ORANGE

The last time i saw my sister in law V she invited me to go for morning coffee with her - and today was the day.  She came to pick me up at 10am so ( for me ) it was very early morning coffee. 

It took around 10 mins to drive to Bayberry Hollow in Tanfield Village.  V goes there quite a lot as they have gluten free options ( she has coeliac disease ). I chose a cheese scone ( see Extra ) and cappuccino and V had a bacon sandwich with gluten free bread and lemon and ginger tea.  It was all very nice.  The place was quite busy - and quite noisy ... which was a bit awkward for V as she wears hearing aids and all the background noise was a bit distracting.  But we still managed to have a good catch up.

As well as the coffee shop there's also a shop selling all sorts of items and they had a nice Autumn/pumpkin themed display as seen in my blip shot.  I've tagged it for Flower Friday as in among everything there are some orange silk flowers.

V drove me home, we had a bit of a chat in the car and then she went off to Tesco to do " the big shop".  I just pottered around at home for the rest of the day. ( I did have a nap on the sofa during the afternoon ).

After a rainy night it was quite sunny today but it was also chilly and windy. 

Neil travelled South today on the Megabus.  He caught the bus in Newcastle around 6am and after a long journey of around 9 hours he reached Oxford.  Well I assume he reached Oxford --- I haven't heard from him since he messaged me at 7.17am. After getting to Oxford he had a train to catch to ..... Im not exactly sure where .... but he's staying in a hostel tonight. 

Then tomorrow he's running 100 miles.  The race stars Goring at 9am and the 250 runners will head to  Little Wittenham on the first out and back section on the Thames Path. On returning to Goring, runners will be faced with the more challenging but beautiful second spur of the course, out to Swyncombe Farm on the Ridgeway before returning to Goring a second time. Spur three takes runners west on the Ridgeway to Chain Hill before returning to Goring for the final leg on the Thames Path to Reading and return for their 100 mile finish. The cut off time is 28 hours.  Neil is hoping to finish in around 24 hours.  I hope the weather will be OK.  Not too hot.  Not too windy. Not too wet. I will worry about Neil  as he's there on his own and its a tough event.  But there are plenty of aid stations with full medical support so he should be OK. He's done a few of these ultra runs before so he knows the drill.

*** Neil just messaged at around 11pm.  He got there safely --- but the weather is terrible.  Torrential rain.  Conditions tomorrow could well be tricky. 

Steps today - 3,854