Josiah came with us and enjoyed himself on the way; the way back was much harder work cycling against the wind and it was hard going, but he made it – only giving up on the hill from Okehampton town centre back up to the Youth Hostel, so I picked him up in the car on the way back down!

We met Steve & Abbie for lunch at the Bearslake Inn; Steve was road testing the Subaru across the moors today (ahem – annoyed some Sunday afternoon drivers by the sound of it!). Anna’s been out keeping Caitlin company at Riona’s birthday party so we’ll catch up with her later.

As an aside, this trip takes me to 392 caches – wonder if I can hit 400 before school starts again?!

This was last night while Anna was at her cello lesson.

Today has been Friday, thank goodness, because I’m very tired. It has rained all day and my washing was still on the line from yesterday. The garden is completely flooded.

I am wondering if it was such a good idea to say Anna can go to youth group every Friday night if it means that we have to go and pick her up at 9.30pm – makes a Friday night glass of wine very late!

Since last weekend I have managed to do all the holiday washing, not only the clothes but all the sheets and sleeping bags from the caravan as well. I must admit that this was helped by coming home to empty washing baskets rather than the half-full ones I had left, that was one of the benefits of having my parents staying in our house while we were away, thank you Lorraine!

Last Saturday we didn’t manage to get much sorting out done – instead we all went out to visit Grandma, and Steve and Josiah went into town and then out looking at cars to buy for the garage. The girls and I enjoyed our friend Maria’s hen party – Anna and Abbie came to the afternoon ‘tea party’ and then I dropped them home before going out in the evening as well.

Monday was my last full day off before going back to work. I had thought that I’d need to do the last minute school shoe buying with the kids but then Steve offered to do that on Tuesday when a friend got in touch suggesting a day geocaching up and down the canal. That sounded infinitely preferable to me, and a nice way to end my holidays Anna arranged to go out for the day as she had a birthday party to go to, so Abbie, Josiah and I ended up doing 12 miles on our bikes, stopping for caches along the way.

Actually some of the caches were on the ‘not cyclable’ side of the canal, so we had to walk that part, pushing bikes through shoulder-height undergrowth – hard work! I was not allowed to moan and groan about all the bruises and nettle stings when I got home though, apparently ‘extreme terrain geocaching’ is an extreme sport undertaken at my own peril. Thankfully the kids had opted to stay on the proper cycle path side of the canal, they would never have made it!

Tuesday was my first day back at school – no children until Thursday though. Had some time in the classroom and then some training on visual impairments which was interesting. So Steve had the kids and managed to survive Clarks shoe shop far better than I would have, emerging victorious with sensible school footwear all round. We realised that Anna had one more day off, so quickly arranged a day with Grandma for her on Wednesday. Piano lessons started after school, with a new piano teacher as our old one is having a baby soon, so we decided to make a change at the beginning of the term. Actually the teacher is not entirely new to us, she’s Anna’s cello teacher as well – all seemed to go well with lessons and best of all she forgot to bring the bill, so I have a reprieve on that!

The other two were back at school on Wednesday – now both in Key Stage 2 so that felt more grown up for Joe; waiting in the playground rather than going straight to his classroom, and lots of new things to boot. Josiah was a bit nervous about the changes, as he *really* hates not knowing what is going to happen, but he had a good day by all accounts, and now that he knows what to expect he’ll be fine. Both of them were happy to be back seeing friends and seem excited about the year ahead in their new classes.

I did some more interesting training yesterday, on the Optimusic system – we have a relatively basic system in school, on a trolley so that it can go to different rooms – just with a couple of light beams – but still plenty of possibilities. Some great programming uses for more able children as well as the easy switch operation making it accessible for children with additional needs. I liked it a lot, could see a lot of potential in it, but unfortunately I can’t see me ever really having time to use it properly so I’ll probably end up forgetting how to do it!

So today was the big day. Not only did I have children in my class, but Anna went off to high school. No big deal, she was all ready and had arranged to meet a friend half-way there to walk together.

Not much to say really; our journey between sites was uneventful and we set up here without any problems. Eating up weird combinations of food from the trailer before going to find a supermarket tomorrow.

Went on a nice bike ride through the forest this afternoon, a mixture of forest trails and roadway, so that was nice. Weather is cloudy with the odd bit of sunshine breaking through, quite warm though, so very pleasant

Might try and see if I can get some more photos up …

Had a nice day yesterday, which started with breakfast from the snack cabin (mmmm fresh croissants) and after that Steve & Josiah went off to play crazy golf. Thought that as Steve had promised to play with him we might as well get it out of the way otherwise Joe would have been going on about it all day!

After that we all got a picnic ready and went out to do a little bit of ‘La Loire a velo’, only just enough of a cycle ride to satisfy Roger’s cycling needs but plenty for the rest of us! A 6km ride down the Loire from the campsite, then we stopped and had lunch; the kids paddled, etc. A bit windy but no rain Photos may or may not appear on flickr depending on my patience levels, it really is not a high speed connection even at 7am.

Back at the campsite we relaxed a bit more – the rest of the children (and Joe again) had a round of crazy golf with Roger, Steve and I went to the supermarket, we read, they swam, they showered, we cooked a delicious turkey & lentil curry, then we pretty much all had an early night. The kids were all tired and we’re off to Puy du Fou today so we wanted them to sleep well!

On Saturday Anna and I went off to orchestra, the others stayed behind and didn’t do very much at all. Well, Steve fitted a racing harness into his Silly Car, and got the bikes ready for the afternoon, but the kids didn’t do anything more than watch tv and play games!

After lunch we went out for a walk/bike ride on the Quay which was windy but lots of fun.

Anna went for a sleepover with Caitlin in the evening; the rest of us had dinner and watched DVDs.

Today the girls and I went to church while Steve and Joe went to Sainsbury’s. Anna and Abbie got certificates for their bible-book-order learning which they are very proud of. Josiah bought some much-needed pyjamas in Sainsbury’s and liked them so much that he changed into them.

We met up at home and walked through the park, kicking and chucking leaves around on the way, for lunch with an elderly friend from church who cooks the most fantastic roast dinners. Had a lovely time with him, he has loads of interesting things around the house from carnivorous plants to insect collections, as well as plenty of toys for children. He either didn’t notice that Josiah was wearing pyjamas, or was too polite to comment

We left there in time to come home for another friend who was meant to be coming round for tea, but she couldn’t make it after all, so we watched Return of the Jedi and last night’s X Factor, snatching a bite of tea in the adverts! Have ended the weekend with an early night all round, I’m off to read my book

On Saturday we left early and arrived in time to set up before the Grand Prix qualifying. Yes, we were sad enough to plan that, and yes, we had looked at the weather forecast and decided that taking a tv was a good idea. No, we are not proper campers, we have a campervan with hookup whenever possible Saturday was grey and overcast, a bit drizzly, but not too bad.

Amerden Campsite was lovely, friendly live-onsite owners who were really helpful. It is *right* by the M4, so not the sort of campsite to sit around at really, because the noise of the motorway does get to you after a while, but I didn’t notice it above the noise of the rain anyway! It was a great place to use as a base because of its proximity to the river, Windsor, Legoland, London etc., and comes recommended.

Anna, Joe and I went out for a bike ride while the qualifying was on, our mission was to find a pub for meeting up with the Portico on Monday. Got as far as Eton Wick without seeing one, so bought a Radio Times, some chocolate bars, and cycled back again instead.

By Sunday the rain had set in, and we didn’t venture out of bed until about 11am I don’t think! We’d taken a good collection of DVDs, DSs and books The bed does get a bit squashed with 5 of us in it though! Got up, had brunch, then Steve settled down for the Grand Prix. It cleared up a tiny bit around lunchtime so I watched the first lap (boring, no-one crashed or overtook, so the race was pretty much a done deal) and then went out on my bike again, Anna and Joe opted to come as well. It was getting very wet by the time we got to the edge of Maidenhead but found the Blue River Cafe which had been recommended to us by the site owners, so mission accomplished there. We were pretty soaked by the time we got back to the campsite though. Sunday evening we … watched more DVDs

Monday was STILL wet. One DVD before showers and breakfast, then High School Musical kept us occupied until it was time to leave. Steve hadn’t seen it so it was a must-see for him Then we cycled to meet C&A et. al. at the restaurant. Had a lovely lunch, all the while looking out of the window wondering when the rain would stop (it didn’t). They came back to the campsite and the kids sat in their van while we sat in ours, then they watched a DVD in the awning, thank goodness for DVDs!

Tuesday dawned sunny, and we breathed a sigh of relief as it was the day nominated for Joe’s birthday treat, a trip to Legoland. Had a good day there but it was horrendously busy, I guess that’s to be expected on the one sunny day in half term!

On Wednesday we’d planned to cycle along the river to Windsor and go to the castle, but quickly shelved the idea of cycling as it was pouring with rain again, so we drove there instead. Had a good time there despite the rain, loved Queen Mary’s Doll’s House, and the State Rooms. Joe in particular enjoyed listening to the commentary in each area.

Thursday was a dry morning too, we packed most things down with a minimum of fuss although somehow overnight the zip on the awning door broke, must remember to take stuff to fix it with us to Kessingland at the end of June. As we left it was just beginning to rain and it rained the whole way back, so we felt pretty pleased to have packed up in the dry.

All in all a good week, not sure I would have lasted the whole time – or even gone in the first place given the weather forecast – had we not had the van to snuggle up in, the rain really was awful, but it was kind of fun at the same time. Whole photoset on flickr