Holidays - Week 7

Paddling in Austwick Beck

So, after Steph and John telling us that they had filled loads of ice cream tubs with blackberries over the weekend we thought we would go for rummage along our favourite blackberry lanes.  So, we headed over to Austwick and had a look...bad pickings...so bad we literally only found 8!  We ate them!  We found ourselves up by washdubs, so we had a break there, whilst Tom went for a paddle.  We then decided to explore some lanes that we hadn't yet been up and very much enjoyed them.  Crummack Dale is very unspoilt - it has one farm in it and that is it.  You can get to places where you look around and you could easily not know what year were are in - with no sign of anything modern, no electricity lines etc - just old shepherd barns dotted around the fields.  I like places like that.  Still no blackberries though.  Anyway, it was a lovely walk, and we discovered other walks radiating out from the bottom of the valley which we will explore!

Tuesday - our last treat of the holidays...a Bibby's trip to Whitby.  Bibby's are up and operating again, but at 50% reduced capacity - so there is an empty row between each customer.  You wonder if they manage to make money on them as a result - but I guess to break even whilst paying your staff is better than not running trips at all and laying off staff.  We wanted to support them and decided to go on their trip to Whitby - although it is in the same county as Ingleton, it is miles away and not an easy drive, much better to get someone to do it for you and to sit back and enjoy the views.  It was an early start, think the coach left Ingleton at 7.30.  It picked up at Austwick, Settle and Skipton.  It was a beautiful day, bright sunshine all the way which was a good sign.  We were almost the youngest on the coach, there was a mum and a 5/6 year old daughter and us, everyone else was 70 plus!  Not sure why families don't use them more - it was £22 a ticket.  If we were to do it ourselves, we probably would have had to stay overnight which would have cost more than £66 and we would have had to drive, pay fuel, eat out etc etc, so really it is a bargain.

We stopped at Thirsk on the way over, it was a break for tea and a bun, but we really didn't want to sit down having been cooped up in the coach for a couple of hours, so we just looked around.  A nice looking town, this is the town where James Herriot worked as a vet.  I would say only about half of the shops were open - Covid has had its effect!  We found a bakers, bought a pastry each and ate it in a park with some ducks and a river.  Then back to the coach for the rest of the journey. 

We arrived in Whitby around 11am.  We had decided this time that we would explore the seaside part of town, especially as it was so sunny, and hot.  The town was packed, very little space to social distance.  We looked around a couple of souvineer shops, Tom got himself a new spade, looked at the boat trips available and then decided to head for fish and chips.  Matt had got a recommendation from Malcolm as for the best chippies in town - the restaurants were fully booked, but the take aways had queues that were moving.  After telling Matt what we wanted, Tom and I went for a quick explore to find where to eat it. 

We found the beach and there was plenty of space on it - perfect.  We returned just in time for Matt to put his order in and then we headed to the beach.  We settled ourselves in.  Fish and chips were very good. 

Tom then got to work digging holes and then he decided to try the sea out.  I went with him.  I bravely put my toes in - OMG, my foot immediately started to ache it was soooooo cold!  Tom...well top went right in...to his neck!  Yes he is mad! I couldn't quite believe it!  Oh hum, whatever makes you happy?!!!!!  We played on the beach for a while, until we realised that the beach was beginning to disappear, the tide was coming in, and coming in quickly.  We decided it was best to leave before we all got wet.  

We thought it would be fun to go on a boat ride, so chose the most tacky, pirate looking one and had 20 minutes quickly going up and down the coast.  Just a bit of fun.  Then into the amusements to lose £1 of 2ps each - didn't take long!  We then found a good looking ice cream stand (selling Cornish ice cream?!) and got one each before walking up the Khyber Pass to the cliffs overlooking the sea (there was no beach at all by now), with the whalebone, a statue of Captain Cook (he was from a village nearby).  We then ambled back through the town, stopped in the co-op to get some snacks and drinks for the way home (Bibby's had given us the back seat, Matt had his bottle opener) and got to the coach exactly at the time we were told to return (we were the last back - but we weren't late).  We then had a very pleasant ride home.  Didn't get back until about 8pm, it was a long day, but we had a good fun, traditional beach day in England in the sun.  In fact we all got a bit of a tan!  Can't ask for more than that!

Wednesday was the last day for the boys (Tom, Luca and Ethan) to meet up to play cricket, so they did, think they were at it for about 2.5 / 3 hours!

Thursday was our wedding anniversary - 16 years - and for once we weren't on a plane or jet lagged, so we decided to head into Lancaster and find somewhere nice to have lunch.  We decided on The Sun Inn, where we have always had good nosh in the past.  We weren't disappointed, Tom had sausages and mash, Matt a chicken burger, me a veggie curry.  It was all very nice, but it was the first place we had been to where staff weren't wearing any form of face covering which un-nerved me, felt exposed.  Anyway we enjoyed ourselves despite that.

Holidays - Week 6

Once again I can't quite remember what we got up to this week.  The thing is with lockdown,  we have slowed down and really don't need to have a 'thing' to do every day.  Before lockdown, we would all be climbing the walls but things have changed, we have slowed down and don't 'need' an activity a day!

We had been looking forward to Tuesday for over a month, we were heading over to Chester Zoo with the Wilkinsons.  Paul owns some car dealerships over in the Harrogate area and offered to get a 7 seater to take us all over there.  What a great idea.  They arrived at our house complete with coffees, the kids were on the back seat, me and Matt in the middle and Nicky and Paul at the front.  It wasn't the best of days, but tickets for the zoo were like gold-dust - we booked these in July and they were the pretty much the last ones left for the summer holidays.   

Must say it was lovely being chauffeur driven, we got to the zoo dead at 12.00 which was good as that was when our tickets were for (no full day tickets were left when we booked).  It was pretty busy as we arrived, so staff were directing people where to go - we ended up going to a part of the zoo we didn't even know existed - exotic islands, where we found lots of animals we hadn't heard of, including the rather splendid warty pigs.  We then grabbed a hot dog each before exploring the rest of the zoo.  None of us knew our way round, there weren't any maps being given out (transmission hazard) so we just followed our noses.  The weather took a turn for the worse and it started to rain, so we looked for areas with indoor areas where we could escape - masks went on and off many many times.  Some animals were on form: sea otters, hornbills, meerkats, zebras, eastern bongos.

Some animals were very lazy: lions & tigers (didn't even see a tiger!).  

Oh, when we were queuing up to see the lions, we started talking about teeth.  One of Tom's canine teeth came out about a week ago - it had been hanging on by a thread for ages.  We were whinging about the fact Tom tends to shy away from pulling his teeth out when they are hanging on a thread.  At the same time, Florrie offered Tom a toffee eclair which he took.  He then picked out the eclair with his fingers, and embedded in it was another tooth!????!  None of us could quite believe what we could see.  Tom says it wasn't even wobbly - he was as confused as we were.  Oh well, at least that one didn't hang on by a thread for weeks like all his others.  The tooth fairy has been busy in this house this month.

We went into the Tropical Realm to get out of the rain - got waylaid by some rather splendid hornbills.  When we came out, the zoo was deserted - everyone had gone home because of the rain. Oh well, we are tough northerners so it didn't worry us! We did keep getting lost because of the lack of maps, decided not to do the ape house (so no orang-utans, chimpanzees etc for us) as the queue was over an hour long.  We did get to the elephants though.  On arrival, they were all in their house, but the zoo volunteer radioed to the elephant team to find out if they were coming out again - they were.  We went to get ourselves a coffee (well the adults anyway!) and when we got back we got a great view of them - plenty of babies being very cute.

By then it was 5pm, the zoo was about to close and we had aching feet and were wet through.  It was time to go.  However, the shop had to be visited first - Tom had birthday money than needed spending with him.  He selected a very lovely looking anteater which he named Anthony.  Florrie also seemed to purchase a soft toy (or two).  It's what you do when you are 10/11!

Paul then drove us home.  He stopped off at Booths in Clitheroe so that he could get some cheese for tea.  Matt went in, got some ready meals for us and then he and Nicky also bought beer for us to drink in the car.  How luxurious.  We also got Paul a bottle of red wine to say thanks for all the driving.  The rest of the journey home was very pleasant.  We didn't get back until after 8pm.  It had been a good day!

Wednesday, Tom and I met up with Clare, Isaac and Jack.  I have got quite friendly with Clare who is the joint owner of Gingerbugs.  I didn't realise that she lived in Ingleton and that she has 3 boys, the youngest of which, Isaac, is in the same school year as Tom!  He went to Leck School, which is why we weren't aware of him or them.  Isaac is following his older brothers in to QES.  When the emails came out saying what class children were in, we checked with each other...Isaac and Tom were in the same class.  Clare immediately suggested that we needed to meet up before school started, so they would know each other.  One of Isaac's friends from Dent School (they used to live in Dent) was also going - Jack and in the same class. Jack was the only child from Dent going to QES.  Guess what...we looked round the school with a boy called Jack who was in a Dent school jumper, so we sort of knew him.  Clare is divorced and in a sharing arrangement with her boys - so one week they live with her, and the next they live with their dad, this carries on through the holidays, so it can be quite a task to get together, but we found a date we were all free.  Jack spent the day with Clare and Isaac and then we headed round and went for a walk down by the metal bridge.  Isaac had found fossils there last time they had visited and Tom was keen to know where they were.  It was a little awkward to start with as Jack and Isaac know each other really well, so they were chatting whilst Tom was with me, but as soon as we got to the river, Tom and Isaac were straight in the river, making dams etc.  Tom went tribal as he found some brown clay that dissolved in the water - and marked himself up with it!  Jack, on the other hand became a little bit of a loner - not sure messing about by the river is his thing.  Oh well, at least they all know each other now.   

The evening saw us at Netherfield for an under 11s cricket match against Netherfield Girls.  It was cold and gloomy, but the Ingleton side did well and won comfortably with pretty much everyone getting a wicket and boundary.

Can't remember what we did on Thursday and Friday - but I'm sure it involved cricket! 

Saturday, after cricket training in the morning we were wondering what to do, when Matt got a message from a translator friend, Victoria, in Clitheroe, asking us if we thought it would be a nice day for the waterfalls walk.  The answer of course is no.  The waterfalls walk at the moment is horrible, crowded with people who don't social distance and litter the place (a sweeping generalisation I know, but that's how it feels sometimes!).  He suggested they come anyway, and we would show them somewhere else which is less crowded but just as beautiful.  They have two daughters:  Willow (3) and Scarlett (6) oh, and Red the Dog.  They arrived and after introductions, we drove over to Kingsdale to do the Cheese Press Stones.  

Just as well we put them off the waterfalls walk, as Willow was in no mood to walk, and ended up on her Dad's back for the whole walk.  Scarlett on the other hand was a fantastic walker and keen to keep up with Tom for the whole time.  Tom asked to be put in charge of Red and proudly took her round the walk.  We walked up to the stones, had lunch, then wondered over to Tow Scarr to pattered the trig point before heading back.  Not the longest of walks, but with 2 small children and a dog as distractions, it actually took us a couple of hours.  Everyone then headed back to ours, for a brew.  I picked up some biscuits from the co-op on the way as I realised we had no snacks in the house.  Turned out a really lovely day, Matt hadn't actually met them before, by the time they left we felt like old friends.  We made plans to hopefully meet up again soon.

Sunday, we didn't have many plans again but the Mannings got in touch to see if we wanted to go over for tea...hummm, let's think about this...yessssss!  Steph is a great cook so we knew it would be a good one. We went over armed with crisps, wine and beer and had a fantastic evening.  Steph made us Pesto chicken which was to die for, we had plenty of wine, plenty of chat, plenty of laughter.  Suddenly it was midnight, we thought we should head home.

Holidays - Week 5

Oops - got majorly behind again - so this is going to be a short summary.

Saturday, Tom as usual had cricket training.  He then hung around the field playing with the others.  In the end we suggested Luca hang back and spend the day with Tom, so Julie headed home and we had Luca for the day.  When I say we had Luca for the day, what I really mean is that Tom and Luca were playing cricket on the field all day.  They came back to the house for lunch, and then went back to the field again.  This summer has certainly been a summer of cricket.  We took Luca back around 4pm as he had a trampolining zoom meeting, otherwise they would have been over there until they collapsed!

Sunday was a quiet day.  We had a calm morning and then Matt played cricket for Ingleton in the afternoon so Tom and I went over to watch.  Always a pleasant way to spend the afternoon, wrapped up in a blanket on a bench overlooking the Dales, watching men in white throw a ball around.  Also means we have mushroom pasta for tea, which is a winner for both me and Tom.

Monday
Today was supposed to be Tom's first ever cricket match for South Lakes.  It was in Whitehaven and we had to be there for 9.15.  Ouch.  Whitehaven is 90 miles away, and not a quick 90 miles.   We were up mega early, and were out of the house by 7.15!  We zoomed up the M6 and as we got to Penrith I got a message saying the match had been called off due to bad weather.  What to do.  It was 8am.  We decided to find a cafe in which to have a second breakfast.  We walked all around the town centre, nothing was open.  Quite a few shops had closed down which was sad to see (haven't really visited a town high street since the pandemic struck - we have used all the local shops to us as much as we can).  Most cafes weren't due to open until 9 or 10, we had an hour to kill for those.  Luckily a google search sent us to a cafe that was open on the edge of town, so we headed over there and managed to get a bacon sarnie / avocado on toast etc.  By the time we had finished, the regular shops were open.  We had passed an Aldi on the way in, so I made a beeline for that to stock up on cake ingredients whilst the boys went to find the car and bring it over.  Tom and I then headed to Sports Direct to get some football boots for school whilst Matt went to get a slow puncture in one of the car tyres mended.  So, all in all a useful morning.  We were back in Ingleton before lunch! Shame Tom's match was cancelled, but can't control the weather.

Tuesday
Another really gloomy, rainy day.  What has happened to summer?!  We decided to use this day wisely and equipped with Tom's equipment and uniform list from QES we headed to Kendal resolving not to leave the town until we had EVERYTHING we needed.  

First stop was Clarks for shoes...I had looked on their website and they said they preferred you to book an appointment before arrival.  I do so, we turned up exactly on time and found complete chaos, there was no queuing, no social distancing, people everywhere, children running around and no organisation.  It was awful.  Took a deep breath, got Tom's feet measured - they said he was a size 5, no way, he was size 5 a year ago.  We looked at the styles, there was one slip on, one velcro, two with laces.  He didn't want slip on, didn't want to be faffed with laces.  So, we found a pair of velcro ones in a 5.5, got someone to do the squidge test on him: they fitted well.  We queued up to pay and got out of there as quickly as we could.  Quite simply the worse shopping experience since the pandemic struck - I was quite shocked at the lack of organisation.  Some shops quarantine shoes for 3 days after trying them on, this Clarks just had shoes everywhere, people trying them on left right and centre, lots of hands and feet touching them.  If we could have gone somewhere else, we would have done!  After that experience, everywhere else was a breeze.  

Believe it or not WH SMITHS didn't have any sensible pencil cases, but we picked up all stationary needs in Asda, along with socks etc.  School bag was chosen quickly and was half the price on the label so that was a success.  We tried to go to Brew Bros for lunch, but it was full with a queue, so we went to Greggs for a sandwich / sausage roll instead. And that was Tuesday done.  

Wednesday - Tom met up with Ethan and Luca for 3 hours and played cricket nets for the afternoon.  This meant that I could make choccies for Gingerbugs.  

Thursday - South Lakes were down to play Barrow at Burneside and Tom was playing.  

We had to borrow Luca's whites as we didn't have any and didn't think we would be able to get any in Scotland.  Turns out that Barrow are leagues better than the other 3 districts in the area.  They all looked about 2 years old and physically strong.  OMG.  Obviously Tom had never played a game South Lakes before, he didn't know much about how the others played, and we didn't even recognise most of the other South Lakes players - where did they come from?  None of them were from training - all very strange.  The South Lakes coach wasn't there either - so a bit of a shambles, but at least Tom was there and able to play.  He got to bowl at the first change and got the first wicket of the game with his second ball.  Dad was understandably very proud, especially as the guy had been hitting 4s and 6s all over the place.  In fact his first over was a wicket maiden - which was much better than the bowlers that went before him - Matt was very quick in pointing this out (rightly so!).  

It was a lovely sunny day (bit windy) and we enjoyed sitting out in our very comfy chairs taking it all in.  Tom did us proud with his bowling.  He also took a good catch but unfortunately it didn't count because it was a no-ball.  Batting, he scored a 4, but then got out.  Doesn't sound great, but he actually scored more runs than most of his team mates!  For a first game he did well, and his score card showed him to be a valuable member of the squad.  Matt was very proud.

Friday, I had to go to Settle Tourist Info office to restock my choccies, so took advantage of the fact we were in Settle and popped in to see Grannie and Grandpa.  Tom and I attempted to teach Grannie and Grandpa how to play cribbage.  Grandpa picked it up pretty quickly, Grannie decided that sorting out lunch was more important (she has a point) and before too long pizza and salad were on the table for us.  

Saturday I'm afraid I can't remember what we got up to.  Most likely that Tom did cricket training and probably hung around the cricket field for the rest of the morning and I'm assuming we either had a quiet afternoon or went for a walk?

Sunday, Matt and Tom bike did a bike ride to Sunderland point whilst I stayed at home and put together a cake for Grandma Jan.  It was Phil's 70th birthday: Rolling Stones themed with the iconic tongue on the top and chocolate guitars around the edge.  Matt and Tom didn't quite make it to Sunderland Point, the tide was in and the roads flooded.  They had a good time though.

Scotland

Tom having a dip

Saturday we started on our Scottish odyssey so of course the weather was just beautiful - clear blue skies - a sign of the week to come.  We weren't expecting to pick up the motorhome until 3pm, but we got a call saying it would be available from 11, so instead of a calm day of packing it was a little bit manic, especially as I had to deliver some goodies to Gingerbugs, but we did good, got away on time, purchased some sandwiches from Seasons, headed to Cornvale to pick up our goodies for the trip (they are based in Melling - the same village as the motorhome so it seemed sensible to stock up with them on the way in) and then to the motorhome.  We hired the home from a newish company, basically a family bought a motorhome and realised it was unused most of the time, if they hired it out, it would pay its way and more.  It has worked he has 3 now and is looking to expand further.  The hand over of the vehicle was much more lax than in Norway where it took a good hour, and every scratch, scuff etc was pointed out and detailed in the paperwork.  It was so lax that he forgot to point out a huge crack in the back end of the vehicle, meaning that Matt and I thought we had done it (although neither of us could work out how - on sending him a message with photo etc he wrote back to apologise for not pointing it out initially!) and he forgot to show us how to turn the gas on!

Al Fresco dining in Ullapool

So we filled the van up with our luggage - it is much more luxurious than the Norway one and (believe it or not) bigger and headed on our way up the M6.  Matt drove to the services where we stopped to have our lunch, the services was manically busy! so we were happy to be able to eat in the home.  I then took over the driving up to Moffat where we did a quick circuit of the town so we could buy our holiday whisky.  Matt then drove the rest of the way to Dollar where we spent the evening with the Blezards.  We started out in the garden in the sunshine but finished up inside for tea.  Then we went for a walk around the village which involved walking along a river...the boys (Tom and Lewis) couldn't resist and ended up walking in the river...then sitting in the river!  All fully clothed of course.  The adults didn't go anywhere near it!   An alcoholic evening ensured (as usual) before we headed to the van for our first sleep.

Ullapool sunset

Sunday
We slept really well, the street we were on was quiet and inside the van it was very very dark, meaning we slept in - yay!  On finally awaking, we got up and headed to the Blezards for breakfast and then headed to the A9 and Ullapool.  Once again Matt and I shared the driving.  It was pretty easy driving, the road was free flowing, the sun was shining and the scenery magnificent.  We stopped for lunch in a lay-by overlooking a river and then carried on.

The Stornoway ferry arriving

We arrived in Ullapool around 4pm, stopped at Tescos for beer and breakfast supplies and then headed to our campsite in Ardmair - right on the sea.  We quickly found our pitch and settled in.  A good thing about having a motorhome is that it takes all of 5 mins to get set-up.  Just put the van up on blocks, attach electricity and turn the gas on, that's it you are ready to go.  Now Covid rules and regulations are slightly different in Scotland than in England and they only came out of lockdown recently meaning that they are a lot more nervous than us.  So much so that we had to wear masks in the toilet blocks, only being allowed to remove them for showers, we even had to wear them at the pot wash.  There were posters absolutely everywhere telling us what to do so you could be in no doubt as to what you had to do.  To be fair everyone I saw did as they were told and it all made sense - made us feel safe which is what you need.

Handa Island

Once we were set up, we went for a walk along the beach, it was a pebbly beach, so a lot of skimming had to take place.  The sea was as still as anything but there was a light breeze which was just as well as it was pretty hot.  After an hour or so we headed back and got the BBQ out.  Matt was on duty to cook burgers, I was on duty to cook potatoes and Tom was on salad duty.  It took a while, mainly as it took about 30 mins to get the potatoes to boil, but we had a lovely tea, sat outside, watching the sunset.  Can't ask for better than that.

Very friendly pig!

Monday, we woke up to grey skies and a bit of rain.  No rush to get up then, so we had a leisurely breakfast.  We then drove to Ullapool, reacquainted ourselves with it, did a little bit of shopping (Tom got a whale with his holiday money - thanks Granma and Pop Pop).  Oh the grey skies had cleared by now and it was hot hot hot - just as well we brought plenty of sun cream with us.  We got to the Seafood Shack in time for lunch.  We have been dreaming about this place since last year - it has the best fish ever, all freshly caught - the menu changes according to what the fishermen bring in and it is all cooked really well.  We were all excited.  Matt managed to get his place second in the queue: haddock goujons with salad and redslaw for both the boys and sweet cured herring with potato salad and bread and butter for me - was absolutely delicious.

 After lunch we headed up the road to Scourie - for a mini road trip.  We weren't sure what to expect, but we were looking for some beach to play on and some lovely scenery to enjoy.  (Our initial plan was to go to Loch Inver to the pie shop but we discovered it was closed on Mondays!).  We weren't disappointed - the scenery was amazing (hills, mountains, ruined castles, magnificent bridges, lochs, heather) but no beaches.  We got to Scourie and looked in its two shops, which were pretty mediocre, so we headed back to where I saw a sign for a beach.

Storming moat!

We were in luck - we came across a harbour with a lovely sandy beach with about 4 people on it.  We parked up and were greeted by some lovely piggies.  We had a nice chat, the friendliest piggies I've ever know and we didn't have any food for them.  We settled on the beach with buckets and spades.  Tom had a dip in the sea (I'm not brave enough) and we had a game of beach tennis.  It was just lovely and hot too!

We then decided to follow a footpath to the sea proper, turned out to be a lovely walk (if a bit longer than we were expecting), got wonderful views of mountains in the distance, islands in the sea and no modernity in sight.  Time was heading on and we were getting hungry so after some emergency doughnuts (a holiday essential) I drove us home.  Can you believe it, on the way out of the village we came across a herd of Highlanders - how did we miss them on the way in.  Unfortunately there was no-where to stop, so no photos!  The boys also saw golden eagles on the way back - spotted by Tom.  On arrival back we got the BBQ out for sausages whilst I fried up the remaining potat

Scourie beach - very lovely

oes from yesterday.  

Small problem tonight...midges.  There was no breeze at all, meaning the midges were out in force and I mean in force, they we out in their thousands, which meant that being outside was no fun at all.  Such a shame because the sunset was amazing.  Lots of people were walking round with midge nets on their heads, but we hadn't planned that well, so we did the midge dance every time we left the van and then spent a good hour squidging any midges that got in when the door opened.

Oh well, they didn't spoil what was a really lovely day.

Bob the seal

Tuesday dawned a beautiful day again.  We packed up and then headed out on the road as today we were heading to Applecross.  We didn't quite know what we were letting ourselves into as the last road to the village was an unclassified road - so we weren't sure how we would get on in our huge wide motorhome.  We had to drive down some pretty beautiful roads to get to the village.  Once again we shared the driving, stopping off at various viewpoints at the way.  At one stop, Tom spotted a sea otter and a seal balancing on a rock - he's very good at spotting - I dissed him straight away with the seal, thinking he was looking at a rock, but he was right.  I guess that is a result of my eyesight taking a nose dive this year!  The unclassified road to Applecross was a little hairy - I made Matt drive that bit, but he did very well and luckily there were loads and loads of passing places.  It still took 1hr 20 to drive the 24 miles and most of that was the first 10 miles which were very narrow, very steep and very very bendy.  The boy did good.

We arrived in Applecross campsite around 4pm, set up, had showers and then headed down to the bay  for dinner as we had booked ourselves a table in the one pub.    I had booked a table inside just in case of bad weather, we needn't have worried about that, but it did mean that we were away from the midges - which was a relief.  We decided to spoil ourselves as this would be our one meal out for the holiday - so we all had 3 courses, mainly seafood.  It was good, not amazing, but good and it was very lovely to have some food cooked by someone else and to sit inside and not be bitten by midges.  We even made friends with the people in the table opposite us who were from Eversley.  Unfortunately the pub wasn't taking part in the Help Out to Eat Out scheme, meaning we had to pay £100 for the meal.

Stirling the stag

After dinner we decided to go for a little walk.  Applecross is on the coast, it has a huge bay with pebbles and sand.  From the coast you can see the isles of Rona, Raasay and behind them Skye, so it is a pretty magical place.  We walked to the next hamlet and back again.  On our way back to the campsite we came across 3 huge stags, grazing under a tree.  They seemed quite tame, and weren't fussed that much by us.  Matt got some good shots: we named them Stirling, Steven and Stuart.  We headed back up to the campsite, and shut ourselves in our van away from the midges, played cards and watched the most incredible sunset until bedtime.

Wednesday dawned beautiful again.  It was very very hot today - way hotter than would be expected of the Highlands, even though it was August.  Midges were still around, so we had to keep moving whatever we did.  We decided to go for a walk, we had noticed a footpath sign behind the campsite so followed that and to our surprise came across a recreation of a round house and storage barns, so we had a look around.  They were lovely and cool inside.  We continued on, hoping to find a bird hide as we have a new interest in birds these days.  We found the hide, but it was closed due to Covid.  Oh hum.  We then decided to try to find the local shop which was two hamlets across from Applecross.  This we did.  It was very small.  We were hoping to find lunch in it as it advertised itself as selling sandwiches, no luck but we did find some sausage rolls and pork pies so we had those instead, and took them down to the hamlet where we found another bay to sit and eat.

Applecross beach

After lunch and throwing stones and watching the Tesco man try to find an address driving up and down the road (couldn't quite believe that Tesco would deliver here as it is at least 2 hrs drive to the nearest store - had a look when we got home and they charge £4.50 delivery - a true bargain, as I said the local shop was very small and didn't sell that much, there was no co-op / spar or similar anywhere near, so the Tesco man would be invaluable.  We walked back past the shop on our way back and experienced a very angry lady who was very upset at a motorhome owner for hesitating to park in the very narrow car park.  She was on her horn in seconds and then got out and started ranting at the owners.  Wowzers, I know that there has been a lot of anamosity between locals and tourists everywhere including Ingleton, but I don't know anyone in Ingleton who would have a go at a motorhome owner for that!  They think they are over run with tourists but there weren't anything like the number of visitors that we are getting.  Covid has certainly got everyone nervous!

It was hot, hot, hot, so we retuned to the campsite.  Tom wanted to play cricket, so we did.  But we got hot, so we had an afternoon siesta in the van.  We then played more cricket, got hot again and went for showers to cool down.

We then decided that rather than cook, we would have fish and chips from the caravan on the bay.  On the way down, we found the stags again by the campsite entrance, once again very friendly.  We got to the caravan exactly at the right time, no queue and fish just out of the fryer.  It was the best fish and chips I have had in a long time, so much so that I ate all the batter which is normally unheard of!  Matt came across a bunch of motorbike journalists on a testing assignment and chatted for a while. However, the midges started to attack so before too long we were doing the midge dance again and decided to head back up to the van to escape them and watch yet another lovely sunset whilst playing cards.

Stags on the Beach

Highlanders!

Thursday we were up early as we had to drive to Lockerbie (a good 330 miles).  The first roads were very slow roads - we had to drive back down the unclassified road we arrived on as motorhomes are banned on the only other road out.  This time it was much quicker as it was much quieter.  On the way out of Applecross we came across 7 stags all sat on the beach - wow!  Unfortunately we didn't have anywhere to park, but we got some pics.  They looked magnificent.  Around the corner we came across a herd of Highlanders and were able to stop to get some pics - it was a good day already and barely 9am!  Once we were on A roads again we shared the driving.

Bull!

It was a long old way, but the scenery great and the roads easy so not so bad, just a long way.  We stopped at the Scottish Commando Memorial for lunch in the van and at House of Bruar for tea and a bun.  We eventually arrived in Waterbeck (just outside Lockerbie) at 6pm.  Here we were staying on the drive way of some friends who used to live in Settle.  When I say friends, they were more associates.  Carol and Tony are wildlife photographers, so Matt knew them when they lived in Settle.  I had met Carol for about 5 mins in Country Harvest and neither of us had met Tony.  We needed have worried, they are travellers, they spend a lot of time in South Africa providing photography safaris and were the warmest, most hospitable people.  We were made instantly at home and spent all evening chatting away to them and their B&B guests.  It turned into a lovely evening.  Tom did us proud - he was the only child there but was able to chip into the adult conversation with ease (it was about wildlife and travel - two things he likes).  We finished the evening feeling as if we had known them for years.  What a lovely way to end the holiday.

The master bedroom

Friday we were up early again as we had to get the motorhome back to Melling for 11am.  We drove down the M6 to Meadow Falls where we emptied our grey water and then parked up at home to empty it into the house.  Matt then returned it and picked up our car.  There were no problems, so we got our full deposit back - phew.  The rest of the day was spent clearing up, 3 loads of laundry and chilling out.  The evening saw Tom playing cricket for Ingleton against Netherfield girls.  Once again it was a pleasant evening, but it was windy meaning that the light balls were being thrown all over the place making bowling and batting quite hard.  Also it wasn't just girls on the team, there were boys on it too.  In cricket a girl can play 2 years above the age category, so Under 11 girls means they were playing 13 year old girls.  All very well until you take into consideration that most of the players in Ingleton Under 11s are 9 so that is actually 4 years difference, not 2 years difference.  Needless to say Ingleton lost, but it was still a good evening.

Summer Holidays - Week 3

After the ride

The weather forecast for this week wasn't great!  Monday was looking good so we decided to make a day of it.  Matt suggested a bike ride and Tom requested we went to Gisburn.  So...deep breath and we agreed.  We went before in 2014 but it was a disaster: Tom ended up refusing to ride his bike, I had to drag him crying and his bike and my bike down a long narrow downhill bit with cyclists zooming past me as Matt had gone on ahead - one of the most stressful days out ever!

As I said it was quite a few years ago so it should be better this time round.  It was!  In fact Tom was fine, I was scared and Matt was injured, so Tom did the best out of all of us!

The downhill bit where Tom had his tantrum last time was much longer than I remembered (funnily enough).  Matt did it fine, Tom did it fine and I did it fine but was scared for most of it.  I am not a natural Mountain Biker, and if I hadn't have had lessons with Jill a couple of years ago, I wouldn't have had the slightest idea of what I should do (ie lean back, don't sit down and use your breaks a lot!)  Luckily her training worked and I made it without any drama.  We then had a couple of miles of easy gravel tracks (made my wrists vibrate like mad and made Matt's shoulder which was stiff from cricket feel much worse!) it was much harder work than I expected.   We then had another section of lumps, bumps, wooden bridges etc that we didn't do last time and I surprised myself again by being both more scared than I thought, but also more able than I thought (although my foot went down plenty of times).  We survived and were quite tired, hot and sweaty by the time we got back to the hub.  It had only been 6 miles but it had been 6 quite tough miles.  Luckily the cafe was open and selling ice creams and lollies so we sat down and cooled down.  Then we had a go on the skills loop (I had one go on the blue run, the boys both did multiple runs of the blue and red runs) and then another downhill loopy bit back to where our car was parked - although we over ran somewhat and had to ride back to it.  Anyway it was a success and we may visit it again more frequently.  Guess the only way we can get better is to keep going!

Shower needed!

Tuesday - back to grey and rainy weather.  As a result we did very little.  I was surprised in the morning by Mark Woolly who popped by with some flowers when I was still in my PJs.  He had heard on the grapevine that the school hadn't recognised me and Anne for all our efforts with the PTA over the years. To be honest we weren't expecting to be recognised - it was such a strange year and management had much more pressing problems to sort.  His youngest left last year and he was recognised by the school and felt bad that we hadn't, so he bought us both a bunch of flowers to say thanks.  How lovely is that?  The morning was spent doing the small amount of homework QES had requested, and then the afternoon spent playing Ticket to Ride and Monopoly - I won them all - oops, think Tom may have had a little sulk, he made up for it in the evening though as he beat us in cribbage.

Wednesday - another grey and rainy day.  Spent the morning sorting out chocolate for Gingerbugs with Tom's help, then we went to Knight's Table for lunch (50% off) which was very good and then an afternoon catching up here!  The weather is supposed to improve tomorrow - fingers crossed.

The family Hondas

Thursday - a sunny day - hurray!  The morning was spent in Settle - Matt had to take his little bike for an MOT but it got cancelled at the last minute, however, we still went as Matt wanted to bring the little bike home as we now have the garden furniture out of the garage.

Friday we didn't do that much.  I started getting ready for our Scotland holiday - we are in a rented motorhome, but we are collecting it and heading straight off, so we need to remember everything including bedding etc.  So the day was spent trying to think of what would be needed and making piles, then beginning the packing of the car - including the under boot so we could get as much in as possible because as usual we would have a lot of soft toys with us taking up so much room!  The evening was spent in the sunshine watching Tom play cricket whilst drinking Prosecco - how civilised.  He was against Netherfield boys.  They are the hardest team to beat, and although they tried hard, they still lost by about 20, but when you think about it Netherfield have the whole of Kendal as their catchment area meaning that their team was made up of 11 year olds, whilst ours is one 12 year old, 2 11 year olds and the rest are 9 and below.  So really they didn't do that bad at all.  Certainly was a lovely evening out.

Summer Holidays Week 2

Galloway Princess at Appleby

Monday, it was still raining.  This weather is really getting annoying now.  Still think the government should change the school year so the kids get May / June off as that is when the good weather is these days.  Could then do 2 terms before Xmas and 2 terms afterwards.  So, we didn't do much - played Ticket to Ride in the morning, made up some gingerbread medals for Gingerbugs and played with lego in the afternoon (we are so close to finishing all the models)

Tuesday - the boys went for a ride on the Dales Tourist Train for the day, whilst I stayed at home and did some chocolate work ready for the 'summer rush' at Gingerbugs.

Yes, today was very much a boys day out, so we left money in Ingleton.

All through the summer, a charter train company are running the so-called “Staycation Express” between Appleby and Skipton, using vintage diesel locomotives (37s and 47s) to haul a rake of recently retired first class Intercity coaches. As soon as I read about it, I knew it would be Tom’s sort of thing, so I booked tickets.

We drove to Skipton, stopping only at Keelham Farm Shop to buy ourselves lunch, and then settled ourselves into our big leather reclining seats on the train. Very comfortable too. We left Skipton bang on time, pulled by a class 37 that made a terrific racket as it pulled out. It was very pleasant ambling through the Dales in such comfort. We caught a brief glimpse of a field full of highland cattle as we pa

Tom and 37521 at Skipton

ssed Hellifield, and we managed a brief chat with Grandpa during our short stop at Settle on the way north. There was a trolley serving all sorts of nice-looking snacks, but we learned the disturbing news that the lady who makes the delicious shortbread has retired, leaving us with a bit of a headache as to what we should now consume on journeys to Leeds and Carlisle.

The train was actually pretty full, much fuller than when we’d seen it line side on a few occasions the previous week, so I’m guessing the service has been something of a success. We had about an hour to kill in Appleby, so after we had watched the train pull into the sidings there, we need to cross the road to the Midland Hotel, signing ourselves in like responsible citizens, had a swift half while watching a bit of test cricket on the TV, and then wandered back to the station for the journey south to Skipton. We had a brief chat with Grandpa again, although he told us the sad news that Freddie had died that morning. He was a lovely cat, and will be much missed.

And that was that. We had a very slow drive back to Ingleton thanks to a whole variety of slow vehicles being in front of us, but it was a very pleasant trip, especially given how difficult it is to engage in leisure activities these days.

Wednesday

I had a scan at the hospital in Kendal first thing (the Kendal hospital is the Covid free hospital for the area)  It was eerily quiet - no-one in the corridors at all.  I was called in dead on time and was out 10 minutes later (why can't it always be like that?).  It was just an ultra-sound scan on my side as I've been having a little pain there, and was worried about re-growth of those cysts.  I got the all clear - phew.

I then went to Asda to pick up some bits and pieces.  I realised that I am completely over shopping in a supermarket now.  It was very very quiet, most people were in masks, didn't have to worry about social distancing, but I really didn't find any pleasure in it at all - I much prefer having people do the finding, packing and delivering and now I can't buy school uniform from a supermarket I think my visits will have reduced from 1 or 2 times a year to never!  

Birthday cake!

I was back home by 11, and as it was still dry we decided to get in a quick bike ride whilst we could.   We headed out on the bikes for the Cold Cotes loop - I did the easy loop and the boys did the hard loop. The rest of the day was spent not doing much (we have got much better at doing not much these days - used to not be able to stay at home for a day but we are much more able now).  Pat and Bob came round in the afternoon with presents for the birthday boy, then Tom, Luca and Ethan played at the cricket nets for 2.5 hours then a quick tea before a another long video call with Florrie.  Quite a busy day in the end.

Thursday

Happy Birthday Matt - a spritely 51.  We had presents in bed as is traditional (think he was happy with everything he got), then breakfast and an early lunch before heading out to Rydal (between Ambleside and Grasmere) for a quick romp up  Loughrigg Fell,  a Wainright which was the request of the birthday boy.   We managed to find a parking spot which was quite frankly amazing, got out of the car to discover that it was super muggy.  Just as well it wasn't a high walk, as it was we sweated our way up the hill.  First stop was Rydal Cave which I had heard about - didn't realise how big it was, had stepping stones across the water in the bottom, all very nice.  Bit crowded though.

Grasmere from Loughrigg Fell

Funny, as soon as we got on the path which went up the hill, the crowds disappeared and we had it to ourselves.  It might not have been the tallest of hills, but with the humidity we were pleased it wasn't any higher.  From the top we were rewarded with a wonderful 360 degree view of lakes and mountains, we spent a good half hour just drinking it in - we really are lucky to live so close to scenery like this.  We headed down, dunked our heads in river water to cool down and returned home via The Struggle in time to have showers before heading to The Highway Man for birthday dinner.  They have only just re-opened but they were full and the food was as good as we remember.  Very nice day out by all accounts.

Friday - wowzers at last a sunny day.  In fact it was very very hot.  Too good to be inside, so we headed out again.  Packed a picnic and drove to Malham Tarn to do a short walk (Tom has a cricket match again tonight so didn't want to tire him out too much).  Got a parking space easily (surprised again) and headed out - it really was very warm indeed, but the walk was quite gentle so we were fine.  We found ourselves a lovely view of the cove, all to ourselves so settled down, had our picnic and watched the 'ants' walking along the path and up the steps to the top.

Malham Cove

We saw a Peregrine Falcon diving and hovering looking for prey which was good. We then finished off the circuit back to the car, via a stream to paddle in and cool down.  A perfect walk for such a hot day.  The afternoon was spent lazing around (so watching cricket / sumo / snooker etc) before we headed out to Sedgwick and another cricket game. This time Ingleton WON!  Capital letters because they never win because their team is so under age.  They won by over 50 runs, but mainly because the other team was inexperienced and kept running each other out - felt like Ingleton had a massive advantage this time and that's the first time we have been able to say that!  So we all returned in a good mood.

On the charge

Saturday

Tom had 1:1 cricket training first thing which turned into a bit of a social.  He wasn't due on until 10.45, but the Ellwoods were there at 9am so we headed over and Tom basically got to play cricket from 9am to 11.30am with various friends as well as have his 1:1 training.  Turned out quite a social morning (luckily most of the cricket parents are nice parents).  After lunch the boys decided to head out on their bikes to do the Chapel le Dale route which is up a really tough steep hill - I didn't even attempt to do it - deciding to do the Cold Cotes loop instead - I was very happy with that.  Afternoon was spent packing choccies whilst the boys watched the FA Cup final.

Sunday

Tom and I headed over to Bentham in the morning to pay tennis with the Ellwood boys.  Started off a little awkward with 3 boys and Harry and Charlie arguing and Tom ignoring them but in the end they managed to find a way to play together in a sort of harmony.  Tom did fine, considering he had never played tennis before.  They play half court tennis which is in fact really difficult as you have to mind the way you hit the ball as it is very easy to over hit it.  In the afternoon we watched Matt play cricket for Ingleton, they lost but Matt did fine - got 3 wickets so he was happy.  And that was that, another week to tick off.