just another morning here

Okay, since the last time I blogged, which is a week ago now :

Monday: had a visit from our Scottish home ed friends who were on holiday in North Devon - lovely to see them and catch up a bit Anna is full of good intentions of writing to Hannah more often!

Tuesday: got in a pointless stress about stuff I didn’t need to be stressed about. Consequently didn’t do much else all day!

Wednesday: just about recovered from Tuesday’s stress! Caught up with Rog & Ruth back from what looks as if it was a fantastic holiday.

Thursday: packed to go away for the weekend ourselves, sold a few turnips at a good price, looked after Robyn, heard that my youngest sister did rather well in her AS levels (4 As - well done Esther!), and then drove to Newgale, arriving rather late but thankfully after the flash floods - our friends weren’t so lucky and had spent the past few hours moving their tents out of puddles!

Friday: mooched around Newgale in the morning, put the awning up, ate rather yummy egg and bacon muffins, Anna went in the sea with all her clothes on :roll:, then drove out to Llys Y Fran Country Park in the afternoon for a bike ride. We’d seen it on this website, billed as an easy off road ride (found another description and picture here for those who like maps ), so hired an extra bike for Violet to join us. The lady in the hire shop did describe the ride to P1, so we set off to do the hardest part first, only to realise that the vast majority of it was much MUCH harder than anything we’d ever done before! It was a huge challenge which Steve and I relished (well, the ride part!) but it was difficult to keep the children quite as enthusiastic!

Violet did really well considering it was a strange bicycle and she’s not as used to cycling as our lot - she ended up in bramble patches a couple of times, but persevered and was quite right to feel proud of herself by the end. I think Anna loved it, and Abbie found the uphill bits really hard work, but she liked the downhill parts. And the frogs! Steve amused us all by attempting to cycle through a stream and falling off. It did feel like a never-ending reservoir that we would never get round, but once you’ve done more than half there’s only one choice, and that’s to keep going! Thankfully the last mile and a half was relatively flat and easy, so we ended the three hours (yup, it took as long to cycle as it would have done to walk!) with smiles on our faces, and headed straight for ice creams And the lady in the shop at the end was completely shocked to hear that we’d done the ride with a trailgator, as they don’t rent them out because they don’t think the trail’s easy at all!

Barbecued on the beach in the evening which was lovely. Anna swam in the sea without a wetsuit, the mad thing! Can quite see why the HEMUK family are in love with this place, it is gorgeous.

Saturday: was rainy and horrible! We sat around most of the day doing not a lot - there was a brief break in the rain during which P1 took Abbie into the sea with a borrowed wetsuit and body board - Abigail simply loved it and claims it was the best part of the weekend.

Sunday: we joined in with the annual Portico trip to Oakwood. Anna was a real thrill seeker and went on all the big rides (twice), and I enjoyed them all too, although I chickened out of Speed a second time! The others enjoyed the more gentle attractions

Today: cooked brunch in the morning, then packed up the van ready to go. Went for a last walk on the beach, hunting in rockpools … found shrimps, tiny fish, anemones, and then Steve found a rather decent sized crab under a rock, which the kids were thrilled with.

Drove home, stopping for lunch at what must have been the worst Little Chef I have ever been in (not that I’ve been in that many as they are absolutely awful places generally, but there we go!), and it was a nice quiet drive with everyone apart from Steve asleep most of the way! Kids all had an obligatory bath, and then watched a film before heading back to bed.

It was a great weekend, all in all. The children really enjoyed being with their friends, as did we - and the venue was fabulous too. There are more photos on flickr for anyone who’s as nosey as me

This entry was posted on Monday, August 21st, 2006 at 23:50 and is filed under away from home, general. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.