Holiday and Holiday Fallout

I've just realised that today's title is a bit misleading; it sounds as though there has been major fallout from our holiday or something. And there hasn't. That's the point!

As you may have gathered from my last post, we spent a week up in Seahouses on the Northumberland coast. We rented a cottage in the village which was spot on (despite the lumpy sofas) and we did LOADS. But we also had a lovely relaxing holiday. It's our first holiday away together so it's nice to know that we're on the same page in terms of what we enjoy doing. You can, I believe, have nasty surprises where one person likes late nights or going out all the time and the other wants to be up early and out and about during the day. As it happened we seemed to work to the same clock and were both happy with a couple of nights out and a few early evening visits to the pub as well as a few nights in (on the lumpy sofa) watching telly or a film. Bliss.

The scenery in that part of the world is spectacular so, I warn you now, you WILL be bombarded with photos. Well, I took over 350 in a week; I have to do SOMETHING with them! Thankfully, we were blessed with some gorgeous, photogenic weather too. A couple of our day trips were accompanied by sparkling sunlight on glistening seascapes, an amateur photographer's Brucie Bonus.

We did one big walk along the beach from Seahouses to Bamburgh and then back over the fields, a medium walk around Warkworth and several shorter beach and clifftop dog walks. We spent 3 days out and about sight-seeing at Holy Island, Warkworth and Alnwick respectively and played golf twice, although one round had to be aborted due to howling gales and lashing rain. That was the only disappointment really, we had been really looking forward to that course (Dunstanburgh Castle) and it was great for 5 holes but the wind and then rain quickly made it impossible to actually play golf so we were forced to give in and walked back to the clubhouse! Of course, after 45 minutes, once we got back to Seahouses, the rain stopped and it turned into a glorious evening.....sigh......

I couldn't pick out a favourite, I've been trying, but think it's a tie between the Bamburgh walk (at the beginning of the week so the scenery made the biggest impact); Holy Island and Lindisfarne Castle; and Warkworth Castle. Now I feel mean to Alnwick which was also lovely and the castle is spectacular.... nope......I genuinely can't pick out a favourite.

As you can see, we were extremely active. Even when we weren't on a big walk or playing golf, the sight-seeing takes it out of you. You spend hours wandering about, climbing up and down stairs and walking round towns and grounds in the endless fresh air. As a consequence, our appetites were pretty massive too. A few cooked breakfasts, hearty sandwich lunches, generous home-cooked suppers. We ate out a few times - 2 of the most gorgeous curries I've ever had and fish and chips (well, it would have been rude not to in a fishing village...). We also seemed to drink a fair bit - several bottle of wine, 2 or 3 pints of bitter on several evenings. No blow-outs or big sessions just a steady stream on a daily basis.

But, despite all that, I DID exercise restraint. It wasn't a free-for-all. I didn't use the fact that we were on holiday to eat anything I fancied just for the sake of it. We didn't do any of the nipping into a cafe for calorific coffees and cake, buying of chunks of "holiday" fudge, desserts, sweets, only a small pack of biscuits. And, amazingly, I have been rewarded for my "restraint" (that word makes me feel like a fraud as I did not exercise restraint, just made one or 2 sensible choices and didn't go mad!). I was, frankly, terrified of stepping onto the scales when we got home. There was NO way I was going to be leaving it until my SW weigh-in tomorrow evenig but I couldn't make myself step on the home scales on Sunday either. I only felt strong enough today before work (I suppose the logic was that I was miserable enough about our holiday being over so I couldn't be made any more miserable by what the scales told me!)

As it was, they told me that I have stayed the same since I last weighed myself before we went away!! This is excellent news. I had dropped a lb or so between the Tuesday WI and leaving for hols so I MIGHT (just might, note) even manage to lose an ounce or so by tomorrow. That might well be thwarted by the Tuesday Scales Syndrome of course but, either way, I know I haven't piled a load on so know I can get straight back to losing ways without the dispiriting retracing of weighty steps. I hate that "I've already lost these lbs, what am I doing having to lose them again?" feeling. (Then again, when you think how many times I must have lost and regained the same weight it is truly frightening!)

So, I'm now back, nose to the grindstone. Happily, my return to work has been one of the most stress-free I can ever remember. No traumas, no emergencies, just hundreds of smooth and, in some cases, helpful emails to plow through. We went dancing this evening which was a nice way to get back into the everyday groove. I have my weigh-in tomorrow evening and am hopeful of a positive or at least neutral result and am overjoyed about that. It has really helped me get straight back into it; food has been stellar today - sushi, fruit and yoghurt and a healthy supper of stir fry. So - as my blog say, Bring It On!!!