Gill Thomas

Mayday Challenge 30 - Sherborne Shuffle

Penultimate day of the RNLI Mayday Challenge!

As it's a Saturday, the morning involves walking Pickle, of course. Today we walked up to the Girls' School and back - he seems to quite like this route. Our walk was an hour earlier than usual to make sure we avoided the rising temperatures.

After returning him home, I had a few errands in town - post office and Waitrose with charity shop rummages in between.

All of this added up to 4.2 miles!

Mayday Challenge 29 - South Bank, Baby!

One of those days when the numbers on the Apple Watch and Strava don't correlate - at all. This is because I kept forgetting to 'strava.'

Anyhow, a meet-up with a friend (Ann) on the South Bank to go and see the Tracey Emin exhibition at Tate Modern meant that there was a bit of to-ing and fro-ing along the South Bank. I managed to log the 1.6 miles we walked from the International Salvation Army HQ - where we had lunch - back to Waterloo Station. The Apple Watch, on the other hand, tells me that I walked around 4 miles.

You may be wondering how I found the Tracey Emin Exhibition.

I went to see Tracey Emin: A Second Life at Tate Modern yesterday. If I'm honest, I'm still processing it. It's forty years of her work and it's the kind of exhibition that gets to you. It uses the female body to explore passion, pain, and healing and really doesn't hold anything back. Words that come to mind - raw, overwhelming. intimate, brutal, honest, visceral, vulnerable, and genuinely moving — if it's still on when you're near London, go.

Mayday Challenge 28 - Let’s Get Quizzical

Today’s walk was to the monthly quiz at the pub. We were two members down this month - they thought going to a family wedding was more important, and despite attempts to fill the void, we played with our team of four. Joint 7th. Not our best but the quiz was a good one this month, so we had fun.

If we’d have been in the top 3, we’d have given our prize money to the RNLI. Sadly, that was not to be 🤷‍♀️

Mayday Challenge 27 - Before It Hots Up

With another scorching day on the cards, I decided to get out quite early this morning when the temperature was still in the low 20s.

Again, just like yesterday, I stayed very local. Walked down down the lane, up past the woods and then down into the meadows where I bumped into Emma walking her dogs.

I love walking through the meadows at this time of year, because they are full of wildflowers. I wish I had taken a good photo to share but alas, I didn’t. Maybe another day.

Mayday Challenge 26 - Sweaty Stroll

Another incredibly hot day, which meant saving today’s walk until well into the evening when it had called to 29° C!

Stayed very local with a walk to the postbox to post postcard to Taiwan and then off into Vecklands for a pootle around the woods, which were only just slightly cooler.

Mayday Challenge 25 - Abbey Times

I think it must have been the hottest Bank Holiday Monday ever, so opted to stay inland, rather than venture to the coast (which, on watching the news later, proved we made the right choice).

So, a visit to Forde Abbey as soon as it opened (1030) was the decision. First, a walk around the gardens and then a potter around the house. Perfect.

If you've never heard of Forde Abbey, chances are you may have seen it on screen. It sits on the Dorset-Somerset border near Chard, and was originally founded as a Cistercian monastery in 1141 and then converted gradually (and quite sympathetically) over the centuries into a private family home — it still retains some of the original abbey, including the cloisters.

It is home to the Mortlake Tapestries, which were woven from the famous Raphael cartoons now housed in the V&A. They depict scenes from the lives of St Peter and St Paul.

Its cinematic credentials are considerable: the Great Hall featured in the 2015 Far From the Madding Crowd (a favourite of mine) as the Corn Exchange, in the pivotal scene where Bathsheba first meets Mr Boldwood. It also appeared in the 1995 film 'Restoration', which is set at the court of Charles II, and stars Robert Downey Jr, Meg Ryan, Sam Neill, Ian McKellen, and Hugh Grant. In 2002, the BBC filmed parts of its adaptation of George Eliot's Daniel Deronda there, with Forde standing in as the home of Daniel and Sir Mallinger. Most recently, it was chosen as a location for Wolf Hall, doubling as Hampton Court Palace.

Mayday Challenge 24 - Quiet Contemplation

Well today was very hot and not very conducive to walking between the hours of 1000-1600.

Fortunately, during the summer months of the year, I lead a Taizé service at church. And where cooler to be than a 15th Century church. So today’s walk was to church and back.

There were 13 of us for the service which lasts for about 30 minutes. It has an evening prayer vibe - very relaxing and contemplative. Definitely a helpful end to a hot day.

Mayday Challenge 23 - Pickle and Cinnamon

You'll know by now that Saturday morning is walking Pickle time. We've been appreciating the poppies that line one of the roads. They look so pretty and colourful - and Pickle always stops to notice them.

I notched up 3.5 miles today. After I returned Pickle to his home, I stopped off for a coffee and (proper) cinnamon bun at a brand new cafe in Sherborne - The Danish Pantry (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61589275630416).

The hot dogs look like the real Danish deal, too.

Looking forward to visiting there again!

Mayday Challenge 22 - Yeovil Town Toddle

My mile today took me into Yeovil town centre — a functional sort of 'errand-walk', the kind that involves M&S and a couple of other shops, and somehow it counts as exercise. Yeovil doesn't offer the most aesthetically pleasing of walks; it has done what many market towns did in the seventies and eighties, which is to say, it has not been kind to itself architecturally. But there are exceptions, and today I found myself slowing down beside them.

St John the Baptist stands at the heart of central Yeovil, as it has done in one form or another since the Anglo-Saxon period — "The Lantern of the West," they call it, and on a good day it earns the name.

Tucked in beside the churchyard, you find Church Terrace, a little row of six Regency houses from the 1830s, they are offices nowadays, but still have that pleasing look that houses of that era generally have.

Over forty people once lived in those six small houses - ordinary working families living in the shadow of one of Somerset's finest medieval churches. There's something very English about that — the grand and the modest living side by side, and both still standing, giving a little flavour of Yeovil in times past, while most of what came after them has not.

Mayday Challenge 21 - Mail and Nails

Actually walked into the village twice today, but only logged one walk officially, which was to the post office (to post a book) and then to have gels removed at Peachy.

When we moved to the village, the building where Peachy is now was a veterinary practice - it was where Brontë Dog used to go (and family dogs beforehand). It was pretty basic with no heating and two rooms. Fortunately, Peachy Salon is far, far lovelier to visit. And safe to say that you wouldn't recognise the place as being the old vets!

The second walk was a stroll down to see the Morris Dancers outside the pub. Anyone passing through our village would have ticked the box for 'quintessential rural British scene' I think.

Mayday 20 - Another Village Walk

This time was a walk to a meeting at the other end of the village.

I passed the other blue plaque in the village. This one is on the Old School Gallery & Cafe (https://oldschoolgallerycafe.co.uk/) and is to Sir Robert Boyle.

Robert Boyle, a pioneer of modern chemistry is best known for Boyle's Law. He actually grew up at Stalbridge in Dorset, and his connection to Yetminster came through an act of philanthropy. When he died, he left an endowment for a school for poor boys in the area, and the link to Yetminster was through his servant, who had grown up in the area and served as one of the executors of his will.

Under Boyle's will, the charity school was endowed to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic to twenty poor boys. The building was constructed in 1697, and the school functioned from 1711 right through to 1945. Today, he's commemorated with a blue plaque — a fitting tribute to one of the founding figures of modern science.

And his whose legacy still quietly shapes the lives of young people from Yetminster. The Boyles Educational Foundation, which we all call the Boyle’s Trust, is a charity supporting the education of young people of the parishes of Yetminster, Leigh and Chetnole. It awards grants to those beginning apprenticeships or courses of higher or further education to help fund the purchase of equipment, tools of the trade, books, laptops and other necessary expenses. Our son was a beneficiary last year!

Mayday Challenge 19 - Just Up The Lane

Today's walk just about notched up a mile. This was always Brontë Dog's 'wet weather' walk because it didn't involve fields or woodland footpaths.

It's literally a 30-second walk from our door, and you're walking along a classic Dorset lane, which look gorgeous at this time of the year. All the fresh green grass and leaves of late Spring - peppered with cow parsley, buttercups, red valerian.

As you enter the village, the sign reminds you that it's an historic village. Yetminster does indeed have some heritage. It appears in the Domesday Book, has Saxon roots stretching back to 705 AD, and its centre is designated a Conservation Area because of its well-preserved post-medieval gentry and farm houses.

Most of the buildings in the village centre are built in the same pale local limestone. We have a Grade I listed church (St Andrew's, with origins in the 10th century), numerous other listed buildings, and a school connected to Sir Robert Boyle of Boyle's Law fame. 

Mayday Challenge 17 & 18 - White Hart Wanderers and Eggs-Pedition

After last week's yomps across half of England, I'm not venturing far from home this week.

Sunday was a bit of a rest day, but we did head to the pub, which is a round trip of 1.2 miles - which is very handy I must say!

Monday (18th). I had a postcard for postcrossing.com to send, and we needed some eggs too. That meant a walk down to Upbury Grange Farm in the village to buy half a dozen of their eggs. It's easy to take living in a village like this for granted. Every now and then, you need to pinch yourself to notice that this is the sort of place I loved (still do) holidaying in. 

Mayday Challenge 16 - Perambulation with Pickle

It's another Saturday, so that means a walk with Pickle. This week, we walked up to The Terraces.

The Terraces play host to rugby, football, cricket and tennis grounds for Sherborne - it gets quite busy up there at times. It sits on the edge of a slope above the town, and there's one point where the land falls somewhat and gives you that "edge of everything" Rob has always called it The Edge of the World.

But Pickle and I walked what is known as The Terrace Meadow. It's a patch of limestone grassland adjacent to the Terrace Playing Fields, and I recently found out that it is of particular interest because the soil is unusual for the area. It supports flowers (including orchids), butterflies, and other species which are not generally seen locally. Butterfly species include marbled white, ringlet, silver-washed fritillary, meadow brown, and small skipper. How lovely is that?

Mayday Challenge - Days 12-15

Okay - so sometimes my working week is busy and challenging. From Tuesday to Friday this week, I was on the road where squeezing in a proper walk was a task and a half!

On Tuesday, Rob and I took the train to Bath where we had lunch and notched up over a mile, and then I travelled on to Stroud, staying at my parent’s place.

A walk to Stroud station and then between Paddington and Edgware Rd station meant that I managed to achieve a mile. Later that day, we did actually walk from York University into York centre for dinner, so achieved a couple of miles on Wednesday.

Thursday’s walk was full of memories. An early morning stroll around York Uni campus meant that I managed over a mile before 0830. Later on, we did walk in and around York city centre and on to the train station.

Friday was a real challenge as it comprised of a half mile here and half mile there as I pottered from Chiswick Travelodge to Kew Bridge, and between platforms at Weybridge, Woking and Yeovil Junction, I actually notched up just over a mile. Phew.

All in all, the total number of miles achieved in this second week is 14.97. So averaging out at over 2 miles a day 😅

Mayday Challenge 10 & 11 - Pompey Ahoy

We’ve been away in Portsmouth for a night, catching up with Max and Bella. So it made sense to me to do a post capturing the two days together.

We arrived in Portsmouth late afternoon yesterday and so the walk on Sunday entailed a good stroll down to Gun Wharf Quay, where we had a nice meal at Cosy Club. The sunset was gorgeous last night and the Spinnaker Tower looked pretty impressive in the light.

Today we walked to the historic dockyard in Portsmouth, and climbed the board HMS Warrior and of course HMS victory. It’s always impressive to go and visit the Mary Rose as well, which of course we did.

So yesterday‘s total distance walked was 1.86 miles (it was probably twice that but we didn’t record it!), and today’s distance was 2.44 miles (again probably more like 4 miles that stopped recording at 2.4).

Mayday Challenge 9 - Perambulation with Pickle

It's a Saturday - which means it's the weekly walk with Pickle. This week, we trod some paths around Sherborne town centre, weaving between the Girls' and Boys' schools. And along past the old Abbey School where Rob went as a child.

The thing I noticed today - which I have walked and driven past numerous times - was the blue plaque for Alan Turing. He's one of those figures whose fame has grown over recent years - and quite rightly too. I think it's fair to say that he is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science — and during the Second World War, his work at Bletchley Park breaking the German Enigma code helped change the course of history.

But here's the Sherborne connection. In 1926, thirteen-year-old Alan Turing arrived at Sherborne School — and he arrived in some style. The General Strike had shut down the railways, so he simply got on his bike and rode 63 miles from Southampton docks (alone) through unfamiliar countryside to make it in time for his first day. The local paper loved it, and who can blame them?

In recent years, there have been charity 'Turing' bike rides, and just this week, pupils recreated the route to mark the centenary of Turing's famous bike ride and arrival at Sherborne School - https://blackmorevale.net/pupils-recreate-alan-turings-legendary-ride-to-sherborne/

The school wasn't always sure what to make of him — his passion for mathematics and science didn't always fit the mould — but his housemaster had the measure of him from the start.

When Turing left in 1931, the housemaster, Geoffrey O'Hanlon, wrote that he would "guarantee that Turing will be a household word until the present generation has disappeared." Not a bad prediction. The school's science laboratory was renamed the Alan Turing Laboratories in 1966 — the first building anywhere in the world to bear his name. 

Mayday Challenge 8 - Sherborne Shopping

I actually did two walks today but this one was the more scenic, even if it is a wander round the shops in Sherborne. Who knew that you could notch up 1.7miles just window-shopping!

However, I took a quick photo of one of my favourite corners of the town. It's called Church Lane and is a narrow street/passageway that connects Cheap Street to the Abbey. As you can see, the museum is located in a prime position halfway along Church Lane.

The lane's identity is tied to the monastic history of this part of town. The museum itself occupies the former east gatehouse of the Benedictine monastery, which was believed to have been built during the 12th century. The gatehouse originally provided lodgings for a porter, whose role was to control access to the monastery. So, walking along Church Lane past the museum, you are essentially passing through what was once an entrance point to the whole monastery.

After the Dissolution, the majority of the monastic buildings passed to Sherborne School. So the lane has essentially been a thoroughfare connecting the town to the Abbey for at least 900 years — first as a monastic gateway, then as a public passage. It still has a lovely enclosed, medieval feel with that gorgeous hamstone on either side.

Mayday Challenge 7 - No Goat Zone

“I’m going to walk to see the goats this lunchtime,” I said to my colleagues in our Zoom meeting.

One of the local walks takes you along the gentle valley for a little bit, and there are often geese and goats to spot.

But not today. Well, I lie. The geese were there, but at the far end of the field. And I think the goats were taking a lunch break because I spotted them (just) in the various shelters on the edge of the field. So yes, they were there but not up for a bit of interaction like they often are.

Mayday Challenge 6 – Meadow Meander

Another local walk today – this time wandering across a couple of meadows full of buttercups and dandelion clocks.

I don’t always listen to music or podcasts, but today I continued listening to the audiobook of Fearne Cotton’s latest book, Likeable (published March 2026), which is part memoir, part self-help — and is an honest and personal exploration of people-pleasing, self-worth, and learning to stop shrinking yourself for others. Here’s the link to the book if you’re interested – https://tinyurl.com/2edrwara

The main focus is the personal cost of constantly trying to be liked. Fearne reflects on how throughout her life she morphed into whoever others needed her to be, took on responsibility for other people’s problems, put herself down, and stayed quiet — all in the hope of being liked. The book is essentially her reckoning with that pattern and an invitation to readers to do the same.

I’m halfway through, and I find that much of it is resonating quite a lot.

Mayday Challenge 5 - The Long Way Back From The Postbox 📮

Quite often a stroll down to the postbox involves a saunter back through Vecklands. Vecklands is a lovely broadleaf wood on the our side of the village. The main access route is up a track off Brister End - more or less opposite the postbox.

It was planted in 1998 with local community support and offers lovely views across to the village church and the beautiful Dorset countryside. It’s managed by the Woodland Trust and is a well-loved space , particularly popular with dog walkers and those simply enjoying being outdoors in nature.

The village’s Lower Covey nursery uses Vecklands as a Forest School site, which we’ve used for Forest Church as well. For walkers, the wood forms part of a broader circular route around Yetminster, with paths leading towards Mill Farm and linking up with the Macmillan Way.

Mayday Challenge 4 - Yetminster Yomp

Today’s local walk has a nice bit of history.

After a stroll up Downs Lane and down along the valley followed by a subterranean dip under the railway line, an uphill stride up Mill Lane sets the tone — almost certainly following an ancient route to one of the water mills that once served Yetminster on the River Wriggle.

A pause at Upbury Farm to buy eggs feels quietly momentous: this was the home of Benjamin Jesty, the Dorset farmer who vaccinated his family against smallpox in 1774 — over two decades before Edward Jenner received the credit that arguably should have been Jesty’s.

A shortcut through our church - St Andrew’s, built from the local Ham Hill stone (with its fine Perpendicular tower) standing on ground that has been the heart of this community since Saxon times. The origin of the village name of Yetminster isn’t entirely clear, but “Minster” indicates a mother church of an area, and “Yet” may be a corruption of “Eata.”

Our walk ended at our local - The White Hart - a pub with its own moment of fame as a filming location for Tamara Drewe (2010), Stephen Frears’ adaptation of Posy Simmonds’ graphic novel. History, healing, ancient stone, and a well-earned meal with friends. A very good evening.

Mayday Challenge 3 – A Cerne Abbas Potter

One of my favourite villages in Dorset. Brontë Dog used to love a walk around here.

Cerne Abbas is a charming Dorset village and very well-known for the Cerne Giant, of course. Just in case you haven’t heard about the Giant, it’s a 54m chalk figure carved into the hillside above the village, whose origins still remain debated. The village grew around a Benedictine Abbey founded in AD 987. Very little of it remains, but recent archaeological digs have been discovering more about the abbey and its life.

We stopped for a pint (as we always do) at the Giant Inn on Long Street. It’s a 16th-century former coaching inn and serves good locally sourced food and real ales from local brewers, including the Cerne Abbas Brewery (as you can see)

As we headed back to the car, we stopped off for a wander around St Mary’s Church, a beautiful church with origins dating to around 1300. Inside, there are faded medieval wall paintings depicting the Annunciation and scenes from the life of St John the Baptist. It’s a lovely, peaceful space.

Mayday Challenge 2 – Perambulating with Pickle

Every Saturday, I walk Pickle. We take various routes around and about Sherborne.

I’m a volunteer for The Cinnamon Trust, which is a charity founded in 1985 by Averil Jarvis — named after her corgi — which provides support for elderly and terminally ill people with pets. Its primary aim is to enable the precious relationship between owner and pet. It does this through a nationwide network of volunteers (like me!) who offer practical help such as dog walking, vet transport, and fostering. The Trust also arranges long-term care for pets whose owners have died or moved into accommodation that cannot accept animals. Its services are completely free of charge and (not dissimilar to the RNLI) funded entirely by donations.

Pickle and I notched up just under 4 miles today.

Weymouth Wonder

Weymouth Wonder

A Weymouth Wander - Day 1