Yorkshire Cyclocross Todmorden

Finlay Pushing!

Sometimes it's pretty tough being a parent, asking kids to do something that they struggle with, but that's life! The kids are now regularly going to Cycle club on Saturdays and we've talked about cyclocross a couple of times. The Todmordon event was the last Yorkshire round of the season, so my idea was to give the kids a taste of what it's all about, so next season we can do more rounds. Jack should really have used his Islabike with nobly tyres but we don't have the tyres, so he used his mountain bike. Finlay didn't have a choice having only one bike!

The weather was appalling it had rained for weeks and the ground was completely saturated, it was also very cold. It was very straight forward to register, the kids paid on the day and it was only £1 each. Jack was in the under 12's and Finlay I the under 10's, so they were both pretty young for their groups.

We watched the under 14's race and it looked pretty hard going with all the mud. After the race Jack and Finlay had the chance to do a couple of warm up laps. Neither were that chuffed. Finlay couldn't get his head around pushing his bike through the mud, but he soon got used to it. Many of the Dads were helping the little ones get around the course, but I kept outbid the way and left them to it.

Finlay raced first and he did okay his race was lasted 15 minutes, some of the kids are very good even at such a young age, but Finlay did his best and finished near the back but not last.  The poor little guy was wet through, covered in mug and freezing cold. He went straight back to the car to get changed.

Jack doing his best.

Jack was up next his race was for 20 minutes, he struggled. The heavy bike with large tyres and his lack of experience made it very difficult for him. He was soon knackered struggling. He redoubled his efforts and made it to the end but he was flat last. He got a huge cheer from the people running the event as he crossed the line, but he was very disappointed. 

There was a TV crew at the event taking quite a lot of footage. We'd no idea which station they came from or when there might be aired. To our surprise the footage was shown on Look North, Finlay was famous for all of 5 seconds and Jack was on screen briefly at the start of his race, so here was some positives from the day.

This whole episode takes me back to the beginning of my gymnastic career as a 12 year old. I did the Yorkshire Championships after recently joining the Calderdale Gymnastics Club. I not only came last but recorded the lowest score ever in the competition. This just made me try harder, and ultimately I became a great gymnast representing Yorkshire and England, Travelling abroad and becoming a national tumbling champion, you've got to stick at it!

Finlay on Look North!

Ryburn - Baitings Reservoir Walk

Lots of water coming over the dams

We needed to get out of the house and let he kids burn off some steam, some of our friends had the same idea. We didn't want to go too far as he weather was pretty poor, low cloud and rain.

We've walked around The Baitings reservoir several times but never been around Ryburn Reservoir. We followed one of our friends through Ripponden and were surprised when we turned down Nursery Lane and headed down to the car park by the reservoir dam. Normally there is only a small amount of water spilling over the dam but with it raining every day for 3 weeks the waterfall over both dams was impressive. 

We headed over the dam and followed the lake edge, crossing a bridge and then following the path away from the lake and out of the woods. The dogs were running around enjoying freedom, our friend Labrador  picked up a large branch and insisted on carrying it. It was quite funny watching Archie clonking into things as he trundled along with his trophy!

The change in landscape was surprising and within moments we had gone from secluded woodland onto barren moorland. After passing a farm we headed still higher and soon saw a great view of Baiting dam. From here we headed over to the second dam of the day. From here we could have walked around Baitings reservoir, but today we headed straight across the dam.

Next we followed the path down the wall side in front of the dam. The path headed down into the bottom of the valley, we then followed the water course back down to Ryburn Reservoir. There was lots of mud on this side of the lake, it was surprising that the kids stayed on their feet and didn't end up wet and muddy. As we neared the car it started raining again!

Before we headed home we walked down the steps to the foot of Ryburn dam and enjoyed the raging torrent of water. It might be a while before we see this much water coming over the dam.

Off-roading with Jack

Spot the pint of bitter!

For a while now Jack has wanted to go off-roading. Andrea has done it with Jack a couple of times, he always complains that 'Mum always tells me to slow down an be careful'.

We set off along the main road towards Halifax, at the end of swalesmoore we headed up the track in front of Rose Temple. The muddy hill was pretty hard work, we'd both were soon out of breath. Once we climbed the hill we headed along the top of swalesmoore, it was good fun heading down the strap track back to the road by the ski Centre.

From here we headed along the track just below the Sportsman pub, this section is great fun, heading downward with good clear wide sections. There's plenty of mud, but it's pretty straight forward to make good progress. You pass a couple of farms. The path turns into the wider Turner Lane, an unmade road. Here we turner left down Jerwood Hill Road, a very steep track. 

Turning left again we headed along  Horley Green Lane, this quickly becomes very narrow and steep, Jack has happy to charge down the track sending rubble flying everywhere. The track opens back put and we headed down further to Shibden Mill Inn. It didn't take that long to get here, but from here it's all up hill to get home.

Time for a drink before the long haul up Blake Hill, Jack doesn't have enough mussels to make consistent progress and has to keep stopping. I kept waiting for him, and we kept talking to take our minds off the pain! Still this is much easier than trying to head home on the muddy paths!

Good fun to spend time with Jack doing this. Only a few months ago he'd have cried off all the uphill peddling!

Kevin Bridges - Victoria Theatre Halifax

Kevin Bridges on Stage

Andrea bought tickets for this gig at Halifax Victoria theatre ages ago. A couple of friends, Andrea and me set off early and had a nice meal at Frankie and Benny's in the Broad Street Plaza in Halifax.

We headed across town, managed to get a quick drink before heading to our seats. Amazingly a couple of friends were sat just behind us.

The warm up act did a good job at breaking the ice, I didn't catch his name, I pitty because he was pretty good.

After a short break Kevin made his entrance. For the first 30 minutes I was in stitches, he went from one funny story to another. There certainly was a lot more swearing than you get on the typical stand up DVD but it didn't detract from a great evening. I like all the funny stories that I can relate to. He started off by having a polite go at Tax dodgers, fellow comedians and then told some truths about banking!!

He was very clever at gauging the audience, just keeping his insults at the right level and not being decisive.

His story about weirdos on buses and his banter about regional accents were memorable.

After a short break he returned and asked for questions from the audience. He's pretty confident, anything could have happened. Some of the stuff was funny but it can only be as good as the people asking questions and some of the material was a bit disjointed.

Kevin was on stage for about one and a half hours, the time flew and I was surprised how quickly the time passed.

After the show we went for a few drinks and headed home, after all we all had to go to work in the morning! 
We'd had a good night and we'll be looking out for more comedy nights!

Oulton Park - Track Day

Ready to Go!

At the end of the season there are one or two track days on Saturday. It was an opportunity for Andrea and the kids to come along and have a day out at Oulton Park. It was also pretty cheap £80! there however is only. 6 sessions because it comes dark so early.

Getting everyone out of bet at 6am was a bit of a challenge, but the kids were soon settled in the van. The weather was pretty poor, I just hoped hat things would improve and hoped to see a dry track at some point in the day.

The riders meeting went off without a hitch, there's been a bit of a change, the Intermediate group is now out on track first, good news later in the day as I'd be finished early and cold pack up and head home without having to wait until he very end.

Everything was still pretty wet and it didn't look like it would change any time soon. In the first session I did the two sighting laps and pulled in. It didn't help that everyone in the group had wet tyres on their bikes, this made me a little nervous, as I don't have fancy tyres for the wet. To be honest wobbling round when it's raining isn't my idea of fun. When I used to race I always enjoyed the wet, I could push hard and wasn't bothered about accidents, however on a track day I just don't get it.

I sat out all the morning sessions with my fingers crossed that the track would dry out.

After lunch things did improve. There as a dry line so I started to enjoy myself. At first taking it easy but going faster as I figured out the conditions. Under the trees at Druids I was a little uncertain weather it was wet or not but there seemed to be grip!

Two Up.

About half way through this session a bloke came blasting past me on lakeside, normal routine big fast bike that I can't live with. However as he approached island bend he went straight on into the gravel trap, he probably went off the track at 80-90mph. I tried to ignore his random manoeuvre, I certainly didn't want to follow him onto the grass at that speed! I guess he missed his braking marker, went off the dry line and panicked.

The track dried out as the sessions rolled by. Andrea and the kids watched from the bridge on clay hill and I had to be careful not to get distracted.

On the last session I had the hammer down and was really enjoying myself. I knew it was the last chance this year on a track so I was pushing pretty hard. Half way through the session I had a real moment at Druids. I guess there were still damp patches, the back end stepped out near the second apex, it felt like a huge slide, but in reality it was probably something and nothing. It's made me slow down and be more careful, but it did get the adrenalin flowing!

I'd had an okay day, the weather had spoilt things but at least Things improved in the afternoon, roll on next year!

Finlay School Cross Country

Finlay - Ready to run!

Looks like Finlay is following in Andrea and Jack's footsteps when it comes to running. He was picked for the school cross country. Finlay was chuffed because he normally blends in and doesn't get involved. It was quite funny that he got really nervous before the run, just like Andrea.

Finlay looked tiny compared with everyone else, it was year 3 and 4 so he was running against kids who were older than him. After a slow start he just kept plodding along and was overtaking lots of kids, by the end there was only 3 other kids in front of him, and they were all year 4 so he did really well.

At assembly the day after he was called out to the from to collect a certificate, quite a fuss for Finlay!!

Remembrance Sunday Parade

Remembrance Sunday in Queensbury

Another Remembrance Sunday, similar to last year the kids were marching in Beavers / Cubs. Everyone met up at the Scout hut and the roads were soon closed for the march to the cenotaph. It was a pleasant morning and we were soon assembled for the service.

After the 2 minutes silence typically the burglar alarm in the Coop went off, turned into a bit of a shambles as various dignitaries gave there speeches with the ear splitting alarm drawing attention away from the service.

Everyone then marched to the Church and we all sat through the service. For a change I enjoyed the speeches, each of he various churches and chapels in the village were represented and to be fair the talks were all relevant and not too religious.

It was very busy again, nice to see so many people paying their respects. It wasn't too long ago when Remembrance Day was poorly attended, so it's good that people are compelled to attend.

Railway Bike Ride - Queensbury to Thornton

Jack and Finlay on Thornton Viaduct

The Great Northern Railway Trail has recently been extended enabling good walks and bike rides from Station Road in Queensbury all the way to Thornton. Riding from home to Thornton and back is exactly six miles. 

We set off from home and carefully made our way through the village. Once we got on Station Road it should have been easy but Finlay got upset because he knew that we had to peddle back up the hill!

Finlay got his head around everything and we started to enjoy the ride, soon crossed Cockin Lane and headed along the new stretch of the track. The railway builders must have been kept busy building all the bridges and cuttings. There's a huge bank as the railway crossed a valley, heaven knows how much work this took to build. We then crossed Headley Lane and headed over the viaduct.

Map of the route

I took a couple of photos and we headed back. True to form Finlay wasn't happy about peddling up the hill, but he stayed on his bike and did get to the top. His reward was pop and crisps!

It'a a good track, I can't wait until it gets joined up to Harecroft. If this ever does get completed it will be possible to ride from Queensbury all the way to Cullingworth without having to ride on roads. All good!

London Trip

The Kids in St Pancras

We spend so much time in the van that we don't get into large cities very often, the kids have never been to London so this half term we decided to 'do London'.We travelled down via train, something that the kids loved. It was a bit like being in the motor home for the kids, we were sat around a table and they could use to loo or do things at the table but for a change I was with them!

Once we arrived in London we decided to head to have a quick look in St Pancras which is next door to Kings Cross. Jack wanted to see the Eurostar trains and the end of 'High Speed 1' and I always enjoy walking through this splendid station. We had a good look around and the kids had their photo taken with the statue of Sir John Betjeman. We also looked at 'The Meeting Place' statue which is pretty big!

We walked to the Premier Inn hotel on Old Street, typically the kids moaned and Andrea joined in but it wasn't that far. After checking in we headed down to the Tower on London. Jack and Finlays 'Castle Phobia' kicked in and they didn't want to go into the castle complaining that it was a creepy dungeon! We took no notice of them and set off around the castle. Both kids settled down and we had a great afternoon. The crown jewels were way too busy it was a real push and shove affair. There were people from all over the world Jack picked up on this pretty quickly and announced that  no one spoke English! The kids really enjoyed looking at the exhibitions in the White Tower, weapons always go down well!!

 Once we'd finished looking around we headed along the Thames and across Tower Bridge. We walked down down into Butler Wharf and had tea at Pizza Express. From here we walked along the band of the Thames back to London Bridge Tube Station. Purchase Oyster cards for me and Andrea and headed back to Old Street on the tube. It was pretty entertaining getting through the barriers with the kids but we soon got used to the routine!

On The London Eye

Sunday morning we enjoyed the all you can eat buffet breakfast at the hotel before heading on the tube over to the London Eye. Another really busy tourist trap! The queues were huge but things moved along quickly and we soon got our turn to look at the great views. Finlay didn't seem to keen on everything but he soon got his head around the experience. The kids were more interested on the Samsung Galaxy tablets than looking at the views!

Once we'd finished on the London Eye we head across Westminster Bridge looked at Big Ben and headed up Whitehall to Downing Street, past Horse Guards and into Trafalgar Square. It was pretty busy so we headed down the Mall to Buckingham Palace. 

Buckingham Palace

We then crossed the Park onto Oxford street and headed to The Rain Forest Cafe by Piccadilly Circus. We'd booked a table and soon were sat down. This was another place that Finlay didn't like, it's a cool place with animated jungle animals. We were sat near a huge gorilla  and every couple of minutes it started making lots of excited noises and then juggled about. To make it worse every half an hour there was a 'thunder storm' with flashing lights and loud thunder. Finlays face was brilliant  like the other things we'd done he soon settled down and started to enjoy the experience.

After finishing eating we spent time in Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus before heading back to the hotel on the tube.

Stood with Darwin

Monday was museum day and we headed across to the Natural History Museum, it was packed. We spent the morning looking at everything and the kids enjoyed all the dinosaur stuff. We then went next door into the Science Museum, by now the kids were getting bored, a real shame. We looked at the rockets, jets and steam engines in the main downstairs hall and I enjoyed looking at the code breaking exhibition. 

After this we headed into Hyde Park, had a cup of tea and walked over to Marble Arch and Oxford street. The kids wanted to spend their money so we walked all the way down to Hamleys on Regent Street. It was very busy but the kids soon found Halo Mega Bloks. We walked back down into the Chinese quarter near Leicester Square and had a meal in a friendly family run restaurant.

Tuesday morning and we took an opportunity to visit Stratford and the Olympic Park, it was a bit of a disappointment as there was lots or re-development going on and we ended up spending all morning in the Westfield Shopping centre.

Waiting for the Tube

It was time to head home and we crossed town back to Kings Cross and the train home.

We'd had a good time and the kids can now say they've been to many of the places that we see on TV all the time. I couldn't spend long periods in London, it's not for me. I miss the open spaces. I think it's busy in West Yorkshire, but the truth is that London way busier than home. There doesn't appear to be much of a recession in the areas we visited in London and the amount of people visiting and spending money was amazing.

Coley Walk

Parked by the church in Coley and headed down the path beside the cemetery and crossed the main road heading up the lane towards Northarum. Before reaching the main road to Halifax we turned left and headed off the road across a field and down into Only House Wood. The kids were looking for concker trees, but we only found beach, ash and oak!

Heading further down into the valley we crossed the beck and crossed several fields, emerging on Leeds Road. Turning right we headed Towards Hipperholm, crossing the valley via the road we turned left up an old track and walked up through Common Wood. 

As we reached the top of the wood we left the trees behind and found ourselves in a disused quarry. It was a place that reminded me of my childhood, there were many places like this in Queensbury 30 years ago and I spent much of my childhood playing in places like this. I explained to the kids how we used to play in places like this, but made sure they understood how dangerous it was. There was some very high cliffs, the edges were unprotected and it was very easy to get close to the edge. I'm not sure that the kids understood the consequences of an accident. The views were amazing, we could see 360 degree panoramas, The church and mill chimney made Queensbury easy to spot.

3 Miles, with lots of hills!

Heading out of the quarry we soon found ourselves back on Brighouse and Denholme road, from here it was a short walk back to the Car. We spent some time looking at the Church yard before heading for home.

It was interesting to spend time so near to home, but somewhere that I'd never walked on before. Familiar but unknown at the same time!

Paintballing - Brighouse

Ouch!!!

The first part of one of my friends Stag do involved heading to Skirmish Paintball in Brighouse for a morning of running around like teenagers with guns!! Only problem, we're all way too old for the running about bit!

20 years ago I went paint balling, it was expensive and quite a slow game. The paint and gas was too dear to  waste. If you got shot once you were out so you didn't take chances. How things have changed!!!

The safety brief was good humoured with one very important message, do NOT take your mask off once outside the safe area. It was made very clear how dangerous it could be if you did remove your mask and got hit by a paint ball in the face.

So onto the first game, I ran around like I was 18, we won the game but I realised that there was no way I could keep going at this pace. We'd been told that it was okay to keep playing if you got hit, come out of the game if you'd had enough. So to get someone out of the game you pretty much had to hit them a lot. This was okay if you were fit enough to run at the other team and get close, taking a few hits but inflicting far more damage to the opposition!

For the rest of the morning our team lost pretty much every game, we tried to work as a team but it just didn't work out for us. It was a lot of fun and sometime getting hit really hurt. My hands took a battering and occasionally I got a real stinger. Some of the guys ended up with real nasty blisters and bruisers. I managed to get away with it!

At the end of the session poor old Wayne and his best man Aidy had to do a stag run, they didn't have guns and it was a free for all. Remarkably they didn't get too hurt. Everyone then just used what ever paint they had left.

It was an interesting morning, makes me think how terrible it would be in a real battle. Guys who go to war are real heroes!

The Deep - Hull

Lots to look at.

Jack decided that he wanted to go The Deep over in Hull for his birthday treat. Nice to have a weekend off decorating!! It was a straight forward trip along the M62 and we soon arrived.

After a short wait queuing we headed  into the aquarium complex. Finlay wasn't sure about the low lighting and needed a little encouragement to get started. He soon got his head around everything, I stayed with Finlay and talked about everything we looked at, he soon forgot about the environment and enjoyed looking at the various aquariums.

Jack trotted around the building with his friend Sam and was happy to spend time with is 'mate'.

I thought everything was amazing, I could have quite happily spent all day gazing into the tanks, the sheer size and scale of some of the aquariums is breathtaking. The kids kept moving on and didn't spend much time looking in detail, typical kids!

Look at Finlays' Face!!

At lunch time we headed to the cafe which is up high in the building with great views over the Humber.

We spent the afternoon going back through the aquariums, this time the kids did better and asked lots of questions about what they were looking at.

I enjoyed looking at the bigger fish, sharks and rays in the huge central tank. I also liked the diversity of fish in each of the tanks. The kids liked the large lobsters and the colourful tropical aquarium.

We left the aquarium mid afternoon, on the way home we detoured over the Humber bridge. The kids can say they've been over the bridge now!

It was a good day out and everyone enjoyed the visit. It's always the same with the kids, they rush through everything and me and Andrea end up keeping an eye on them, spoiling our enjoyment! The joys of kids.

Pateley Bridge Camping

The BMX Boys

We originally wanted to camp over at Kirby Lonsdale, but the site was fully booked so we ended up at one of our favourite sites in Pateley Bridge.

Arrived at the Riverside Caravan Park at 5pm.  It's amazing how hard the brakes have to work on the van when coming down the hill into Nidderdale, the smell was pretty scary! 

The kids wanted to go straight to the BMX track so I followed them over the bridge and onto the track. Both Jack and Finlay are pretty good these days and they were quite happy bombing around using the jumps and finding places to do other stunts !

Saturday we met up with some friends. We walked up to The Sportsmans Arms Hotel along the river Nidd and had a few drinks. The kids played in a small park near the pub. Typically Finlay ended up covered in Cow muck, not that he cared!

Debbie and Andrea, what a performance!

Andrea decided that we should walk along the other side of the river back to the camp site. "Follow me, it's a nice easy straight forward walk". After about s mile we came to a stream the flowed into the main river, there wasn't a bridge. So the easy walk turned into wading through 2 feet of water, shoes and socks off and trousers rolled up. Finlay was waist deap!

To be honest stuff like this are memorable and I'm sure we'll be laughing about this in years to come,

Andrea booked us into Olley's Restorante & Pizzeria, as always the food was great and we had a nice time. The kids ate all their food so it must have been good.

Sunday morning and a last chance for the kids to play on their bikes before we had an early lunch (bacon sandwich ) and headed for home , just as it started to rain.

Normally we like to keep going to new places, there arn't too many places that we re-visit but The Riverside is a great place for keeping the kids entertained and letting us go for walked around Nidderdale.

Skipsea Bank Holiday Camping

I took the afternoon off work so we could get to the camp site early, but typically I got dragged into meetings and didn't leave work while 2:30pm. We jumped in the can and set off across West Yorkshire, just beating the rush hour traffic on the M62. Within a couple of hours we were at Skipsea Sands Camp site. We were meeting up with several friends and everyone had already arrived. Thankfully we were all pitches together, we got the kids bikes off the van and had a beer or two!

BBQ in the evening

 It was great to relax amongst friends and we had a cracking evening sat outside chatting and joking, good fun. The kids were happy playing together and looked after each other the whole weekend.

The weather was kind to us and we spent the whole weekend outside. The barbecue was heavily used, bacon sandwiches in the morning and burgers and sausages in the evening. 

On Saturday we went down onto the beach and I was amazed at the erosion, mud cliffs as far as the eye can see in both directions falling into the sea. The kids went for a paddle and quickly got wet through, Andrea conned me into having a 'paddle' I stripped off to my underpants and charged into the sea, Andrew one of my mates did the same and we spent 20 minutes swimming around, it wasn't freezing and as long as you stayed in the water it was bearable. Andrea and the other girls nicked our clothes and tool them back to the camp site. We had to walk back onto the site wearing only wet underwear, lots of pointing and laughing!

In the evening the kids hit the arcade, Finlay was determined to will a crab toy on the 2p shove. He sat all night loading 2p's into the machine and won the damn crab which cost a fortune!

Paul with his big fish!

Paul is a keen angler and bought a weekend license for the lake on the camp site. Finlay had been sat with Paul and had been eating maggots, his attitude was that if the fish thought they were okay it was worth try it out. All the girls thought this discussing, but all the blokes laughed at it, considering Finlay doesn't like veg and struggles to eat his tea to eat maggots was pretty good!  We were all sat talking when the kids came running over excitedly, Paul had a big fish on the line and we should come quickly! After a bit of fight Paul landed a nice sized carp, everyone was crowding around looking at quite a big fish, amazing!

We had another barbecue in the evening, it was a testosterone team effort to do the cooking. The girls sat back drinking wine while the blokes took it in turns to flip the burgers!

After dark we lit a small fire in an old barbecue, the kids used this to toast marshmallows.

On our last day we headed for a nearby car boot sale and market at Skirlington. Finlay was on the lookout for a small penknife, he soon found a suitcase and routed out an old knife, a bargain at £1.

Finlay spent the rest of the holiday whittling branches. He was only allowed to play with the knife while under strict supervision!

All too soon it was time to go home, Steve and his kids decided to stay on for a few days but everyone else was busy packing up. It was a quite run home, another great weekend, to say that there was 8 kids and 8 adults we'd all got on great. 

Bradford Kids Saturday Bike Club - Go Ride Games

Go Finlay!

Looked on the East Bradford Cycling Club web site and noticed that there was an open day 'Go-Ride Games' at Richard Dunn sports centre so I loaded the kids bikes into the car and off we went!

Since doing the Bradford Sky ride we've been trying to start doing the Saturday Morning club with the kids, but with holidays and other commitments we've not managed it.

It was a really good day, from 10:30am through to about 3:00pm the kids were kept busy doing all the activities. There were kids of all abilities and ages. Jack and Finlay were in their element, both got stuck in and were enthusiastic about all the events.

Jack insisted on taking the racer.

One of the coaches had brought an Olympic torch and all the kids got to run with it as part of one of the events, this was really well appreciated by my boys.

At the end of the games everyone got a goody bag and a certificate. Jack came second in one of the events so he was well chuffed. As always Finlay was happy and content to be joining in with all the activities.

The kids still have not joined the club, as today wasn't a regular Saturday club, but we'll try again soon!!

Summer Holiday - Near Cherbourg

Finlay Digging.

We headed further north and towards Cherbourg, only one night at Le Grange Large Camp site near to Les Pieux. We arrived mid afternoon and quickly set up camp. The site was adjacent to the beach so we headed straight down to play in the sand. Finlay started making sand castles and digging holes. Me and Jack played bat and ball for a while, as the sum went down we went back to the camp site and got some tea from the take away.

When it came dark there was a fireworks display, a fitting end to our last night away. Early set off in the morning and we headed to Cherbourg for our crossing on the Catamaran. The motor home in 2.95M high and there's a 3.0M height restriction on the ferry so it was good fun getting onto the boat.

Jack in action.

The crossing only took 3 and a half hours and we also gained an hour with the clocks changing. We got off the ferry at Poole mid afternoon and headed straight up country and arrived home at 6pm. All safe.

It had been a great two weeks away, we'd bean to some ace places and had great weather. We did 2,500 miles! Great holiday!!!

Summer Holiday - Quinquis / Brittany

Swing!!

The longest days drive to get to our next destination. Steve, Liz and their daughter Laura moved out to Brittany last year. They have bought a house and some land that they are in the process of renovating. It's the first time we've seen them since last September and we were made very welcome. Finding the place was good fun , the Sat Nav took us all over the place and we ended up using some maps that I'd printed out before we set off.

Jack in Finlay had been told to be on best behaviour  it was Lauras' 6th birthday, I think our kids were happy to see someone English who they could play with and were as good as gold. Steve had made a tree swing which Finlay tested to the limit. There was also a small swimming pool which was great to cool off in. 

Wally the Dog!

We caught up and spent a couple of evenings barbecuing, drinking and laughing about past adventures. Steve took me for a ride on his BMW bike into Carnoet showing me some of the places that they hang out.

It was pretty emotional saying goodbye, but we had to move on, heading nearer home. I'm sure we'll be seeing Steve, Liz, Laura and Wally again, maybe next year!

Summer Holiday - Murol / Auvergne

The Castle and Church at Murol

We were glad to be leaving the Cote D'azur, it had been red hot and none of us had much 'get up and go' with the heat. Ironically the day we left it rained and the weather was cloudy and wet, so it was just as well that we were hitting the Peage. We retraced our way along the south coast and headed in land, we were heading for a village called Murol in Auverge, Camping L'Europe.

The kids had spent all day in the van and wanted to go for a swim in the pool, it was pretty funny watching both Jack and Finlay get into trouble for running or going down the slide backwards. They couldn't understand what the lady was saying to them and just looked surprised to be in trouble!

Over night it came very cold, this was a relief after the heat of the Med. I checked to see how high above sea level we were and was surprised when I found out were were over 2800 feet up!

Finlay!

Next day we walked down into the Murol and found the streets filled with a second and market, we pottered about looking at all the stalls and took some cool photos of the imposing castle above the village. The kids would't go for a look around the castle and both were adamant that they were NOT going into the castle!!!

Andrea went for a run after tea, she's got a club run when we get back to Britain, so needed to at least go for the odd run!!

We headed back to the camp site and chilled out for the rest of the day. In the evening there were several hot air balloons overhead, the views were pretty good from the ground so it must have been spectacular from the air.

Out on a bike ride!

We decided to go for a bike ride in the morning and set off with a rucksack full of drinks. The cycle tracks around the village were perfect for the kids, most of the trails were away from the roads and the lanes were very quite. We did several miles, Finlay moaned about a couple of the hills, but the kids did okay considering how hot it was.

We spent more time in the village, this time the market was even bigger. Please must come from miles around, both stall holders and shoppers, the car parks were full and cars parked on all the grass verges leading into the village.

We all spent more time in the pool, sorry that we'd be moving on again in the morning.

Summer Holiday - Cannes / Monte Carlo

Jack and Finlay with a Bugatti Veyron

Moving on and we headed down to the med, Cannes was our next stopping place. Four days to chill out on the Cote D'zure. Camping Bellevue about 1km away from the beach was our destination. Jack was chuffed to find a Lambougini service centre next to the camp site and was excited every time we walked past, he 3 or 4 cars and told us all about them, endlessly!

We spent a fair amount of time walking either down to the beach, along the front and into to Cannes. Finlay lover running along the beach playing in the surf as we walked long the promenade. We looked at the boats in the marina, how many millionaires are there in the world these days?

The big reason why we came here was to take a trip onto Monaco so Jack could have a look at the F1 track and do some car spotting. We got the train from the local station, an air conditioned double decker, made British trains look prehistoric. It took just over an hour to get along the coast.

 We spent the day walking around. Both kids really enjoyed it, Andrea wasn't too keen and kept wanting to do a bus your, but we just kept trudging along. We walked the track backwards, going from the mariner through the tunnel, Jack pointed out the spot (Portiers) where Ayrton Senna crashed while leading the 1988 F1 race.

A Koenigsegg

Up at the casino there was large numbers of exotic cars, I took photos of Ferraris, Porsches, Bugattis and Koenigseggs! Jack and Finlay were reminded to look and not touch. If I owned one of these cars I'd want it parked somewhere out of the way, not out front being crowded out by holiday makers!

Next we headed back to the marina and looked at some of the boats there made the one in Cannes look tame, who owns these exotic boats, they are way too big for a family, but we're absolute luxury! Several of them were registered in Douglas Isle of Man.

The Casio in Monte Carlo

Next walked up the hill to the Palace. Finlay was very hot and had took off his tee-shirt, as we entered the courtyard at the top of the hill the royal guard quickly stopped us in our tracks and made Finlay put his shirt back on, respect for the royal family. We walked around the gardens and looked out at some of the views over the bays.

Walking back into town and we headed to the front, Jack and Finlay had a go on a climbing route that had been setup and we took some photos of the kids with the Fangio bronze statue at Rascasse. It was getting late so we headed back to the station. Dad knows best (or does he!!) we got on what looked like the right train only to go flying through our station and ended up taking ages to get a train back to our station. The kids were both tired and got upset that we had missed our stop!!

On our last day in Cannes we lazed around, using the swimming pool on site and had a walk down to the front for one last time. It had been red hot and we were glad to be moving back north!

Summer Holiday - Ardeche

The kids loved the stream. 

Another day driving south and the weather has been getting hotter and hotter, by mid afternoon we had cleared the Peage and headed towards a Supermarket to stock up food / drink. We then headed up a steep sided valley to a little place called Coux. Quickly found the camp site Le Moulin d'Claire and a nice shady pitch. The kids went straight for a swim in the pool and I got the barbecue out ready for everyone returning from the pool.

After food me and the kids went for a look walk in he stream that runs below the camp site, it was good fun trying to head down stream without getting wet, however Finlay didn't care and waded, sometimes up to his waist in water. The kids really enjoyed this mini adventure!

Finlay out on an expedition

Had a great few days with super weather, during the day it was hot, but during the night it became cold and let us all sleep easily. The church in Coux rang its bell every hour, but unusually it rang twice on the hour with a 2 minute gap. I guess if you missed the first chime you got a second chance, quite a good idea.

We spent a couple of days in the swimming pool, playing in the stream, walking both up and down the water course, all good fun. There was a cool bridge above the camp site the straddled the valley and enabled access to Coux, Jack and me went for a walk one evening, but it was hard going in the heat. 

Jack posing!

Finlay loved it down by the stream and was quite happy to tootle off on his own to either make dams or catch small fish with a net.

There were no English on the site, just French, Dutch and Belgiums. No one spoke English, so we made do with broken French and pointing!

Summer Holiday - Mid France

Finlay on the beach, that's a lake not the sea!

Easily got to the ferry in good time and we soon found ourselves onboard and ready for the hour and a half crossing. We would lose an hour due to the time difference, disembarked at 12:00am and started our trip south. We filled up with Diesel, it was a little cheaper than home, but having to pay the tolls on the Peage made travelling more expensive than home.

It was soon mid afternoon and we had made good progress, Jack wanted to sit up front with me and Andrea was happy to swap for a while. It was good fun with Jack, talking about the cars we saw on the road, he helped me with the map reading, we soon found the camp site. Glad to have finished for the day, we unpacked and had a drink!

Jack up to his knees in it!

We had stopped at Camping L'epine Aux Moines just for one night. It's a good place to camp, there's a large lake next to the camp site, lots of locals use the man made beach on the lakeside, there's lots going on with a few bets/restaurants and amusements. The kids went straight into the lake for a swim and we sat on the beach enjoying the sunshine.

We has some tea at one of the restaurants and headed back to the camp site. This was a nice place, just a putty we were only spending one night here.