Deer Shed

Tents set up

So the holiday started off in style.  They finished school Thursday and on Friday Deer Shed was on and this time Tom didn't have to bunk off school to attend it!

This year we managed to convince Luca and his family to come with us (Luca is in the year above Tom, but they are very similar and Julie and Kevin, his parents very easy to get on with).  Julie is a teacher and originally when she booked she was off on Friday - but her school changed that and asked her to go in for the day.  Knowing how quickly the campsite gets filled, we offered to take both Luca and their tent so we could pitch up next to each other and Tom and Luca get the day to spend together.

Scary Shark?

Julie came by at 8am, gave us Luca and their tent and we gave her our bedding and chairs.  We set off around 9.15 knowing we needed to get there early.  We got to the campsite at 10.30 - it opened at 10am and already there were literally thousands of people and hundreds of tents set up.  The layout had changed, we didn't come in past the glamping and an area which was camping was now the funfair and main stage, we felt a little disorientated at first, but realising where the main stage was, we headed with our trolley full of tent stuff away from it and found some green area with not too many tents to set up on.

Den Building

It was hot, really hot: full on scorching sunshine with no cloud cover - the forecast was for rain today!  Whilst lugging all the camping equipment to the field and putting up the tent it carried on being really really hot.  Matt got dizzy and had to sit down on a number of occasions.  We went through nearly all the drinks we bought with us to keep ourselves hydrated whilst putting up the tents.  Luckily Luca's tent was a airbeam tent so took very little time to erect.  Ours, however, took ages, especially as some of the poles are a bit dodgy now.

Think it took us a good 1.5 hours to get everything ready, then one last trip to the car to get the last bits and pieces and we zipped up and headed to get our wristbands and head into the arena area for food.  The layout was completely different, so it took us a while to get our heads around it.  They had laid out a 'food street' where most of the food vendors were located, we found it straight away.  All the boys opted for mac & cheese, whilst I tried out halloumi tacos which were really rather lovely.

VR Twins

Playing with bales of straw

Then we headed to the sports field.  First stop was cricket (of course) and then we headed to the scooter and bmx area where the boys had a go at the ramps.  Luca was a natural, but Tom found it quite difficult.  The sports area was quite empty so Tom managed to get 1:1 instruction from one of the guys there, and after a bout of tears, he tried again and again until he managed to suss it out. It was all in his head - over thinking it.  Meanwhile Luca was having fun on the half pipe.  Unfortunately it was at this point that rain started, it was light drizzle to start with but got heavier and heavier until the ramps area closed for safety reasons.  Oh and for the first time ever, we managed to book some sessions for Saturday - Luca is very sporty which made it easier as last year the boys we were with were not at all sporty.  We booked kayaking, another go at the scootering, a forensic science activity and tag archery.  We were disappointed as Yorkshire Cricket Club were supposed to be having some sessions, but they pulled out at the last moment.

The boys didn't mind the rain, and headed over to where there was a den making area and made a den, then they went to the crazy golf area and did that in the now pouring rain.  Think they did it about 3 times, until they were soaked through as were we.

We decided we needed to get back to the tents to warm up.  We did so, the boys decided that Kevin and Julie's tent was theirs whilst ours was the adults tent.  There was a lot of giggling coming from their tent.   When the rain ended we headed back out.

We had a look around the science tent - the boys got to have a go with the Greenpeace VR: Luca opted for the Antarctic and Tom the rainforest, they both were very absorbed. Then to the workshops where they each made a plastic bottle fish before deciding that actually playing with hay bales was more fun so they did that whilst Matt visited the bar for the first time and found us both a pint.

Luca and Tom festival ready

Around 7pm we got the call that Julie and Kevin were arriving, so we headed out to them to help them bring their stuff to the campsite and then we headed down to the food street for tea: veggie Tibetan for me, meaty Tibetan for Matt and a hot dog for Tom.  We then headed to the main stage to see the headline act for the night: Drenge who were great - not least for their stage set which included a huge octopus and light-up jelly fish.  Considering the theme of the festival was making waves, it was very apt as well as pretty.  We got out our 'festival sofa' which we bought from China about 6 months ago and the boys had a great night bouncing each other on and off it - kept them busy for hours.  We dragged ourselves to bed around 11.30pm - all of us shattered, and lay in bed listening to people in the silent disco (all listening to music through headphones - but singing along).

Kayaking

It wasn't a great night's sleep - it never is, the first night in a tent.  It was actually very good tenting weather: calm, not too cold and our neighbours were all pretty quiet, so only ourselves to blame for not sleeping well.  We got up around 8am, the boys were straight playing footie, whilst we came too nicely with Julie making a brew.  We then headed down to the arena for breakfast: tacos again for me - yummy ones with sausage and omelette.  Then for a little look around before the boys all went kayaking at 11am.

Tag Archery

Julie and I watched them for a while and then had a look around the workshops and Wilder Wild, before meeting up with them again - they had had a good time, but all were drenched, and looked like they had had accidents, so we headed back to the tents for them to change and then back to the arena for lunch (greek chicken gyros pitta for me, hot dog for Matt, calamari for Tom) .  Then the boys had their scooter lesson (Tom did much better), followed by their forensic science workshop whilst Julie and I made a lavender beach hut cushion each.  Julie and I then did tag archery with Tom and Luca which was loads of fun - basically shooting at people with soft arrows.  We had 3 games and don't think we were particularly good at it but we certainly enjoyed it.

Relaxing

After that, Tom said he was tired, so we headed back to our tent.  Luca and co still wanted to play so they went off and left us to it.  When we got to the tent Tom decided he wasn't tired, but after telling him to cuddle Soffie, he fell asleep very quickly and was out for 1.5 hours which was brilliant.  He didn't exactly wake up full of life, but after a chocolate bar and a fish finger sandwich he cheered up.  Luca, unfortunately was the opposite, without a rest he was miserable and shy and quiet and almost beside himself with tiredness.  Matt had Poutine for tea (Canadian dish - chips with cheese, gravy, beer poached chicken and maple bacon) and I had veggie curry from Ghandi's Flip Flop whilst Tom topped up with some Churros.

Goldfrapp

We headed to the main stage and saw the end of Public Service Broadcasting and then settled down to see Goldfrappe who were really really good.  It was at this point that Luca was at the end of his tether and they had to go back to their tent.  We stayed and Tom got his second wind and we basically danced all the way through Goldfrappe's set - we had a lot of fun and were quite sad when they finished.  We got back to the tent around 11.30.  Luca's tent was dark and quiet (apparently he fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow).

Happy selfie

Dancing?

So I got a proper 4 hour sleep in the tent on Saturday night (formula: 2 pints of cider and 1 whisky cocktail and lots of silly dancing with Tom) and felt ready to take the day on on Sunday.  Matt however, was down with a bad belly and suffering.  It was also mega hot, no cloud cover like yesterday meaning it was scorchio.  We had a slow start to the morning.  After breakfast we headed to a Ukelele workshop where we all learnt to play a Hawaiian song - was good fun.  Then we went to the Wilder Wild for a look around, then we queued up a good hour for a icey cold smoothie each (was gorgeous) then back to the sports field for a game of discus golf.  Matt was really suffering by now.  I felt like I was dragging him round, he obviously didn't want to be there, so we cut our losses and packed up the tent etc.  Took us a good hour, but for the first time ever we got the tent and poles in the tent bag!  We got everything to the car and headed home.  Julie, Luca and Kevin stayed a bit longer.

Relaxing

He slept the whole way home...

We got home in good time, had showers, something to eat and went to bed pretty early.

It was a good weekend, just a shame both of us were ill (I had a cold all weekend and Matt obviously was really quite uncomfortable on Sunday)

School Swot!

So I went to the Small Yorkshire Show at school - my word there were loads of entries.  Most entries had not been done by children - way too neat and perfect.  Tom iced his cake in the morning - I let him do it his way so it was rough and ready.  All the other big cakes were perfectly iced - pahhhhhhh!  We didn't even get placed.  The winning cakes were all carrot cakes - paaaaaaaaaaaa!  I'm not bitter and twisted, but don't think I have ever got placed at a show!

Anyway the (parents of the) school did well.  The Gardening Club has been growing veggie boxes outside all Spring and they were looking brilliant.  I had a good look around, not only were they good, but the children were confident showing me round and very knowledgeable - this is why it is known as the best club at school.  Wonder what is going to happen to them over the holidays?  No-one seemed to know...

Tuesday Tom got his school report - he got a 5 for effort for everything (first time ever) and all the usual teacherisms 'delight to teach', 'happy', 'friend to many' etc.  It was school open evening so we went back in to look at Tom's work.  He hasn't changed: we found many comments from the teachers about not finishing work (mainly Ms Gill who didn't contribute to his report - his report was written wholly by Mrs Bromley even though she only teaches him in the morning), his presentation is messy and handwriting needs looking at.  In Maths, he still doesn't read the question properly a lot of the time so gets lots wrong until it is pointed out that he has divided rather than subtracted etc etc.  His concentration may have improved, but it is still letting him down.   Mrs Clements will still have this to work on - good luck...!

Friends old and new

On Saturday we had a date with the Watsons who are over from China.  She grouped her 'Northern friends' together and we thought a group meet up would be better - even though we didn't know each other.  They were on their way from Chester to Cameron's family in Scotland and thought a meet up with us would break the day up nicely.  

Anna, Aofie, Maggie, Tom, Jenny, Tamsin and Libby!

We arranged to meet at Low Sizergh Barn which always does nice food.  As is usual with any meet up somehow I got to be the lucky one to do all the arranging! How come it is always me???!!!  Anyway, I managed to get the cafe to reserve us a table of 12 even though they don't reserve tables.  We arrived on time and then we had to wait for the others.  Lisa got lost and Sinead and her family were late - but there were 5 of them.  Poor Tom was very much outnumbered: The Watsons have 3 girls and Sinead's family have 4 girls, 3 of whom came today.  He didn't seem to mind.  

Beautiful flowers

Tom the Sloth

Sinead and her family were very easy to talk to so it turned into a very enjoyable afternoon.  After lunch we went for a walk around the farm, and then headed to Sizergh Castle for a go in the Wild Trail and ice-cream.  The kids all got on very well, most of them are tom boy type girls and were climbing trees etc, Tom to our surprise joined in and didn't do too bad a job, becoming a sloth at one point and just having fun.

The two older girls: Maggie and Libby were ace too, sat with us adults and were actually very interesting to talk to.  We asked them many many many questions about China, which they enjoyed, apparently staying with their friends in Saughall, no-one has been that interested, preferring to talk about congestion rather than all their adventures.  Maggie is a completely independent adult now - it is very safe in Shanghai so she can happily get the subway by herself or with her friends.  Their school is amazing and they are all doing really really well, getting prizes here there and everywhere for academic stuff (Maggie) and sporting achievements (Tamsin).   Jenny was her usual quiet self - think I managed about 2 words out of her!!!!

Libby, Sinead's eldest who is 14, has been to Malawi for 2 weeks to do voluntary work and she has a job as a social media expert for one of the Yards in Kendal (whatever happened to a paper round?!). She is enterprising and interesting and lovely to talk to.  Not something you can say for every 14 year old. 

It was actually a shame to say goodbye to everyone.

Sunday morning saw us in Burneside for Tom's last cricket match of the season against Burneside Girls.  Silly us we were expecting girls, we got there and the first person to arrive was very much a teenager, then another and another and anaother.  Ouch our team had 1x 11 year old, 1 x 10 year old, 2 x 9 year olds and the others were 7 or 8!!!!!!!  Not exactly fair!!!!!

The lovely surroundings of Burneside CC

Our team started batting, oh - the standard of the bowling wasn't amazing, in fact it all went OK.  Charlie and Luca got quite a few boundaries.  Tom's batting was on fire during practise but he was really unlucky and didn't get many chances to bat, always being at the wrong end of the wicket.  Think he was bowled to about 6 times out of 5 overs!  When he was bowled to, he did OK.

They scored 280 which was good, then they went into field.  Tom did well with his bowling and little William (aged 7) got two wickets with his bowling which was amazing.  It was looking good until the two eldest girls came into bat, they hit boundary after boundary and ended up scoring 50 between them.  After the match we found out that they play for Cumbria Ladies under 13s - meaning they were 14!!!!!!!!!  They beat Ingleton by 40 runs, so I think we can say it was a successful match.

We came home to watch Matt play cricket for Ingleton at home.  We went to see him bat.  Normally when I watch he gets out really quickly.  This time was different, he was in for ages, did really well but Tom and I had a cake to make and it was 4pm by the time he got out and we could get back home.  We had entered the 'Small Yorkshire Show' at school - Tom wanted to enter a big vegetable cake.  I googled recipes and we decided on chocolate and beetroot.  Stupid me didn't look at the method when we decided on the cake - it was the most involved, complicated cake I've ever made - there was no way Tom could have done it by himself.  It involved whisking yolks to a froth, making a meringue mixture, lots of folding etc etc.  He did weigh everything (I didn't check) and did what he could, but really - must check methods whilst choosing recipes. 

It took forever to bake too.

By the time we got it in the oven, Matt was home from the cricket.  So we made tea and watched the sumo.  Then bedtime for Tom - he fell asleep in the car on the way back from cricket - a sure sign he is tired.

Football isn't coming home

Bless!

So last night it was the Semi-finals of the World Cup Football.  England vs Croatia and Tom was allowed to stay up for the whole match.  We were all in a state of nervous tension for the match - but we didn't win.  Oh well, at least the team tried and actually played like a team for the first time in years.  Tom was a little upset but went to bed happy that he saw the whole match and that they tried.

He laid the George Cross outside his bedroom, he still believes...

He should remember this as his first world cup and who knows in 4 years time they might go a step further (as long as they don't get egos...)

It has been fun watching Tom watch the world cup.  He is very biased!  If England gets fouled, it is immediately a penalty, free kick etc etc.  If an England player fouls someone else it is "he hardly touched him...come on!!!!!" so funny!  I guess he makes a good supporter!

Hot Pots and Cricket

So this weekend was a nice busy weekend.  After All Stars on Friday, followed by a good nosh up at Elaine's we headed to Blackpool for Saturday.  We had tickets for The Lancashire Hot Pots and were meeting up with Debbie, Adam and Luke to do the proper Blackpool Experience - i.e. stay in a B&B near the front.

Ready for the England Match

It didn't all go quite according to plan, mainly because Adam had an op 10 days prior and it was a big op with a big scar and it isn't healing quite as well as it should and Debbie had a perforated ear.  They were late arriving in Blackpool, we arrived, checked into our B&B - not top of the range accommodation by any means but the hosts were very very friendly which made up for it.  We went for a stroll down by the prom and after purchasing a sun hat for me and an England T-shirt for Tom we headed to the amusements and spent a remarkably long time loosing a £1 each on the 2p pushers.

When we came out we got a call from Debbie, they had arrived and they were thinking of visiting their friends for the England football match (we couldn't go to a Blackpool pub with Tom and Luke - way too rowdy and Adam was feeling too tender).  They have friends with a bar shed in the garden and we were invited.  Debbie taxied us over, we arrived just in time and were made very very welcome (Adam and Jo went to school together)  We settled in and had a very very pleasant time watching England win against Sweden in the bar shed whilst enjoying banter and eating crisps and drinking beer - what could be better?

The Hot Pots

We got back to the B&B in good spirits, had a quick shower and change and then headed out to the Hot Pots gig, grabbing fish and chips on the way.  The Hot Pots were as good as ever, we were all bopping up and down to them - especially during our favourite tunes - Chippy Tea and Egg, Sausage, Chips and Beans.  Tom was tired, but he enjoyed himself.  Luke was the same - these schools wear our children out during the summer term!




We headed home - Adam was in obvious pain when walking back - which was quite worrying.  We all went straight to bed - I ended up in the double with Tom just to give us all more room, he was a bit like an octopus though - limbs going everywhere!!!!

Ready for Cricket

In the morning, Debbie came down to tell us that Adam was worse, his wound was weeping and they needed to get him sorted.  After giving him a talking too - to go to A&E not GP, Matt took them back to Debbie's car which was parked by their friends' house whilst Tom and I watched trams.  We then had a MacDonalds breakfast (upper class by Blackpool standards) and then drove to the Old Trafford Cricket Stadium in Manchester to watch 20:20 Lancashire vs Northamptonshire.  This was mine and Tom's first ever cricket match as spectators, it was hot hot hot, and according to Matt it was quite boring, but Tom and I enjoyed it.  We got loads of freebies: '4' and '6' cards, blow up batons, red hair, a lanyard etc etc.  We settled ourselves in where we started off in the shade and watched the players warm up - think Tom was very impressed by the catching practise (mainly by the way the trainer was able to consistently hit the ball in the same direction, and with the same amount of speed etc)

The match itself started and we got into the swing of it with our '4' and  '6'  cards and by joining in with the singing, chanting etc etc.  It was a good afternoon - and considering Tom was shattered (he fell asleep in the car on the way over which is almost unheard of these days) he really perked up and concentrated - a hot dog and chips helped too.  It was mega hot though, I was very happy with my £2 straw hat purchase in Blackpool or I would have got frazzled.

The match finished at 5pm and we headed home - Tom fell asleep almost immediately - he is mega short on sleep.

A good weekend, hope Adam is feeling better soon!

Another year with Mrs Clements

So Tom came home with his letter from school about classes next year.  Once again the county won't pay for the extra classroom they desperately need, so it is split classes again.  However, Tom's class is being kept together and get this...they have Mrs Clements again next year.  We are all delighted as we feel she is the best teacher in the school.  Also this year instead of mixing in the 'bottom' of the class above them for the afternoons (which includes quite a few characters) they are getting the cream of the class below them.  However, class numbers are a bit rubbish: 23 in the morning (fine) but 35 in the afternoon.

Think another year with Mrs Clements will be fab - she doesn't let them get away with anything and pushes them - just what they need.

Hot, hot, hot

This week was hot, hot, hot and busy, busy, busy - not least because I had 4 cakes on the go and because it is so hot, the fondant icing doesn't play nicely meaning that each cake took double the amount of time to make than usual.

Matt was away all week, but because of the heat, Tom wasn't going to bed until about 10pm most nights as it was oven like in the house - not a breeze to be found to cool down the air inside the house.  I therefore had no time to be lonely, in fact I felt like I was on the constant go.

We had all the usual activities and on Wednesday instead of the usual swimming lesson it was badges and this year was the biggie: 1,500m which is 90 lengths of the Casterton pool, not great if you are down on sleep and slightly grumpy to start with!

Jill and Tom

He did well, but he did lose it about a third of the way through when he started to cry because a girl kept bumping into him (I told him countless times to overtake her but he refused - she was in front of him but he was naturally faster than her meaning he was held up and he got the odd kick and punch from her)  Jill gave him a talking too and he recovered, but I think we probably had 4 lengths of him crying / whimpering.  As a result I lost count of the number of lengths he did - so he may actually have done 92 lengths instead of the 90 he needed to do!  After a while he got into a rhythm and he cruised it.  It was mega hot in the pool though - although Tom enjoyed splashing me each time he got to my end of the pool!

We have decided to put an end to swimming lessons now.  He obviously can swim quite well, but his will to do well isn't there.  He only swims properly if Jill shouts at him, as soon as she looks somewhere else he goes back to being lazy.  He could be good, but quite often he doesn't believe her / us when we tell him what he needs to do (e.g. breathe on his side when doing front crawl) and will continue to do his own thing regardless without even trying to do anything different.  So thanks to Jill for teaching him, he certainly won't drown.

On Thursday Tom was invited to the Co-op to receive a donation at the opening of their new store as he is a member of the Kids'

Official duties

Committee

On the Saturday Tom went off with Katie and Rebecca to the Worth Valley Railway for a gala day whilst I caught up on my cakes.  I believe he had a fantastic day - he and Rebecca can talk trains for England - it is nice they have each other to be nerdy with.

Sunday Tom had a cricket match at home against Kendal.  We got to the field to find only 3 Ingleton children had turned up and the coach was on his way to Derbyshire for his son's cricket match?!.  The Kendal club had sent a full contingent of 10 so we had to get on the phone quick smart.  I called every family I knew in Ingleton to beg and plead they came down to take part and within 40 minutes we managed to conjure up a full team.  How embarrassing though.  Somehow we managed to stay in the black and we and the kids had a good time, but it could have been very different.

As it was so hot, we decided to have a nice easy afternoon to catch up on ourselves.

Busy busy week

This week was mega busy.  Tom had sports day on Monday afternoon.  As the kids get older, they get more races, this year he got to do a relay race.  Normally when he races he is up against Finn and Lucas.  He knows he doesn't have a chance against them, so he doesn't really try.  This time he found himself running against Caitlin - he knew he could beat her.  Suddenly there was a glint in his eye, he had quite a bit of space to make up and he was determined.  Wow, suddenly he became a proper runner (so much so that a mum came up to me afterwards to tell me that Tom has a natural running posture)  So he can do it - he just needs not to be up against Lucas and Finn!!!

Concentrating...

On Wednesday he had a cricket match at Burneside - once again they did better.  Charlie got loads of boundaries, Luca got quite a few wickets and Tom managed his first boundary.  He came off the pitch upset though because he got out a couple of times and didn't get any wickets - he takes his cricket very seriously bless him.  Took us ages to convince him he had done well - better even than he had done before.  

Working hard

Thursday was the Summer Fair at school, so that was another afternoon gone.  We did well though, over £1,000 and it was manic.  The PTA haven't been very good at getting volunteers recently meaning that we were stretched to maximum and had to shut some stalls down in order to help those who were hammered.

How do we get more helpers?  It's a conundrum - people turn up expecting it to just happen, but very few are willing to help and with each year the numbers of helpers goes down.    I had to rope Matt in this year.  He got stuck with hot drinks and the urn that refused to work off any extension and a huge queue of people wanting hot drinks.  I was at the other end of the scale doing ice creams - trying to keep them as cold as possible in the heat - got to the stage where I was just pouring them into cones!  It was a very busy and exhausting afternoon (not forgotting the tongue lashing I got from the school cook for putting ice-cream in a freezer!).

Friday I actually got to work for the whole day - it was a busy cake week as well (of course)

Flying doggie

Whale Shark and diver

We were supposed to go to Manchester for the weekend, to visit the Komorowskis but Karen's mother got admitted to hospital on the Friday and sadly passed away on Saturday.  We stayed at home and went to the kite festival in Morecambe instead.  Then Matt headed over to Manchester (he was off to Japan) whilst Tom and I headed home. 

Tom and I had a quiet Sunday - we went swimming in the morning, but apart from that didn't do too much - we both needed a rest.

Tom almost made Jill cry!

Tom and Jill

So on Wednesday Tom had a swimming lesson as usual, but strangely, this week, he actually listened to what Jill told him and he zoomed up and down pool doing really well.  Now Jill is quite a strict and shouty teacher, certainly doesn't show a soft side to the kids.  However, when Tom got out of the pool, she pulled him aside and said what a star he had been, the best swimming ever etc etc.  We thought she was going to cry, her voice certainly cracked.

Who'd have thought it?

Mid June weekend.

Hum, this is the problem of always writing the blog in arrears, I can't find anything that we did on the weekend of 16th and 17th June.

I'm sort of assuming that as it has been so hot and we have been full of hay fever, we didn't really do too much.  Sunday Tom had a cricket match at home against Netherfield.  They improved quite a bit compared to their last performance and ended up in the black.

Matt was home against Windermere in the afternoon - so I'm guessing we watched most of that?  I probably did some cake work as I have been full on busy recently, but other than that it is a bit of a blur.  I really must write this more often...

Barbon Hill Climb and Hayfever.

Saturday

Old Car smoking

Not a great day for me.  I was full of hay fever and feeling very sorry for myself, so I stayed at home whilst Tom and Matt played.  They headed over to Barbon for the annual Barbon Hill Climb, we tried to go last year but it was cancelled due to heavy rain - that wasn't going to happen this week - it has been sunny for a while now.

Spectator

The boys enjoyed themselves, saw lots of interesting cars, one accident and managed to get themselves a great spot under a tree but near enough to the track to enjoy the atmosphere.

The only time it rained in a month!

In the evening we were invited to the Bickerstaffs for a BBQ.  They had meat (Janine, Jack and Seth are veggie).  Think it was a thank you for helping after Janine's op.  Now it had been sunny all day but literally as we tucked into our burgers the heavens opened and it poured down.  We were typically stoical about it and remained outside in the downpour under a parasol until we finished our meal.  Typical, just as we finished, the sun came out again, and get this, some parts of Ingleton didn't get rained on at all!!!!!

Sunday
A quiet. day.  Matt played cricket in Kirkby and we stayed at home.  We were going to try to get into the pool for the afternoon session, but the alarm kept going off every time we locked the front door, so much so that I had to call the alarm company to sort it out.  It took a good 15 mins which then meant that we didn't have a chance of getting into the pool, so we had a play in the river and then came home for mushroom pasta.

Hawes and Cricket

So we were all quite tired today - it's been a busy week.  We had a lie in, and a quiet morning before heading towards Hawes at Tom's request.  We thought instead of doing the Ribblehead walk we would go and visit the red squirrels in Snaizeholme.  We parked at the bottom and headed up with monkey nuts in our pockets.  We didn't have as much luck as previous visits, we saw about 5 all together, but none at close quarters, we didn't manage to feed them our monkey nuts but we left some behind for them to find.

We then headed to Wensleydale Creamery for lunch - this was Tom's request.  We sat outside in the heat.  I had a new 'Buddha Bowl' - with curried chick peas, kale, beetroot, carrot and pearls of tasty cheese whilst the boys had toasted sandwiches: steak and blue cheese for Matt and macaroni cheese for Tom - yep macaroni cheese in a toasty.  Think Tom enjoyed it, but when we asked him to eat his salad he slowed down and took an age to finish it up.  I LOVED my Buddha bowl and will be back to have it again.

We then went for a quick wander in Hawes, and then to Semerwater - a lake over the hill from Hawes.  A nice location, but very muddy and slimy and very stony making it hard to access with the footwear we had with us.  Would be a good place for a dingy/ canoe.

Then back to Ingleton for late afternoon, wash the car, have a rest, a cupboard tea, I had to finish a cake and then we headed back to the field for All Stars and to get bitten to death by the midges.  Still hot and humid.

We then all went to bed early, the heat and humidity and activity has made us all tired!

Quiet weekend

Saturday
As we were all a little tired from the week, we decided to have a quiet day.  In the morning Tom and I headed to the swimming pool for the morning session with the Bickerstaffs, not so nice today, so guess what, we didn't have to queue - yay!   In fact the pool was full of locals: George and Lucas and Sam and Ben our old next door neighbours were there.   Matt stayed at home as he was sorting out his digital glossary which he had corrupted.

The rest of the day is a bit of a blur, neither me nor Matt can remember what we did (what was Matt doing whilst we were at the swimming pool?!), so we are guessing we pottered around at home.  We had lunch in the village and bought some flowers for the hanging baskets and put them together.  Nice to have them again - wonder how long before they die this year?

In the evening we headed to the Marton Arms for tea.  We would have walked over, but some rain arrived, so we went all antipodean and took the car instead.  We met up with Pat and Bob at the pub and had a good tea - nice food there now.

Atop Smearsett Scar

Sunday
We figured we should get out of the house.  We headed to Feizor to climb Smearsett Scar which is what we have been wanting to do for a while.  It was a really lovely walk and less hard than we thought it would be.  It was a bit rough and ready though as we couldn't find a proper track up so had to leg it over some dry stone walls which is always a risk as obviously they fall down beneath you if you get it wrong.  We got to the top, admired the view and then walked along the ridge, following trods along the way.  We did ok, but went a bit wrong at the end and found ourselves a sheer drop not to fall down.  We got there in the end.

We then headed to Elaine's for lunch, we sat outside, put in our order and were enjoying the sunshine when two familiar figures walked in - Pat and Bob!  We shuffled up and had lunch together.

Matt then had cricket match in Ingleton so we had a lazy afternoon watching him.  I started some baking for a big cake next week and gave Tom a walkie talkie so he could contact me if he wanted to come home and I could see him across the road.  Then mushroom pasta for tea of course!