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.

Summer Holiday - To Dover

Dover

We'd watched the Olympic opening ceremony on Friday night, it's a pity that this is all we will see of the Olympics as we planned to be away in France for the duration of the games.

Set off Saturday lunch time, no hurry as we planned to stop on Marine Parade in Dover and get the early ferry over to Calais . An uneventful trip down, only congestion was at the Dartford crossing, queuing to pay the toll. 

We soon found a place to camp on the front right next to the ferry terminal. The kids wanted a subway for tea so we walked onto the garage / shop / subway.

After tea we kicked the football about for a while and spent time on the beach, chucking stones into the sea.

Early night to make sure we were in good shape for a long day, heading down through France.

Oulton Park Track Day

Cascades

Booked this track day 6 weeks ago, Oulton is always popular and it usually gets booked up early. Sometimes you can find a place, but in the wrong group. These days I prefer to be in the Intermediate group, not too slow but not too fast! The trouble with booking so early is the weather, and it's been a really wet and horrible July so far.

Set off at 6am. It was raining hard and the weather forecast didn't look promising. heading over onto the M62 past Manchester and onto the M6, and still no improvements. I thought I was wasting my time, I'm not that enthusiastic to go wobbling around in the wet, so it did look like I'd be sat in the van hoping for better weather. As we left the motorway we got out of the rain and unbelievably by the time we got to the circuit everything was dry. It was cloudy, but didn't look bad.

Heading onto Lakeside

Normal routine, sign in, riders meeting and noise test. Kept my fingers crossed for the weather, there was one or two pretty dark clouds. Headed out for my first session and took it nice and easy. Went a little bit faster in the second session. My goal was to sort out Island Bend, and stop the front end pushing in some of the off camber exits. By the third session I was getting my knee down through Island bend, near 100mph so I was happy with this. The front was much better at Cascades and Druids so all in all I was happy with the bike.

Knickerbrook

Just before lunch there was some spots of rain and I took is easy in the 4th session. At lunch time I had a quick look around the bike and found the front brake pads were within a couple of millimetres of the metal, this played on my mind for the afternoon sessions and I didn't do my normal late hard braking, something you have to do on such a small bike. I still enjoyed the afternoon and got into good rhythms during the sessions.  All safe at the end of the day and no dramas!

So I was happy with how the bike felt on the off camber sections of the track. Island Bend and Clay Hill didn't concern me, and I was happy with both these areas. I need to work on Hall Bend, it's funny that you can't see the curb on the exit until you're past the apex, at this point you realise that you can hit the bend faster. I also struggled with Cascades and just need to be braver on the way in. Stuff to work on next time!!

Chester Zoo Day Out

Some of the Animals!

Finlay decided that for his birthday he wanted to go to Chester zoo. When Jack was little we went to Chester zoo, but Finlay has never been before. We made good time on the motorway and arrived mid morning. 


It was pretty busy but we were soon parked up. The queues for tickets were well organised and it wasn't long before we were in the Park. As it was Finlay's birthday he had the choice of what he wanted to look at first. Elephants were easy to find they are are by the gate! Next stop was rinosorousers, for the rest of the morning we zig-zagged around the park, Finlay was happy to walk for miles to get to his next favourite animal! 

The Kids with the Dinosaur Exhibition

I've gave Jack an old digital camera and he was happy practicing taking photos, it's interesting how digital photography is so much more accessible than the old fashioned film cameras. Jack was happy clicking away and testing out different ideas, he got some good photos! 


Bats were quite entertaining, Finlay initially didn't like it and wanted to get out quickly, however he got his head around the dark and settled down and started enjoying everything. For lunch we headed back to the cafe by the entrance, both kids were more interested in what to look at next and didn't eat much lunch. 

Jack and Finn with a Komono Dragon (Statue)

Throughout the summer there is a dinosaur exhibition with life size animated replicas with noise and even squirting water. Jack and Finlay thought these were brilliant. The models are very life like and you can get really close to everything.


We headed off to look at the indoor reptile house. I liked the Poison Dart Frogs, they are tiny! Next we headed to the Orangutans, this has all changed since I last came to the zoo. I remember watching families from outside at ground level the last time I was here, but now there are high fences preventing viewing from afar. It's a huge facility with lots of large areas where the Orangutans can climb about. There is an outside area as well, but this can only be seen from within the complex. To be honest the animals on display didn't look happy. Just my impression!

Me and Finn!

Next we went and looked at the Chimpanzees, they were just being fed and we got a real sense of the pecking order. It looked like a real community and I enjoyed watching the group getting on with life.


It was getting near the end of the day so we asked Finlay what he wanted to do, he decided that we should go through the bat cave again and also revisit the Dinasaur exhibition. Both Jack and Finlay really enjoyed going back through these areas. After this we headed back to the car and home.


Zoos are funny places I really enjoy looking at everything and learning about the ecology, but at the same time I struggle looking at primates, the Chimpanzees and Orangutans are too close to us and I always feel that they shouldn't be in captivity.


It was a good day out, both kids loved it and the weather had stayed fine, considering how poor it's been recently this was a bonus!

Sky Ride - Bradford

Activities in Lister Park

This Sky Ride event has been going on in Bradford for a couple of years, however this was the first time we've been able to get involved. We loaded the bikes onto the bike rack and headed down to Bradford City Centre. Finlay was excited because he's just got a new bike with gears!


We pushed the bikes across to Centenary Square where all the activities were taking place in the city centre. We soon found our way onto the traffic free route that wound its way up onto Manningham Lane. It was a bit strange using all the normally very busy roads and not competing with other traffic. The whole route was well marshalled and we made quick progress along to Lister Park.


There was lots of free activities for the kids to get involved with, Climbing Walls, Bouncy Castles etc, Jack and Finlay were kept busy for over an hour, all good. The kids queued to have a go on a short track that had been set-up. It turned into a half our coaching session run by East Bradford Cycling Club. Finlay was happy to play with his gears on the bike and rode around the course without a care in the world. Jack quickly became very competitive and wanted to go around the course as fast as possible.

Finlay on his new bike!

At the end one of the coaches came to to have a word with us, asking if Jack would come to the Saturday morning sessions at Richard Dunn sports centre. Jack typically played it cool and shrugged his shoulders. I'll take the kids for a look one Saturday morning to see what they think.


He set off back into town before the roads re-opened and headed home for tea, the rain had held off and it had been a good afternoon out and about.