Stunt biking

Biking

Saturday was a strange sort of a day.  In the morning a Mum came round to cut all of our hair: Tom first, Matt second and me last - way cheaper than going to a salon and more civilised - none of that stupid salon banter which I hate.

Fennec fox

We then popped along to Seasons for a sausage bap each and then headed up to Ribblehead (a bike ride for Tom and a fast walk for us).  However, it was windy and Tom started to cry and wanted to go home.  So home we went.   Our next idea was to do part of the waterfalls walk, but as we were on our way over, I got a call from Kate saying that she was going to take Finn over to Storrs Common for some mountain biking.  We thought this would be the better option.  Kate and Josh (Finn's Mum and Dad) are both keen mountain bikers and take Finn mountain biking quite a lot.  This means that he is good and we thought it would do Tom well to see him in action - might give him some more confidence.  So we went back home, got Tom and Matt their bikes whilst I walked.

Golden pheasant

We got there and were very impressed with Finn's ability.  Tom followed suit and to be fair to him tried really hard and got a bit braver.  Unfortunately, he had a spill going over a ramp and landed with a bump on his head.  He was wearing his helmet, but he hit his forehead - right in the middle.  He cried and complained about his leg - didn't mention his head!  It blew up significantly - he got a great bruise.  After a packet of chocolate raisins, he got back on his bike and continued.  We were really proud of him as his spill must have hurt.

Fred and Frank came along as well for a while.  Frank (only 2) is completely fearless and threw himself down various ramps and hills.  Tom was the least brave, but to be fair to him he had had a major spill and he did eventually do all the ramps - just took him longer to get the courage together.  Anyway after a couple of aborted attempts we had a really good afternoon.

Sumatran tiger

Sunday, we finally got to the zoo.  It was cold, but dry and we got there around 10.30 which meant that we had the place more or less to ourselves.  We did a full circuit: tigers, jaguars, lions, snow leopard, hippos, rhinos and giraffes.  By then we were freezing so we headed to the restaurant for a hot lunch, where we happened to bump into Janine and family from the village (small world - hey?!).  We then did the big bird house (Tom wasn't afraid of the free-range emus this time which was a huge improvement) and then back to the big cats to watch the tigers and jaguars get fed.  It is quite a spectacle here as they hang the meat on nails on top of trees so the cats have to climb the trees to get it.  It was over in a second, but worth seeing.

We spent a good 4 hours there (time just seems to fly there) before returning.  Tom had a good sleep in the car, ready for school tomorrow.  A really good day out.