So the Smyths said goodbye on Friday morning (we were very sad to see them go) and then I did a quick spot of laundry and had the bedclothes clean ready for our next visitor, Craig who was coming up for the Tour de France which was having its Grand Depart in Yorkshire. The region has been gearing up for this for over a year with yellow sheep all over the place last year and all the villages prettying themselves up with yellow bikes, red dots etc this year. They really put a lot of effort into it - we saw this for ourselves in Hawes last week.
Anyway, Craig came with his bike and cycled up to Buttertubs (the other side of Hawes - one of the mountain climbs). I looked into going somewhere to spectate, but the general theme in the information on the internet said arrive at 4am or park miles away and cycle in. Neither being great with a 5 year old. Also we needed to be in Lancaster at 5pm to pick up Jude, so we gave up and decided to watch it on the telly instead. The crowds certainly did turn out, as did the sunshine so the Yorkshire landscape looked fantastic. On speaking to people it wasn't so bad to go and view - so if there is next time we will try to go.
As we had the day free and needed to end up in Lancaster we decided to head to Glasson Dock for the day (where Matt's Gran was born). We found a greasy spoon so had lunch (Tom ended up with the biggest - how did that happen?) We then headed out for a circular walk, however, we were thwarted by some very frisky cows in a field we had to cross. They insisted on standing between us and the fence we needed to get to. I was scared, Tom was scared and I think Matt was quite nervous too, so we gave up and headed back to the town. My hay fever had set in by then so I was quite pleased to be heading back. We stopped off at a smokehouse for a browse and then headed inside a pub for some cider to try to revive me. Tom was looking sleepy by now, but couldn't settle to sleep in the pub (even though there was a very comfy sofa to stretch out on) so we headed to the car, and drove to the industrial estate to look at single beds for Tom. Tom fell asleep within minutes, we ended up sat in the car park for a while whilst he snored away, then went for a look at beds and rejected all of them (will he ever get a new bed?). Problem is that we are looking for a particular bed which doesn't seem to exist.
Anyhow at 5pm Jude arrived so we went to the train station to meet her - she got a long running hug - always a nice greeting. We headed home where we found Craig and all sat down to a Japanese curry.
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| Spitfire in the car park |
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| Sergeant Major |
On Sunday Matt played cricket, so Jude, Craig, Tom and I stayed in the village to enjoy the 1940s weekend. We went for a walk around, watched a pipe band and then headed into a cafe for a drink. We then saw the parade of military vehicles - guess who we see: Rob and Caroline and the boys - with a truck, a jeep and the tank. We headed up to find them.
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| In the jeep |
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| How many children can you fit on a lap? |
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| Dakota flypast |
Tom managed to get himself a seat in the jeep and then on top of the tank. We watched the 'troops' be inspected by a fantastic looking sergeant major, and Winston Churchill and then some dancing. There was then a battle in the park between the Germans and French - this didn't go down well with Tom - he cried as the sub-machine gun started up and that was it - I had to remove him. Oh hum! We then went to a pub for a drink, saw a Dakota fly overhead - it did 3 fly passes which was great, and then met up with the Atkinsons again for another play on the vehicles before heading back. Craig and Jude then went home, Tom and I had a mushroom based tea, Tom went to bed and Matt came home from cricket very stiff after bowling 6 overs and making 79 - his best performance to date.
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