What an amazingly sunny and warm day we had today !!  The lovely weather inspired us to have a long walk through the Hastings Country Park which was stunning; more on that in a minute as we shall begin with the start of the day.

I knew weigh day was not going to be great due to a very sociable weekend and a holiday.  To try and limit the damage I went swimming last night and I went again this morning.  The weight gain was not too bad – I put on half a pound which is acceptable after the week I have had.  Disappointing but ok.  I did receive this certificate which I was pleased about.  I should have received it in September but better late than never.

Having been weighed I could go home and have breakfast; a banana, some grapes and 15 cashews (HEX B).Soon after that I had lunch.Last night Rebecca joined me for supper and I made 2 recipes from the Jackie Kearney cookery book I bought last Saturday after the cookery class.  I made a savoury vegetable pancake (cheela) using gram flour and which included peas, spring onion and leeks.  The pancake batter was spiced with freshly roasted and ground cumin and coriander seeds.  I also made a coleslaw with red cabbage, carrots and kohl rabi, dressed with fresh mango, lime zest and juice and soy sauce.  Each pancake was 8 syns and the coleslaw was free (mainly made up of speed foods).I had the pancake and coleslaw with raw tomato, celery, carrot and cucumber, a boiled potato and 100g steamed basil tofu (4.5 syns).  It was very enjoyable and provided some fuel for the long walk I had planned for the afternoon.I was going to do some chores today but having seen the weather forecast, Lucy suggested we did the walk we didn’t manage last week due to predicted heavy rain.  It ony took half a second for me to shelve the list of chores and grab my walking boots!

We started at Barley Lane and walked up a steep hill to the Country Park.  That got us to the Eastern side of the Old Town, which you can see in the valley below.  We have not done this walk before but were aiming for the tea-rooms near the Coastguard’s cottage.The weather!  It was perfect.We had to make a slight detour due to a landslide and that took us out on to a road near a holiday park.Good views of a part of Hastings I have not seen before.We walked in open spaces and through woods.We didn’t go to the naturist beach today although the sea looked so calm and it was so warm we probably could have stopped for a swim.There were a lot of uphill parts of this walk which was challenging but good for cardiovascular exercise and it all helps burn some calories.We walked on and on.  It was glorious.The green grass was incredibly vibrant; such a bright green.  The Belted Galloway cows seemed to be enjoying it.We walked for just over 2 hours.Supper was a very quick stir fry which I made with a red onion, red cabbage, leek, red pepper, half a block of smoked tofu with almonds and fresh coriander.  8.5 syns for the large bowlful.  I seasoned it with light soy sauce and served it with dried chilli flakes and 1 tbsp hot mango chutney (2 syns).I also had 2 bananas and some black grapes as I felt hungry after a swim and a decent walk.

The light was stunning tonight on the hill opposite my house.

Daily Syn calculation