So, I think that most of the UK are all in Tier 4 or Lockdown now. We’ve been in Tier 4 for quite a while already in Wales. This means we’re still allowed to go out for daily exercise- a walk from and back to our home. Over Christmas and New Year I haven’t taken advantage of this. Our days were filled with indoor activities and I haven’t missed being outdoors at all (I know Covid has changed me!). Now we’re in a new year and back to a new routine, I realise I have to start going out and getting the kids out again for our daily dose of sunshine and fresh (very fresh!) air. If I don’t keep forcing myself to go outside then it’s going to get harder in the future even when normal life hopefully resumes.
We are so lucky to have lots of lovely walks from our home. For our first outdoor adventure of the year, we just walked down the road to the beach, across the beach and back. Here are some snapshots from our afternoon walk:
As we started walking down the hill we spotted the ferry. This is almost a symbol of our local walks as when we first went outdoors after our initial three months shielding we were excited to see the ferry once more. We would see it from Gelliswick, my mum would see it from the Rath and when we eventually met up we saw it together from the Rath and even from Pembroke when we ventured further (when it was allowed, of course). Pre covid we’d see the ferry every day during the daily school run.
The tide was out which meant plenty of space to run about and lots to see on the beach. I’ll always prefer the beach at high tide though.
The beach road has been flooded recently after the heavy rain. Since then we’ve had lots of icy, cold days- beautiful!
These boots were made for walking! They’re glad to be out of the house! getting muddy again!
Before we’d even left the house we’d had a discussion about keeping safe- using sanitizer, social distancing and avoiding touching unnecessary surfaces etc. The kids had asked about the rope swing and asked would it be okay to go on it. We agreed we’d anti-bac it before and after and sanitise hands before and after, so they did go on it. I know it’s outdoors but it’s used quite regularly so I’d prefer to err on the side of caution. One issue we did have was some of the kids were wearing gloves so couldn’t just sanitise their hands frequently like we usually do! I just reminded them to not touch their face and to make sure gloves were washed when home. We took our masks and if we had to walk near people we were going to wear them but we only saw people in the far distance so made the most of the fresh air. I know we’re privileged to be able to walk somewhere quiet.
The girls had fun on the rope swing.
While they played a robin kept landing near us and then flying off again. He didn’t want to pose for a photo sadly.
After a swing, we continued walking around the beach.
Then turned and made our way back.
From this side of the beach, we enjoyed a good view of Hubberston (or Hubberstone) Fort. It’s been purchased now and has started to be restored by volunteers. Hopefully, in the future, there will be a blog post on here about it.
The girls!
As we walked back the girls had another play on the rope swing. Then we walked home slowly, chatting all the way. The girls decided to practice their Welsh, Spanish and French for some reason. We all took turns speaking. listening and translating. it certainly tested my brain cells having to recall some of the vocabularies that I hadn’t used since my school days- one language at a time may have been easier as I do get confused (the kids still tease me as I kept talking in Spanish on our last French holiday and I quite often mix up languages when counting!). However, it took my mind off the steep hill that is our walk home so that was a success!
We got home and warmed up with a hot drink. I’m looking forward to our next walk together! Have you been out much? Stay safe and well all! xxx
Other walks from our house:
Gelliswick to South Hook Beach (Pipe Beach)
