first time since July. 

Wednesday... up another notch with a stretch class and a swim. Then on Thursday all three of us run 6.5k on the park. I’m impressed with us! Then Friday she has her PT. 

Daughter has a wellbeing afternoon on Friday which she is due to spend playing indoor golf. Unfortunately, her wellbeing is not looking forward to it. I have an entire wellbeing week next week and I’m not looking forward to that either. 

Saturday’s parkrun is at Alvaston which is their 250^th and the first one for while with no mid-race dip for the Lad. Then I watch Derby lose at home to Preston with my Dad. Normal Saturday service is resumed in the evening as we’re back in the Plough. I hope it missed us.

Sunday is our usually trip to Colwick and then L comes with me and the Lad to visit my Dad as it’s his 97th birthday. We take him for a drink at the New Inn where my Dad celebrates with a Tia Maria chaser. He’s happy with his day so we take him home for a nap and then just the two of us head to the Clock Warehouse for a meal where the Sunday lunches have run out but we still get a decent meal.

 (Sunday 21^st September)

Shetland

On Sunday we start our summer holiday, a two-week trek including five days on the Shetland Islands somewhere L has always wanted to go. It has only recently been possible to take your dog without consigning them to twelve hours either in a kennel or your car. So we though we’d give it a go. 

We meander our way north via the Errington Coffee House, a former pub near Hadrians Wall before staying at the Holly Bush Inn at Greenhaugh. Our small walk makes it rain so we revert to the room, feed the Lad and dry off before heading down for food in the bar. 

 

We do a walk, in the dry, at Kielder in the morning before visiting Hawick to get an anniversary card for Son. Then we roll into Stirling where we check into the quite posh Stirling Highland Hotel for two nights. There’s no beer to speak of at the hotel and they are also unforgivably short on scotch whiskies but the nearby Settle Inn close to Stirling Castle has the legendary Wee Jock on draught. So, I cope. 

 

Tuesday takes in two bookshops and a walk out to the Sterling Old Bridge and the Beheading Stone (yes, really) but we spend part of the afternoon back in the hotel room as the new Cormoran Strike book The Hallmarked Man is released and we do the first hour of the audiobook. 

The next day we head to Aberdeen via Forfar and a walk along the promenade. Once in Aberdeen, we go to queue for the overnight ferry to Shetland and listen to more of the book as we wait. On the boat we have a dog friendly cabin that only has two beds, so the Lad has to share with me which means neither of us gets much sleep. That apart the boat is good although I find the fact the restaurant closes at 8pm, only one hour after the ferry departs, a little odd. 

 

We arrive in Lerwick at 7:30am and find a café to indulge in a full English\full Scottish. We then drive around the south part of the Mainland with a takeaway coffee at an old Watermill before arriving at our accommodation in Scalloway a little early at 1pm but our room is ready. So, we head to our room for more book. 

We drive around more of the island on Friday and we even hit the beach where L swims. We find a bookshop for L but it’s all second-hand books, so she’s doesn’t buy anything. Back in Scalloway we try the Kiln bar which is the only other pub apart from our hotel but I have to drink keg Greene King, which is obviously very un-Scottish. 

We eat in the hotel for the second night in a row but this time they won’t let us have the restaurant menu in the bar as they did on the first night. So, the lad goes in the car so we can eat in comfort and I can consume their expensive but very nice scallops. The beer is better in the hotel as they have Shetland beers but mainly in cans and they have the local Norn whiskey. 

On Saturday we skip breakfast, because it’s parkrun day, and head to Lerwick from where we get another ferry to the island of Bressay where Parkrun is held. The Lad isn’t impressed that he’s on another boat and hides under the table. 

There is a bit of a delay until Parkrun starts because it’s so popular they wait for a second ferry to bring more runners across. Once that arrives, they walk us down to the start of an out and back course that doesn’t come all the back to the ferry terminal because it ends at the local cafe. The course is all tarmac, surprisingly un-flat and not unsurprisingly windy. 

The Speldiburn Cafe is great, busy but well planned with instant coffee, breakfast cobs and cake. We indulge in all of those things. Then we get the ferry back and visit the Lerwick Distillery which is open and the Lerwick Brewery which isn’t. Then another coffee in the Cornerstone cafe back in Scalloway and a pint outside our hotel before heading back to the room where I offer L a choice of me or Cormoran Strike or a bit of both. 

That was our last night on Shetland. We check out on Sunday morning, drive to the west of the island and visit the cake fridge cafe, which is closed of course, like most things in Scotland in September, but their cake fridge has an honesty box so we have £10s worth. 

Then we board the boat in Lerwick to head back to Aberdeen. We are pre-warned of rough seas and they are not kidding. It was a rough crossing but we calm our nerves with more book. It's character building they say and the three of us survive the night and the trip. 

Back in Aberdeen we park up and walk long the front taking in a Halal breakfast, which is novel, nice and the only place open so early. Then we drive to Cove Bay and then Stonehaven for what is shockingly the first ice cream of the holiday. We then head into the Cairngorms along a remote but scenic valley to Glen Clova. 

We appear to be literally in the middle of nowhere and it’s feels very Langdale-esk. We check in to our hotel and walk up to a small local loch before visiting the hotel bar where we return later for an evening meal and I have the local deer steak on my plate, L has a rather nice veggie Jalfrezi. We return the following night and I have the deer chilli! They also have an Orkney beer on the bar. 

 

During the day, on Tuesday, we attempt to follow a route called the Ministers Path but it is frequently blocked by fallen trees and is not well marked, so we end up turning around halfway. Then on Wednesday we walk from nearby Glen Doll towards the Balmoral Estate but there’s no sign of good King Charlie. Then we drive to our next stop at the Old Aberlady Inn in Aberlady. 

This is just a one-night stopover as we head next to Peebles via the Scottish Bird Watchers Centre and then North Berwick where we have coffee and cake in the Doughnut café before another stop at Stow for the bookshop. We grab a decent pint from Loch Lomond Brewery in the Bridge Inn before eating in the Cross Keys where we are staying. 

We cross back into England on Friday via Traquair House which is thankfully closed on Fridays and therefore doesn’t cost us £15 per head just to buy beer from their brewery which is why we went but that is also closed. We arrive in Amble, which is our next and final stop, and visit the ex-Tourist Information Centre which is now a pub called the Cock n Bull. We check into our apartment at Amble Harbour Retreats and then eat in the Schooner which finds us a table at no notice. We both have the Thai curry. I also have Scallops which are a £3.50 each here and not the £5 each they were in Scalloway. We are impressed enough to rebook for Saturday. 

Then it’s the second parkrun of the holiday and another one on L’s extensive wish list. This on is at Druridge Bay Country Park which is two laps of a very handy lake or so the Lad thinks so. He then also gets a romp on the nearby beach before we indulge in bacon cobs and coffee back in their cafe. We head back to the room then as the pressure is on to the finish the Hallmarked Man before the end of the holiday. 

Sunday is our last day and after finding a cafe for breakfast, we head home and finish book on the way. 

(Sunday 14^th September) 

Faint At The Thought

Monday is a Bank Holiday yet L still has PT and Pilates at David Lloyd. This is so not the council because it isn’t the council. Who would be faint at the thought. I visit my Dad but there is no cycling because that is council but that’s a bit unfair as they do open during the day just not at night. 

Derby lose in League Cup 2nd Round to a late goal 2-1 to Burnley. L misses the excitement on the radio as she is at a bat walk with Daughter and her +1 on Martin’s Pond. 

L runs on Tuesday and Thursday, does a new class at David Lloyd on Wednesday. While I’m at David Lloyd with her on Thursday, using another guest pass, although we get kicked out of the outdoor pool by an aqua aerobics class. 

She has her regular PT on Friday and then a final lunch with her book friend at the all vegan Prickly Pear as it closes down. 

 

Recently my guilty lunchtime pleasure has become the quiz Impossible on TV. Although L is now almost as addicted to it as I am and I often forgo my lunchtime vice so that I can share it with her later. 

On Saturday we are again at Clifton parkrun although I trip over a root and fall. I’m not sure the Lad notices. Later in the Plough I finally get a decent session on their 5.6% IPA which usually runs out the moment I get a sniff of it. 

(Saturday 30^th August) 

Debates

L does a couple of runs and just her regular PT but also a Pilates class and a swim at David Lloyd. As ever I have my cycling. 

On Wednesday L is in Derby first with a couple of friends of hers and then with her Mum. She comes home complaining of two immigration debates in one day. That must have been tough. She does it all again with her Mum on Thursday. 

I have a better night out in Derby with my old school friend. We drink in the Alexandra and then eat in the Exeter. That is apart from the trip over on the bus on the new Red Arrow with their new dodgy app and their dodgy barcode scanners. They let me on eventually. 

On Friday evening I go to the match on my own, as it’s too difficult to get my Dad there for an evening game. Derby draw 1-1 with Bristol City. L meanwhile is at a bird walk with Daughter at Attenborough Nature Reserve. She is still up when I get back which is rarity and a nice treat. We share a few drinks. 

Saturday’s parkrun is at Shipley which has its briefing and its start in different places which means I am able to get on the front row with my excitable dog. Hence we do a decent-ish time of 28 minutes although I was hoping to be a little quicker. I then drop L in Derby and visit my Dad, who I take to the Navigation. Later we have another go at getting to the pub in Stapleford on bus with the Lad. I think he handles it a lot better this. L disagrees. 

On Sunday L and Daughter are back swimming at Colwick while the Lad and I do our walk. 

(Sunday 24^th August) 

Courgettes With Everything

L kicks off retirement with a day of cleaning and washing the net curtains. That’s retirement on speed. 

Fitness wise she starts off the week with a run on Monday and PT at David Lloyds on Tuesday. I have a very tough cycling session as there are just twelve of us in the group. We seem to cycle faster to make up for the missing people.   

Tuesday is her boozy evening Book Club. I again pick her up afterwards but I think this time she’s managed to stop them continually topping her glass up. I listen to Derby beat West Brom on penalties in the League Cup with a reserve side. 

L runs again on Wednesday and comes to us on the park all hot and sweaty. It’s an impressive sight and it’s a shame I’ve got to be on my daily morning work call in half an hour. Luckily Daughter is about to start a stint dog sitting for a friend, so we have the house to ourselves for a whole week. My devious plans fail on Wednesday as my seduction meal of Hake in Roquefort cheese with grilled courgettes clearly doesn’t work. Naturally I blame the courgettes. However, I get Friday nights on both Thursday and Friday. Result. 

L runs again on Thursday and is with her other PT on Friday. Then from another man she heads off to another dog as she’s meeting up with Daughter who is of course on dog sitting duties. 

Saturday’s parkrun is at Clifton where we grab a quick coffee before I head off for an early 12:30 kick off where Derby lose a ridiculous game 5-3 to Coventry. We’re in the Plough later, avoiding the bus to Stapleford after last week's slobbery debacle. 

On Sunday as the lake at Colwick is closed because of an algae scare, L and Daughter swim at Spring Lakes. The Lad and I do a walk around the lake and watch the wake boarding/water skiing which I sort of fancy a go at but I’m sure I’d just keep falling in the water. 

Our evening meal on Sunday is courgettes stuffed with keema curry and yet courgettes keep coming.

(Sunday 17^th August) 

A Tale Of Two PTs

L opens up her fitness week with a free Personal Training session as part of her new David Lloyd membership. She’s also continuing with her usual Personal Trainer, at least for now. That's impressive isn't it. I mean how many people have two PTs? 

The gym at David Lloyd has some WattBikes and she’s got some guest passes if I want to go use one or anything else in the gym. So, I take her up on that offer on Friday. The gym isn’t, surprisingly, as well equipped as the one at JD but it’s well equipped enough for a novice like me. After our gym session I join her in the outdoor pool. Yes, really. I remember how to swim which is lucky because there is no lifeguard. The council would have freaked. 

As well as plenty of gym sessions this week she also does a couple of runs and an outdoor swim on Thursday evening with Daughter and then again on Sunday on her own as Daughter is at work. She always says she’s so unfit but the facts of her exercise schedule say otherwise. 

Oddly all our meals this week come with courgettes, thanks to the abundant supply from our neighbour’s allotment. Who knew that vegetable was so versatile.

Saturday’s Parkrun is a new one at Coronation Park in Swadlincote. It’s all on grit paths, which are narrow in places particularly at the start. It’s also three laps, there’s no pond for the Lad and there’s no cafe. So, it’s not ideal but it’s another tourist one chalked up. We end up at Notsa in Aston for our post-run breakfast where it’s really slow service. 

Afterwards I drop L in Derby where she’s meeting her Mum for lunch. I then head to my Dad’s where I cut the lawns and listen to Derby’s opening game of season at Stoke when they concede twice in injury time to lose 3-1. My Dad and I drown our sorrows in the Harrington. Then in the evening we do the Horse & Jockey on the bus which the Lad isn’t terribly happy about. He ends up laying in a pool of his own slobber in front of a full bus while L glares at me disapprovingly. 

She cheers up massively when she realises they have her favourite Leffe Blonde on draught, albeit the new low strength version that they can now get away with because we’re no longer in the EU. Incidentally the Lad is fine on the bus on the way home, which is almost empty but being driven at high speed as the driver is behind schedule. Perhaps that because he’s too busy holding his breath. The rest of us are.

(Sunday 10^th August)

Well, That’s It

L has quite a running week. 5k on Monday morning, then 3k on both Tuesday and Thursday mornings and of course Parkrun on Saturday. Along with a few gym sessions, three swims indoors and one outdoors at Colwick on Sunday. So fit. 

I have my Monday cycling of course and... well, that’s it apart from Parkrun. 

L treats me to a night out on Tuesday and it’s a book event at Nottingham’s New Library. It’s called ‘Genre Wars: Romance v Crime’ and it’s a bit of a competition over which genre is best. I feel L and I line up on different sides here. 

There are three authors of romantic novels - Cathy Bramley, Milly Johnson and Lucy Diamond who are up against three authors of crime fiction - T.M. Logan, Mark Edwards and K.L. Slater. It’s a bit of a worry that the crime authors hide behind initials and don’t have real names. Are they all criminals?  I wonder but we are allowed to call them Tim and Kim, which is almost as confusing. 

It’s a fun night and I am instantly a fan of Mark Edwards. If I ever pick up another book it ought to be one of his. 

Afterwards L and I pop in the Canalhouse to discuss who won and most of the authors follow us. We are too shy to talk to them of course and sit in the corner like a couple of secret groupies. 

On Wednesday, we go to pick up L’s computer from her office and anything else she'd still got there. 

Towards the end of the week we pick up the Iranian Siege audiobook that we started but have now had quite a long break from. 

On Saturday we Parkrun at Wollaton and then I take my Dad to a pre-season friendly against Atromitos, a Greek side I’ve never heard of. I take him for a beer in the Harrington afterwards before heading back home to meet up with L who has been getting in the third of those indoor swims and of course a gym session before we adjourn to the Plough as usual.

 (Sunday 3^rd August)

Final Communiqué

Monday has L running and me cycling before Tuesday sees her last day ever at work. Cue huge fanfare.

She ends a couple more associations on the same day, although there’s always a chance of a return with these. She ends her memberships of both JD Gym and Harvey Hadden pool. Instead, she making a return to David Lloyds and has signed up for a year from 1st August. 

I get all this in a final email communication from the Gulag. It all feels a bit scary but also very exciting. I will miss the heartrending communiqués from the incarcerated prisoner who has now finally tunnelled her way out.

In the evening England again come from behind to beat Italy and move into Sunday’s Euros final. 

The rest of the week is taken up with my club’s annual dog show. Wednesday and Thursday are setting up and Friday through Sunday are our show days. 

As usual we have a catering crisis. Our Pizza man cancels on the Thursday as he doesn’t like the fact that we have a Pan-Asian Street Food van coming for a few hours on the Sunday. We notice that he’s quickly advertising on his Facebook that he’s at a music festival somewhere. It all looks very pre-planned to me. 

Then on Friday, our main caterer cancels citing van problems. Funnily enough he’s a friend of the pizza guy. Not connected, I’m sure. Then the girl who runs the doughnut van locks herself out of her van and disappears home for half the day to find her spare key. 

So, on Friday the only catering we have is a savoury pasty stall, who do great business, and ice cream, which they are giving out free to club members. Every cloud has a silver lining and all that. Afterwards I have chips with club and then head to see L who has been commemorating her late Dad’s birthday at the Crematorium. 

The catering is slightly better on the Saturday as our Street Food van turns up and does good trade. However, the real action is at Colwick Lake where L does a naked swim with Daughter. You miss a week at the lake and look what happens! No photographic evidence was taken but I hope they got another badge for that. Not unsurprisingly this was scheduled really early in the day so L has plenty of time to get back to Parkrun at Wollaton. 

The Street Food van comes back again on the Sunday and makes an excellent video of the show. He also sends me home with free noodles. Later L, I and the Lad have a relaxing night in the Plough. 

(Sunday 27^th July) 

There's No Sticker For Dog Walking

L isn’t having much luck of late with injuries and her latest one, her bag packing back injury, keeps her out of the gym on Monday, out of work (she was very pleased about that) and curtails any ideas I had of a passionate start to the week. I am uninjured thankfully as my cycling in the evening is with the Derny e.g. very fast. 

L is much better by Tuesday and manages gym and swim, although she gets soaked by a rare rainstorm in between. She also runs Wednesday morning before hitting the gym and going into work for the next to last time. She comes back with Champagne and flowers. She officially finishes at the end of month. 

Later I meet my old school friend in Five Lamps in Derby before we head to the Spice Lounge for a curry. 

On Thursday, England beat Sweden in the worst penalty shootout ever. After their Women’s Euro 2025 Quarter Final finishes 2-2, nine penalties are missed as England scrape through the shootout 3-2. 

On Saturday we Parkrun at Clifton. I then drop L in Derby before visiting my Dad and taking him to the New Inn for a pint. Having just back from Derby, L then heads back in later with me on the bus as we meet friends of ours in the Viceroy for a curry. We have a drink first in the Alex before we indulge in the restaurant’s now almost permanent £22 meal deal. The problem with the deal is that you are practically full after the poppadoms and a huge platter to start. The food was also very average. L rated the place last time we came, now she’s no longer sure. 

We’re at Colwick on Sunday for the swim and Daughter joins us. The two girls get stickers for doing a Platform Bomb and Swimming in the Rain. I don’t get a sticker for my dog walking. 

Later we are at Splendour on Wollaton Park. It’s not L’s thing but she gallantly manages about five hours before the threat of lightning disrupts everything for over an hour and L takes the chance to escape. 

(Sunday 20^th July) 

Splendour

My other half and I arrive around 4pm and start with the tweeness of the failed Eurovision project that is Remember Monday. I am told they do a bad cover of a Sabrina Carpenter song but I wouldn’t be able to recognise a bad version of a Sabrina Carpenter song. We depart before they finish with their big Eurovision song ‘What the Hell Just Happened? 

Then we head to see Fratellis on the Main stage. This is less to my partner’s liking and she heads to a quiet corner with her book although I suspect she will still be able to hear them from there. A very secret fan perhaps? They open with a lively Henrietta and a huge many personned presence on the stage including saxophone and trumpet players. 

 

Amongst all their usual stuff they cover Baccara’s ‘Yes sir I can boogie’. Yes sir, really. It’s actually very good but they don’t attempt any Sabrina Carpenter. At least I'm pretty sure they don't.   

A problem with Splendour is that the beer usually runs out, yet this time the wine runs out first much to my partner’s chagrin. We have some noodles while watching Kate Nash from a distance. She seems to have an awful lot written across her dress but I can’t read any of it from this distance. 

Then we catch a bit of a very green looking (as in a very sparkly dress) Sophie Ellis-Bextor on the Main Stage as the rain starts to fall before we move across, at my insistence, to see the Levellers on the Confetti stage.  

 

This is the eight time of seen them as one of my friends used to be heavily into them. This includes my one and only foreign gig when I chanced upon them in California. However, all of this was a very long time ago and I haven’t seen them in 29 years. They haven’t changed any, to be honest. I think they are very entertaining but the person next to me is by now looking very bored.  

As we wait for Echo & The Bunnymen to appear on Confetti, the sky starts grumbling and the threat of lightning curtails Travis on the Main Stage. We are asked to retreat three meters from the metal barrier. Note to organisers - go plastic. Although these look like the actual ones from Rock City. When a delay in proceedings is announced my partner bails and heads home.

The Bunnymen come on an hour late and despite being outdoors still manage to disappear behind a cloud of dry ice. They play a shorter set of just under an hour including a one song encore of ‘The Cutter’ for which they bring out a chair for singer Ian McCulloch. As there’s no one due on after them, I’m not sure why they don’t play a full set as the site curfew is 10:30 and that’s still half an hour away. Perhaps they hadn't got enough chairs for the rest of the band 

As I head over to the Main Stage the Kaiser Chiefs appear to be playing Travis’ ‘Why Does It Always Rain On Me?’ 

 

When I get there, I realise they have Travis with them, who didn’t get to play their big song. Then we’re back on track with ‘Ruby’ while they also play a great cover of the Ramones’ ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ and they go way beyond the 10:30 curfew and without chairs.