Day 2 - Wild Hiking in Harris

Tom above Loch Seaforth

Wow what a day!  We were planning to go to the beach today because we were expecting sunshine, but we woke to grey cloud and after some investigation, it turned out that the sunshine wouldn't be out until late afternoon.  Even though it was grey, the visibility was great, so we decided to go for a walk up a mountain instead to enjoy some views.

There is a walking book in the cottage so we studied it and decided on a 6 mile walk in North Harris. We made a picnic and headed down to the lay-by.  Now walking in Scotland is very very different to walking in England.  There are very few way marked routes, and very few paths; most walking is wild walking across peaty, heathery moors - not easy to do.

On top of the first summit

This walk started on a track which was easy enough, but then we had to make our way across a peaty moor to the bottom of a mountain and then literally just climb up the heather and rocks to the top.  It was amazingly hard work!  Not only was the terrain difficult, but it was windy, very very very windy!  So windy that I could hardly stand up, let alone Tom!  We did have some tears with the wind, but once we reassured him and held his hands and I gave him my hat he was fine.

We found a nice alcove in the rocks on the way up, out of the wind and had some sandwiches.  We then headed to the top of the first summit: Mula Chlainn Neil.  The wind screamed all around us, however, the view was amazing which cancelled out the wind.  We could see mountains and lochs all around us and the sea on both sides of the island. There were no roads, no houses, no sign of human life at all - food for the soul I call it.

We were even lucky to see a hare run around.  The route we had chosen had 4 summits to it, but as the wind was so strong, we decided just to do 2 of them, choosing to walk around the others to keep us out of the wind as much as possible.  It didn't detract from the walk at all, we were enjoying being in the scenery, we had fantastic 360 degree views the whole time.  Tom did so so well, didn't complain and happily bounced around on the heather, chatting away 10 to the dozen.

Walking down, hand in hand

Good team work in beautiful scenery

After the second summit, Mullach a Ruisg, we were able to see the track back down which would lead us back to the car.  We stomped our way down through the heather and bogs and congratulated ourselves big time to have got so far!  We were very very proud of Tom - certainly the hardest walk he has ever done.  We walked back along the track to the car (Tom was skipping, jumping and talking as if he was just out for a short stroll).  By now the sky had cleared and the sun was out.  It was hot - the car temperature gauge said 20 degrees!

Not a bad view!

We got to the car, changed into sandals to give our aching feet a rest and headed back towards the cottage.  We noticed a big bird up ahead, slowed down and to our amazement watched a golden eagle float over us!  This area is known for being a good place to spot them, that's why we did the walk - typical we see one from the car, when we didn't have a camera to hand, but we were all made up.  It was absolutely huge, and gleaming in the sunshine.

Hebridean weather!

We got home, and enjoyed sitting outside in the sunshine having a drink before showering and making tea (fishcakes, local black pudding, salad and fried spuds with chorizo - an eclectic mix - it worked, mainly because we were so hungry)

Anyway a fantastic day, hopefully it is going to be sunny all day tomorrow...

Day 1 - Callanish Standing Stones

Today dawned grey but dry and not windy.  Can't really ask for more where we are!  As EVERYTHING is closed today, we decided to head to the Callanish Standing Stones.   We did a lap of Stornaway first to get our bearings and to see what facilities it has.  Mainly we saw lots of old women dressed up in their finery including big hats ready for church, but we got an idea of what Stornaway has to offer and will go back to explore further once everything is open.  We also came across a very magnificent big statue of a Highland Cow carved from wood, guarding the Co-op.

Callanish Standing Stones - 5000 years old

Boy and stone

We headed to Callanish and found the standing stones with no problem.  We parked in the car park and headed up to view them.  I think we were the only English there, one thing we have noticed since arriving, there are a lot of Europeans here on holiday.  Mainly German, but we have also seen Italians, Austrians, French and Dutch.  We have also heard a lot of American accents.  We certainly haven't heard any other English accents.  We certainly didn't expect so many Europeans here - I guess the attraction is to get out to the farthest reaches of Europe and be in a very scenic place whilst doing so?

Being silly!

Anyway, the standing stones were pretty good looking - a huge circle of them, with rows radiating out of them.  Didn't feel spiritual or weird like stonehenge, but still very captivating.  They are 5.000 years old and were put in place before the weather got rainy and windy, before the land turned boggy.  If they could talk...

Abandoned croft

We decided to do a walk whilst we were there, to take in 2 other minor standing stone circles which we did.  We were the only ones who decided to do the walk (it was only 2 miles) so we had them to ourselves.  At the last circle, we came across some highland coos - at last, they seem to be a little lacking at the moment.  They, unfortunately werent that friendly, as when we decided to put a mat down on the ground by the stones (a distance from the cows), one decided she wasn't happy about it and came over growling at us.  We got up and left - how rude.

Handsome local

We finished our lunch on a bench overlooking the bay and walked back to the car.  We then found a minor road to take us across the island back to Stornaway.  We came across a rather good looking crenelated tower on the way in and decided to investigate - it was a war memory - rather splendid too.

Callanish III

We then headed back home, Tom watched a film, I went running (its quite flat here, so easier than in Ingleton and nice to have sea views) and Matt processed photos.    We then got dinner ready.  Tom peeled the spuds to go with a roast chicken.  I went to cook them, but couldn't get the gas to work - the gas tank was empty.  Oh hum.  What to do.  After a 10 minute panic we found the house phone (our phones don't work here) and the number of someone to help out - they were in - phew (just as well it is Sunday today) and came round.  They had a spare tank in the shed and more importantly the special spanner you need to attach it.  The gas was back and we were able to cook - phew!  

Murdo - Guardian of Stornoway Co-op

Peeling spuds

We had a lovely roast, followed with Ecclefechan tart, a little late, but we are on holiday so it doesn't matter!  After watching a bit of Olympics, Tom went to bed and once again was asleep in minutes.  He needs his rest as we are having a day on the beach tomorrow.  Weather is supposed to be on the up as well - we have been told it will get above 20 degrees at some point this week!

Spent the evening watching Local Hero - great 'local' viewing!

  

Scotland Bound

Blending in.

On Friday morning we got up, finished packing and were on our way up north by 10am.  The plan today - to head north and be in Dollar with the Blezards by 3pm.  The journey was pretty uneventful, except one detour to Ecclefechan.  We were making good time and as Matt loves Ecclefechan tarts, we thought we would investigate the town and see if we could purchase one from a bakery.  This was a bad idea: first of all, there was no bakery in the very small and deprived looking village and secondly we came across a tractor which was spraying lumps of mud across the road and we got hit big time.  Yuck!  Oh hum, we continued on to Moffat, where we stopped for lunch - very nice (and cheap) it was too - Cafe Ariete there is just great - Tom had a pint of strawberry milkshake which he polished off in no time, Matt had a roll with bacon, sausage and haggis and was very happy.  I went for the soup and sandwich option and was astounded by the size of the meal - it was enormous, I could hardly eat the soup let alone the sandwich as well - luckily Matt was on hand to help, but it meant he didn't get his slice of Ecclefechan Tart for pudding!

Eilean Donan Castle

We then headed further north to the Edinburgh / Glasgow corridor and travelled over the Forth Road Bridge to arrive in Dollar just on 3pm.  It was a horrible, horrible day - grey and rainy so we stayed in and ate home made biscuits and then a wonderful stew that the boys had made.  Tom had a ball playing with Rory and Lewis - there were a lot of high spirits, shouting, screaming etc.  Both boys have just got Gerbils, so Tom got to handle and play with them as well as a long session playing cops and robbers.  It was fun.  Once the boys had finally gone to bed we settled down to a session of cheese, biscuits, wine and whisky.  It was a good night.

MV Hebridean Isles

Saturday morning we were a little fragile!  Matt busted his hangover with a fried haggis roll for breakfast - I tried it...it wasn't for me, so I went for toast in jam instead.  I did have an unquenchable thirst all day though, didn't matter how much I drank.  In fact I even went to bed thirsty!  We left the Blezards at 8.30 - they were all heading down to London this morning so we got out of their hair.  It was a good job too, as we ended up having quite a day out.

We headed north and made good time, so much so that we were beginning to worry about getting to Skye too early!  We saw a sign for Dewar's World of Whisky and thought of going there, but the signs disappeared.  Then Matt saw a sign for House of Bruar - it said shopping and cafe, it was 9.30, we were both already hungry and thirsty again so we thought we would stop by and see if it was any good.  Wow!  Not sure how to describe it - a shopping venue maybe.  It had a huge food hall, with butchery, lots of smoked salmon, lots of posh nosh treats.  Then there was a cafe and restaurant where we fortified ourselves with cakes and drinks - they were very nice too.  Then there were shops - well one shop but more of a department store selling lots of very nice high end products.  Good thing though was there was a massive sale on - 50% and 25% off lots of things, we ended up spending quite a lot of time and money there.  There was a country gentleman's outfitters and ditto for ladies.  All very nice and a little too posh for us.  A good job we had a boat to catch otherwise we may have spent all day there and may have crumbled and ended up buying country clothing for all 3 of us.  Anyway, if anyone is ever passing it is worth a look.

By now it was past 11, but we decided to start traveling again, after a brief stop at Dalwhinnie Distillery (Matt surprisingly didn't buy anything) we headed on again through some beautiful beautiful scenery - mountains and lochs, including one called Loch Lochy, until we got to Roybridge and found lunch at Darwin's Rest - a fossil themed cafe - very well done and nice food if a little slow.  I had the first smoked salmon of the holiday and believe it or not Tom rejected my offer to try some?!

Harris-bound

Next (brief) stop was Eilean Donan Castle for a photo shoot - it looked amazing even in the gloom.  We then headed to Kyle of Lochalsh and the bridge across to the Isle of Skye.  We headed straight to Portree and the Co-op there to get some provisions in (nothing is open in the Western Isles on a Sunday including restaurants, cafes and take-aways, so if we wanted to eat on Sunday we needed to take food with us)  By the time we had stocked up, it was getting on for 5pm, so we decided to head straight to Uig to the ferry terminal.  Shame as I know Portree is a good looking place.  We checked in at the ferry terminal, had a look around Uig (not much to see) and waited for our ferry to arrive.  The M V Hebridean Isles arrived dead on time and we were the first on board.  We went straight to the cafeteria as it was getting on for 7pm.  Tom had a scottish favourite of Macaroni Cheese which he inhaled in no time whilst Matt and I had curries.

The journey across was nice and calm, although a little cold and murky!  The visibility wasn't great, it was rainy and windy, but we did manage to see some of the scenery as we headed past it all.  We arrived in Tarbert in Harris dead on time and headed straight to our cottage. It was a 50 mile drive, but the easiest 50 miles you could drive, big open, empty, smooth roads in a barren landscape.  The only thing slowing us down was the speed limit.  Thing to note - all road signs etc here are in Gaelic first and English second, if there is room.

Summer in the Outer Hebrides

We found our cottage in Bac - a very comfortable croft conversion, full of nice touches including smoked salmon and black pudding in the fridge!  Tom went to bed very excited and was asleep in seconds.  We weren't far behind him, it had been a long day.

Trip to Telford

Tom, Becca and Hannah

On Sunday morning I loaded the car and headed down the M6 to Telford for a mini break with Tom.  We tend to do this every summer - it is a chance to meet up with old friends and catch up - always nice, if not frantic.

The motorway was ok, we got down there in 3 hours, stopping off in Waitrose in Newport for lunch (very underwhelming and therefore disappointing!) We got to Eastwood Drive dead on 2pm and headed in to see the Gouges.  Wow! Becca has grown up big time.  She has been in Secondary school for one year and looks a full on teenager already - full of make up, false nails etc etc.  I'm not sure I would have recognised her if she hadn't had been in her house!  Hannah, on the other hand looks exactly how she always has looked, but is just taller.

The Eastwood Crew

The sun was shining, so we had a lovely afternoon basking in the sunshine in their back garden.  Tom played with the girls and Paul whilst I chatted.  George and Margaret also popped round to say hi.  It was a lovely afternoon, Rose even gave me a quick crochet lesson (still don't understand it!).  Before too long it was 4.30 and time to say our goodbyes and head to Lawley to meet up with the Shaws.

I used sat nav to find Helen's house - Telford roads confuse me now, especially when you have to go from North to South. I got there in 10 minutes (would have been 30 mins a very long way round if I had done it by memory!)  Jake and Tom instantly remembered each other and were playing together in seconds.  Thomas was very grown up too - he has turned into a very beautiful boy, with the most amazing eye lashes.  I was greeted by a huge hug from Helen, a glass of chilled prosecco and a roast chicken in the oven - what more could we want?  Believe it or not we are their first overnight visitors since Helen had Jake over 7 years ago???!!!!!   I know their family live nearby, but really - how on earth have they managed that?  I wouldn't want that!

The best group pic I could manage
Tom, Jake, Thomas, Abby and Ollie

Anyway, it was a warm welcome from Helen, the boys were happy and we chatted and played as if it was only just last week we last saw each other, always a nice experience when you get on so well like that!  The roast was lovely, Tom ate his up well too.  The boys then settled down in Jake's room with next to no high jinx and Helen and I chatted into the night whilst finishing the prosecco.

Super Ollie!

Monday, Rose, Abby and Ollie came over to Helen's (they are close friends).  We made a picnic and then headed over to Attingham Park for a play.  Abby wasn't a happy girl - very tired and clingy, but Ollie was great and the children played together really well.  I was hoping that Tom would go off climbing things and forget about his arm, but he refused to use it and decided to boot around a football by himself instead (how do we get him to use that arm?)  Jake and Abby played together and Ollie and Thomas dipped in and out between them all.  Somehow, it didn't rain on us so we ended up having a lovely day - I dread to think how much we ate (we had a huge picnic) but it was fun and it was good to see Rose and crew again.

We all returned to Helen's at the end of the day as Rose was wanting some of the chocolate cake I had brought round to Helen's.  However, we all forgot - 5 tired children in one house means that there is always one crisis to manage!

Monday evening Tom was very tired, so much so I couldn't reason with him (he didn't sleep well last night as Jake and Thomas's snoring kept him awake!).  This meant that Tom ended up in my room to sleep, which in turn meant that Jake had a melt down as he wanted a sleep over again - there were tears and frustration from both boys - oh joy!  Once they were in bed though they were all asleep pretty quickly.

Mae

Lucy

Tuesday we had a leisurely breakfast at Helen's and then said our goodbyes and headed over to see Rachel and co.  They were just back from a mini break in Switzerland, so instead of rushing out to do something, we chilled out at their home which is a lovely home in a lovely location.  The children got the frisbees out and devised a frisbee school for the adults.  I passed Primary and Secondary levels but Rachel and Phil were apparently naughty children and only passed Primary phase!  All three children had a grumpy afternoon (tiredness) but cheered up in the evening and had a great adventure trying to catch chickens - it was a joy to watch and although I knew Tom needed an early sleep I couldn't bring myself to end the magic so let it happen.  They eventually went to bed around 9pm, none of them complained and all were asleep in minutes (a first!).  Rachel, Phil and I had a lovely evening, drinking far too much wine and chatting away - always a good evening.

Tom, a chicken and the MacConnachies

Wednesday, we had a relaxed morning before heading to Weston Park for a run around.  Rachel and I were put through frisbee university by professor Tom and Miss McConnachie.  We both passed, but it took a couple of attempts!  The children went for a play in the park before we headed back home for lunch.  Tom and I then headed home.  Tom was asleep in minutes and we had an uneventful trip back.

Thanks to everyone who we met up with - we had a great time.

Holidays - weekend 3

Ingleborough from Gunnerfleet Farm

Ribblehead Viaduct

Matt was playing cricket again today but it was a nice, bright and sunny day so we decided to head up to Ribblehead to do the short circular walk around the viaduct to make the most of the good weather.  We coincided with a MacMillan sponsored 3 peaks walk so there were a lot of people around, but it didn't matter, there was room for all.  The 3 peaks area was looking very very lovely in the sunshine, the hills glinting green.  I had an ulterior motive: to have a good look to see if I think I can run the route and to see how long it is.  It is 2.85 miles, so about the same as my current runs, I think I will give it a go when I can find the time.

Anyway we were all in good spirits, we had to continually remind Tom to use his other hand - it has stretched since yesterday and he is able to hang it down, but he doesn't want to and keeps holding it to his chest.  However, if he is throwing stones, playing with friends, playing football etc etc, he sometimes forgets himself and starts using it - we are hoping he will do this more and more.

Huge lunch for a small boy!

We got back to the car, said goodbye to Matt who headed back to Ingleton for his cricket match, whilst Tom and I went to Hawes for lunch (at the creamery - somehow Tom picked the largest lunch he could!) and to pick up some cheese to give out as presents to various friends we are going to stay with in the next couple of weeks.  We then returned home, watched some cricket, decorated a cake (another present we are taking with us tomorrow), Tom had another bath to help relax his muscles again and then back to watch more cricket (Matt got out for a duck - not a good result for him, but Ingleton won), a play with Emma, tea (mushroom pasta of course) and bed.

The busy part of the holidays start tomorrow...

Unbroken Arm

So today we had an appointment at Kendal Hospital for Tom.  He had his cast cut off and an x-ray.  Good news - the break was healed.  Not only that but we had a lovely young Northern Irish Dr who was nice to Tom and to us and explained everything we needed to know.  (One of the nurses did actually comment that she was surprised that Tom was still in his A&E cast!!!!)

Unbroken arm!

So, his arm is now very stiff, he is holding it in position where his sling used to be.  This is completely normal, we need to gently encourage him to use it and do some exercises to get it strong again.  He may loose 3-4% mobility in his arm - but being so young, it is quite rare and he expects a full recovery.  We can go back to see him any time though in case we feel something isn't quite right.

He needs to take it easy for the next 3 weeks re rough play etc, and then he should be back to normal again.

We went into Kendal to celebrate with a slap up lunch at a recommended eatery - Baba Ganoush - we were delighted with our choice, really interesting and very well made food.  I had beetroot and goats cheese salad with mushroom dhal, which was very very tasty, Matt had chilli made with chunks of beef rather than mince (always a good sign) and Tom had a fish finger sandwich which he managed to spread everywhere - as he insisted on eating only with his good hand.

We came home and put Tom straight into a very hot, very deep bath to try to help release
the stiffness in his muscles.  It had a good effect, he was able to straighten it to a degree - he is still very nervous of it and doesn't want to use it.  We will keep egging him on.

Still, considering he has had to miss a lot (Football camp, swimming, general fun and games) he has been remarkably cheerful about the whole thing.  He never complained once about having the cast on or missing out on anything - he just put up with it and got on with it.  We are very proud of the way he dealt with it all.

Holidays - Week 2

Hard work - but they got it to the end of the walk in one piece!

Tuesday: after a very quiet morning, I headed to Settle for 10am to pick up Tom.  He wasn't totally overjoyed to see me and started whinging and whining as soon as I told him we were going for a walk.  I think he really enjoyed his time with Grannie and Grandpa and didn't want to be back under our care again.  Oh hum.  His bad mood didn't last for long as we were meeting up with Eli and Adam for a walk around Oxenber Woods and lunch in Feizor.  After about 5 mins both boys warmed up and were playing really nicely with each other whilst Eli and I caught up.  She hadn't heard about my 'big adventure' this year but she did know about Tom's broken arm!  We had a really good day.  Adam and Tom found a big branch half way round and worked together to carry it around the other half of the walk.  Not a bad feat when Tom only has one arm.  Although it looked like it was going to rain for the whole day, it didn't, so we were very happy when we got back to our cars dry.  A good day out.

Tom found a yellow submarine Hot Wheels car!

Wednesday: we took the car back to Morecambe to get its replacement air conditioning pipes.  They gave us a courtesy car.  I gave Tom the choice to go to Lancaster or Morecambe.  He decided on Morecambe.  It wasn't as nice as last week and very very very windy.  My plan was to walk down the prom to a funky restaurant at the end of it - but I seriously thought Tom was going to get blown over, so we decided to call it a day and headed into a crappy pub instead for very average food.  Oh hum, at least it was cheap!  We then did some shopping for snacks for Thursday and then went to the amusements again and spent a very very very very long time trying to spend our £1 of 2ps.  Overtime we got to the last coin we would win big!  Think it took us over 45 minutes to loose it all.

We walked back to the car and headed back to the car dealership in the hope that car would be ready, we were in luck, picked up the car and headed home.  Not the most exciting of days, but necessary.

Shaping it

Cutting the candy

Thursday was my birthday treat - a day trip to Beamish with Bibby's of Ingleton.  I had sort of guessed that it would be a Bibby's trip - through what Matt had said.  We have all been wanting to go to Beamish for a while, it was a great idea to use Bibby's to do it - makes the whole day much more relaxing.  It was an early start, 7.30 but worth it.  We got to the coach and found we were the youngest by some way.  I thought that it was a trip to a museum in the summer holidays there would be some children on board, but no - it was full of over 60's.  There were 2 teenagers and Tom and us, everyone else had silver hair!  Oh well it didn't matter.  We had been allocated the back seat and luckily we had 5 seats for the 3 of us, so we spread out.  It was a fantastic result as they were the only free seats on the coach.  I was so relaxed on the way over that I fell asleep!

Writing with a fountain pen in the bank

We got to Beamish just after 10am and got straight on a tram down to the 1900s town.  There was a lot to see and do.  Tom, of course was obsessed by the trams, vintage buses and vintage delivery trucks (a great touch was that all the trucks running around the museum delivering bits and pieces were vintage trucks).  First stop was the tea rooms for tea and a bun (we had been up for ages after all)  We had sly cake (a sort of currant slice which was delicious) and a wonderfully flavourful cheese scone.  We looked in the shops, garage, went to the bakery etc.  Tom got to knead some bread and then in the sweet shop we arrived as they were making sugar sweets which was fascinating - we got to sample them whilst they were still warm.  We went to the bank where Tom had his first go at writing with a fountain pen - not a bad attempt.  We looked in some 1900s houses, including a rather gruesome looking dentists.  Then to the railway where unfortunately the engine had broken down and wasn't running.

Beautiful old trams

Next stop was the pit village where we were going to have fish and chips for lunch, but the queue was enormous and a sign said it would be a good hour before we got served.  We decided to find something else and ended up with pasties and a stottie (roll)  instead. Oh, forgot to mention the wonderful accents of all the staff - full on Geordie which I love.  We then looked around the pit village and spent a while in the school there, where Tom wrote on a slate and we played old games in the playground.  We walked across to the 1820s and the Pockerley Waggonway where the engine was working.  We got to ride on a very very bumpy train in the smallest, narrowest, most basic carriage

Girly swot

I have ever been in.  All good fun and of course Tom really enjoyed it.

By now we were getting quite tired, we decided to get a tram back to 1900s village to experience the pub - Matt had seen that he could get 3 x ⅓ pints and wanted to sample them.  The pub was authentic in that it had sawdust on the floor etc, but children were welcome as were women (phew).  We split up for our last hour at the museum - Matt and Tom went for rides on trams whilst I went in search of some food for tea on the coach on the way home.  We met at the very full shop at 4.30, as is usual in this sort of situation, we couldn't be bothered to look around it and headed straight for the coach.

Tram driver

We left dead on time at 5pm, it had been a long and tiring day and we hadn't seen all of the museum, having given it our best shot.  We relaxed on the way home with sandwiches and cider (the young ones being naughty on the back seat!)  Got home absolutely shattered around 8pm.  So so glad we didn't drive ourselves.  Thank you Matt for a lovely day out.

Holidays - Week 1

Monday - we decided to have a quiet, useful day, so I took Tom to Clarks in Kendal to get him some tough trainers for school next year and then Asda to buy his school uniform (6 new polo shirts) and daps.  We also did the weekly food shop as we were there.  Can you believe to do the shopping and have lunch took us over 2 hours - no wonder I normally do on-line shopping, what a waste of time!  However, can't complain, Tom was an angel, didn't complain at all and was very helpful, fetching grocery items etc.  A dull day was actually quite fun.


Tuesday - I had a wedding cake and cupcakes and a birthday cake to make this week.  The idea was to do them whilst Tom was at football, but of course because of his broken arm there was no football!  To give me time to get things done, Matt took Tom to the National Railway Museum for the day whilst I caked like mad.  However, the Rancom man came and Kate came for a natter, so I didn't get started until after 11am, but I put my head down and got enough done - phew!

Tom and Mallard

Yes, we hadn't been to the National Railway Museum for a while, so we figured it was time for another visit. We parked at Steeton and Silsden station, as recommended by an Ingleton friend, and got the electric train down to Leeds, where we only had to wait 10 minutes for a fast train to York.
There was no queue whatsoever to get into the museum, quite different from last time, and once inside the Great Hall, Tom headed straight for the big O gauge model railway (no surprise there), but there were only two trains running on it, so we didn't stay long. We watched two members of staff give a demonstration of the turntable going round, with a large steam locomotive on it, and we then had a look at all the locomotives on display. My favourite was a beautiful streamlined maroon steam locomotive that looked as if it was brand-new that day. A really magnificent sight.

Best seat on the train

We had an early lunch (homemade macaroni cheese and chips for both of us) sitting alongside Queen Victoria's royal train, after which Tom decided he'd like a ride on the outdoor miniature railway, which he did, managing to sit right behind the locomotive.
We then had another quick look round our favourite bits before heading back to your station for "tea and a bun", which consisted of a half pint of cordial for him and to half pints of real ale for me at the excellent York Tap, a craft beer pub converted from the old York station ticket office. I think Tom approves of beer gardens directly on busy station platforms.
Once we'd finished our refreshments, we caught a Penzance train back to Leeds, where we were under orders to visit Wasabi and buy bentos for tea, which we duly did.
Our shopping complete, we caught the electric train back to Steeton and Silsden, and then endured an extremely slow and frustrating drive home along the A65. It took nearly an hour to reach Ingleton.
Still, it was a pleasant day out and Tom was excellent company, as he generally is these days.

Two cheery crappies

Homage to the Morecambe Missile

Wednesday - another useful day.  Tom and I took the car to Morecambe to have its air conditioning pipes looked at - it hasn't been working very well recently.  We waited about 45 mins whilst they checked for a leak - yep there was one, so we booked it in again for new pipes next week.  As we were already in Morecambe and it was lunch time, we decided to head to the promenade and went for a walk.  It was a lovely day, sunny and very clear.  We walked along the prom, said hello to Eric and headed down to the stone jetty to the cafe for lunch.  We then hit the amusements to loose £1 of 2ps - took quite a while and Tom ended up winning 3 lots of sweets via some tokens, and was very happy.  We then headed to the wool shop so I could browse yarns for my tea cosies and found it was closed on Wednesdays - oh joy!  We then headed back to the car and back home.

Panorama of Morecambe Bay

At 3pm Kate and Finn turned up, they were having Tom for the afternoon whilst I finished off my cakes.  I got them finished at 5.30, delivered them with Matt and then went to Kate's with a bottle of white to pick up Tom.  We ended up drinking it with her and Josh, and relaxing in their garden until about 8pm - a lovely friendly evening with good friends, just what we needed after our Deer Shed experience.

Thursday was a nasty, rainy day.  I decided to take Tom to watch the BFG, I gave him a choice of towns to watch it and he decided on Kendal.  I haven't yet found a good eatery in Kendal so put out a feeler on Facebook and got quite a few suggestions of eateries I haven't heard of.  We ended up at one, Brew Brothers and were very happy.  Big Herdy wall paper, a nice vibe and an interesting menu.  Was full of office workers which I guess means that it must be OK and fast service which is what we needed as we didn't have a huge amount of time.

We got to the Old Brewery Cinema 10 mins before the film and managed to get good seats, good job we arrived when we did because the cinema was full to bursting (first time I've ever seen that) by the time the film started.  It was a good film and held Tom's attention.  Not sure he followed it completely, (I didn't) but the animation was great and it was a good use of a wet and miserable day.


Friday we had a quiet morning and then met up with the Ellershaws x3 (Sal was in London with a friend who has just been bereaved) in the afternoon to do the waterfalls walk.  As it has been raining so much recently, the waterfalls were looking quite splendid, roaring their way down through the valleys.  The children were in good form and marched their way round with no complaints and with haste.  We were particularly impressed with little Lottie who is only 4 and matched the pace of the older children with little to no effort.  As has become habit with walks with the Ellershaws, we had a break and beers came out as refreshments.  I wasn't drinking as I had a craft evening to go to where I was hoping to learn some crochet, but the boys didn't hold back and enjoyed themselves.

Young hikers

Thornton Force in good flow

Unfortunately, Catlin turned her ankle right towards the end and got a little upset, so me, Matt, Tom and Lottie were sent on ahead to grab a table at The Old Post Office for tea.  Oh yes, there was a reason why we met in the afternoon, the boys like a drink at the OPO and what better place to end a walk.  We were lucky and found a table so ordered some platters, beers and cordials.  We had a good nosh and headed home happy around 7.30.  A good afternoon / evening, followed by a craft evening at Fiona's where I tried to learn some crochet.  It is still a mystery, but I made a sun which was very satisfying and finishes off one of my tea cosies.

Saturday

Nik "Del Boy" Young

Today was Matt's Birthday but our celebrations were being postponed till tomorrow as he was playing cricket today.  The morning saw us in Settle visiting Pat and Bob.  We then had lunch in Feizor (where a lady bashed our car reversing into us even though Matt had his hand on the horn!)  Luckily a dent popped straight out.  Apparently, her radio was on so loud that she couldn't hear our horn!  Oh hum.  We all had a snacky lunch, then Matt went to play cricket, whilst Tom and I made a chocolate birthday cake for Matt.  We then watched a bit of the cricket before heading home to make our compulsory Saturday tea of mushroom pasta.  Matt was back in time for it as they won their cricket match in super quick time (the visiting team didn't have a full complement of players).  We then had a quiet, cosy evening in.

Sunday - Pat and Bob came round at 11am to collect Tom.  My birthday present to Matt was a night in a spa hotel in the Lake District, including an all over body massage for the two of us.  I had asked Pat and Bob to have Tom for Sunday night, they suggested they have him for 2 nights, which meant that we had the whole of Monday to play and do whatever we wished - we were all happy with that and I discovered that Tom can keep a secret as I figured I should tell him in advance what he was up to.  So, Tom happily left with Pat and Bob and we packed a bag and headed to the Lake District.  We went to Cartmel for mooch around and lunch and landed in The Swan at Newby Bridge at 2.30 ready to check-in in time for our massage.  The pub/hotel was way way way bigger than it looks from outside and inside is very very freshly decorated (it had to close for 6 months after the floods as the ground floor was ruined).  We found our room which was very lovely, nice big bed, huge comfy dressing gowns, posh toiletries etc etc.

Nik, having conquered Red Screes

We headed to the spa, filled in our questionnaires and then went for our massages.  Oh wow, it was amazing!  I got to choose which oils I wanted, then a bowl of infusions was placed under my face for me to inhale and a hot, damp towel was placed on my back.  I was then massaged for an hour - it was heavenly.  She concentrated on my shoulders which are full of knots and tension (all the knitting I'm doing) - I could feel my muscles pinging all over the place, but she also did my back, arms, legs, fingers and toes (didn't realise you could massage fingers and toes).  I felt amazing afterwards.  I found a nice, relaxed Matt in the relaxation room who was equally happy.  We then decided to go for a walk in the forest to stimulate our appetites.  We walked up a hill and found a crenelated tower and were hoping to see a view, but no luck.  Oh well, never mind, it was a pleasant walk and we found lots of lovely sweet wild raspberries to eat on the way.  We then went for a swim, sauna and jacuzzi in the spa to relax again.  We decided to have dinner in the hotel - it was a good experience, lots of interesting menu items - we both ended up having carb free dinners - I had courgetti with milanese chicken and roasted vine tomatoes whilst Matt had Asian slaw salad with chicken and cashew nuts.  This meant that we both had room for pudding and opted for the cheese board which we inhaled.  We didn't get back to our room until after 10pm - very very late for us so it must have been good.

Bowness from above

We slept quite well (for us anyway) and after much discussion re what to do for breakfast, decided to stay at the hotel and pay the extortinate price for it.  It was £9 for continental breakfast and £14 for anything hot.  We didn't realise at the time that breakfast was included in the package - durr!  We had a nice, easy morning as we had decided to stay at the hotel for lunch (this was also included in the package, although once again I hadn't realised when I booked it and it didn't say on any paperwork that it was).  We therefore spent the morning in the spa: swimming, steaming and sweating before having a huge, thick, well filled coronation chicken sandwich each.

Highland calf

We then headed to the Kirkstone Pass and parked at the Kirkstone Inn.  Opposite the Kirkstone Inn is what I would call a chid's mountain, Red Screes, a triangular mountain that goes vertically up from the valley bottom.  People gather at the pub to watch mad people walk straight up it.  We didn't go to visit the pub - we decided that we were both fit enough (and mad enough) to walk up it.  I was quite scared at the start, but I surprised myself, I walked up the track and didn't really feel it - we only stopped once and that was more to enjoy the view rather than gather breath (in fact I didn't get out of breath at all!)  Wow!  Matt was the same too and we both congratulated ourselves on how fit we have become in the last year (such a shame it took such a major operation to get me to this state!)  We were treated to a wonderful view at the top - we could see most of Windermere, Coniston Water, Ullswater and lots of mountains.  It was clear and sunny and there were Hardwick sheep grazing around us - what more could we want?  We spent quite a while on the top taking in the different views.  We then headed back down the mountain (probably took longer than going up), retrieved our car and drove down to Ambleside.  I went to Gaynor Sport to get a new pair of everyday trainers (seems a tradition now to get my yearly pair from Gaynor Sports during the summer sales).

Montgue - the new boy

Matt fell in love with a large Mammut Mammoth here but managed to walk away.  We then went for a drink, whilst Matt mulled over the mammoth.  He went back to the store, whilst I went shopping for some bits and pieces, we met up - he with a huge mammoth under his arm!  He is a ridiculous softie when it comes to mammoths - we have named him Montague!  We then headed back home, had showers etc and went to the Indian in Ingleton for dinner.  A lovely short break it felt longer than 2 days.  Certainly we were both in need of it, think we should do it more often!