I know, I know...

...it's been two weeks, I'm a slacker. In my defence, I'd like to say that the internet access I was meant to have, in the form of Ash's old laptop, has not been quite as capable of accessing the internet as we had supposed. So, what have I been doing?! Lots of relaxing, combined with the odd 2 mile fell run straight up a mountain... I didn't think that was much fun until a good 3-4 hours after I'd finished!

The day after I arrived, we went for an (awesome!) lamb roast with Jeremy and Kim, friends of Ash's. They not only cooked an amazing dinner (complete with two types of pudding - you can tell they are my kind of people!) but when we went for a pre-dinner walk up on to the ridges surrounding their house, they pulled out a bottle of champagne for a 'welcome to Wales' toast!! Nothing quite like drinking bubbles at the summit on a sunny evening to make me feel like I wasn't in London any more!

Since then, I've really just been unpacking and settling in. Ash and I have been doing quite a bit of running (well - I run and he walks beside me, or he runs and I struggle to keep up on the bike!), which has helped me start getting my bearings on the local roads and tracks. I've also spent a couple of days exploring the local towns, and enjoying the fact that I live somewhere I can visit every shop in town in a day! The weather has been generally quite wet across Wales so far this summer, which has meant I've had the chance to paddle some new local rivers too - the Clywedog, the Tymyn, the Eden and the Mawddach - I made a mental note to start taking my camera on some of these adventures as so far I've been pretty crap at documenting what I'm doing!!

Two exciting things happening this weekend - first and most important, Ash's daughter Ciara turns three tomorrow. I am in fact currently making a birthday cake for her while Ash goes to pick her up. I have really fond memories of the birthday cakes Mum used to make us when we were little - they were big productions and iced to look like things such as baskets of lollies or a hedgehog, so I'm recreating that for Ciara (hopefully!) by cutting out a square cake to look like the number '3' and decorating it extravagantly with all sorts of lollies... If I do okay, I'll even post a picture of it!

Also, Sesiwn Fawr, a 'world music' festival, is on in Dolgellau this weekend, which should take the population from 2,000 to about 18,000... Lots of Welsh and Irish musicians, headlining this year are the Dubliners. However, the band I really want to make it down to see? The Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain! What's the point of having headed back to the country without a soundtrack of deuling ukeleles???

Opening gambit...

...and closing salvo! It's 'Retirement Eve' here in London, and I'm putting in a late night at work to wrap up the final odds and ends here. Then back to Plaistow to pack up the final odds and ends there, before heading up to Ash and Dolgellau this weekend - can't wait!!

Hopefully, posting here on a (semi!) regular basis will keep you all in touch with where I am and what I'm up to, despite the hundreds (and in many cases, thousands) of miles between us. In addition, it should encourage me to get off my lazy arse and go out and do stuff, instead of snoozing in front of daytime tv! (If I stop posting regularly, you can safely assume that's what I'm up to).

Happy dossing, I say!!