Normal people on their birthday tend to go out partying... Nope, not me! I climb mountains!

So... Pen Y Fan... it started off with us going the wrong way, the plan was to follow the "family friendly" route which is a long paved incline but instead we went the strenuous rocky trail.

We got about 200m into the walk, looked at each other and took a deep breath like we were dying already! Not only were we out of breath already we were boiling hot, that's the thing with these types of walks, you get out of the car freezing cold, walk 5 minutes up hill and you're sweaty your tits off! 

Only another 6.4km to go!

Thankfully my camera isn't that heavy and taking it along meant we had a reason to stop every now and then other than the pain in our legs!

The pain was real, I wanted to stop every 2 minutes but I didn't, I found the harder it is to get going again when you stop, kind of like when you go for a run.

We did have little checkpoints every now and then though, "stop at the tuft of grass" and "break at that boulder". 

This point here in the picture above I remember just laughing, we had just climbed what already felt like a mountain, as we went the wrong way it probably was... But to get to the top and see you have to go down and then back up this huge path of sorrow was pretty daunting! It was an either laugh or cry moment!

But off we went, luckily it was quite a flat surface and not lumpy bumpy rocks.

You'd think the top of that path would be the top of Pen Y Fan right?... Nope... No it was not.

Eventually we did get to the top and to be honest it didn't take as long as I thought it would and I suppose time feels a lot faster when you're distracted by your surrounding and the feeling of your legs falling off.

Unfortunately it was so misty you couldn't really see a great deal from the top but I didn't mind, I think the mist looks cool and it did clear a little for about 20 seconds so we did catch a glimpse of the views.

When we were at the top we ate our lunch, pre-made wholemeal vegan cheese and salad wrap haha! Yummy yummy! It was actually pretty tasty and definitely needed even if I did end up eating mine with a mouthful of my own hair because of the wind.

We sat down to eat for like 10 mins and I was freezing by the time we'd finished eating so it was time for the great descend.

The way down was of course the way we should have came up.

Coming down wasn't much less painful than going up, could feel my legs shaking like jelly the whole way down... 

I'm glad we went the way that we did though, much more of an achievement and also the main path was just really busy, the way we went we saw the odd couple and group on the way up and that's it. 

The way down was full of people and to be honest I'm not a fan of people haha!

After our daily dose of mountain climbing we went to the B&B, dropped off our stuff and then went down to have a little look at Llangorse Lake, it was very pretty but my legs were killing and all I wanted to do at this point was lie down so I probably didn't appreciate it as much as I should have.

After this we went out for food, a little Chinese place in Brecon... Stuffed our faces like we deserved!

On the Sunday my legs were pretty achy so why not go for another walk with hills and rocks to climb?!

The Four Waterfalls Walk was another 5 miles of pain but it's all worth it, everything was so pretty and we made friends with frogs and a sheep the way down haha!

I had an amazing weekend and could easily do it all over again... 

Nothing like a walk in the freezing cold as it attempts to snow! Right?

Once you get going you soon warm up so it was fine after a while, plus I had my warm and wonderful coat and boots!

Besides we haven't been out for a long proper walk in a few weeks so it was needed and I've been dying to take the camera out.

Today we walked through Leigh Woods and also through Ashton Court Estate (Bristol) which is my favourite kind of route because it's mainly woods with lots of mud to traipse through and I love just being surrounded by trees which in this case also protected us from the freezing cold wind...well until we got out into the open at Ashton Court but with my hood up I was fine.

The best part of the walk has be seeing all the red deer, as much as I love the woods I wasn't expecting to see these beauties and be able to get as close as we did! 

Long walks like this make a cup of tea after oh so much better! 

I'm looking forward to the next walk, wherever it may be...

This is my first review since revamping my blog and starting again from scratch! About time eh?!

If you have read my About Me page you will see I will only be reviewing cruelty free products whether it's beauty products, make up or household products. 

There is no way in hell I will be reviewing brands that condone the pain and suffering of animals. If you're not aware everything own branded in Superdrug is cruelty free! Awesome right?! 

Anyway enough serious chat, lets get into the product I am reviewing today.

So this is Superdrug's own brand make up remover, I ordered quite a huge amount of things when I found out everything there was cruelty free but this is the item I am most impressed with.

Most make up removers burn my eyes and skin around my eyes so bad, this stuff doesn't. I also expected to be rubbing away at my make up for a while and I wasn't, it was just gone after a couple wipes. 

I use Too Faced's Better Than Sex Mascara too and that stuff isn't easy to remove!

The remover itself is a lotion rather than a toner water so it does feel kind of slimy when you're wiping your make up off but either way it still does the jobs and melts the stuff off without stinging and taking an age.

Overall I would highly recommend this product, it's fast working, cruelty free, it smells nice, it doesn't sting your eyes and it's really affordable at only £3.49.

I've been meaning to post something about my fitness kick for a while now but kept forgetting, as I hit a weight goal recently I figured now is a good time to do it.

Before I start I want to clarify the fact I don't think I'm fat and need to lose weight, I'm by no means a size 6 but I'm not big either... but I wanted to tone up and get fit and losing a little weight is never a bad thing when done responsibly.

Getting fit is something I have been trying to do for a few years now but the novelty always wears off or something gets in the way and I end up back at square one. This time I have made it more of a lifestyle change and not a phase.

Mid June 2016 I made the decision to become Vegetarian... It's a little more than that though, I avoided "most" dairy too. I am now fully vegan.

I found this made a huge difference to my general wellbeing, I lost weight and I felt better for it. 

The idea of giving up meat has been something I've toyed with for a long time, I've seen all the documentaries and posts from PETA, the plan is to be vegan eventually. I tried this the back end of 2015 without really any knowledge or guidance and didn't succeed any longer than a month.

This time I want to slowly break myself away from the habits, this way I WILL succeed.

Along with the huge diet changes I have made sure I keep up with my fitness routines, even if I need to buy some new funky leggings to keep me motivated! 

My routine changes now and then but it's mainly the same every week, the only thing that stops me is being ill and aching too much from whatever workout I did the day before. Here is my current week workout plan:

Monday

Walk on my Lunch Break

Abs Class

Tuesday

Run 4km on my Lunch Break

Wednesday

Walk on my Lunch Break

Circuits Class

Thursday

Walk on my Lunch Break

Body Conditioning Class

Friday

Run on my lunch break

Saturday and/or Sunday

A Long Walk/Trek Through The Mud Somewhere!

So when I started this journey in June I weighed about 10 Stone, the weight dropped off me quite a bit when I first gave up meat and all the rest, I was also doing the 2 runs a week in my lunch break but I still wasn't quite happy with myself so in the new year I started going back to my favourite classes at my gym.

I also bought a Fitbit in September, this I found really motivated me to get moving! Not only could I see how little steps I was doing on a normal day but also I began a food diary. Even though I wasn't eating meat I was still consuming a lot of food haha!!

I walk to and from the gym too which is a 2 mile walk each way! Great for the Fitbit steps ;-)

It has been a slightly slow process but I'm soo pleased with my progress and it motivates me to keep going... I have finally got to just under 9 stone.

In hindsight I wish I had documented this process properly from the start with before and after pictures...

Now I just want to tone up and keep bettering myself and maybe share workout idea, outfits and much more.

Time for a really easy yet healthy vegan recipe, not only is this healthy it's filling and super tasty if I do say so myself!!

I love food like this... fresh and colourful... Feel good food! The sort of food you eat and almost feel proud of yourself for eating, I find food like this motivates me even more to be healthy because it tastes good. 

I personally find the huge issue with healthy eating is that most stuff tastes pretty bad on it's own or prepared in certain ways... Like avocado, it's gross!!! Yet in this salad it's fine because it's with other things and I love the dressing with it. 

Anyway I'm rambling on now with no actual purpose in what I'm saying so here we go:

Ingredients

80g of Cooked Bulgar Wheat (cook to instructions on the packet)

50g of Cucumber

1 Tomato (chopped and diced)

Half an Avocado (chopped and diced)

1 Red Pepper (chopped and diced)

Half a Red Onion (chopped and diced)

Small Handful of Chopped Fresh Coriander

Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Half a Lime

A Pinch of Salt and Pepper

Instructions

1. Mix it altogether

2. Serve

3.Eat

What can I say, I told you it was easy!