We have changed our accommodation and are now staying in a converted barn about 3 miles away from The Fungi Folks mushroom farm (get your Christmas medicinal tinctures here). We woke up in the morning and popped out of the cottage to watch the sunrise and got the view. You can see above. However the mist rose really quickly, quite surprisingly, and so we soon went back inside for a cup of tea.
We lounged about until about 10 o’clock , I needed to see if I could sleep as I only got 2 hours sleep last night ( due to the steroids). No such luck, wide awake and feeling energetic we set off for a walk. We met the owner and his wife as we were going out. We noticed on the blurb about the accommodation that he was a Doctor, so I checked if he was a medical one and could advise me on my insomnia, sadly not. We had a good chat anyway. In the first photo you can see some earthworks on he right, he is building a model railway there! He gave us good advice on where to go walking so we set off. The property is on the side of a steep valley and very sheltered and so we got these amazing photos of frosty grass and leaves.
We carried on down the hill and then turned on to a single track road going past lots of little cottages. What a place to live! I wanted to get to the River Wye but after 2 miles we met a lady who said it was about another 2 miles. So we stopped at the lake and then wandered back. It was all up hill !!! I had only walked a couple of kilometers previously so we were interested to see how I would cope with it. I took my time and we got back home safely.
This was probably the best walk ever for getting great shots. I generally rate my photos and most of these are 3* – good useable, 4* great, 5* outstanding. There are 3 5s in this collection!!!! I just had to be there and point the camera!
We got back to the cottage and had lunch. Due to my recent diagnosis of type 2 diabetes we are trying to eat very low-carb so here is a perfect lunch. Award-winning burger from the local butcher, smothered with home-made hummus, seeds and chickpeas, then fried tomato and a generous helping of full fat mayonnaise and mustard. Probably about 800 cal and bloody delicious and not a carb in sight.
When I got diagnosd with type 2 diabetes, friends sent me a few book recommendations which I have been avidly reading. The Full Diet by Saira Hameed (of UCL), and Michael Mosley’s The Fast 800. Simply put, no sugar, get the carbs right down, even if “brown” they are just sugar within the 1st hour and NO Ultra-processed foods (if you don’t know what it means in the ingredient list then don’t eat it). On the exercise build up your strength! There you go I just summarised 2 books in less than 50 words. I probably missed a bit out ……
So here is my blood sugar graph since my diabetes diagnosis. I had a chat with a friend who is a nurse last night after I sent her this. I am only on one 1 of the diabetes pills a day (I should be on 2 but I forgot 😀 to increase it last week) and she thinks I am not diabetic.
Which is fab as it pretty much aligns with what we both thought , that after 8 weeks of < 1000steps/day and terrible diet it wasn’t surprising.
We had a relaxed afternoon and decided to go to the pub in the village that was mentioned in the directions to the cottage. We were disappointed to find that it was closed and for sale (commune?) and that the tiny garage shop was also shut. So we set off for the closest pub in the van, which didn’t open until 4pm and finally ended up in the delightful Tintern. Which was very Christmassy.
Finally this is probably my favourite photo of the day which I shall probably make into a Christmas card!
