So, Friday night became quiz night. I was invited to join a team of friends for a fundraising event in aid of Layla's Trust, a local children's charity, at the Traveller's Joy in Northwood. The night began with an all you can eat curry, consisting of four types of curry, rice, onion bahjis, poppadoms, and chutneys. Very nice indeed! The quiz started at about 8pm, and got rather competitive fairly quickly. We knew the majority of the neighbouring team so quite a bit of heckling ensued. Great fun. We didn't win, but we did have a good evening. The pub was packed so I expect that a lot of money was raised for the trust.
Saturday was very busy. We had a family outing to Lymington and met up with my sister and her family. We all pottered round the market (well worth a visit) as well as the lovely shops, before going to lunch at The Ship Inn, a pub on the quay. Here we had a delicious meal, although the service was unusually bad, and caught up with all the family news. I recommend the burger and chips!
In the evening, once back on the Island, I joined a couple of friends and we drove to Newport to join in the 'Wight on Pink Breast Cancer Now Torches and Tassels' walk from Sandown to Newport. We registered, then caught the free bus to Sandown Bay Academy, the mustering point. Everyone had to stand around for a while in the cold ready for the 8pm start. We were entertained by a jolly samba band though, who got everyone in the right mood. At 8pm we lined up, listened to a speech by a town crier, and set off accompanied by more samba music.
The route was well planned, with marshalls at road crossings, and pink arrows sprayed on the path to direct us. We followed the Sandown to Newport cycle track, the old railway line for the most part, which was bordered at the start by the River Yar, and later on by the River Medina. About halfway along the route there were ladies handing out water, and a portaloo was provided. Everyone was in a jolly mood, many people were in fancy dress (not me) and fun seemed to be had by all. As we walked along, and walkers were spreading out, we could see a line of pink fairy lights and light up head-dresses moving along the route. It must have looked quite peculiar to anyone seeing it from afar who didn't know what was happening.
At the end of the route, we passed under a bridge and through an archway of pink balloons and were cheered and given a medal and goodie bag. An excellent, well organised event which I hope will be repeated next year.
Distance: 8.5miles
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| Lymington Quay |
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| Samba band |
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| Sculpture near Blackwater |
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| Balloon archway |
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| Medal and goodies |
