Burning for you

 

'Burning for you' - A favorite blue Oyster cult song, appropriate for a number of reasons concerning this weekends adventures 😊

But first i need to do a blog post about everything I have failed to blog about so far !! 

8th of May: Chameleons !  - I can't remember much about this, but i was there !

10th of May :  Church Fete, my friend Alice does a bit of a vintage vehicle display outside her local church every year. I had been once before and displayed Josephine, and did the same again this year.  However this time I got to drive one of her tractors !!! 

It was so much fun !!!   We went to a pub for tea afterwards, I had a very nice pork dish with crackling.  Was on the Guinness Zero so I could drive home afterwards.  It was a really fun day.  

11th of May: Trans Swimming !  

16th of May : Went to Hull on the Friday to visit my friend Charlotte, we had a lemon pasta linguine that she cooked which was lovely.  I think we watched one of the Star War films.

17th of May: Headed into Leeds, I was meeting old school friends in the afternoon for a mini pub crawl (loosely based on my Pints and Straws one) . I was a bit nervous about meeting them all, only one has seen me dressed before - but all had known for a while. It went well, and spent a lovely few hours catching up with them.  

 

 

In the evening, Charlotte re-joined, and we had a Not-Birthday meal for her at Cut and Craft.  The food was excellent, and the service was incredibly quick !  I had the cheapest steak on the menu - just labeled 'Flat Iron' , it was probably the 2nd best i've ever had - only marginally pipped by an expensive fillet at Goucho's.  But if you factor in the price it was the best by a mile. We did some cocktails, and I had a few more beers in the evening, it was a really nice day.

 

 

On the Sunday we sought a place for breakfast and ended up a fab cafe / cheese monger
combo in the Corn Exchange. We both enjoyed our sandwiches, then spent a load of money on cheese and their fine selection of canned fish !

 

 

22nd of May :  Chameleons , the lovely Wig ladies were in, as was Sally and Ann. Was a fab night, I did go a bit early as I didn't want to be tired for the morning as has blood tests.

 

 

 

 

23rd of May :  Had my NHS blood tests in Barsley, grabbed a pork pie from the market for lunch.

26th of May :  Went to Lotherton with Charlotte, we did a tour of the deer park on a
tractor ! You got to see them really up close as they threw food next to the trailer. 

The weather wasn't the best, we had showers and was a bit under dressed, but still had a nice time. I had gone in Josephine too, I don't like getting her damp, but the it was sunny when I set off.

 

 

30th of May :  My 2nd riding lesson, it went well !  I had Nero this time, he was lovely very similar in size look, and temperament to Gordon.   

It was very warm, and I got a bit more of a workout, as we were attempting to trot ! My timing is still atrocious, but I think I am getting better. I am not standing when the saddle is coming up, which isn't ideal for my undercarriage ! 

I am booked in again to ride later this month, hoping next time will be better.   

 

6th of June : Leeds First Friday - It was good to be back, I had missed the previous one due to being in Wales.   Grabbed a bagel at Flamingos with Benni for lunch, then did the Pints and Straws bar crawl. There we not that many there, but it was still good.  My friend Jess from Bristol was waiting for us outside the Travelodge as we made our way to pub 3 , I was sober enough to be looking out for her :) 

We ended in the Tetley, where a really weird (and likley on drugs) guy decided to gatecrash our group and start asking for relationship advice. It slowly got worse over the minutes, and he was soon on to telling us which ones of us he knew were blokes.  We were getting to the end of the event anyway, but we made a hasty retreat when he went to the loo. 

A number of us ate at the Adephi - I wasn't that enamored with my food, it was a belly pork dish, it was way too salty for my liking, and not what i needed after a load of beer. 

The others seemed to like theirs though. Not sure i will go there again for food.

We headed over to the Bridge End social after this - after being chased by a barmaid who thought we had one dish still to pay for - a straggler was finishing there's in a leisurely fashion and hadn't been to pay yet :)

I ended up on the pool table there, my friend Jess likes a game or too.  Ended up doing winner stays on, and I think I played 4 games, but only one 2.  One of the crown had challenged me, she was very unlucky. 

After this we did Northern Guitar, The Viaduct, and the End Bar.  I don't think I had eaten enough so I wasn't feeling that great. I wanted to try and stay out till midnight for the sake of  Jess who had come all the way from Bristol - but I gave up at about 11:20pm. My digestive system was making bad noises.

Walked back to Vicar lane travelodge, and proceeded to have no sleep whatsoever overnight and spend a lot of time going to the loo.

I gave up at 6am ish, and decided just to drive home. Not the best ending to an LFF i've had, but I had enjoyed most of the day. 

8th of June : Trans swimming, 50 lengths again !  and this was in about 50 minutes, so I
am possibly getting faster.  I will need to do more lengths per minute if I have any hope of getting to the 1 mile figure of 74 lengths ! 

It doesn't seem that achievable at the moment !  

 

 

12th of June : Chameleons again !  - It was one of the ladies birthdays and they had
brought cake - I didn't actually eat and I had stuffed myself on chocolate fingers before they arrived 😂 

Sally was there, but no Ann this time as she was away with work.  Not many youngsters attended, but was a decent turnout.  

 

 

 

Anyway here endeth the catch up, I intend to do a detailed write up of this weekends adventures later in the week - totally not going to forget to do it , honest  

 

Diagnosis

 

Diagnosis :

Well I've finally got myself a formal diagnosis - It was part of the signup process for Pride in Health  a new service I have signed up for : 

As per today’s assessment, Miss Isobel <Redacted> fulfils the criteria and holds a diagnosis of gender incongruence according to the ICD-11 classification HA60 ‘Gender incongruence of adolescence or adulthood':

“Gender incongruence in adolescence or adulthood is characterised by a marked and persistent incongruence between an individual's experienced gender and the assigned sex, which often leads to a desire to 'transition' to live and be accepted as a person of the experienced gender through hormonal treatment, surgery or other health care services to make the individual's body align, as much as desired and to the extent possible, with the experienced gender”.

Gender incongruence is associated with clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning, as highlighted in Miss Isobel <Redacted>’s gender history. She wishes to affirm her gender identity through hormone replacement therapy.

I had previously been 'assessed' by GenderGP, but I didn't get a four page PDF signed by a Psychologist at the end of it.

So there you go, I wasn't just going through a phase for the past few years 😂 

Other medical matters : 

The blockers seem to be doing something, I won't go into detail but I definitely am less testosterone driven. This is good !

I am not taking the dose I am meant to be on, as it seemed excessive compared to my friends. So I am mirroring them. I will be reviewing my dosages with Pride in Health when I am fully onboard - one more interview to go with that.

In preparation for the possibility of  surgeries downstairs, I have been consulting with those that have already been there and had that done.  I have concluded that Tina Rashid seems to be my preferred option. She is UK based, and in the London area. I have not approached them for anything yet.

I have also started hair removal down there - which I have not been looking forward to, but it seems is recommended before you get assessed.  Had my first session last week, it was a bit awkward, but the lady is very professional and my dignity was mostly maintained. I didn't realise but the package also included rear removal !  I am sort of glad as I would have worried more.

Anyway there was very little pain, compared to the top lip anything else you get done is a walk in the park really. I got 6 sessions for the price of 5,  £550 in total - https://www.laserluxxe.co.uk/ 

I went to the doctors to ask for blood tests at the start of the month, he was super friendly which was nice - he wasn't my usual doctor and i am sure he was a bit grumpy with me the last time i saw him maybe 7 years ago.  But anyway he was fine to give me the tests.

Not sure if he will be forced to stop doing them in the though, I hear that dear old Wes Streeting has been telling the NHS not to do them for kids, and he's likely angling for the adults too. What a lovely chap.

 

Social life 

I've been to LFF of course, Indian Street food was had at Bundobust followed by an afternoon of drinking in the bars.  In the evening we ended up at Behind Closed Doors again, an underground bar with a seedy theme, but not a place where seedy things happen.  

They did a cocktail where they clip a condom to your glass, we had a few of them - which reminds me I really ought to throw them away, my wife might get the wrong idea if she looked in my handbag right now 😂 - I think it was called Kitten Mittens. 

We finished the night sharing cheesy chips with sauce on, which was nice.

The next day myself Sally and Benni were out in Wakefield. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling up to another heavy night, but we had a nice time. I left about 10 ish - was meant to be staying over in Wakefield but just needed my own bed.

I've made it to the last two Chameleons which is good. I did leave a bit early last Thursday, as I had the day off the next day and I needed to get my car finished. So it gave me an earlier night to get a good sleep.

Met a newbie last time who seemed lovely, hoping they will come again although it seems their work might get in the way.

I am going to Hull for a disco night next Friday, and I have swimming again today - went last weekend too.  So I am doing well with the mingling (as normal I guess).

 

Josephine

Many many hours have been spent removing, rebuilding, re-installing the gearbox. Then it didn't sound good, so I had to do it all again 😢

Anyway attempt two seems to have gone well , fingers crossed.  She is back on the road, and seemingly ready for my camping adventure in Wales in May with the Women's Drivers Social Group !!

Proof of this is below, I drove my wife into Wakefield to pick up her car that was having an MOT :

I have since washed her 😊

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deploy the emergency penguins

Trans Updates

I have a call booked with Pride In Health for next week, i think they are still lacking a doctor, but I will get a formal diagnosis I believe. With this I should be able to go to a 3rd party endocrinologist that i know of, so hopefully can bin off GenderGP and get some
proper care. 

I have started on blockers, I have had them for ages, but had not bothered. Only had two doses so too early to tell. My plan is to do another blood test in April, see how I am doing.

 

IT Changes

In light of the issues over the pond, I've been attempting to move as much of my IT from US hosted services to UK/European ones.  

I am Microsoft free for my laptop and PC now,  Linux Mint on the laptop, Manjaro on the PC. 

I found a cloud provider in Norway which I have used to replace OneDrive (https://jottacloud.com/en/ ) this has a CLI based client for Linux which does what I need.

I have a new email and domain hosting provider in the UK ( https://www.fasthosts.co.uk/ )  , but not changed my email address on a lot of things yet.

Coincidentally, Skype - who I have been using ever since they binned MSN Messenger, is due to be closed down in May. So my Uni friends and I have prepared a Discord server to use after it's demise.  

This blog may get moved at some point, I did a backup a while ago, I might do another soon just in case.

I've also binned off my Amazon Music and Audible accounts too. I had binned off Tw@tter a long time ago. 

Still got my Insta, Youtube and Facebook - I would be upset if they went, but they don't cost me anything, so no need to totally throw my toys out of the pram :)

I don't expect they will starve just because I reduced what I spend, but if enough of us do it then it will convey a message.

 

March Social Events:

Leeds First Friday - 7th 

Had a pizza at Rudys with Benni on arrival. We headed to Pints and Straws afterwards, it was a pretty good turnout. Fun times were had :)

Sally turned up towards the end, which was nice.

We ate  at Bundobust before the main event, it is an entirely vegetarian Indian streetfood restaurant with craft beer.  I really liked it, had a fab burger.

In the evening we met up with Gemma, who I don't get to see a lot of these days.  After the usual Bridge End Social visit, we did cocktails at the viaduct, then I think we went to Behind closed doors which is a fun place I think will try and add to the schedule next month.

We did 'The End' then 'Smokestack' after this. I was getting tired and Sally was done for the night too, so I walked her back to the Leanardo, then headed back the Travelodge.

Chameleons - 13th

I had missed the last two Chameleons, partly due to stress at work leading to a lack of
motivation, but I knew I wouldn't be missing this one, as it was an overnight stop on my way down to Milton Keynes the next day.

Ann was there which was nice,  it wasn't the busiest of nights, but not a bad turnout.

There was a talk planned by a guy who runs a dance company, who it seems grew up not far from where i live. 

It was a nice night, I enjoyed the talk and presentation, but he hadn't expected to be talking so long so he ended up rushing off :)

I stayed over at the Premier Inn near the tram station not far from the community center. It was undergoing some building work, but it didn't end up disrupting me too much.

Pink Punters -  14th

I couldn't decide on anywhere fun to go on the way to Milton Keynes, so decided to go
straight there. It was an uneventful drive, I had charged fully at the church next to the community center the night before, so got there fine.  

I pottered around the main shopping center for a bit , couldn't find anywhere I fancied to eat so ended up with a Greggs meal deal.  I was meeting Benni at the train station later in the day, so I could give her a lift to the hotel. I had hoped to go around the art gallery again, I liked that when I did it with Ann one time, but it was not open that day.

After picking up Benni and checking in, we met up with Sally in the bar and had an early meal there - nothing special, just to get us ready for the night!

Then we went to a local real ale pub for an hour which was nice, they had some good beers.   

We went back to the hotel - via an off-license where a local recommended a tonic wine for us to try ! we got a small bottle each, and tried them back in the room. It was drinkable, and fun to video our reactions, but I wouldn't want it again too soon :)

It did help fuel me for some Kareoke in the bar after we changed, I ruined 'Breaking the law' by Judas Priest. 

We went over to the night club later on, and mostly stayed in the cocktail bar. I didn't drink that much really. I went to bed a bit earlier than the others, had some tea and water and watched a bit of TV before going to sleep.

We all met up for breakfast in the morning, it was pretty good, but wasn't feeling 100% so ended up laying down for a bit afterwards.

I drove Benni to the station before heading home.  Was having difficulty finding a free
charger again, but I noticed one not at a services I had never seen before on my google maps, so headed there.  

Turns out I had a quite a big charging complex all to myself !  

 

Hull - 21st 

A visit to Hull to explore some more real ale pubs with Charlotte.  We were also going to try a Brazilian restaurant (meat on a stick type place).

It was a very nice afternoon, we did two new ones (new to me) and then one we had done the previous month. One of them was where the plot that started the civil war took place !

We stopped for a tea at a little gallery on the way to the restaurant, just to sober up a bit :)

The Brazilian restaurant was really nice, but we probably had too many drinks to fully get our moneys worth.  You had a card that you flipped over to stop or start the delivery of meat, and a salad bar. 

 

Swimming

I did attend on the 2nd and 9th , I think I managed 42 on both !

 

What's New in the World of Izzy

 

I've not been keeping on top of my blogging again very well I have I !

The last you heard, your current interlocutor was in Liverpool at an awards ceremony at the start of October.

By mainly looking at selfie evidence, I can conclude I have done the following :

October

10th - Chameleons

We saw the northern lights !, and owing to the grass being freshly cut, we trailed half the field into the centre - so I got to play with Henry the hoover :)

11th  - Blood tests 

Didn't faint ! 

16th - New car delivered

I bought a 1937 Standard Flying 9 !!!

She's not in the best of shape, but I hope to get her running over winter, and ready for some early car shows next year.  

Josephine does need attention too, but she can sleep in the nice dry garage. 

This one will have to stay under a cover on the drive for the moment. 

18th - Sheffield Beer Festival

This was with Sally, Charlotte, Oliva, Alice , Rebeka and Gemma.  Friday night was pretty good, we ended up in the head of steam, and I got a bit tipsy :)

Saturday I went to a greasy spoon for breakfast with Sally, and we did some wandering about, got a photo with the green Tardis :)    In the afternoon we went to the beer festival, saw the engine run, and drank some nice beers.  I was very tired though, and didn't end up going out in the evening.

21st - Ground is broken

Work commenced on having the front garden tarmacked over. 

This is the first work by contractors that I have had done while in female mode, from the survey to dealing with the work guys on site. I was a bit nervous about doing so, but everyone was really nice and respectful.  I mean I am sure I was talked about, but not in front of me :)

It took a few days to complete, they came back on the 23rd to lay the tarmac, then I left it 4 days before I moved the new car on there.

24th - Chameleons

Was sort of practising my goth look for the next LFF, I had my Voodoo Vixen long black dress with
spiderweb detail, and also my feather boa.  Had done some slightly gothic green/black eye shadow, and wore orange lipstick, which matched somewhat with my spooky Vinnie skeleton cat handbag. 

It was a lovely night, I got to speak with a newbie Ella who was attending LFF for the first time in November which was nice.   Sally was there sporting a spooky headpiece too :)

WC 28th - Family Holiday, Flamborough

My first family holiday as my true self - we went to a static caravan park on Flamborough head.
Arriving at Monday lunch time, departing late on Thursday.

We were really meant to leave on Friday morning, but I had LFF , so decided to leave a bit early to get back for that.

It was a nice holiday, we did the usual things, day trips to different places and such. Meals out to pubs and restaurants.  In the evenings we managed to get seats in the show bar on the site and watch the entertainment while I supped a few Guinness's. 

Visited the Sealife centre at Scarborough, and rode the train  to golden acres park too. The weather wasn't brilliant, but it didn't rain and wasn't too cold, so not bad either.

I did have to keep correcting the boys / wife on pronouns , and my wife did deadname me on the way home (she was feeling a bit car sick at the time). But aside from that no massive issues.  

I didn't feel confident enough to even consider using the swimming pool, but then again it was full of kids so wouldn't have been the type of swimming i would have enjoyed.

November

1st - LFF

Another fab event, Pints and Straws was quite busy, Ella, Sally and Leah from Chams all made it. We had thought it might be a quiet one, but it wasn't bad at all. 

Alice had gone all out with a sort of bridal zombie look which was very fun.  I had gone a bit more sexy goth than at Chams, shorter dress with black petticoat, and a harness which helped show off my assets. I did wear forms for this outfit, it doesn't work that well with what little my natural provides.

Drank far too many cocktails in 'The End' but had a really good night, I sloped off about 2am.  Saturday I was feeling a bit delicate, but still had a nice time, mainly spent in the company of Benni who comes from Croydon so tends to make a few days of it.

I got home lunch time on the Sunday, then did some adulting for a bit, before heading back to east leeds for swimming at Bramley baths.  Charlotte and Alex from LFF were there too.  I didn't do as much as normal as was quite tired, but nice to at least do a bit.

Plumbing the depths

Thursday Night  - Nottingham Chameleons 

I was in two minds as to come, as I would be driving Josephine to a car show near Birmingham on the Friday, and wanted to be fresh.  But I figured if I made sure to leave by 10:30pm I would likely get a good night sleep.  

There was also a chance that Sue might be popping along, so I didn't want to miss her if she did. 

Anyway glad I did, it was a fun night, some newbies there to talk with, a full house nearly.  I might end up sat on the tea trolley if it get's much busier. 

Was in what I had been working in all day, a tunic top and leggings, very practical 😊

I was chatting to Charlotte mainly, who had not been out much and was possibly a bit overwhelmed. But she seemed like she enjoyed the night.

Was fab to catch up with the regulars, including Ann and Sally who I would be meeting up with on Saturday too.  Lynn had done some nice posters which likely made the staircase of doom seem more inviting to the newcomers.  

Was nice to see Joanne back too, on her electric bike, which was a bit of a struggle to get up the stairs.

Several new biscuit options were passed around, which I did my best to resist.  My diet isn't going too badly at the moment, which is nice.

I did manage to bid farewell roughly when I had hoped, and got home around midnight.

Friday - The drive to Daventry 

I had to pack in the morning, as I hadn't had chance the previous night. I had lunch and headed off around 1:30pm

The A1 seemed like the better route, I prefer having a hard shoulder for emergency's.  It wasn't a bad trip, it took around 2:30 , it was about 120 miles.  Mostly sat in the left lane and found other vehicles to site behind (at a safe distance).

I didn't stop on the way down, so was in need of the loo by the time I was there. 

There was clearly an event on at the hotel when I arrived, some desks in reception, possibly a conference of some sort.  They had given me a room quite a trek away, possibly out of the way of the other guests perhaps.  It all seemed a bit tired, and was a bit disappointed with it. 

Had a pizza and a beer in the bar after 6pm.  There was meant to be a pool, but it wasn't open, so spent the evening relaxing in my room. 

Did sleep too well, there was a dog barking somewhere, not sure if it was tied up outside, or was in one of the rooms.  I had to get up at 6:30am to be ready to get to the show as well. It was about 30 minutes away, but wanted to get there fairly early to be assured of a spot with the Women's Drivers Social Club girls.  Also my friend Alice was meeting with them for the 1st time too.

Saturday  - 'Rustival' car show 

It was quite cold in the morning, and I wanted to let the car warm up a while before setting off.  I had to
use my USB fan, on a camera mount pointing at the windscreen to stop it misting back up - she had no heating system or inbuilt fan, a somewhat poverty spec car  😂

By the time I was ready I was behind schedule, but did still manage to get there around 9am , with about 30 mins to spare before the official cut off time for the parking area we were in. We had managed to bag 'Vanden Plas' parking, which is meant to be the best area, and you have to apply early for.

On arrival we were directed to the appropriate row, and I spied Alice and her Land Rover, and ended up parked next to her !

We spent a little while chatting to some of the group, then headed off to get coffee and food, then around the event to look at the 100's of cars that were there. So many nice ones,  it's a real mixed event - Dubbed 'The friendliest car show'.

I got lots of compliments on my Doc Marten knee highs but don't actually have a picture of me in them :)

Elaine - A friend from Uni had been taking a break in the local area for a few days, and so I had invited her over to the show, she arrived mid-morning.  We also looked around most of the cars, before re
joining Alice and heading into the Museum buildings to look around their collection.  

We had some lunch in the café inside after this, and then did a bit more looking outside too.  She headed off mid afternoon, and I stayed for another hour or so.

Alice and myself were going to meet up with Ann and Sally in Derby, and have a meal out and drinks that evening.  I think it was 3ish that we headed off, the event hadn't officially finished, but we wanted to get going. 

The drive to Derby wasn't particularly eventful, other than I was getting quite low on fuel, and did panic Alice when I disappeared from behind her into the services for some really expensive E95.

I actually managed to get to the hotel before her, as she had stopped at the next services to message me, but I didn't hear it come through.

Saturday Evening - Derby 

Met Ann in the car park of the hotel, she was unpacking her car as I pulled up, I was confused as to why I had beaten Alice there, but she turned up a few minutes later. 

We had a meal booked for 7:45, but wanted to do some pubs before hand. So we didn't spend long getting booked in and changed.  The rooms had their heating turned up really high and the windows only opened a crack, so it wasn't the most fun place to be hanging about in either.

I changed into my cat circuit board print dress, partly as it was a lot cooler to wear in the room :)

We did a few real ale pubs on the way to the restaurant, meeting up with Sally in one of them. She had designed a new game called 'trap your jacket in your handbag zip' , which kept us amused for at least 10 minutes 😂

How many trans girls does it take to free a jacket stuck in a handbag ?  two as it turns out ! 

I only had a few halves as didn't want to be bad the next day as driving the Morris with a hangover is much less fun than a modern car.

The pub Ann had booked for the meal was really nice, and we all enjoyed the food. I had a hanging kebab which is always a fun option :)

We did some more pubs on the way back to the hotel, Sally had been in some new heels and wasn't able to walk that fast in them at all.  We managed to find one pub still open near the hotel, and stayed in there till last orders.  Then we all went back to the hotel, and Sally got an Uber home from there.

It was a very pleasant evening.

Sunday - Victorian Pumping Station

Despite not drinking much I wasn't feeling that great in the morning, tummy troubles mainly.  I did manage to eat some of my cooked breakfast - it was buffet style so I didn't waste it, just didn't get much. 

The plan was for myself and Alice to head to Clay Mills Victorian sewage pumping station near Burton upon Trent. https://www.claymills.org.uk

They allow you free entry to the museum if you take a classic vehicle along to display, so we got to park in the main compound rather than the car park.

Alice was nearly taken out by an insane Kia on the dual carriageway on the way, going from the outside lane to a slip road for a filling station right in front of her. Thought she was going to do a bit of impromptu off-roading !  unfortunately I wasn't directly behind her so have no footage. 

I made sure to get some nice photo's of us with the cars before we looked around. There was a lot to see there, 4 huge beam engines arranged in pairs, 2 of which we saw running. Other ancillary static engines doing minor roles, also one powering belts for lathes etc.  

There was a 'land girls' singing group in one of the sheds, and we listened to them for a while until a load of motorbikes arrived and we decided to go look at them instead.

There was a fire engine rescue demonstration too. 

It was a really fab place, I got some nice video but not uploaded any yet.

We headed home about 1:30 ish, we were going mostly the same way up the M1 for a lot of the journey, so I stayed in convoy as much as I could.  Got home after 3pm.

I was meant to be swimming at Bramley baths at 5ish, but I was very tired, and didn't bother.

I couldn't be bothered to go into the office on Monday morning, choosing to WFH instead 😂

I'll be back

 

Cyberdyne Systems prototype model 69  'Isobel' proved unreliable in service, preferring to eat kebabs and drink beer rather than kill humans

What have I been up to  ( aside from not writing a blog )  :

• Leeds Pride -  21/07
• Chameleons - 25/07
• Family Meal  - 26/07
• Emley Moor -  28/07
• LFF - 01/08 - 02/08
• Walking In the Dales -  03/08 - 04/08

Leeds Pride 

It was really good, just did the Sunday this year as it wasn't tagged on the end of an LFF weekend.  I had my 360 camera on a 3 meter selfie stick and got the march.   The turnout was big, and it was such a nice atmosphere.  We had fun times in a few pubs afterwards, then onwards to the 'Boom Battle Bar' where there were games to play - they did Axe Throwing !!!! 

...but they were blunt axes , not sure if by design, or just lack of maintenance.

It was fun, but Rebecca won, I came 2nd at least.

Chameleons 

It was a good night as always :)  

Family Meal 

Myself, my wife and kids went to an Estabulo Bar and Grill in Barnsley - it's only worthy of note because it's not something I have done a lot of really at all.  Most of my outings over the last few years have been with my friends.  We haven't done a vast amount of outings as a family with me dressed.  This is clearly now going to change now.

It went well, and we had a nice time in the restaurant.  Afterwards we went to superdrug for some hair dye, then to the indoor market.  I bought a couple of dresses from one of the stalls on the upper level. 

Was a very pleasant afternoon.

Emley Moor

I was taking Josephine to the Dales in the few weeks time, and had been working on her, replacing the fuel tank and fuel line.  Decided to go for a pootle out to Emley Moor mast to make sure all was well before such a long journey - also I had never been before.

LFF

Benni and Ann were up the day before so we ended up meeting  up on Thursday night, eating out at Las Iguanas.  I had a few cocktails, and some spicy food - this was likely not the best idea I've ever had.  

I wasn't feeling great the next day, but got through till midnight, mostly drinking water - but I actually still had a really good time.  I wore a 'romantic' style dress , which was quite short for me, and my rainbow heels.  But I had to go change after a few hours, as the heels were killing me.

Pints and Straws was good, numbers were back up again.   I had gone in Josephine as I was taking her to the dales for a walking weekend with Alice, Rebecca and Olivia the day after.   Was a bit worried about leaving her in the car park, but nothing bad happened.

Dales Walking

I had breakfast in Leeds at Riveresque , met Olivia in the car park at Level 8 - she was very hungover. The journey over was OK aside from breaking down going up a steep hill on a windy road.  I had to change the ignition coil at the roadside. 5 or 6 people stopped to assist, but I didn't need them.

She managed to get us to the pub fine, but I was taking it a bit slower than normal, as had lost a bit of confidence in her.

Alice and Rebecca were already there when we got there , and had ordered lunch. So I did the same, and gave Oliva (who was still suffering) some of my chips.

After lunch we went up a hill which was very very steep and rocky , I was immediately feeling quite out of breath and not up to the task, and Alice was powering upwards at great speed - she has much longer legs than me.  But thankfully, the terrain became less vertical, and the walk much more enjoyable.   

It was a warm day, but we all had plenty of water with us. I got lent a walking pole which really did
help too.   We stopped at a pub after 10 km or so, and had a beer as well.   I was holding everyone up a bit on the way back to the pub we were staying at, but not bad enough to cause friction.

We had some lovely food - fox pie (didn't contain any fox, was chicken and shroom), and more beer in the evening, I was feeling very tired though, and ended up going to bed fairly early.

The next day we met for a fab fried breakfast, then headed out on another walk.  This one started off fairly leisurely, but we were going over a really big hill to another village with a pub, then the plan was to go back over the hill a different way back to our base pub.   This was not a fun hill, but we did make it up,

We had packed lunches from the pub which we ate at the highest point we got to - I happened to have a trans flag with me, so we also got some photo's of us all waving that :)

While descending into the next valley, Rebecca twisted her knee, and was in a bit of pain. We got down fine, and had a refreshing beer at the pub there. However she wasn't confident she should get back up the big hill, so we ended up going around the hill on the road, which was a lot longer in terms of
distance.  My feet were not good at all, and I was way behind at some points, But we did make it to civilisation eventually.   There was a pub in a village about 4km from where we were staying, so we had a couple in there to recover.   

The last 4km I had to go in front to set the pace otherwise they would have been stopping every 5 mins for me to catch up.  But the beer did help numb the pain a bit.

I was very glad to be back, and also to be on time for the evening meal we had booked.  I had a beef roast, which was fantastic.  I couldn't drink much more beer though, ended up on soft drinks,

My digestive system was most unhappy with what I had been putting it though, and I had a really bad nights sleep. 

Did manage to have breakfast the next day, and get home dropping Olivia off on the way. It was a really good weekend and so glad I did it !