My week didn’t start the way I personally would have liked. Monday was game day and I was dropped to the bench. It was a little bit of a surprise to me, but the manager is now desperate for results so he was changing things up to see if that would help. It was more disappointing for me because Mum and Michelle had travelled from New Zealand not just to be with me for Christmas, but also watch me play for my new team. Throughout the game, there were times it was likely I might come on as a sub early after injuries, however I did not come on at all. It was tough to watch from the sidelines, especially as we lost 2-1. Moving on to better fortunes in 2017 hopefully.

Thankfully, I was able to put my disappointment to the side and spend the week with my family and I could focus on enjoying my time with them. Although, that did not mean that my training was forgotten. I was still able to do some sort of training each day to keep the body ticking over and ready for the game on the weekend. We did have a team training on Thursday. It was a good hard session that we needed and hopefully it will lead to better outcomes on New Years Day.

During the week Mum, Michelle and myself were able to explore Cornwall. We spent Tuesday in and around Falmouth, spending time at Pendennis Point,  Gyllys beach, and wandering the streets and waterfront. Michelle and I also managed a 13km run along the coastal track to Maenporth and back. On Wednesday, we headed south west. We arrived in St. Ives early and explored the town and the port a little bit, before we headed out along the South West Coast path. It was a great walk along some pretty amazing coastline. The weather was clear blue skies with the sun shining, so it was a perfect day for a nice walk. After a couple hours, we returned to St. Ives for lunch and then carried on South to St. Michaels Mount. As the tide was in, we couldn’t walk out to it, so we sat on the beach and just looked out for awhile as the sun was slowly coming down. We jumped back in the car and headed for The Lizard, the most south-westerly p
oint of the British mainland. Once again, we walked along the coast path before finding a nice spot to watch an incredible sunset out across the ocean. The colors were amazing and the 360 view was very cool. As we walked back to the car, thousands of birds were flying around from paddock to trees and back to the paddock. There must have been some sort of seeds in the trees that they all wanted a taste of and we just watched massive flocks of birds dipping and diving and pooping their way to the tree. Was quite incredible the sheer number of birds. This was an eventful end to our wonderful day of exploration and travel.

Thursday morning was the morning we had team training and once I was home and nourished and showered, Mum and Michelle picked me up and we headed North East this time. We went through St Austell on our way to Charlestown for a nice lunch. After lunch we wandered down to the waterfront before getting in the car and heading to the Eden Project. The Eden Project is an educational charity which is built on a massive old clay quarry. It is home to two massive domes that house a Mediterranean biome and a Rain Forest biome. Outside, there is a wide array of gardens and plants all lining the area of the complex. We were there as the evening set and we got to witness the light and music show in the Mediterranean biome. It was incredible watching beams of light spread across the biome and bounce of trees and plants. A great experience, and with a little more time spent there, it could be a very educational one too.

On Friday we packed up the car and headed north from Flushing to Failand, just outside of Bristol. Just outside of Exeter we stopped at Darts Farm for lunch before continuing north. It was a lovely Air Bnb that was an out house to a massive farm house out on a nice farm. Very secluded which was nice. Saturday we split up as Michelle visited friends in Bath, and Mum and I travelled across to Swansea, Wales, to do some exploring there. We took a long walk from Mumbles, past Langland beach and onto Caswell Bay before heading back to Mumbles for lunch by the water. The scenery and cliff walk was pretty spectacular with just such a rugged coastline that was just different to anything we had really seen in our travels. And just watching the ocean crash into the rocks was intriguing with many different ocean patterns. After lunch, Mum and I got back in the car and carried on around the coastline to another spot recommended to me by a friend. It turned out to be the highlight of the day as we walked through some farm land onto sand dunes and then above on the hills. It was called Three Cliffs, and it was a lovely spot with great beach views. It didn’t take longer than 90min to get back to Bristol in time to meet Michelle for our New Years eve meal. And then we were home and in bed early. Not the most exciting New Years eve.

Sunday dawned a gloomy, cold, wet, and windy day, just for game day. A fairly relaxing morning before driving from Failand to Weston-Super-Mare. Personally it was disappointing again being on the bench and difficult to contribute to the team which is struggling. We started brightly but just didn’t stay focused for the 90min and it cost us, losing 4-2. The personal challenge continues as I look to win my spot back and continue to work hard and persevere, but also there is a challenge for the team to get back on the horse and get back to our successful ways. All in good time. Thankfully I have had the support of Mum and Michelle in the past couple weeks, which has really helped the challenging situation and refreshed me to kick on in the next couple months.