A cool start to the day...

My trusty laptop is actually not so trusty at the moment so I cannot get Google Chrome to work and today I am using Microsoft Edge - will that make a difference?  Time will tell!!!!  I also cannot get email to work at the moment - this is more of a worry but I am working on it.  I digress but this is to put you in the picture if my blog goes tits-up (pardon the expression but you get my drift!!).  

It was a cooler and greyer start to the day today - I should have realised that we had not had a clear bright night when I went across to feed Charlie at around 4.30am and it was a balmy 18 degrees in the lounge and we hadn't had the woodburner lit the night before.  I was due to be walking with Liselotte today and it was my walk so unless Kamoot had let me down it would not be off piste.

The grey start soon faded away - I met Liselotte at the Church in Arodes and we walked out and across the main road and down into the back of Kathikas - this walk would incorporate a walk I had done with Rachel and Nicky some time ago but with some extra loops to add a bit more distance and a bit more ascent.  It would also take in part of the walk John and I did with Liselotte around Kritou Terra.  I like to make sure the walk is worth Liselotte's while and takes her down paths she has not been down before.

We are so lucky to be living where we do and to have such fabulous walks right on our doorstep.  The walks which take us on the West side of the main road (Arodes side) are so very different to those on the East side of the main road (Kathikas side) - walking West you get stunning views of the sea whereas walking East you get the rugged and terraced landscape of internal part of the island and so today our views were of fields and trees and farming and green fields, some woodland and at one point a river.

We finished the walk well within our three hour window of opportunity.  We covered nearly 12 kilometers with a respectable 350m ascent during the course of the hike.  This was not an undulating walk so we walked down down down towards Kritou Terra for the first half and then up up up back to the starting point.  I am not quite so scared of hills now nor do they hurt quite so much but Liselotte seems to glide up them with such ease by contract I was almost blowing myself inside out by the time I had negotiated today's ascent.

So that was just about it for me for today - once back home it was warm and cosy in the conservatory so John and I sat in companionable silence for a couple of hours reading our books.  Who knew that we would spend time together doing this - I have to thank the Book Exchange on Christmas Eve for renewing our love of reading - that and the additional time the lockdown seems to afford us.  

I do miss socialising and seeing our friends and just going out as and when I feel like it rather than having to ask permission but actually not that much really.

It has been busy out on the estate.  Nicky and Mark have, at long last, had their woodburner fitted - they had been waiting for it to be brought onto the island from wherever it was coming from and now it is here and they are super excited about it.  They have also had builders in - not sure what they are doing - I think they are building a storage shed.  

It is so amazing after all these years to see the houses opposite coming to life after being derelict for so long - and to see the different ways in which the various occupants have adapted the dwellings for their own needs.  Would we do the same to ours given our time over again - actually yes I think we would.  We love our house and we reckon it is about as cosy and efficient as we can make it.