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Menopausal in Canada

March 21, 2016 27 Comments Filed Under: Travel, Uncategorized

I’m sitting at the desk of my hotel room in Montreal, Canada. I’ve called the front desk and ask them how to use the heating, how to turn it down.

‘What temperature would you like it?’ purrs the receptionist.
‘Er… 17ºC.’
’17ºC? Are you sure because that’s pretty chilly.’

It’s minus zero outside. There’s snow on the ground. I can see why they are surprised. I’m walking around without a coat on half the time.
I’m going to write about the excellent food and the exhilarating travel and all that stuff don’t you worry. But what I really want to write about is my menopause.
Nobody ever talks about the menopause. Except me. I talk about it literally all the time. I just spent a week in New York telling EVERYONE I’m menopausal, to my daughter’s eye-rolling embarrassment.
Now I’m travelling through Canada… on the face of it to report on maple syrup… but really to talk about being menopausal. Last week I went to a famous Montreal bagel place and I talked to a guy who works there.
I’m fanning myself…

‘I’m menopausal,’ I explain to him.
He nods. ‘Hot flash, huh?’ (That’s what North Americans call hot flushes.)
‘My wife has that.’
‘How old is she?’
’65.’
‘Sixty five?’ I groan. ‘I keep hearing that it goes on for years.’
‘Yeah, she’s had it ten years.’

I’m so tired. I didn’t sleep last night because I’m so hot and I’m on the 14th floor and you can’t open a window. In Halifax I had to ask to change room because of the heat. ‘All the heating is centrally regulated,’ said that receptionist. They moved me to the cold wing. It was damp and grey. It suited me perfectly.
On the train from Halifax to Quebec City I’d sit on the top deck, the coolest place on the train.
I spoke to other passengers about how overheated the houses and hotels are in winter over here. My lips are chapped and my nose is full of crusty sores. On the inside.

One man said, ‘I grew up in a house where it was 16ºC all winter. If we were cold my parents would tell me to put a sweater on.’
‘That’s what my parents would say too,’ joined in another guy. We were all middle aged.

My parents were of the put-on-a-jumper school of ecology. I loathed it. Somehow my daughter has also turned into that person. A recent visitor said, ‘you’ve got the coldest house I’ve ever been to’.

Let me describe a hot flush. It starts from the collarbones, up the neck, to the face. You feel slightly desperate, claustrophobic, like you want to rip your clothes off. A film of sweat forms upon your face. Sometimes it is accompanied by nausea. It lasts maybe five minutes. With me it happens hourly. It’s exhausting.
I’m not on HRT. I’m trying to white knuckle it through because I’ve been told that when you stop taking HRT, the menopause starts up again. Last year the doctor gave me anti-depressants, saying it would help control the hot flushes. And it did, for about three months. Plus it cheered me up. My daughter said she’d never seen me so positive. But the flushes started again and with a vengeance. I’m wearing super strength deodorant because all that sweating…. it makes you smelly. But it comes to something when doctors put you on psychiatric medicine (which is effectively what anti-depressants are) in order to deal with the physical effects of ageing.

I’ve recently discovered the existence of brown fat. Brown fat is good fat that makes you thin. It’s located around the collarbones. Isn’t that odd that this is where hot flushes start? Is there a connection? I read an article about the benefits of brown fat as opposed to white fat, how active brown fat helps us lose weight. It’s derived from muscle. People are fatter now than before and some of this may be down to overheated houses. So to lose weight, turn down the heating and shiver it off.

Sleep is another thing that is disturbed during the menopause. I never sleep a night through nowadays. You wake several times every night and always between 3 and 4am.
I never minded light either but now need total darkness (and in fact that is good for your fertility). I’ve become photophobic. Is this another menopausal thing?
There are so many aspects of the female experience that come as a shock when it happens to you. Miscarriages for instance. You think you just lose a baby and that’s it. Nobody mentions that it’s a three month bleedathon. It’s horrendous, even physically, not mentioning the grief.

The menopause makes you age fast. I feel I’ve aged ten years in the last year. My hair is dry. I wake up looking like I’ve had an electric shock, two rough matted red brillo pads either side of my head. You know old lady hair? I used to look at old ladies and think their hair looked so shit because they’d been perming it. (Old ladies in my time always had a white bubble perm.) I can now inform you, from my own experience, it’s because of the menopause. It’s as if you lose the elasticity in your hair and skin. I’ve always had greasy hair. I’ve never used moisturiser. What is happening?

I’ve just arrived at my hotel in Toronto. At the front desk I ask, ‘can you turn the heating down in my room?’ I haven’t even got in there yet. It’s at 18ºC and that feels nicely fresh now.

Why do we live past the menopause? Anthropologists have developed the grandma theory; that older women are needed to help raise children. Societies whose families stay with their matrilineal grandmothers have better outcomes when it comes to the health of their children.
Is it my imagination that nobody talks about the menopause? Or have I just tuned out when they were?

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anonymous

    March 21, 2016 at 11:17 pm

    Really interesting. Hotel rooms can be infuriatingly hot sometimes, so I can imagine the problem.

    Reply
    • Kerstin Rodgers aka MsMarmiteLover

      March 22, 2016 at 9:15 pm

      and the lack of ventilation…especially when they are in a tower block.

      Reply
  2. Caroline

    March 21, 2016 at 11:31 pm

    Do you have any issues with Itchy scalp OR Worse A sore Scalp ? like you have had your hair up all day in a ponytail and then released it ? 🙁

    Reply
    • Kerstin Rodgers aka MsMarmiteLover

      March 21, 2016 at 11:44 pm

      Itchy scalp yes.

      Reply
    • Amanda

      March 22, 2016 at 2:24 pm

      Try sleeping with a sheet underneath your duvet; then when you get hot, you can take off the duvet but still have something covering you, so you don't fall asleep and then wake up freezing

      Reply
    • janice15

      March 22, 2016 at 4:47 pm

      I get that at times soreness

      Reply
    • janice15

      March 22, 2016 at 5:46 pm

      Lol, I'm sorry I had to laugh through the whole thing. I'am 58 now and finally I no longer have a period, I thought it never go away. And I swear I been in menopause for years sopince maybe 35. My mom would laugh a say her and her girlfriend had theres until like me and Id want to cry I was like God plz no. But I be darned I sure did. I was o. Fire forever lol.. And believe it or not I swear I still go through the issue of having a period. And hot flashes. I take liquid vitamin B complex. It is good for our female things. One thing my mom did tell me stay away from the dr. And there solutions. She took something called change of life. Some kind of herbs. Good luck… Happy spring, with love Janice

      Reply
    • Kerstin Rodgers aka MsMarmiteLover

      March 22, 2016 at 9:08 pm

      Amanda yes good idea. Although I spend all night throwing off bed clothes then pulling them up again. Not great for sleep either.

      Reply
    • Kerstin Rodgers aka MsMarmiteLover

      March 22, 2016 at 9:11 pm

      Janice. That's the thing, it all takes so long.
      I took something herbal but it made it even worse, I felt so nauseous.
      Rumour has it Japanese women don't get the change because they eat so much soy which is oestrogen. Is this actually true or just a myth?
      Do I have any Japanese readers?
      I eat a lot of tofu.

      Reply
  3. Sarah

    March 22, 2016 at 3:44 am

    I'm reading this because I woke up overheated in the middle of the night in Barcelona. Only because I'm in a small room and I've been drinking and my body heat has made it too hot. The heating isn't on. But I feel like it's helped with the empathy reading your post!

    Thank you for writing about this (and about miscarriages), I wish it was all less of a taboo subject.

    Reply
    • Kerstin Rodgers aka MsMarmiteLover

      March 22, 2016 at 9:02 pm

      You are probably ovulating. When I was trying to get pregnant, I charted for two years which was very interesting. Those sweaty nights, when your temperature rises, is bang on ovulation, best time to get pregnant. Check your mucus also.
      Thanks Sarah. It's kind of close to the bone to write about this. Because I'm admitting that I'm of a certain age, and we all know that as well as sexism, worse than sexism actually, is ageism. Men get it too but not as bad as women.

      Reply
  4. Amy Rowan-Buckley

    March 22, 2016 at 7:10 am

    Hot flushes, terrible full body itching, hair thinning, insomnia, forgetfulness, dry skin, dry hair (but I still have oily roots – jeez!!), reduced libido, anxiety attacks, rapid weight gain, aching joints, vaginal atrophy, osteoporosis… ain't menopause just fab!! And don't you hate those women in their 40s who say "oh I can't wait for my menopause, I'm so fed up with periods"?! You have my sympathy. Seriously, get HRT. It's like a miracle. Failing that, sage tincture for the hot flushes.

    Reply
    • Kerstin Rodgers aka MsMarmiteLover

      March 22, 2016 at 9:05 pm

      The forgetfulness is scary: do I have early alzheimers I keep wondering. Especially after seeing that movie Still Alice.
      I hate those bloody women that say oh I just swam through it… or Davina McCall saying 'I feel reborn as a woman'.
      Thinking of HRT….

      Reply
    • Amy Rowan-Buckley

      March 29, 2016 at 12:30 pm

      Re Davina – did she say that?! Reborn as an itchy, arthritic goat maybe!! Bet she was lying.
      Honestly, without HRT I reckon I'd be a wreck. Definitely worth looking into.

      Reply
    • Kerstin Rodgers aka MsMarmiteLover

      March 29, 2016 at 1:06 pm

      LOL

      Reply
  5. Nic M

    March 22, 2016 at 8:56 am

    I'm trying to duke it out too.

    My skin feels too tight as if I've been through a hot wash every night. It's tight and scaly and itchy. I feel kinship with our pet Ackie lizard when he walks around with a skirt of dead skin hanging from his waist.

    My feet have grown hooves. When I sandpaper them every night, I shrink 2mm.

    My hair has gone from a thick, shining lion's mane to dry hair that sticks out in a triangular shape. I could weep, it was GOOD hair.

    My eyes are dry and I had to give up contacts after developing bilateral corneal ulceration and nearly losing my sight. My eye consultant said my corneas resemble the surface of the moon, they're so scarred, and he has worked hard to get them smooth again. Oh, and my mebium glands packed up so I have to massage my eyelids with a hot pack every night. Having Sjogrens syndrome develop last year hasn't helped.

    I go from 0-100 temper-wise in the blink of a (dried up) eye. My language is terrible. I have become super creative in the use and creation of profane adverbs never heard before. I have become slightly calmer these last few months, I am hoping this means that things are settling down but with the menopause, YOU NEVER KNOW.

    I was 42 when mine began to rumble. They start earlier in our family. My daughter has to try and build an adult life which *might* include children in the knowledge that she probably won't have the time other women do.

    Reply
    • Kerstin Rodgers aka MsMarmiteLover

      March 22, 2016 at 9:06 pm

      Yes I have the hooves.
      I never had good hair but now it's beyond a joke.
      Yes get your daughter to have babies. Men don't really matter, just get the babies.

      Reply
  6. Kitchen Diva

    March 22, 2016 at 10:16 pm

    Thanks as always for a post which is both funny and true in equal measure…I can however tell you, as I approach my 60th birthday, that it does end, and mercifully, once it does, the horrid details are hard to remember (along with many other bits of information!). Like you, I spent the first year or so determined to tough it out, but in the end, my wonderful empathetic female doctor convinced me that a low dose HRT was worth a try. In her words 'don't tell me if this choice had been available to our grandmothers that they wouldn't have taken advantage of it!' It was, for me, the best decision I could have made…but we are all of course, different.

    Reply
    • Kerstin Rodgers aka MsMarmiteLover

      March 23, 2016 at 1:44 am

      Just spoke to another friend who said 'don't do HRT, it leads to breast cancer'.
      It's all so confusing.
      My main weapon against the menopause at present is my cardigan. I also carried a fan in my handbag but it wore out.
      I must visit Australia! x

      Reply
  7. bjj

    March 25, 2016 at 6:03 pm

    Brilliant post. I have been on tamoxifen or letrozole tablets since 2005 to prevent breast cancer reoccuring – this puts you instantly into the menopause. It is truly horrible and should not be such a taboo subject. I wake up in the night literally drenched in sweat and then a few minutes later freezing cold. My husband recently had a bug which caused him to have hot flushes for 2 whole nights – no sympathy from me – told him he could complain when he had put up with them for 10 years.

    I now only wear layers that can easily be removed and put back on again without giving the appearance that I am about to do a striptease. I don't know about anyone else but my layers have to come off almost instantly – it is so unbearable.

    Reply
    • Kerstin Rodgers aka MsMarmiteLover

      March 29, 2016 at 10:38 am

      Yes I sometimes get unreasonably cold too.
      Layers is the answer.
      Poor you, must have been a terrible shock.
      x

      Reply
  8. Elinor Hill aka Beachhutcook

    March 27, 2016 at 6:32 pm

    I feel I'm at the moment when I know menopause is coming but I'm not quite a fully paid up member yet. I've noticed that I no longer can tolerate stuff I used to, not sure if that's age/experience or menopause but I am more irritated these days! As for hot flushes, my darling friend who had this very early used to carry a fan which I thought was wonderfully coy and alluring. Elinor x

    Reply
    • Kerstin Rodgers aka MsMarmiteLover

      March 29, 2016 at 10:36 am

      I carried a fan last year…used it so much it broke. Must buy another.

      Reply
  9. Elizabeth

    March 28, 2016 at 11:38 pm

    My worst experience was having a hot flash while seat-belted into a car, driving down a highway, wearing a heavy winter coat. There was no way to escape! All of this rings true – the claustrophobic, panicky feeling, the sweat soaked pajamas in the middle of the night that make you break out in shivering. I took wild yam capsules (the herb) which didn't take hot flashes away completely but made them less intense. You have to take it on a regular basis, not just when you are having the flashes. Also, I found alcohol makes it worse. Thanks for posting about something many of us women can personally relate to.

    Reply
    • Kerstin Rodgers aka MsMarmiteLover

      March 29, 2016 at 10:36 am

      I've had that. Hot flushes when driving…awful. I make sure I don't wear coats in the car anymore.

      Reply
  10. Jana

    May 16, 2016 at 12:13 pm

    Thank you! I am 42 now and I have been wondering about how it all starts, but there is nil information around. My menstrual cycle has turned goofy over the past two years – comes much more often, and heavily, but is mostly over after two days. Is that part of it, too? Is this the beginning? How does menstruation fade out? When will I finally stop bleeding? When may I stop taking contraception? etc. pp. Are there any books you'd recommend?

    Reply
    • Kerstin Rodgers aka MsMarmiteLover

      May 17, 2016 at 2:09 am

      Hi Jana,
      42 would be quite young to start the menopause. What age did your mum and grandmother start? You could be perimenopausal.
      Prior to the menopause, periods become incredibly heavy. I had one five week period where it was literally falling out of me, I couldn't leave the house. Then it starts to become very irregular (easier to tell if you've always been regular like me) and the odd massive bleeder. Eventually it stops. Sometimes you can actually feel your ovaries trying to gear up into action, ovulation can be a bit more painful.
      As for contraception I wouldn't give it up. Officially you are through the menopause when you've gone a year without periods, you can get this checked at the doctor. However there are plenty of stories of women who think they are no longer fertile suddenly getting pregnant. Books; Leslie Kenton and Gail Sheehy and Dr Christiane Northrup have written about the menopause.

      Reply

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MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

This is my food and travel blog, with recipes, reviews and travel stories. I also stray into politics, feminism, gardening.

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Instagram post 2197363265541840970_28574231 On this wet and windy day of a December general election I think back to my trip to northern Italy in October. Piedmont is renowned for the religious architecture. Do visit Sacro Monte di Varallo, perhaps at Halloween, as it is one of the spookiest places I’ve ever visited. On a misty hillside, hovering gloomily above the small town of Varallo Sesia, (painted in 18th century Farrow and Ball type colours as ordered by the local council), there are 45 chapels. It’s kind of a mini-pilgrimage (and located on the Camino San Carlo which joins up with the Camino de Santiago), with pathways and gardens winding through small separate buildings. Each one has a screen through which you can peer at wooden or plaster models of religious scenes or animals. You could spend a whole day just wandering around enjoying the gothic atmosphere, the Italianate buildings and the nature. The cable car to ascend is just opposite a 15th century temple Santa Maria Delle Grazie which has a painted altar screen taking up the whole breadth of the church dividing the public space from an area where nuns worship. I saw a couple of ancient nuns bustling around in the wax-scented candlelit murk. The wooden screen, called a tramezzo, is painted by renaissance artist Gaudenzio Ferrari, influenced by Da Vinci.  I will be hosting a #new years eve supperclub using inspiration I got from piedmont - #hazelnut #risotto and #tiramisu  Book here at this link.  http://www.edibleexperiences.com/p/69/The-Underground-Restaurant/5088672055/New-Years-Eve-2019-supper-club. ^. #travel #italy #piedmont #northernitaly🇮🇹 #foodietraveller #rain #mist #religiousarchitecture #halloween #spooky #supperclub
Instagram post 2195951100410859500_28574231 Budapest Hungary. It is worth visiting a city twice. I saw things I didn’t see in January- the ruin pubs for instance, named so because they are often situated in old ruined buildings. They reminded me of squat parties- that same energy. I enjoyed the Hungarian crafts, needlework in bright colours, red enamel, Russian dolls. I revisited the famous baths in the park. The buildings are ornate, with filigree, ironmongery, balconies, painted plaster work. My favourite thing is photo walks: snapping and walking- getting exercise while being creative. 🍒🎄🍷#travel #iphonography #photography #nationalcostume #red #ruins #hungary #budapest #citylife #easterneurope #szechenyibaths #szimplakert #spa #supperclub #solotravel #femaletravelbloggers
Instagram post 2195198865561146131_28574231 A walk around Hampstead, one of London’s most charming districts, traditionally full of writers, intellectuals and artists, on Saturday. True it’s mostly bankers that can afford to live there now but it’s still full of stories, tiny alleyways, historic architecture, crooked houses, cemeteries crumbling with famous tombs, churches, fresh air (as it’s on a hills), tiny shops and cafes, and the Dickensian Christmas spirit. One street- all the doors had wreaths made of conkers. I did 13k steps but offset these by drinking hot chocolate and mulled wine. #christmas #wreaths #hampstead #northlondon #londonwalks #londonhistory #supperclub #nearme #igtravel
Instagram post 2193008073182743287_28574231 Next supperclub is New Year’s Eve: http://www.edibleexperiences.com/p/69/The-Underground-Restaurant/5088672055/New-Years-Eve-2019-supper-club tickets £65 BYO champagne. It will have two themes: Piedmont and Galicia. 
It’s time. *
 #reddoor #christmas #wreath #stainedglasswondow #edwardianarchitecture #london #british #englishfrontdoor #supperclub #msmarmitelover #christmasdecorations🎄
Instagram post 2192170307716904689_28574231 Drinking gluvein in Vienna Christmas market on a stopover during the @AMAwaterways river cruise on the Blue Danube. Tonight I’m making mulled cider for my cooking class at Willesden Library, starts 6.30, only £3 to get in. Basically I like anything mulled. Just got @aldiuk coffee cream liqueur and I even mull that- via using it in coffee instead of milk.  What does mulled mean? “Mulled wine originated in the 2nd century. It was created by the Romans who would heat wine to defend their bodies against the cold winter. As the Romans conquered much of Europe throughout the next century, their love for mulled wine spread across their empire and the regions they traded with.” To mull something over is to think about it. To mull wine is to warm it. So it’s something that is slow, steeped, warmed, sweetened, with added spices.  I’ve been travelling so much lately and am slowly writing it all up and testing recipes and dishes that I discovered in various places- my travel is a kind of food anthropology. I love 💓 travelling and discovering new places. I’d happily travel all the time. I’m an empty nester now and while I love london, I don’t need to be here, except to do the odd themed supperclub where I try out all my new recipes on guests.  Discover more behind my travels on Msmarmitelover.com and you can also book for my supperclub there or directly with @edible_exp I’m the original supperclub chef and hostess, the original underground restaurateur! I wrote the book on it- supper club, notes and recipes from the underground restaurant published by Harper Collins. I’m proud to have started a movement that has benefitted female and BAME cooks so much.  Eat the revolution! Long may it continue!  #traveller #chef #christmasmarket #vienna #bluedanube #gluvein #mulledwine #christmasdrinking #supperclubs #supperclubchef #msmarmitelover #travelwriter #foodwriter #recipewriter #christmasselfie #wearingred #travelpr invite me on trips!
Instagram post 2189276090585638215_28574231 Aranzata, a sardinian Christmas treat went down well at last nights supperclub - there are none left! Candied orange peel but candied with honey rather than sugar, mixed with almonds and a little wild fennel.  Recipe:  Peel off the orange peel of an orange, taking care to eliminate any of the white pith. Place in a pan of cold water and bring to the boil. Do this 4 times, discarding the water each time. Then dry the peel on a tea towel. Put back in the pan and cover with honey. Add peeled almonds finely chopped lengthways. Simmer and stir until the honey is absorbed into the peel. Take a rubber/plastic chocolate mould and press in a teaspoon of the mixture in each hole. Leave to set and cool. Unmould the little pucks of pleasure. I added some candied fennel seeds that I got from @souschefuk , ground them up and scattered over the top. Serve at the end of the meal with coffee.  #sardinianrecipes #suppervlub #christmas #christmassweets #orangesweets #honey #travelrecipes #recipesfromitaly #recipesfromabroad #msmarmitelover #supperclubchef #theundergroundrestaurant #london #inspiredbysardinia
Instagram post 2188551047903786506_28574231 Torta de Santiago, the finished recipe. I will be serving it tonight at my Sardinian supperclub - it isn’t Sardinian but Galician but this is turning into a sardo-Galician fusion event! Recipe up soon on the blog. #gluten-free #cake #msmarmitelover #supperclub #caminodesantiago #travelrecipes #galicia #sardinia #igfood #inspiredbytravel
Instagram post 2186581155877038874_28574231 Made a torta de Santiago today, inspired by doing the Camino de Santiago. It’s gluten-free, made with almonds rather than flour. I ate this as part of the ‘pilgrims menu’ all along the trail. They were vastly different in quality- often rather dry and dull. The best I had in actual Santiago de compostella, made ‘casera’ Spanish for home-made. It was sticky and rich. Equal proportions eggs, almond meal and caster sugar, with a pinch of salt, cinnamon and orange zest. I bought the traditional metal crosses at a hardware store in Santiago, one of my favourite lurking places when travelling. I will place one on top of the tart and powder the top with icing sugar, leaving an imprint of the cross. I bought this yellow bowl, a Galician craft, at a shop in Santiago.
#travel #baking #msmarmitelover #santiagodecompostela #caminoway #walking #hiking #dessert #spanishrecipes #spanishdessert #galicianrecipes #glutenfree @caminoways
Instagram post 2183492230186882117_28574231 Horse drawn carriage in Vienna known as a ‘fiaker’. The drivers are famous for being particularly grumpy which is a Viennese quality. It’s about 50 euros a ride. This is the second time I’ve visited Vienna, and I think it’s one of my favourite cities. The architecture, the coffee houses, the dirndl dresses, the art of Klimt and shiele. Right now I’m on a river cruise on the blue Danube with @amawaterways from Vienna to Budapest. This is a double wide luxury cruise. You can see the golden trees of autumn lining the banks and beaches. The ship sways in the night, you hear the waves lap against the sides (I always keep the door open to hear the night). Today we arrive in Budapest. I have to admit this is a night respite after my arduous Camino walk. Still behind on notes and blogposts and recipes from my travels but I love to be perpetually on the move. Bruce Chatwin says the natural state of a human being is to be nomadic. I rather agree. #traveller #igtravel #bluedanube #rivercruise #easterneurope #danube #vienna #msmarmitelover #foodietraveller #sachertorte recipe coming up on my return #horses #austria
Instagram post 2181973256383167209_28574231 Follow the yellow arrow and the shell. Arrival at #santiagodecompostela ‘st James of the field of stars’ 💫 after doing the pilgrims Camino - 130 kms walking. It’s taken me several days to get over it physically but I feel immersed in autumn and ‘forest bathed’. All my thoughts, photos and adventures coming up on the blog soon. I definitely recommend doing this. But my advice is: even if it’s raining and you aren’t thirsty, drink water. First rule of catering is, if you’re feet are sore, you aren’t drinking enough- I ignored this. Buy waterproof lightweight boots for cold weather but keep them loose as your feet expand as you walk. Buy anti blister socks- yes that’s a thing. Wear 2 pairs of socks: one thin merino wool or anti blister and one thick merino wool. Buy a rain cape which will cover your bag and camera. Train before you go- not just on flat but on hills- much of the Camino is hilly. Take toilet paper or wet wipes. Take a spare pair knickers. Take a walking stick or buy one there . Most things you need you can buy on the Camino. Take a strong bag on a string or a fanny pack for easy access to pilgrims passport for stamps; water; phone/camera. Stretch before and after. Keep to your own pace- sometimes it feels like a competition but it isn’t- we all have our own rythym and pace- when you arrive at the cathedral it doesn’t matter how long it took you to get there- you did it. Don’t rush- if you get injured your Camino is finished. #walkthisway #followtheshell #caminodesantiago #msmarmitelover #msmarmite #hiking #Spain #pilgrimage #santiagodecompostella #theway #fitness #pace #selfcare #travel #blogger #igtravel
Instagram post 2178475417149561889_28574231 We made it! Hemos llegado! #santiagodecompostella #pilgrims #knackered #camino #cava #msmarmitelover #msmarmite #sisters
Instagram post 2177561799364984754_28574231 Not gonna lie, this has been physically very tough. As my sister says ‘ we are from an indoors family from an indoors country’. Yesterday I did the longest day yet- officially 18km- but I did 35,000 steps! I’m small so I have a small step. So I converted steps into km and I did 27 km. that’s what it felt like. My legs throbbed all night, I had to take paracetamol to get to sleep. Have I had any life changing thoughts? Or spiritual revelations? Not a one. Well, maybe one which is I must get fitter. I mustn’t stop after this pilgrimage. I must get my health in order. Being freelance and working mostly on my own, it’s had to give myself time to look after myself. To assign time for fitness. Being freelance means never ending guilt about not searching for work. Never having stress free time off, as you don’t get paid holidays, sick pay or paid during national holidays such as Christmas. There is always a certain level of low key stress. Of keeping your self esteem up when you aren’t earning. The envy of others getting lauded for work you have pioneered. But I love my freedom! My opportunities to be creative. #thoughts #freelance #caminodesantiago #hiking #fitness #pilgrimage #spain #galicia #supperclub #rain
Instagram post 2175408625380307897_28574231 I was going to blog every day but the truth is I’m too knackered. I’m doing insta stories and my diary. Day 6. We are only doing about 14 km a day but it’s hard. I’m hobbling by the end. It’s the whole consecutiveness that is so punishing to the body. Oh to be young again. The youngsters are pounding through 30-40 km a day. We get up have coffee and don’t rest for 6 hours. We arrive around 3pm and have a massive drunken menu del dia with jugs of vino tinto. Then I fall asleep. Then I wake up for a bit and charge everything up, make notes, edit pix and sort out outfit for tomorrow. Which is basically the same everyday. I did wash a lot of knickers in the shower today as I was running low. So weather: raining all day. Puts the grim into pilgrim. But I am loving this. Thanks @caminoways #pushingyourself #msmarmitelover #msmarmite #caminodesantiago #caminofrances #camino #walking #pilgrimage #spain #galicia #greedypilgrim #stjames #followtheshell
Instagram post 2173661800793301108_28574231 Persimon and pumpkin soup, recipe up on the blog now. Msmarmitelover.com the great thing about doing the #caminodesantiago in #November is that the trail isn’t crowded, the weather is cool, and you see #pumpkinpatches everywhere which are always like something out of a #fairytale. Here they serve sopa de Galicia which is always prepared with meat stock, usually chicken. I so want soup on the Camino. When I get home I’m going to devise a #vegetarian #galiciansoup #buencamino #recipe #soup #pumpkin #squash #fall #autumnvibes🍁 #autumnfood #foodietraveller #greedypilgrim @caminoways @spanishpersimon #traveller #hiker #walker
Instagram post 2172857478425645569_28574231 The Camino to Santiago. While November isn’t the most popular month, and there is certainly rain, the landscape, the nature and colours of the countryside are so vibrant it’s like being on an acid trip. Nature at its most vivid: acorns with their fairy cups, bronze oak leaves and rusty ferns, mushrooms frilly with gills, apples 🍎 on the bough tumbling into sky blue rivulets, giant pumpkins in a patch, moss covered walls, dolmens and menhirs, rooves covered with slate like fish scales, lichen and donkeys, horses, spiney umbrellas like an opened coquille de St Jacques, cows called Luna. I did 14 km today my first day and that was enough. I fell asleep in front of the fire at the #albergue this is a #presstrip with @caminoways #galicia #greedypilgrim #caminodesantiago #msmarmitelover @advantagesofage @imogen_rodgers_1 #autumn #spain #walking #hiking #travel #contemplation #pushingyourself
Instagram post 2169866030516446893_28574231 Persimon Pani puri recipe up on the blog Msmarmitelover.com a street food which includes a flavour spectrum- sour, sweet, salty, hot, spicy, refreshing, crunchy, wet and dry, fruity and carby. Making the Puri from scratch took a couple of goes to get right but actually isn’t hard. #supperclub #msmarmitelover #msmarmite #spanishpersimon #vegetarian #vegan #recipe #chaat #streetfood #indiansnacks #canape #diwali
Instagram post 2169277948175951209_28574231 Overlooking the river at #vallaro in piedmont. Nearby was #sacroMonte, a hilltop religious monument with 45 chapels, each containing strange plaster statues of animals and saints, 800 of them.
Instagram post 2167511482116167199_28574231 Persimon fruit leather (the easiest EVER as it has so much pectin- just purée it, add sweetness spread on a silpat and in cool oven for a few hours), rolled into a pinwheel with bergamot zest and mint and goats cheese, a delicious canapé. This was served at last nights #persimon #supperclub for #Halloween on behalf of @spanishpersimon . Next week I’m going to Valencia to visit the farm.  #msmarmitelover #msmarmite #singleingredientmenus #fruit #vegetarian #canapé #christmascanapes #canapeideas
Instagram post 2166825702523830758_28574231 I’ve been working with persimon fruit for the last 3 weeks, pushing the envelope with what we can do with persimons other than just eat them like apples. And guess what? I still like them, I’m not bored. They are a wonderful autumn winter seasonal fruit. They are also really good for you. #VitC #fibre #5aday, #potassium #iron #calcium #betacarotene #vitA #7aday #manganese #B6 #supperclub #halloween #fruit
Instagram post 2166106717029345626_28574231 The creamy interior of a baked Camembert offset by persimons from Spain. This is the cheese course from my Halloween supperclub for @spanishpersimon this Thursday. #supperclub #persimmon #persimon #sharonfruit #kaki #cheese #camembert #bakedcheese #halloween #spanishfruit #igfood #autumnvibes🍁
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