Who ate all the pies?

Juicy eh!

Australia is full of fruit. At various locations they have a Big Pineapple, a Big Banana and at Bowen halfway up the Queensland coast there's a Big Mango! Bowen is a fairly unremarkable town by the sea but it was the location for the filming of the Nicole Kidman film Australia....and it has a big mango designed to celebrate the fact that the finest mangoes down under come from Bowen. We were also hoping to sample some of Jochheims' famous pies. This was in fact the real reason we'd diverted off the Bruce Highway - it was one o'clock and we were ravenous - a tasty pie would hit the spot surely. But we were foiled - Jochheims was shut for a refurb!

I love Australian pies (New Zealand is even better for pies!) and they're not just beef and steak and kidney. On Jochheims' menu they have plenty of choice and I was looking forward to the curry pie. And so we drove round town looking for second best - but, alas, the other pie shop was also shut - apparently they'd decided to take a last minute, week long holiday! In desperation we called in a little baker's shop....they'd sold out of pies, "We've been very busy this morning for some reason." So we had to settle for some very tasty sausage rolls which were unaccountably sliced down the middle and filled with mushy peas - delicious!

Looks just like the sort of thing we'd find in Queensland - except that this is the inside of the gents loos at Dobbie's Garden World in Lisburn, Northern Ireland - we'd just done the Citypark Parkrun in Craigavon a couple of weeks ago and needed some lunch - for those in the know Dobbie's does a cracking lunch. I thought I'd try to fit this photo in somewhere as it is rather special. Do your plants need watering?

More Tales of Aussie Ales

A beacon of hope!

Back on Australian soil the thirsty travellers were taken along to the Green Beacon Brewing Co's tap house in Brisbane - a great range of craft beers were available but we only had time for a brief couple of samples - the Wayfarer IPA hit the spot! Also called in at the Power House, a riverside bar which inhabits a former power station - a jug of 50 Lashes pale was spot on. And we also tasted a new beer from the Burleigh Heads brewery from the Gold Coast - this being Twisted Palm, described as a Tropical Pale Ale.

Flying for two hours up the coast to tropical Townsville we moved from 30 degrees to 34 degrees all with high humidity. Julian Assange is from Townsville, 'from' being the operative word. At about 7 a.m. the streets are busy and the cafes are overflowing - three hours later and it's like a ghost town reminiscent of Spanish villages in full siesta.

Tropical Oz.

Of course in weather like this beer is important thus we headed for the Townsville Brewery flagship pub which felt like a proper old Aussie Hotel (pub) but was in fact the city post office until twenty years ago. This photo shows that the city of Townsville is dominated by Castle Hill, which at 1000 feet above sea level, unfortunately offered no respite from the heat. So hot and thirsty we entered the pub and tried the Townsville Bitter, which in fact is more like a lager but it certainly did the trick.

The Jubilee Plunge

Down we go - don't fall over!

Ok it's a picture of a hillside with a few tiny coloured dots on it. However if you look closely (or even blow the photo up a bit) you will see two separate streams of dots descending on either side of the picture - these are some of the downhill dashers plunging the 2 miles towards the Golden Lion pub in Llangynhafal, Denbighshire. The race starts by the Jubilee Tower which sits at the top of the hill - what you see is a ruin of a much bigger tower at the highest point on the Clwydian Hills. And every year between Christmas and New Year a posse of foolhardy runners assemble - this year I was the race starter and having instructed the competitors that they can take any line they wish - I counted them off (giving myself a two second start of course!)

And of course the interesting bit is that every year some runners find a new way of getting down - normally the majority of the field take the line on the left of the photo by the wall for this first steep section. However you'll notice a guy in a grey vest (bottom right) who took the Offa's Dyke path line and went on to win the race - this rockier line tends to be avoided but maybe next year more will follow this route. Back at the Goldie the bar was packed and the organiser, Tony B, orchestrated a noisy presentation with cheers all round (with  prize for Vicky who was first in her age group!).

50 up!

Here she comes - Parkrunner extraordinaire - Vicky has now completed 50 Parkruns and will receive the famous red t-shirt! This shot is from the Oldham Parkrun on Christmas Day morning which takes place in a lovely old Victorian park (not flat!) We must go back on a summer's day!

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New pub for Dinbych.

Found! Just opened for Christmas - a new micro pub in Denbigh!! Y Goron Fach (The Little Crown) is tucked away on a side street by the town hall. DIdn't look much like a pub from the street but sure enough there was a row of hand pumps clearly visible through the steaming windows and a good crowd of happy customers enjoying themselves. We'd only gone out for a walk with Skip but we were in luck! The head brewer from the Denbigh Brewery was serving local ale (without the benefit of a bar we should add!) Three different brewers were represented all located less than 5 miles away which fits with the pub's mission which is to reduce 'beer miles'!

She's a winner!

Fame at Last

A big smile on her face and an unexpected win. But Vicky deserved the victory winning the Denbigh Harriers Johnson's Handicap shield for 2016. The seven mile race follows the lovely Afon Ystrad for much of it's course and passes the ruins of a cottage once lived in by Dr Samuel Johnson hence the name of the trophy. The route also passes the Johnson's Monument, an interesting piece of sculpture in the middle of nowhere, plus Gwaenygog Hall where Beatrix Potter did some of her writing - so a literary gallop through the woods and vales, Johnson was apparently not too impressed with Wales but the scenery, even in the depths of winter is delightful and Conde Nast traveller magazine recently described Gwaenygog Hall as having one of the top ten gardens in the UK. Vicky's win was slightly assisted by an energetic Skip on a lead - sadly Martin failed by 10 seconds to make it a first and second family victory!

The Johnson's race was a muddy one but the previous weekend Mortimers Forest Trail Race in Shropshire had been a lot muddier! I'd worn trail shoes basing my clever decision on my spotting the word 'trail' in the race title. 24 hours of constant rain prior to the event had turned the narrow forest tracks into an endless quagmire - when we finally found a bit of road (see the pic!) my inner racing demon was unleashed and I managed to pick up a few places on the run in.

Macc Half

Me towards the end of the Macclesfield Half Marathon

I was going well despite the undulations and the downpours - 1.35.23 for this one! I'd never done the race in it's dozen or so years in existence but I helped to run the finishing line at the very first event and I'd promised myself I'd come back to do it at some point - job done!

And me at the finish of the Saddleworth Edges Race

Spot the difference? Yes - dirty legs I'd been up on the tops in a bog. And maybe looking more exhausted. But what about having the same number for both races! There's a coincidence - mind you the famous Fishwicker himself, who is rapidly catching up to me interns of races completed, had this to say about his race at Saddleworth last year: "My 

time today, 1.07.34, is exactly the same as last years. What are the odds of doing this in a 8 mile fell race in claggy conditions?" I think the route change this year added something - I was 1.28.25!