Catherine's thoughts post traveling

Wow! That's the word that sums up this year for me. Wow! Wow! Wow! I have had a wonderful year, at least 100 times better than I was expecting. I give John all the credit for the idea. It was his dream to go; I'd have quite happily stayed being a home bird. I also would have ducked out many times this year if I'd been given the chance. I've learnt that I'm not adventurous by nature and as a flight loomed, I would be thinking 'it might be a brilliant adventure coming up but it would be ever so much easier to stay home and unpack the bags and settle into familiarity'. I'm ever so glad that I never was given those ducking out opportunities. 

We really have enjoyed everywhere we have been. Each country offered us so much and gave us so many super memories. There really aren't any places we wish we hadn't gone to, maybe just changed our timing in Fiji. It has been hard answering the question 'where has been your favourite place this year'. It was so special meeting up with our friends in Japan and New Zealand who we had not seen for years. There was a lot of excitement at being with family again in California and the Isle of Lewis.  We often answer the question by saying it was ever so special and enjoyable to live in Uganda for months meeting great new people, living a gentler pace of life and being settled. We also add that travelling around New Zealand in the camper van and seeing so many wondrous sights was another favourite bit. Oh, and I did love Disneyland - one of my favourite questions has been 'what was your favourite bit...of Disneyland?!' 

A friend said they would be interested to see us and chat to us when we are back and also hear about the things that didn't work as well and didn't make it on the blog, and I know I would be the same. Well, we tried to think of things and it got to the stage in South America where I started writing a 'Travelling "Disasters" List' as a way of reminding myself just how fortunate we have been this year. The list ranges from such minor things as sun cream explosion in big rucksack on a flight, booking our NZ ferry crossing in the wrong direction, to  losing penknife at airport after forgetting to put it in hold luggage (on our 17th flight) and having to be rescued by a tractor in our campervan after getting too close to the edge of a hill. We were also remarkably healthy all year. We were each sick once in South America and apart from my conjunctivitis in Fiji I think we had fewer colds etc than we would normally have in a year in the UK. 

During our wet day at Machu Picchu, I started adding up how many rainy days we had had during the year and once again realised how fortunate we had been with the weather. These are the times I could think of where it affected our day:

One wash out rainy day in Uganda - there were a lot of thunder storms, but I generally enjoyed their short and sharpness

One rainy day in Australia - Christmas Day! 

About three days in New Zealand including both times we were in Taupo

Two rainy times in Peru

No rainy days in Japan, California, Isle of Lewis, Brazil or Bolivia 

And then just the week affected by the cyclone in Fiji!! 

Not bad for a whole year! 

We have also been asked what we are looking forward to about being back. It will definitely be lovely catching up with friends and family. It has been super to keep in touch via messages and FaceTime but it will be nice to spend proper time together again.  I am also really looking forward to having a home around us again, with nice belongings - rather than the many things I took travelling because they were practical and it wouldn't matter if they didn't make it back. Also I think I am a bit to excited about having a washing machine and being able to do laundry whenever I want. I really feel like I am going to enjoy regular domestic things again; oddly I enjoyed washing up at the friends we stayed with yesterday! Not sure how long those things will remain a joyful novelty though!! Number one desire at the moment is drinking tap water again and being able to full water bottles up - that seemed quite a hardship missing that! 

Some people have asked how travelling has changed me. I don't feel I'm a radically different person. One thing I've notice is that I have become more obsessed with using antibacterial hand gel - Lizzie, hope you're proud!! Also, I've got to know more about John having spent so much of the year just with him. One thing we have learnt is how incompatible our walking paces are. Out on a countryside walk or hike, especially if it's uphill, I walk pretty slowly and poor John is left often waiting for me. But in a town or city when we are walking, my pace is quicker than John's so we don't have many opportunities to walk companionably! 

While travelling a did start making a list of some changes I would like to try when I'm back. Again, I'm not thinking to be radically different, I just like to try if possible to head a little more in these directions. Now I know lots of our friends do lots of these very well already so they might seem a little silly but I figure if I write them I might be better at doing them. They are all things that I have thought about while travelling. 

Local - I would like to try and buy more things locally. I love the convenience of Amazon online (and am sure I will keep using it), but I want to feel I am supporting real people rather than just nameless and faceless businesses. 

Community - in a similar way, I want to know more and have more of a connection of people in the community. I loved seeing that in small New Zealand communities and also up in Stornoway. Hopefully the new Rose Hill community centre may be a starting place for that. 

Packaging - I want to think more about what I buy and try to buy things with less packaging. In particular, John has become good at thinking about plastic. He bought the book 'plastic free life' in California when seeing an exhibit at Monterey Bay Aquarium about the amount of plastic sea animals ingest. We are planning to research local places where you can go refill washing up liquid bottles etc. If anyone knows of any places around Oxford or has any good tips then do share! 

Baking - I really enjoyed having the time to learn to bake a bit in Uganda and want to try to make the time to do it now as well. I want to keep practising the same recipes until I can do them quicker without having to keep checking the recipe. 

Cooking chapattis and popcorn - I also enjoyed learning to make these and don't want to forget! 

Bread - I would like to learn to make bread too. 

Basic ingredients, less processed - again, something from my time in Uganda. I'll start small and see where it's worth it.  

Phonetics - a random one that cropped up while in Denmark and so I popped it down as something I'd like to learn...one day!

Blogging - I've really enjoyed blogging this year. I'd like to keep it up with General musings on things that happen. 

More minimalist - although I am really looking forward to having belongings around me again and I still like nice things, I'm hoping to slim down belongings a bit and have another sort out as we unpack. 

Fewer clothes - I don't remember jotting this one down before, but glad I did as I wouldn't have tried to do it! This year has definitely proven that I can survive without many outfits. Although particularly in South America, I missed not having anything vaguely nice for an evening, (my indication that we were going out was putting on a pair of dandy earrings!) I definitely don't need an overflowing wardrobe. Andy H, your wardrobe with just the pair of jeans in is my inspiration! 

Rare shopping centre visits - I don't feel the need to visit a shopping centre often anymore. 

Keep reading - I really loved how much reading I did this year. I did read quite regularly before anyway, but just want to make sure I keep it up. I wonder how much I'll read my kindle at home and how much I will go back to paper books. 

Outdoors in the UK - thank you for your suggestions of your favourite places to be outdoors in the UK. I definitely want to make the effort to visit them all. 

Make lists - I did find I enjoyed making lists this year (as this is evidence!!) and I liked feeling efficient that things were getting done and weren't being missed. I wonder how that will continue now we are back. 

Exercise more consistently. I would love to run three times a week as I tried to do in Uganda. I'm looking forward to returning to Rose Hill Runners and seeing if I can finally get under 30 minutes for a park run...

Knitting - I enjoyed knitting in Uganda and particularly when we were home in June. Hopefully I can keep that up. Anyone have any (easy) knitting projects they would like me to do! 

Quite a few people have also asked: 'What next?' Well here's a quick answer...

Short term - prepare our classrooms for new school year while trying to remember as much about how to teach as possible. Settling back in to our flat by rediscovering our old belongings and finding homes for our souvenirs. Get our car back up and running. 

Medium term - catching up with friends and family. Making photo books and movies of our year. Surviving teaching and ofsted. Getting reacquainted with oxford. 

Longer term - travels round the UK, discovering exciting adventures there. 

It's been a truly amazing year and I am so so grateful for it. Thank you to all who have read, commented and been along for the ride. I've really enjoyed sharing it with you. 

Final night of Athletics aka Mo's 5000m

Our final event of the Olympics and it was a big one - Athletics! We arrived early, even before the stadium was open. It meant we got to walk in and see an empty stadium - quite surreal. We walked around trying out different seats, deciding where would be best to sit, finally settling on the home straight. We did have numbered seats but we just decided to hope no one came to sit in the seats we had chosen and fortunately they didn't. 

We were sat in front of a lovely Brazilian  family. They and many others in the stadium were trying to watch the football final on their phone. It went to penalties and there was possibly the largest cheer of the night around the stadium when Brazil won!! It was great to be a part of the victory in a funny way! And when the Athletics finally started the Brazilian family we had bonded with were cheering on Team GB too which was lovely! 

As well as watching the football, we occupied ourselves before the action started by using the binoculars to try and spot presenters from the BBC which I enjoyed!

Events kicked off with the women's high jump and then more and more started appearing so it was hard to know where to look! I generally found the track events more exciting than the field events. They also started doing the medal ceremonies from the day before so we had the great excitement of Bolt getting his ninth medal for the 4x100m relay. I really loved the crowds reaction to him - there was applause as the medalists came out of the tunnel, bigger applause when it got to the Jamaicans, then it just exploded when Bolt was spotted - wow! 

At last it was Mo time - what John and I had come for. I was feeling tense. We were all expecting him to complete the double double - what a lot of pressure. They ran out to the far side of the track then quickly were off. It was funny not having a commentary for the race so I was never sure whether he was in a good position or not. I was anxious that he had come to the front too early. We were counting down the laps. It was fun to have the second Brit to keep an eye on and divert the tension from Mo. It was wonderful as he came round the final bend in front of us and was kicking on in the lead. Woohoo!!!!!  And even more fab, he came to celebrate with his family on our side of the stadium. 

We then had barely calmed down when we had the next excitement of the 4x400m relays. I've decided it might just be my favourite race to watch! I won't give a full race recap but when Christine came round to the final straight, I was screaming far more than for Mo and so much more wide eyed and delighted that she held on for Bronze - yaaaaaaay!!!! 

After the men's relay (glossing over that due to gutting absence of Brits) we just had the medal ceremonies to wait for. It was getting late and they kept us waiting by doing the 5000m ceremony last. It was worth the wait. It was mainly Brits left in the audience and we sang 'God Save The Queen' with gusto. My second favourite part of the evening was seeing his cheeky grin as he went in to his pocket to take out his other Rio Gold Medal! Go Mo!! Love it! A super evening and a super way to end our Olympic Experience. 

Tri, tri again

Saturday 20th August 2016, Women's Triathlon Day, started in the same way as for the men with us heading to the athletes' entrance. We were there to see the three Brits arrive. They didn't set their bikes up quite as close to the fence as the men so we didn't get to know so much about them. I did learn that Canadian Kirsten Sweetland lived up to her name by being very sweet chatting to some through the fence. We also heard a Team USA member speaking through the fence instructing someone on the outside how to get the waterbottle, socks, podium kit and black leggings from the bedroom where one USA athlete had forgotten them. It was also exciting for us that we saw a few of the male triathletes hanging out on the outside including Kiwi Dodds, Spain's Hernandez and South Africa's Ricahrd Murray. 

We headed back round to our spot from Thursday where Katie was waiting for us along with the super fans. We chatted to them as well as to a lady who had worked for Adidas supplying the Brownlees with kit. 

With less than 10 minutes to go till the start of the swim at 11am, a couple approached us saying they had four tickets for the triathlon but only needed two. So we bought them! Well, we didn't have quite enough cash on us so Katie leant us the money - yay! It turned out we bought them off the brother of a triathlete who had competed for Jordan on Thursday and the tickets said guests of the ITU on them. 

We hurried excitedly on through the security and down on to the beach where the women were being announced. John went to try out another vantage point and soon came back to beckon me over. I went to stand with him at the railings behind Helen Jenkins - a great spot I thought. And then I found out why John had called me over as I was standing next to Sir Steve  Redgrave on the beach! Yikes! 

After the swim had started we moved around so that we could see them running out of the water to the transition zone. We got chatting to a Brit who turned out to be Eddie Brocklesby, the oldest ironman competitor in Britain who has started a charity to get older people exercising, Silver Fit. A very nice lady and we had a fun chat. I've just googled and discovered she's 72 - amazing! 

The three Brits came past in the first group and we saw them get on their bikes. Then we headed round to the grandstands which were crammed full but we were able to find a spot perched on the stairs - again something I don't think would have been allowed in London. We were in front of a Russian man who I thought might be a bit annoyed that we were blocking him but yet again I was delightfully surprised as he asked for s selfie with us and gave us magnet of Russian triathlon. Had I been disappointed when Russian athletes were let back in to the Olympics?! 

We got to see a lot more of the race this time, as we had a better vantage point to see further, we got to see transition which is always exciting and also there was a big screen with English commentary on the rest of the race. Horray! 

We were in the stands with the Bermuda supporters of Flora Duffy (they gave us a Bermuda Olympics pin) and with the family  and many supporters of USA Sarah True who unfortunately had trouble and limped round. Non Stanford and Vicky Holland were in the leading pack for the Brits, but so unfortunately was Gwen Jorgenson - the phenomenal American with the unbeatable run. She did indeed pull away on the run but so too did Nicola Spirig who hasn't majorly featured on the triathlon scene since she won gold at the last Olympics. It was good to see someone race with Gwen and it was funny seeing them talk to each other on the run and weave in and out. In the end Gwen had the legs and got the gold everyone was expecting. But it was very close between two of the Brits for the bronze medal. Non Stanford and Vicky Holland, friends and housemates, had been side by side all of the run and just as they got in front of us Non pushed a little but then Vicky pushed even harder and sprinted for the line to get the medal. So tough for Non but well done Vicky. 

We cheered the rest of the women over the line and were able to be in a good spot to see (the back of) the medal ceremony. Another super event made even better by getting the tickets. 

Olympic Moments and Memories

Wow! This has been such a truly awesome week. When we decided and booked the Olympics I thought it would be a great experience. But it has gone so far above and beyond what I was expecting and it has been just the sort of excitement I love! There have been the sporting moments - whether that was seeing a Brit win gold, or watching a live sport I had no idea of the rules of. There were the celeb spots which I am always over excited by. Then there were the smaller and more general moments that I have tried to keep a list of for the memory bank...

I love how with the Olympics you can get really into a sport and be really tense over it when you knew nothing about it five minutes before. We were having dinner at a pizza and pasta buffet restaurant one night where there was a TV showing the weightlifting. I found myself gasping at the Iranian's 3rd attempt failure on his first clean and jerk weight despite getting a world record in the snatch?!?! It was tough to watch but we were happy that Lasha from Georgia went on to win... 

And can anyone explain about the Modern Pentathlon Fencing bungee run rope thing that the competitors seem to be attached to? I'm perplexed but loving the insight into a new world. I've been blessed to have that pleasantly perplexed feeling a lot this year 😀

I love the way you see different areas of the world nations dominating in different sports. A new nation of prowess for me was Hungary and countries towards the eastern half of Europe being highly represented in the canoe sprint.

I was also interested to discover, not until I was actually there in the stand, just what different events constituted Canoe Sprint. We saw doubles canoe where the athletes sort of kneel up with a one ended paddle on one side of the boat. Then there was individual kayaking and four to a kayak with distances 200m, 500m and 1000m. And I was pleased to understand now why basketball always seems so fast paced and end to end. I have never known there was a 24 (or is it 25) second countdown once a team has the ball and they have to shoot within that time or forfeit the ball. There is a clock above each basket that is counting down. 

I loved the general buzz and feeling that there was of people having a good time. Everyone seemed excited and happy. Even when people were tired on the buses and trains, there were still smiles. We had a few chats to strangers on various transports, especially when we had our flags on and the definite impression was that people were having a great time. I found I had little time to think about non-Olympic things as my mind was just full of the excitement. One new friend asked how I was feeling about going back to the UK; it took me a while to get out my standard answer i'd been giving for the last few weeks, as I'd just not thought about it since being at the Olympics. And our French housemates asked about Brexit - it's been a long time since I've thought of that! Happy travel times! 

I particularly enjoyed walking around the Olympic park in Barra. That's where most of the new venues were together, including swimming, velodrome, tennis, gymnastics, handball, basketball and others. I liked being part of the crowds surging through and heading to an event. It made me think of Disney a bit - walking long distances in excited crowds and also not eating very regularly! 

Another thing I enjoyed was spotting the Games Maker similarities to London 2012. Their uniforms were very similar, just a different colour and their trousers could zip off into shorts. When someone scanned our tickets, I liked wondering if they were enjoying that job as much as I did at the Excel. I don't think there were as many volunteers as at London which had its good and bad points. In Rio we benefitted from the more relaxed style in that there wasn't anyone showing you to your seats so we 'upgraded' ourselves to better seats - particularly for Mo's 5000m final where arriving early meant we got to take our pick of the expensive seats on the finish straight instead of being right at the top. Although we did feel there was something not quite right about games makers taking photos of themselves on the 100m straight while spectators in stand! 

I guess a difference in experience being at an 'away' games, is that we were in the monitory by being team GB supporters. Hence I guess the fact that we were interviewed by the same radio journalist at two different events, and that people wanted to take photos of us with our Union flags. My favourite surreal photo moment was the guy who gave his dog to us and took a photo of us with it!!

My final random moment that I have not managed to fit in anywhere else, was when we happened to watch Bolt win the 200m final on tv in a restaurant on Copacabana beach. I smiled at the way people spontaneously applauded when he won. It's quite something the way he has such universal appeal and everyone seems to be wanting him to do well. 

I can't really believe that it's been only a week but it has been a wondrous week to finish our travels on. There seemed such negative press beforehand but we haven't experienced any of it. We always felt safe, the transport was always ready and waiting for us, and I wasn't bitten once by anything my whole time in South America! I really have loved it! Well done Rio and Team GB - you did us proud! 

HE TOOK OUR FLAG!!!!!

This was another stand out day at the Olympics! What a super time we are having. I feel so fortunate. 

Today (Thursday 18th August 2016) was one of the main reasons we had come to the Olympics: to cheer on the Brownlee Brothers in the Traithlon. Over the last four years we have become big fans of them both and keen watchers of triathlon on TV. We have been to watch two triathlons live in London which were part of the World Triathlon Series. We have also taken part in the Brownlee Tri, a short triathlon organised by the Brownlee Brothers. John has done three of them and his phone screensaver is still a photo of Jonny, Ali and us from the first event. John also ordered a Yorkshire White Rose flag on eBay before we came to South America which we had been carrying around with us, as we had seen the Brownlees carry one over the finish line at other races. 

The night before the triathlon, we wandered along Copacabana beach watching some of the final preparations as the numbers were sprayed onto the starting mat and we enjoyed working out where transition was and where the athletes entrance was to the complex. 

Unfortunately we had never been able to get tickets for the Olympic Event. We figured we were sure to get them when we first applied, as who would be wanting to go to watch triathlon? It seemed crazy to us that the stadium often looked half empty for the athletics but we couldn't get our hands on triathlon tickets wherever we looked. But at least it was an 8 lap 5km bike course so we knew we would be able to cheer the Brownlees on somewhere! 

So on the morning of the race, we headed to the athletes entrance with one last try at the ticket box office - still all sold out. But our disappointment didn't last long as we were quickly spotting athletes. It turned out that the area for setting up the bikes and doing final checks, was just the other side of the metal barrier so we were able to watch and listen as they strapped energy gels on to handlebars, cleaned tyres, tied elastic bands around their bike shoes and made sure everything was ready. John had heard that Alistair was the chilled out calm one before a race and Jonny was more nervous and anxious. That definitely seemed true to us! 

We then headed round to the spot we had sussed out to watch from - as close to the finish line as we could get outside the ticketed area. We walked past one of the areas that the BBC broadcast from and 5Live asked to take our photo for their Twitter feed. I think our lipstick purchased the night before helped us stand out! 

That turned out to be the first of a few photos poses as various people asked for our photo as we were stood by the barriers. We got chatting to another British girl and we became quite a GB supporting team. One Brazilian girl asked for a photo as she said UK was her favourite country and I was filmed from toe to head by a Sky Sports News cameraman. I saw a man photographing us so I waved at him and he came and asked for a photo of us with his dog - definitely one of the most highly surreal moments of the year! 

John and Katie went behind us to the beach to watch the start of the swim as the triathletes ran into the sea, while I saved our spot at the railings. There was quite an exclusion zone on the beach so it wasn't really possibly to tell who was who, but it was interesting to see when they stopped running and dived in the waves as compared to a lake swim where they dive off a pontoon. We were on the railings next to a nice man from Venezuela who lives in Rio and was knowledgable about triathlon so it was fun for me to chat to him while the others were on the beach. 

Admittedly we didn't actually see all that much of the action during the race, but I was super happy during the whole thing. We got eight flashes as they came right past us on the bike laps and there were eight slightly longer glimpses through the metal barriers as they went past the other way across the road. It took a couple of laps to get my eyes trained then I was able to identify the Brownlees as they passed in the lead group of about 10 riders. We cheered as they went past, though they cycled so close to our side of the barrier that we couldn't wave our flags too elaborately for fear they'd get caught in the spokes! We also particularly cheered for the second group which had Gordon Benson in, the third Brit. We noticed that he hadn't gone past us at the start of the run and were thinking he must be really slow and then Katie spotted him walking across on the other side of the barriers in the middle with a scrape on his leg and back. It turns out he had come off his bike. 

We were able to see the athletes for slightly longer as they came past us on the run and we were delighted that the Brownlees were out together leading everyone quickly and leaving them behind.  We focussed on our chanting and mad flag waving. 

Ali pulled away on the third lap and was looking strong to come home for gold. On the final straight we were shouting 'Ali! Ali! Ali!', I was waving our Yorkshire flag and Katie was waving her GB flag. I was really hoping Ali would take one of our flags to carry over the finish line but he was looking so focussed and running so straight that I'd resigned myself to it not happening. Then at what seemed to me to be the very last minute he swerved and grabbed them both! We were ecstatically excited!!! Woop woop woop! 

He carried them over the line, one in each hand. We were jumping up and squealing. My legs were shaking. Katie was trying to type her email address on to the phone of the guy next to her who had videoed the 'flag grab' but her hands were shaking too much to do it. The two men who had happened to video the moment hung around for a while trying to get one video transferred over Bluetooth. I also managed to be in text contact with Ma and Lizzie and heard that the flags were a major feature after the race. 

Once we had recovered sufficiently we headed back round to the athletes entrance, catching the national anthem on a big screen through the bars. There were lots of athletes leaving by this point including Gordon Benson and Richard Varga ('Slovakia, first out of the water' on the back of his supporters' tops). 

While waiting we were approached by a man who said 'hello, I'm Richard from Sky News Radio' and we said 'yes we know, you interviewed us on Monday after the dressage!' How funny! We did another interview, much longer as we chatted about the flag and our Brownlee Tris. We got chatting to a British man for a while who turned out to be the father of a member of the GB hockey team whose son had had a disappointing games. But we chatted away about how positive our experiences of the Rio Games was. 

We saw the Brownlees getting in to a golf buggy each to be then whisked off for press interviews. We were told they would likely be a while so we headed off to the Lagoa to collect our athletics tickets from France House. Whilst there John got on the wifi and found a message from Katie saying she had got our Yorkshire flag back and it was a long story. We arranged to meet that night back at our cheering spot to hear the story over dinner. Back at home we enjoyed seeing the reaction to the flag handover with our family and friends. Lizzie had managed to record the TV footage. The Daily Mail online had also jumped on the Yorkshire flag grab story!

We had a fun time hearing all about the flag retrieval that evening. Katie had headed to the Fort and bumped in to two Brits who were mega fans of the Brownlees. She had seen the Brownlees go past with them and seen their interaction. They had got tickets the night before the race to be in the grandstand. They were walking back when the couple introduced Katie to the Brownlees' physio who was walking past. They told the story of the flags and the physio took the Yorkshire flag out of her bag - still wet with sweat!! The fan lady had been very desperate for it and had tried all sorts to persuade Katie to give it to her, but she had held strong and had the flag for us - she had put it in her dry bag so that we could still feel the wetness of the sweat!! 

What wonderful craziness the day had been!! We headed back for bed. As we got in, Haydee showed us a message she had google translated which started 'could you do an interview...' and my thought was ok my goodness, the press have found out we gave the flag and have somehow traced us to here, but the rest of the message was '...about your experience of Airbnb during the Olympics'. My mind was clearly far to active after the excitement of the day! I also had a surprise when I looked in the mirror - I had a very red forehead, apart from the centimetre closest to my hair which my Union flag bandana had been covering. I normally wear a hat and clearly the one lot of sun cream I'd put on in the morning hadn't been enough. I have also realised that I have a lighter skin coloured heart on my forehead, where I'd had a lipstick heart drawn. Oh dear - maybe I need a new hairstyle with a fringe! 

Olympic Golf Musings

Today (Wednesday 17th August 2016) was spent at the first day of Women's Olympic Golf and a very nice day it has been too. We got to the venue a bit before 11am. First impressions weren't that impressive - a lot of gravel and a lot of sand. Further on to the actual course it was quite a bit nicer. We quickly realised this was going to be one of the quietest venues we will get to and we took some time for photos by these rings. 

We made it to the first tee for the second to last group. We were glad to see there were other spectators there. But after a while we realised a good proportion, maybe even more than half, of the people watching were wearing some sort of accreditation - we could have been in the minority for actually paying for our tickets! 

I realised quickly that this was going to be a massive contrast to basketball yesterday. There the mood was make as much noise as possible and there was a DJ mixing tunes. Here there was a list of Do's and Don'ts on the big screen including something like do applaud a good shot in an appropriate manor but don't mockingly applaud or jeer a bad shot. The upshot was that I was scared into not doing anything! But after a while I started to enjoy the quiet of the day. 

The final group came out which included the Brit we would be supporting, Charley Hull. She was also with a Swede and a Kiwi (odd bunch of food!). For some reason I didn't really warm to Charley, which is very unfair on her as she did nothing wrong to deserve my reaction and it definitely says more about me than her. Something about her seemed a bit blingy to me. Which was again odd, as I thought very positively towards the golfers clothes in general thinking how modest and comfy they were compared to other sports and even deciding that some of them I could even imagine wearing myself! I also really liked the golf bags finding them very stylish. 

Another early realisation was how hard I found it to see the ball after they had hit it! Fortunately either I got better at following it as the day went on, or I just stood in better positions for better angles. I was thinking it was going to be rather a frustrating day if I never saw where the ball went. Also, at least the sky was blue which we guessed might make it easier to see. 

There were quite a few ropes around the course so that we didn't walk on the fairway or greens. Sometimes ropes were dropped so we could pass, or ropes were held up so players could get from one hole to another. All in all it wasn't always clear to us where to go to follow the action. We were trying to get to the second green but had reached another area of scrubland beach and as the sixth green was just next to us we decided to stop there and wait for Charley's group to catch up. This turned out to be one of my favourite parts of the day. It was hot all day but fortunately there was usually a gentle breeze. We sat by the green's rope on a slight incline and it was really interesting to watch the other groups arrive, play and move on. We got to see the different size of each groups spectators and entourage. We got to see a lot of putting and also see what the games makers got up to in between groups. Their main job was to hold up the 'Quiet Please' signs as each golfer took their shot. I liked the way they lifted their arms and I had an inward titter at those who seemed to be enjoying their importance - and also their turmoil when someone was walking by making a noise but they themselves couldn't make a noise to shush them; they just had to stare and point their arms intently!

Another interesting observation while we waited was looking at the caddies. I liked picking up clues on the various relationships between caddies and players. There were some female caddies but most seemed to be men. I never did quite work out what they kept in their bib pockets. Both caddies and players got out their notebooks after each hole. I wonder if they were making notes for tomorrow's round or checking up on the next hole. 

We picked up the final group and followed them around to the end, only maybe missing a green or a tee off if there was an out and back on a couple of holes. I was surprised how often the three players would hit to within few metres of each other's balls. I guess if you're a pro and know where it's best for the ball to go then you can hit it right there. 

Charley seemed to us to miss quite a few birdie opportunities later on but finished the day three under, three shots off the leader so all pretty good. The biggest thrill of the day was the Kiwi getting a hole in two on a par four. We were where she hit it from so didn't see it go in but heard the cheer. The Swede had been leading the group for most of the time but then had a bad end to the round dropping right off. 

My summary of the day was that it was relaxed. I had to keep reminding myself that these were Olympic athletes, playing in the Olympics, as they seemed quite regular and relaxed to me. And for us it was a delightfully relaxed day. We walked a little bit, then would stop for a while for three players to eye up their shots and take them, then we'd walk a bit more and often have a sit down at a green. How pleasant! I looked at my watch at one point and was shocked to discover it was already ten to three. By the time I got round to asking John what time he thought it was, it had already leapt without my realising it to quarter to four (John guessed 2 o'clock). The next time I checked on the way to the 18th, another 55 minutes had happened and it was twenty to five. Thanks golf for a nice day. Not dramatic but pleasant!

Day One of our Olympic Action 2016

Well I didn't think I'd be blogging again so soon, but day 1 of Olympic events has been so super that I want to record all about it. 

We set off just gone 8 and it took a couple of hours to get to the Equestrian Centre, or I'm thinking of adopting the Brazilian name which seems more fun: Centro Olimpico de Hipismo. We were in time to see the first Brit performing. I remembered pretty quickly, that I don't really know a thing about Dressage. When the scores came up at the end of a routine, it was always quite a surprise to me to see how they scored - I couldn't tell at all whether a routine looked good or not. I was just happy marvelling and wondering how you ever teach a horse to dance! We did comment that we could have done with one of the two Emma's to improve our horse knowledge!

It was very hot in the stadium and we were imagining how unpleasant it will seem if it's the same for the triathletes on Thursday. Sadly for the competitors, the stadium was pretty empty. But the fact that it was unreserved seating meant we were able to move around and choose our seats where there was a bit of a breeze. We also moved sides of the arena just before the end to get a good view of the medal ceremony. 

We had an entertaining moment when we got our the Union Jack we had been carrying around South America... only to find it was actually a New Zealand flag!! Whoops!

The tension increased as the final 6 competitors took the arena, including Charlotte Dujardin on Valegra. I thought her routine looked more ordinary, but as I said I knew nothing as she leaped into the lead with an amazing score!! 

There were four competitors after her so we had a nervous wait to see if and what medal she would get and it was absolutely fantastic that she got the gold! I really enjoying the medal ceremony and we're pleased the horses were there too. It was great to hear and sing along to the national anthem at our very first event. I almost got teary when they did their lap of honour. 

We were dashing out of the stadium to get across the city to the Barra Olympic Park to get to the Velodrome. But we were stopped just outside and asked if we could do an interview for Sky Radio. We obliged and apparently Sky Radio is used by several commercial radio stations - anyone hear us?! 

We just had time to eat a sandwich before heading in to the cycling. It felt wonderful being in the arena and seeing just how steep the track is. Again it wasn't full which was a shame. I remember hearing that the velodrome at London recorded one of the highest decibel crowds but for much of today's event the noise and atmosphere was pretty low. It didn't stop is having an amazing time in our incredible seats - four rows from the front very close to the start line and next to the press. I could even see the stubble of Mark Cavendish as he came past - that's how close we were! All so exciting. 

Some Brits came to sit next to us. We got chatting and they turned out to be the friends and family of Richard Hounslow, silver medalist from the Canoe Slalom. Not long after he turns up and sits behind! He seems a very nice man and I had a very interesting time eavesdropping as he talked about 'partying with Bradley!' At the end of the session we plucked up courage to ask for a photo and he kindly obliged: 

The first several events we watched all seemed very calm and we were chatting away to our new neighbours. But then the final of the omnium came - Mark Cavendish's chance to get an Olympic medal at last. It was the points race which turns out to be the most stressful thing ever. I'm glad it was 160 laps as it took me a while to understand just what was going on but oh was it tense and then there were the guns and bells! Fortunately we had a performance of the UCI behind us who was explaining to her neighbour what was going on! There was a horrible crash and the Korean athlete was stretchered off in front of us. It was quite horrible and made me feel so much worse for the rest of the race. 

After this some new people came to sit next to John and he started explaining to them what goes on in a Points Race. I half listened and thought, 'he sounds quite like Matt Baker'. A while later John managed to sort of whisper to me, 'do you know who that is' and it turned out that it was indeed Matt Baker himself!! He said he was having a break from the Gymnastics where he'd spent most of his time. We cheered on together to the end of the race: 'don't let him catch you, lad', being our favourite Yorkshire phrase!! 

I was absolutely delighted that Cavendish got his silver medal. We got to see our second ceremony of the day featuring a Brit. What a great start to our Olympic experience!   

A funny thing about today was not knowing what else was going on all day at the Olympics and not knowing whether we were still ahead of China in the medal table! 

After the cycling we just had time to wander across the Olympic Park and get an ice cream before arriving at the Future Arena for the handball. We didn't know who would be playing but we had heard the atmosphere was great when Brazil were playing. We had... Croatia vs Tunisia. But I was still really pleased to be there and I think it's quite fun to learn about a sport while watching it be played live. It was interesting to see how the two referees worked and the rolling substitutions were fascinating to watch, especially when the goalie was subbed off when the team was attacking and then had to run back to his goal as the ball went up their end!

My limited match report: Tunisia made it much more interesting in the second half but couldn't overcome the deficit they created for themselves in the first half. 

Then it turned out there was a second match. And it was the next best thing to Brazil - it was Argentina vs Qatar which meant all the Brazilians in the audience were cheering crazily for Qatar!! I wonder if they've ever had so much support?! 

There were many chants of: O-lay, olay olay olah... Qatar... Qatar!! And plenty of booing for Argentina, although they had many of their own supporters so it made for an incredibly lovely atmosphere - quite different from our first two events. I was anxious when the anthems were sung before play, but fortunately the loudest and most raucous section of Brazilians next to us managed to shush the booing during the Argentinian anthem. 

So it has been such a brilliant day at the Olympics. I've loved it all and am home just before midnight. Quite incredible. Thanks Rio and Team GB! 

Arriving at the Olympics 2016

We are both very excited about starting the Olympic leg of our year, although sad it's the final stage. We are spending the day in Panama for flight reasons and then heading in to Rio on Sunday morning. 

We haven't seen all that much of the first week action - partly due to spending 4 days of it on the Inca Trek. We did excitedly manage to see some of the Opening Ceremony, the night before we started the trek, although it was a tricky start. We had heard the hotel we would be staying at didn't have televisions in the rooms. When we walked in though there was a big TV in the lobby, although it was pointed out that it was unplugged and indeed through a combination of gestures the lady behind the desk got the message across that it didn't work. 

Someone said that the sweet shop round the corner had a TV showing it so we lurked there for a little while until it just became weird! 

We then headed to the main square to peer in the restaurants and bars looking for one with a TV. In the corner of the square, rather hidden we found a small restaurant with a big TV whose lady was willing to switch from TLC to ESPN for us. We ordered a Sprite and a beer and she went out to buy them from somewhere else to serve to us! 

We got in a good hour of footage, making up our own interpretations of the dancing as our Spanish has not reached a level to understand what the commentators were saying. We saw the start of the countries coming out and then went to join the rest of our tour group for dinner - delightfully for us it turned out we had our own room with a tv so we could carry on watching! It was fun wondering what the name of our nation was in Portuguese to know when we would be coming out! 

While on the trek each of our group predicted how many medals their nation would have won when we were back in wifi land. We finished the trek and spent a few hours before catching the train in a lovely comfy restaurant and big sofas with a tv and four Olympics channels. It was just what my brain wanted to settle into in my body's exhausted state. 

From then on, we have caught bits of coverage on tv. We are quite up on how the South American countries are doing. We had watched quite a bit of the cycling time trial, with Chris Froome about a minute away from finishing when ESPN switched to watching Argentina in the volleyball! And can you guess who the biggest star is of the Olympics in Argentina? Well we feel it's Juan Martin Del Potro in the tennis, as seemingly every 10 minutes a banner has appeared on the screen telling us when his next match is!! Some of the South American countries seem big in to their handball so we have watched quite a lot of that which has been useful in learning what's going on before we are there watching it on Monday. 

So we arrive in Rio on Sunday morning and are going to go in search of new tickets. The stadiums don't look very full, but we are not sure how easy (or expensive) it will be to buy them there. Even if we don't get any extra we are still excited by the events we will be seeing:

Monday night, midnight UK - handball

Tuesday,  6.30pm UK - basketball

Wednesday all afternoon/evening - women's golf

Thursday, 3pm - no tickets but planning to cheer on the Brownlees in the men's triathlon (we have our Yorkshire glad ready to wave!)

Friday, 1pm UK - canoe sprint

Saturday - same again for cheering on the women's triathlon (3pm) and then we have tickets for the athletics at night (midnight UK), hoping that Mo stays fit and shines in the 5000m. 

So as it stands, don't strain your eyes looking for us too closely in the crowds on the tv! 

Then we leave on Sunday getting back to the UK on Monday 22nd August.