Morrison Great Newham Run 2015

Stadium Selfie!

Since my last run in 2014, I have tried to continued to run weekly. Most weeks I have been able to. There was no hesitation in applying for the Morrison Great Newham Run despite it being 10km and that I never had attempted a 10km. But the stadium finish really appealed to me.

The conditions of the day of the run was good. Maybe too good, as it was sunny and quite warm. In such heat, running is always an issue for me and probably for anyone. The course was overall quite tough in my opinion because there was so many hills!

The sound of the crowd motivated me to finish the last leg with power, strength and happiness! I was so glad it was over because it had been quite tough. I wanted to aim for under an hour however I was unsuccessful on this occasion, however it has to be the best run so far because my dearest friends were there to share the experience with me. It was lovely.

The results this year according to chip timings:
1:03:57
6311th Place
Age & Gender (20-34): 840th place
Age Group Results: 2524th place
Gender Group: 1899th place

Until next year!

Sticks 'n' Sushi

Location: Covent Garden
Meal: Kimchi with cabbage, Futomaki, smokey chicken big, Kaburimaki, pink Alaska Roll, Mini Maki De Luxe, Scallop wrapped in bacon. Drinks: Japanese Soda 'Ramune', Elderflower soft drink.

Price: Roughly £65 altogether

What an absolute delight! The best Sushi restaurant I have come across! The service was on point, the food was so good, that after each bite, it was hard not to 'hmmmm'. There was a lot of choice on the menu and could be over whelming at first however the staff was more than willing to explain the dish and give recommendations. I have to also agree with the popular dish the - Maki De Luxe was my favourite! The Soda was also very fun and quirky which I loved. I would have liked Calamari to be offered mainly because I can just imagine how wonderful that would be cooked here, however the selection on the menu can leave you leaving with a massive smile and most definitely I would visit again!

An overall rating 10/10.

Scallops with bacon

Japanese Soda

Kimchi

Smokey Chicken

Alaska Roll

Maki De Luxe

Elderflower

Snowdonia - North Wales

I am the type of person who gets the urge to go somewhere, to challenge myself, to try something new or just to do something adventurous. In April 2015, I felt I needed a combination of those and with my study commitments, it was difficult to find something that satisfied that urge. However, once you have an urge, you find a way to do it... well I usually do.. So I booked a short break away to Snowdonia, North Wales with my boyfriend.

TeamNBLT Adventures <3

Saturday 27^th June 2015

We departed from Euston at 09:10am and boarded the Virgin Trains to Bangor. We arrived in Bangor 12.16pm. The first mission was to find the bus that took us into Llanberis, this wasn't too difficult and lucky we didn't just miss a bus, as we later found that they only come by hourly. We found the bus stop and waited for the 85 bus. This arrived approximately at 12.48pm. I was surprised that a single ticket per person cost £3! This was more than London! However, we needed this bus. After about 40 minutes of a rocky bus journey, we arrived more or less in front of the B&B. We stayed at Mount Pleasant which was on the high road. 

Mount Pleasant

Upon arrival, we were greeted by Jacqui who runs the B&B along with David who we later met too. They were very friendly and welcoming. It was about 2pm and we decided that was enough time to climb Snowdon. We dropped our bags and had a quick check out of the room and then headed to the shop for some snacks and water. We headed up towards Snowdon and at 14:14pm, we began our venture.

From the very start, before we even started at the bottom of Llanberis Path, I was struggling! The incline was crazy and I could feel the burn! It was ok though, as the brief stops allowed us to take in the scenery. It was beautiful. Once we got moving again, the incline did eventually become slightly easier, it was still a struggle and at times quite tiring. One hour in, and it was still pretty steady. The views were really good too. 

The further we got up, the more difficult it became and the more desperate I was to find that summit. It was the most physically challenging activity I had done in a long time! As we got further up, the winds became stronger and mist appeared more frequently, causing extreme humidity and almost being blown off the rocks. It was a battle. I could hardly breathe on some occasions; it felt like putting your head out of the window in a fast moving car. When I thought it was near the end, I was proven wrong. This happened quite a few times! 

Great views, great feeling

We must have looked extremely tired and completely exhausted! As we passed a lady near the summit, she said 'almost there'. That gave some motivation, but by this point I was completely exhausted! Finally, about 16:45pm, we reached the summit. It felt great but as I said, by this point I was exhausted and had no energy to celebrate. But I felt relieved and it was a great achievement! We sat up the summit for a little while but it was freezing so much that I was unable to feel my hands! It was great fun though. 

Reaching the summit!

At 17:00pm, we decided to check out the train and hoped we could take a ride down using the train. However, it was all sold out and the dreaded thought of going down became reality. In saying this, it was probably the better option, as it wasn't as difficult as it was going up and actually was quite enjoyable. We took some stops to take a few pictures and just enjoy the views and reached the bottom at 19:20pm.

We stopped by at the B&B, to get changed and showered before heading close by to Pete's eat for some dinner. It had been an exhausting but great fun type of day.

Sunday 28^th June 2015

The morning began with a lovely breakfast at the B&B and then we decided to check out the near by sights, mainly the Castle, Quarry Hospital and Waterfall - all of which was free of charge.

Castle

When we arrived at the Castle, it was quiet and an old man gave us some recommendations of what to see. He suggested the Slate Museum and a walk across the mountains to a quarry mine. As we was heading in that direction, we decided to add this to our list to see. 

The slate museum was interesting. It was nice to just go in and have a nose about and we also stopped for a coffee break in the cafe. After this, we headed to the Quarry hospital, just outside this was a little area that overlooked the lake. We sat there for a while and just taking pictures. One side had blue skies, the other was cover in grey clouds. 

Panoramic view from the Hospital of the lake 

By the lake

The hospital was quite interesting too but it wasn't a massive place so we looked around quite quickly. We then decided to follow a pathway that lead us into the forest. We was soon surrounded by loads of trees. We had no idea where we was going, not really but we stuck to the path ways and used as much common sense as we could (i.e. path that went up, meant we was going further up). There was a few times where the path split into two or one side seemed more dangerous. After a long, fun, adventurous walk, we made it to the top where we could see the sky again! We sat on some rocks for a break.

Top!

We had somehow walked near the Quarry, it had seemed. Although, when we were so high above, it was difficult to tell exactly where we was and where we was heading. Luckily, we ended up again following a path where we found the Quarry and the built homes where Quarry workers had stayed - what the old man at the Castle had told us was accurate and we actually managed to find this! 

The views from above were amazing. We was feeling exhausted again but so happy that we had arrived at the Quarry. It had been a long hard walk! But so fun! 

View from the top

View

We then followed down the difficult path as pointed out by the old man and eventually we saw road. It was the best feeling ever to know we was back on level road! It was still quite early about 3/4pm and so despite our long walk we decided to find this hidden waterfall. 

Waterfall

We followed the signs and found the waterfall shortly. We joked about the incline but it wasn't too bad, as the Waterfall wasn't too much of a problem to get to. But because it wasn't too difficult to find, we had lots of time between dinner. We stumble across a playground at the bottom of the path towards the Waterfall and decided to chill there for a while. We played on the swings and just sat for a while. 

We then headed back to the hotel for a quick stop off and then headed back out to dinner. We ate at Lake Pardan which I believe was a hotel. The food was good and after dinner, we headed back to the B&B and chilled. Our legs were completely tired from the workouts but it had been a great weekend with my boyfriend.

Monday 29^th June 2015

The day began with breakfast again, and it was sad to know it was the end of a fun trip. I had completely removed myself from reality and thoroughly enjoyed myself despite how physically challenging it was. After, we packed and checked out by 10:30am. We headed to the Lake and just chilled before taking a bus back to Bangor. We still had about an hour to kill before our train, so we found an Asda and sat in the cafe for a while. 

We boarded the train at 14:25pm and arrived back in London at 17:39pm. It had been such a wonderful weekend! 

Memories of the trip:
Song: Show me the meaning of being lonely (we happened to sing this together pretending to duet)
Song: kisses for breakfast (I played this early in the morning)
Syd & Selina (Two filipino's we named who was also climbing Snowdon)

Further info:
B&B: Mount Pleasant - High Street, Llanberis, Snowdonia National Park, LL55 4HA, Wales
Web: http://www.mountpleasant-llanberis.com

Other info:

http://www.visitsnowdonia.info

http://www.visitsnowdonia.info/Content/Resources/Map%20Page%20from%20Snowdonia%20Mountains%20and%20Coast%202015.pdf

http://www.eryri-npa.gov.uk/visiting/walking/Hard-Mountain-Walks/llanberis-path

http://www.llanberis.org/default.html

Wasabi

Location: o2, Greenwich
Meal: Green tea (1 cup, £1.85). 

Price: Dependant on number of plates - plates are colour coded which are matched with a price. 

The System - Pick up what you fancy

Light Pink - 

Dark Pink Plates - Prawn Katsu Curry

Purple Plate

Blue plate

Personally, I thought Wasabi was average. I felt it wasn't as flavoursome as other Japanese restaurants however, for a quick, good lunch I would recommend Wasabi.  It was quick and easy. One thing is, it costs per cup of green tea at £1.85 and to be fair it is not a lot at all, you probably could finish it in two gulps. 

An overall rating 5/10.

Banana Tree

Location: Wardour Street, Central London

Meal: Starters to share (Chicken Dumplings, Satay Chicken Sticks 5), Rendang Chicken Curry, Aromatic Spiced Rice, Fruit Mix.

Price: Roughly £18pp between 3 people (With Tastecard discount) 

Banana Tree, an Indochina Kitchen, was amazing in my opinion! We went on a Sunday evening so it wasn't so busy but it wasn't empty. The service was very good with them even topping up on tap water. The staff was friendly and polite and they even informed us about the taste card discount and gave it to us! Was very nice of them to do so. Food wise, was on par. With their Legendary Rendang chicken curry was absolutely delicious. The portion size, the taste it was really good. It was probably one of the best curries I have had to date! The juices were great too, and definitely went well with the meal. A rating of 9, but it is very close to 10.

An overall rating 9/10.

Rendang with Spiced rice

Starters