Photo's: Stitch 'n' Bitch session at Ambleside, although I was told they were knitting jumpers for Africans!
This is me completing the Dunbar leg of the XC series. Beaten by a girls again...grrr!
The kids spending lots of money on horse riding at Creiff Hydro.
The last leg of the XC series along a beach at Berwick. There goes another month where I have hardly written anything, so please excuse this quick round up of what we have been up to.
We have been away twice recently. The first was down to Ambleside for another weekend with the people of St Margaret's Church in Manchester. Again we stayed at the youth hostel and were well looked after by Col & Jane who were our hosts. On the way there we stopped at Keswick to raid the NEw Balance factory shop for running gear. It was also a chance to remember the many summers I spent there in my youth going to the convention. The convention was and probably still is a no frills affair, but well grounded. Many hot shots in the church have been and gone with their new ideas, whilst Keswick has remained a consistent bible based conference...some might say boring, but not without depth. We used to stay at the SU camp site for free board in exchange for emptying bins and stuff like that. The fact there were several youth groups staying there with many female members had no influence on us at all! Keswick itself has not really changed much either, apart from most of the shops now sell outdoor clothing, sandwiches or coffee. One shop that was still there, although now closed, was Woolies. It holds many memories for me, not least the one where my mate Smithy (he was our 16 year old manic depressive friend...great entertainment when he went manic!) got caught shoplifting. The youth leaders made it a steep learning curve for him, especially after administrating the right hand of fellowship across the back of his head!
Over at Ambleside we met up with our Sarah and Rob for a pint, before heading up to the hostel. It was a very leisurely weekend of chatting to people and doing crosswords. I went for a run around a lake and past 2 of Wordsworth's cottages. Nice scenery but it was a very slow pace, which equates to being cold. Some of the braver souls climbed a mountain and found the snow, whereas we did a tour of charity shops and nearby Windermere.
We have just had half term and I was supposed to away for 2 days in the middle of it with work. Emma decided to take the kids to Creiff Hydro for a short break in a lodge. This was because the kids have been moaning that they don't get to go on normal holidays. That's because they are boring and expensive compared to the action packed camps they go on with my line of work....but still we let them discover it for themselves. The hydro is a hotel for rich people and lodges for civilians like us. At 7pm the guests all come down for dinner with shirts and ties, dresses, etc. At 7m in the lodges we were tucking into a plate of Dolmio's bolognese. I enjoyed the health suite, but everything costs an arm and a leg and for me it was all a bit average. The kids enjoyed horse riding and Andrew went shooting, and we both got on the driving range to see if I can still whack a ball (I can but not in the direction I wanted it go).
Finally the cross country season has drawn to a close. The last race was at Berwick along the beach, up a cliff, thorugh a cow field and back again. Yes it was as dull as it sounds! Not as dull as the prize giving that was a mammoth 2 hours long. It was held in one of those working mens clubs..the Phoenix Club sort of place..with a bingo machine and tables laid out in rows. We were well fed and watered so I can't complain too much. Isabelle did all the races and I was pleased to get through them without any injuries. Roll on the summer races, on roads and mud free!
