Well, hello my chums. How has your week been? If it’s been anything like mine, you will have been celebrating Birthdays, Beaches and Borders.

What do I mean by this nonsense? Allow me to explain.

The week started out with a lovely breakfast with me old mate, Julie.

It was lovely to catch up but I feel that we will both remember it as the time that we were told that the restaurant had the wrong type of eggs for poached eggs. Is there such a thing as the wrong type of eggs?! Anyway, long story, we had scrambled – apparently they had the right sort for that. Lol.

Next it was off to see my sister as it was her birthday so I made a quick trip back to my home town to wish her a happy birthday. It turns out that she was off to the beach that I had just come from!

Beaches always give good sunset so it would be remiss of me not to share the one that I had with you.

Good job really as there was a snack-tastrophe on the drive there.

Serves me right though as I should know by now that things need to be secured before setting off. Especially snacks!

Also managed to have a lovely breakfast in the morning which I then turned into some cool digital art.

Anyway, back to the actual plot – if there is one – it is also the four month Birthday (well, technically anniversary) of the All Counties Challenge! A third of the way through – can you believe it?!

Proud that it’s still going strong though and super glad that you’ve helped raise over £5k for Mind so far. Long way to go, both in terms of achieving the target and in terms of mileage so Maisy and I will be motoring on for another 8 months.

Please don’t forget that you can donate via my just giving page – http://www.justgiving.com/allcountieschallenge

So, two birthdays and one beach down, and it’s only the start of the week!

A quick pit stop in Peterborough to collect more of the postcard colouring books created by Create and Cract to help raise more donations for the challenge and it was off for a brief stopover in order to get some chores done as I was running out of undies!

Defo worth the stopover though as I got to spend the night in a forest during a hot couple of days and managed to get this lovely view.

Unfortunately I had to leave this calm isolation behind and head out on the road.

This time it was off to Derbyshire to meet Kathleen.

Kathleen would be leading this week’s workshop in Clay Cross, kindly arranged by the good folk at http://www.crafting.co.uk

Now, if only I could find a group of ladies that would be interested in attending a creative workshop…

Behind me?

*turns around* Oh, there you are! Ok. Start!

Oh, you already have, lol :)

Well, there was no stopping this lot once they got started. They rustled up a bevy of beautiful projects but before long it was all done. About half of the cake and a third of the biscuits had been snaffled – which was good going as I’d picked up these beauties and Kirsty had bought in some delicious home made cake and brownies so there was loads!

Time for the Maisy shot – smile!

Naw, lovely lot.

Right, time for some more driving as I began to make my way up north to Stranraer to get the ferry to Northern Ireland next week.

Had a quick loo break at a very exciting location …

… but made it more exciting by picking up some snacks!

Maisy and I crossed the England/Scotland border after nightfall, making us feel a little like smugglers, and ended up at Gretna Green at around 11pm – time for some kip!

Morning came waaaay too quick. Boooo, *shakes fist*, however it was made slightly more bearable by the fact that I was containing the journey started yesterday and heading out to stay at a secret coastal area for a couple of nights whilst I get things ship (ferry) shape.

Also this lovely breakfast made my rumbly belly sigh with joy.

It was quite a drive from Gretna to New England Bay – oh, not secret now is it – but we eventually pulled in and had ourselves a breather before I headed out to explore.

Now, if only I could find the lovely quiet beach that they advertised…

Behind me? Again?!

*turns around*

Oh! *falls in love*

Wanting to capture the moment I whipped out the camera and started shouting directions at the landscape.

‘Yeah, baby, that’s it, work it for me!’

It did! Take a look…

Even the shadow wanted to be in on these.

Anyway, I’ll maybe get another stroll on this in the morning before work (to walk of some of these snacks and breakfasts) and take some more pics but for now I had better sign off and let you get on with your day/evening.

There we go, birthdays, beaches and borders – make sense now?

Hope you enjoyed this update and the rest if the challenge.

I’ll be in touch again soon of course with more from Maisy and me.

Bye for now.

J :)