The bear hunt!

It's nice to just have a cheap and happy weekend with good company, and that is what we did this weekend. There are so many beautiful places to visit and walk when you live 'oop North and the best (yet sad) part is, you'll never get round them all - there will always be new places to explore.

I bought my first pair of walking shoes when I was 13 - my Grandma is an avid walker and she bought me my first pair. Shortly after the investment I became too ill to use them and so they sat under the stairs for 4 years. I dug them out again when I was 17 and they're still in good knick 10 years after buying them! I had to buy a new pair when I was on steroids because I couldn't fit my fat feet in my other pair, but now those shoes are too big and also in really good condition (size 6, waterproof is anyone wants to get into walking!).

I bought a lightweight, waterproof pair in the sale in Scotland because, although my original pair are great and I still wear them, they aren't waterproof. I wore this pair to V-Festival and I was so grateful for them because walking shoes provide such great support when you're a zebra.

I bought Sam his first pair of walking boots for his birthday, along with some walking socks, a boot bag and a book of walks and we've been on some really lovely rambles together. Walking is such a cheap and healthy thing to do - going outside is absolutely free!

So, this weekend Me, Sam, Katie, Tom, Tom's two younger brothers (aged 5 and 7), Ben, Jess and baby William (aged 7 weeks) all went for 'a bear hunt' at Smithills Country Park in Bolton. It was a sunny day and stayed dry while we were out which is the best case scenario when you're on a walk but not a must (reference our rainy walk with Arthur in the Scottish hills!). If you want a bit of extra fun and mischief then kids are great at hunting bears! An essential resource for your bear hunt can be found here. There are loads of different routes you can take at the country park - we just chose our route as we went along based on whichever way the 'bear poo,' 'footprints' and 'honey jars' led us!

Hunting bears is tiring work and so Sam and I curled up with X-Factor and a take-away (or home-made leek and potato soup for me!) to end a day in the fresh air.

Yesterday Megan and her family - including my favourite 95 year young gent, her Grandad - were over in St. Annes for the day and so I nipped up to join them for a while. I'm always lucky enough to get papped with Howard so here I am, unable to stop myself from sharing yesterdays snap...

That's a good place to end this post! I'm now a part-timer (in case you missed the memo) and I'm looking forward to a day off, to myself, to have a nice rest tomorrow. I'm so excited!