Easter Holidays - Part 1

Tuesday
Tuesday we had a great day.  We picked up Luca and Julie in the morning and headed over to Lancaster and Salt Ayre sports centre which we have never been to before.   It was inflatable session in the swimming pool and although Settle do run them from time to time, they are always over subscribed and that is all you can do, there is no space for swimming, messing about etc.  At Lancaster you can book in advance and they had it all including a curly wurly slide.  Luca is in the class above Tom, but they have very similar characters so they get on really really well.  They got in and Julie and I had a natter.  The session went very well, I had heard on the grapevine that it can get boisterous (Salt Ayre is on the border of Lancaster and Morecambe, and Morecambe has a reputation shall we say), however everyone was beautifully behaved - didn't see any incidents at all.  In fact the only thing of note to happen was that whilst play fighting in the pool, Tom took a kick to the chest from Luca and cried.  It was the end of 2 hours of play so I think it was more that he was tired and hungry than upset, by the time I got him to calm down the children had been called out of the pool for the end of the session, so that was that.  Oh hum.

It was 1.30 by the time they got dressed etc, so we went looking for lunch, Julie suggested Halton - where there is a big Community Centre with a cafe and big playground, so we went there.  The boys went playing whilst we ordered lunch - very very very cheap and decent.  The boys came up and demolished their food (Tom had a jp with beans and cheese - it was inhaled before I finished my beans on toast which is very rare).  They then went for a play in the woods before we realised that really it was getting late and we headed back.

A very good day out - the kids were exhausted and I hadn't chatted for so long in ages!

Wednesday

Tom, Rebecca and Hornet at Barrow

Wednesday was my catch up day.  Tom and Matt had a day out whilst I stayed at home to sort out the kitchen and start my paperwork.  I had a list the length of A4 of things I needed to do.  I didn't get them all done, but I did reclaim the kitchen which was good.

Now over to Matt to talk about their day out...


For once, it was a boys' AND girls' train day. It turns out that one of the Year 5 girls at Ingleton Primary is a train nut, and we got talking to her mum recently. We decided a day out on the trains would be a good way to get to known each other better, and to get Tom and Rebecca talking, which they hadn't up to now.
So, we all bought Cumbria Round Robin tickets, and caught the morning locomotive-hauled service from Lancaster to beautiful Barrow. Until recently, this was always hauled by one of Tom's favourite engines (a vintage class 37), but today it was pulled (and pushed) by modern class 68s, which don't sound as good, but go like stink. Mind you, 7600 hp to propel 3 coaches is serious overkill.

Us with Avro Vulcan at Carlisle

We got to Barrow early, so easily made our connection to the other loco-hauled service, which was pulled by an old class 37, much to Tom's delight. He and Rebecca spent much of the 3 hour journey to Carlisle playing Top Trumps, pausing only to inhale a packed lunch. Sadly, the views weren't great thanks to the ghastly weather, but they yakked away like old friends, which was lovely to see - she's a thoroughly nice girl. No awkward silences between Katie (Rebecca's mum) and me either - very easy company.
Carlisle was freezing cold and blowing a gale, so we didn't linger, deciding to catch the first Pendolino south. Our tickets allowed us a return trip up the Windermere branch, so we went, and were unimpressed. For a line that goes to such a famous holiday destination, there's very little to see en route, mostly newborn lambs freezing in waterlogged fields.
That just left the quick sprint back to Lancaster on another Virgin train, after which I drove us all back to Ingleton, where Tom and Rebecca disappeared upstairs for a good hour, while we adults yakked away in the kitchen.
All in all, a nice day out, and a good way to pass a day of horrible weather. I'm sure we'll be meeting up again.

Thursday

Lady Branch of Bowland

Thursday morning dawned beautiful.  Clear blue skies and not a breath of a breeze.  We had to get out for the morning, so we decided to do the Ingleton Easter Egg Hunt.  I quickly contacted Susan to see if Harrison was free for the morning - he was, and we were off on our way, checking all the eggs to work out the word.  We also took in the playground and went skimming pebbles in the river.  Think we managed to enjoy 3 hours together in the village - ending up with cake at Inglesport, very strange, after the cake, Harrison lost all energy and I had to literally drag him all the way home.  Oh hum, it was a good day until then.

We got home, had lunch and then Tom was picked up by Grandpa for an overnight stay.


Matt and I thought we should take advantage of the good weather and headed over to the Forest of Bowland for a walk.  It was a little boggy - yuck, but it was lovely and a new area we haven't begun to explore yet.  The walk was a little harder than we were expecting and as a result we had to abandon plans for a full on circular walk, but we enjoyed what we did (about 5km) and felt like we had done enough to warrant an ice cream so stopped off at Slaidburn on the way home for one which we ate outside (first of the year!).  Then a quick spruce up and we were out again to Kirkby Lonsdale to the Sun Inn for posh nosh.  We were hoping for the tasting menu which is 4 small courses of lovely food, however, they have stopped doing this so we just had the one course.  Duck for me and Steak for Matt - all lovely, but the 4 courses would have been better.  Then home to a quiet house.

Whernside and Ingleborough from Bowland Knotts

Friday
Tom was returned to us at 11am.  The plan was to have lunch and then head over to Luca's as was planned on Tuesday, but Julie had double booked us, so as we had already spent time with them, we bowed out.  Instead we went to Bernies for lunch and then had a slow afternoon, which consisted of sorting out our spice cupboard, playing snakes and ladders and watching nature documentaries.  After tea, we headed to Kirkby Lonsdale as Tom had cricket at QES.  Wow he has certainly improved since last year - bowling and catching particularly.

Saturday
We woke up to a horrible, grey and rainy day.  Tom had footie first thing, he went along happily enough and played really really well for the second time in a row - Matt came home all proud about him which was lovely.  He was rewarded with a hot shower and then we headed to Goat Gap for lunch - the cafe has improved considerably so that it is now on our local hot list of places that are reliable.  (When it opened it was terrible - over priced and a strange selection on the menu)  We both had a cheese scone with a mug of white onion and celeriac soup which was delicious.  Tom had sausage, chips and beans - 3 - yes 3 sausages came his way!!!

In the afternoon, Tom and I went over to the Bickerstaffs whilst Craig visited Matt with his tools (our ground source heat pump has been showing an error and Craig has lots of tools and is very methodically minded when it comes to DIY).  They couldn't find anything wrong but Tom had a good play with the boys and I had a good catch up with Janine and Fiona.

Friendly robin

In the evening we went to the Old Post Office for a quickie and then La Tavernetta for pizza and pasta.  All very nice, it's been a while since we've managed a drink at the Old Post Office - shows we must have been ill.

Egret

Sunday
A grey, cloudy day.  Weren't sure what to do, and ended up heading over to the RSPB place at Leighton Moss.  Had a good day, we aren't bird watchers by any stretch of the imagination, and we can't spot birds as such but can tell a bird of prey when we see one and twitchers by nature seem to be friendly in that they are happy to share their knowledge, so will tell you what is where.  We did a family trail and then went to the hides.  We saw a couple of Marsh Harriers, lots of tits, a Nuthatch (not sure what that one looked like, but found lots of people very excited by it and looked in the general direction)  In fact we spent much longer there than we expected.  Oh Mum - this is one to put on your to do list when you next come as it is completely flat.  We headed to Arnside afterwards for lunch to find our favourite lunch spot closed - NOOOOO!.  The other cafe as a result was full, but we found space in the pub, where they did a deli plate which we ate between the 3 of us.  Didn't take long and was just the right amount of food - phew!

Marsh harrier

Came home, finished off tea (slow cooked ham hock - yumsk) and packed ready for tomorrow...