Malham

Saturday was a nondescript day, we did chores in the morning and then went to Lancaster in the afternoon to pick up some bits for the house.  We couldn't find bits for the house, Tom got very teary and said his tongue was hurting (he had a little ulcer - result of too many light nights and too many meals out and therefore not enough fruit and veg recently I think) and wouldn't be comforted.  So a bit of a waste of time.  Oh well it was a dreary day, so we didn't miss much.

We asked Tom what he wanted to do on Sunday and he said go walking so that is what we did (we don't need much encouragement).  We decided to go to Malham.  We parked at Malham Tarn and walked down to Malham Cove and then to Malham village.  It wasn't an easy walk, first of all there was snow on the ground (we weren't expecting that as we didn't have snow in Ingleton) and secondly it was very rugged - ie lots of rocks to scramble over and quite a downhill gradient.  Tom did us exceptionally proud.  Armed with his new walking stick from Sammie (thanks Sammie) he happily walked with us and didn't complain once, even when he fell over!  

Dalesman Tom

Moo

His only wobble was when we came across a gang of Highland Cows on the path.  We picked him up and walked around them, as soon as we were far enough away from them he was fine and kept turning round to look at them (they do look remarkably like Mammoths - except for the trunk of course) and then when we asked him what his favourite part of the day was he said the Highland Cows.

Limestone Pavement

He scrambled down the hills really well and before too long got to the Limestone pavement at the top of the Cove with a great view down to Malham.  We were very lucky in that there wasn't even a whisper of wind at the top meaning we could enjoy it.  We walked across the top of the cove and found the steps down to the valley.


There were a lot of steps, once again Tom did well apart from when he came across dogs when I had to pick him up - he wasn't liking dogs today.  Almost at the bottom he lost his sense of humour and told me that his knees where hurting (the same complaint we got at Leeds station earlier this week).  He got to the bottom and had a rest whilst I went
to look at the cove.

River Boy

He recovered himself and happily walked the last bit into Malham village where we entered the first pub we saw for Sunday lunch.  Steak pie for me and Scampi and chips for Matt - all shared with Tom.  Matt then repeated the walk back up to the car whilst Tom and I enjoyed a huge portion of crumble and custard (and I wonder why I'm getting so fat?!)


We then went for a play in the river whilst we waited for Matt to return with the car.  For once Tom didn't need any encouragement to play, he waded straight in and played and played in the river, splashing around, it was really great to see.  When we got back to the car he said he wanted to take his wellies off.  I said no as we weren't going far, but then I saw water leaking from the tops of his boots.  Yep, both of them had completely filled up with water, and he hadn't said anything!  We literally poured the water out of his boots, took his socks off and wrung them dry.  When we arrived at our next stop (a farm shop) we had to strip him of his jeans and put him in his emergency trousers (luckily we still have a pair in the car).  Most parents would be annoyed, but we were really proud that at last he is playing and enjoying himself in places like rivers.

He fell asleep on the way home (no surprise there), we all collapsed in the evening, it had been a really good day, he really was a very good boy.

Tom's Latest Sayings:
+ Yikes!
+ Come on you two
+ Gosh
+ I TOLD you... (when we ask him a question more than one time and he thinks he's already answered it)

Oh and when he goes to bed now he likes to choose what number to count to before we turn the light off - sometimes it will be over 30 and he does it fine - he really does like to count at the moment.