50 Things to do before I’m 60 :: The Final Countdown

Hi there everyone 😀

If you’ve been following my blog for a while you will know that when I hit 50 I set myself a goal of ‘50 Things’ I wanted to do before my 60th birthday. 

Well … having made my 60th birthday milestone in November of last year … it’s now time to look at how things ended up.

I’m not going to do a huge review … as I did that at the beginning of last year … but I will let you know how I got on with my final push.

In March last year I determined the final ‘6 Things’ that I wanted to achieve would be …

9 - Explore more new places and experiences in North Wales
14 - Find a sustainable regular exercise programme and build it into my daily routine
42 - Visit at least five new places on days out from home
45 - Continue learning to speak Welsh
48 - Fix the leaky roof
49 - Declutter the whole house, including garden sheds

Whilst I don’t think I can say it’s been a roaring success there has been progress on all starting with …

9 - Explore more new places and experiences in North Wales
I think this one is definitely a win. There is a long list of new places that we managed to visit and things that we’ve managed to see last year including …

>> Tan y Bwlch station …

>> Snow capped mountains …

>> Low tide, but not quite low enough, at Penmon …

>> Dorothea Quarry …

>> Church Island, Menai Bridge …

>> Caernarfon airport cafe …

>> Treborth Botanical Gardens …

>> Penmaenmawr …

>> The Ynsypandy slate mill …

>> Powys Castle …

>> Plas Newydd … Llangollen …

>> Criccieth lifeboat launch …

>> Criccieth Castle …

>> Llandanwg …

>> Harlech …

>> The Great Orme …

>> Hafan Y Mor beach …

>> Dinorwic Quarry Hospital …

>> Dinorwic Quarry Viewpoint …

>> Moelfre …

>> Croesor Waterfalls …

14 … Find a sustainable regular exercise programme and build it into my daily routine

This one has definitely been a fail and … whilst it didn’t really come as a surprise … I am a bit disappointed with myself.

I have come into 2025 still wanting to try and find something that works for me … and I’m currently using a daily indoor walking app which is going quite well.

42 … Visit at least five new places on days out from home
Whilst this is another fail there was some progress. We had a lovely day out with Bobby at the Staffordshire Regimental Museum at Whittington Barracks …

… and a birthday trip out to Hanbury Hall in Worcestershire …

45 - Continue learning to speak Welsh

I think I can definitely say that I have continued with this goal with a streak of over 500 running in Duolingo …

I just need to practice using what I’ve learnt more when out and about on our visits to North Wales. 

48 - Fix the leaky roof
Is this one done? Maybe … I don’t know. What I can say is that, after having a chimney specialist come and have a look, we ended up getting a third lot of roofers out to look at the problem.

They did seem confident in identifying a problem with the flaunching round the chimney and this has now all been stripped off and replaced.

We now really need to give it a good few months before we will feel confident enough to say the problem is resolved but I am hopeful

And finally …

49 … Declutter the whole house, including garden sheds
There was definitely some early progress on this one but it all ground to a halt after giving the airing cupboard a good clear out back in September. 

We still have a long way to go but it’s something that I do intend to keep chipping away at … the sheds especially are a priority for this year

So … that’s it then. My 50 Things before I’m 60 series of posts is done and dusted. Don’t think I will be doing 60 Things before I’m 70 but I’m sure there will be more trips, goals and projects along the way. 

I think, for 2025, we are going to take things on a month by month basis and hopefully start chipping away at some of the big jobs that need doing around the house … but we shall see. I’m sure I will keep you posted. 

For now … thanks for following these posts for the last 10 years. Time will tell if I feel rudderless … or liberated going forward 😀

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Lodge Life :: December 2024

Hi there everyone 😀

There was no lodge visit during November as the month was pretty much taken up with 60th birthday celebrations. 

I know I’ve told you all about our New Year’s break at the lodge with Jackie and Phil but we did have another visit in December.

It wasn’t really planned, but following lengthy power cuts following storm Darragh, we needed to check all was ok and dispose of the contents of the freezer.

It made for a very busy December, coming pretty much right off the back of our Peak District weekend and getting back home with just a week to go before Christmas.

We actually arrived to the most glorious sunshine and we couldn’t resist a slight detour along the front at Criccieth to take in all of our favourite sights …

We woke the next day to find the first ‘real’ frost we’d had since buying the lodge just under three years ago … it looked so pretty …

We didn’t venture out, opting instead to crank up the heating and hunker down … testing out our new lamp once the daylight had turned to darkness …

We did head out the following day. Not far … starting at our favourite garden centre for lunch …

… followed by a chilly wander around a very quiet Caernarfon …

We had just one other afternoon out whilst we were away. We were hankering after a walk on the beach and decided to head back into Criccieth for a wander along the beach from Dylan’s … heading for Black Rock Sands …

… passing the new outdoor sauna … with its great views overlooking the sea …

We’d not walked on that part of the beach before and it really did give a different perspective to our views looking back towards the castle …

It was a chilly but bright day and everything just looked that little different in the winter hues …

We didn’t go too far and soon retraced our steps and dived into Dylan’s for a warm up and a quick drink … accompanied by the crossword …

It was lovely to get back in the warm and we whiled away a good hour before heading back to the lodge. 

That was pretty much it for this visit. We hadn’t done an awful lot but at least we were going home knowing all was as it should be and ready for our New Year’s visit with guests. 

We had a slow pack up on our last day and headed into Porthmadog for lunch at the station cafe …

… before having a slow mosey home back through the mountains … where we were treated to a little bit of sunshine amongst the showers …

So that folks … is my last Lodge Life post for 2024. The park is closed now until March and I’m sure by then we will be itching for a bit of mountain and sea air 😀

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