Duncan turned four this week and boy did he get to celebrate it: nursery, home, playgroup and then a party today! With Tree Fu Tom as the theme, inspiration was lacking when it came to cake decorating and we decided to just order a cake topper. Unfortunately when it arrived, they appeared to have inserted “6th” in-between “Happy” and “Birthday”! They agreed to send another and so I get to test out the faulty one on the cake that we had at home on his birthday. Barring the white space that you can see in the photo, it looked pretty good. Sadly, when it came to the cake for his party, the topper was a little more stubborn in leaving it’s backing paper and needed piecing back together again. I suspect we managed to whisk it away to be cut up before anyone really noticed!
The party seemed to go well enough otherwise. I think we were all glad that we only had 10 children in the end (plus parents) and it remains to be seen whether we have any more parties at home! Duncan (and Emma) seemed pleased with the selection of presents and, in particular, the Hex Bugs that we bought appear to have been a hit. Duncan hasn’t yet mentioned the lack of a gun that he coyly asked his granny for. Hopefully that was just a passing phase! Now we can relax for 7 months until the next party!
We’re on the hook for organising the string course at the November Classic spurred on by the fantastic courses on offer at the Scottish 6-Days. The event will be based at Round Hill campsite in the New Forest and we headed down there today to do some surveying for the map and plan a course. Despite the morning showers we were treated to some beautiful blue skies and, as well as discovering lots of exciting control sites, we filled a few tubs with the end of season blackberries. I also managed to squeeze in an hour’s run so all in all it was a good day out. Let’s hope the day itself is equally enjoyable.
It was the Hursley 10K today and this year the weather was a bit kinder to us. It was my turn to run in the main race and I felt pretty good as I set off out the field in second place. The guy out in front just continued to pull away and eventually finished two and a half minutes clear. I and another run exchanged places for second up until around 6k where I started to get a splitting headache. This was bad timing as I just couldn’t push myself up the hill on the gravel track. There was then a steady stream of runners passing me and I ended up finishing in 8th place. My thanks go to the runner from Lordshill who encouraged me on across the last field which meant me finishing time of 38:45 was still marginally quicker than two years ago. Still not sure what brought the headache on (it still hasn’t quite left me yet). It may have been a lack of fluids (it felt very humid and I was certainly sweating buckets at the end) or it may be the start of a cold (I’ve certainly had a sore throat the past couple of days).
Emma was entered for the fun run and was determined to run round on her own this time. However, she met a school friend when warming up on the bouncy castle (!) and they ran round together. She had a big smile on her face at the end which is the important thing.
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I’ve been past it numerous times when running from Rufus Stone, including last Tuesday, but I’ve never been in to Furzey Gardens. It’s probably not the best time of year to visit plant wise but that’s not the main reason for visiting. Interest peeked by the two at the Royal Oak, Fritham, we went in search of fairy doors! I thought we were going to get round in no time at all given the small size of the site but we managed to occupy ourselves for nearly three hours (just as well given the £18 it cost us to get in). There are supposedly around 40 doors to be found. We weren’t counting but I don’t think we were anywhere near discovering them all. It was amazing how much delight both Emma and Duncan had in finding each tiny door and they also approved of the tree houses and boat in the play area. I don’t think we’ll be regular visitors but it was a fun way to spend a morning.
Our second holiday of the summer was to be a trip to France. Other than having booked a ferry from Portsmouth to Caen, we had no real plans until Christine started looking at campsites in Brittany with about a week to go. We settled on a vague plan to split the 10 days between Névez and Quiberon, both on the south-west coast either side of Lorient. With our preferred campsite in Névez only taking reservations for a week or longer, we left home without any firm bookings.
We avoided the high-speed ferry this time and, combined with a calm sea, the crossing was mercifully uneventful. The drive across to Brittany took longer than I had hoped (with bikes and a new box on the roof the 130km/h limit felt too fast) and we arrived half an hour after reception was due to have closed. Thankfully, it was open all the same and we duly booked ourselves in to a nice grassy pitch.
With the exception of the arrival of Christine’s parents in their camper van a couple of days later, each day then proceeded along much the same lines: lazy start to the day, sun shone, , beach, campsite swimming pool, children cycled around campsite, campsite playground, children collapsed in to bed shortly followed by parents. No-one showed any signs of tiring of this routine and in the end we stayed 8 days at Camping de l’Ocean. The campsite was most notable for the lack of British people (a mix of French and Germans with a few Dutch thrown in for good measure). From the sound of it, most of them were in the campsite next door! We had just two nights where it rained with a grey day in between where we headed in to Corncarneau and the children had a surprising amount of fun in the Musée de la pêche.
For the last two nights we relocated to Normandy so that we only had a short drive back to the ferry. We randomly selected Camping La Roseraie d’Omaha from a guide book (tucked away you certainly wouldn’t have found it otherwise). Unfortunately, Emma was car sick with just 15 minutes to go to the campsite. Thankfully I’d pocketed a few sick bags off the ferry! It was a short drive from the camp site to the beach where I’m afraid we studiously avoided anything WWII related (I don’t think either of the children are yet in a position to really understand the enormity of what happened there). It was a good choice in Emma’s eyes if only due to the water slide by the pool and the ice creams in the shop!
We had one further mishap on the return ferry. For some unknown reason, Duncan headed out on to deck when I had thought he was going to join Emma in the nearby play area. He then needed a wee but couldn’t find us again and was picked up by a member of the crew with rather damp shorts… We’d just spotted his absence from the play area when the announcement came over the tannoy and Christine had to pick him up from the pedestal behind the information desk where he’d been placed in full view of the queue of passengers waiting to book a cabin. Thankfully Christine had thought to pack some spare clothes for just such an eventuality.
All in all, with the help of some fantastic weather, it was a very relaxing holiday. Christine and I have both had the luxury of a one day working week but next week sees a return to normality with school restarting on Tuesday.
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We headed along to the SOC event at Knightwood Oak today which was doubling up as the club’s picnic. I had an enjoyable run round the green course although there’s no denying that the head high bracken impinged on the runability. More so for the children! Having decided the yellow was a little long for them on top of the walk to the start, Christine opted for the score. There was apparently still a fair amount of grumbling from Emma and Duncan. As you can see, Emma had chosen an outfit that wasn’t entirely appropriate for fighting through the undergrowth. Sadly we didn’t get to stay for the picnic either as we’d left ours on the kitchen table! It did mean we had a little more time to pack for our holiday though.
Today we headed over to Finkley Down Farm courtesy of a pass we won in the school raffle. In common with other ‘farms’, there was the usual mix of animals and indoor/outdoor play which certainly kept our two amused for the day. Duncan was his usual reluctant self when it came to getting up close to the animals but Emma enjoyed her pony ride, rabbit and chick petting, and the sheep racing! When it came to play equipment, her favourite had to be the ‘drop slide’ which, as the name suggests, starts with a ~2m vertical drop. No problem with heights there then!
This year’s Scottish 6-Days was around the Moray Firth and, after much juggling of options, we eventually decided to fly up from Luton (near my parents) to Glasgow. This meant that Duncan would finally get to experience flying without the pain of long haul! It also meant we could take in some Scottish scenery, stopping in Stirling on route to our caravan site on the outskirts of Nairn. Christine’s cousin and family were staying in the adjacent caravan so the children would often disappear next door during the week. Unfortunately, due to the weather, we did really get to make the most of the nice sandy beach just 50 metres from the door.
Day 1: I had a reasonable start to the week finishing in 12th in the coastal dunes at Lossie. RouteGadget shows my main blunder was at the 8th control where, having just nipped off the path for each of the earlier controls, I actually had to do some fine navigation. A few smaller blunders towards the end at 16 and 17 where I had fallen in with Roger Goddard (interestingly, RouteGadget seems to show that he slowed down to my pace rather than my gaining from running with him!). It was pretty wet and, post run, I just sat in the car with the children waiting for a decidedly damp Christine to return.
Day 2: This time we headed west along the coast to Carse of Ardersier. I had a good run if a little lonely. Once again, RouteGadget shows a small miss at six and again at 21 although my route choice to 26 left a little to be desired as everyone else I spoke to had spurned the heather in favour of legging it round the path.
Day 3: Another nearby coastal location, this time Culbin. This was my best run of the week with a 5th place and, perhaps not coincidentally, was my first late start. This meant I got to take the children round an excellent string course which had activities at each control (bean bags in the bucket, blowing bubbles etc.). RouteGadget shows a pretty steady run except for an overshoot at the fourth control.
Rest Day: We spurned all of the orienteering activities and went just up the road to Fort George where the children enjoyed the talk by a redcoat, displays, and just generally running around a working army base (complete with ‘armies’ as Duncan likes to call soldiers). We then had a fun afternoon at a JOK birthday bash.
Day 4: Loch of Boath was billed as ‘classic Highland forest’ which is always a bad sign in my books, particular when combined with another early start. RouteGadget really just shows too many fumbles to highlight any in particular and I came tumbling down to 17th place.
Day 5: Today there was the excitement of parking on a taxiway of what was once RAF Kinloss (now Kinloss Barracks) and I got to partake in another fantastic string course with aeroplane related characters at every control in a fantastically runnable piece of mossy forest. Unfortunately this was the high point of the day at Roseisle as I had a terrible run. Thankfully I forgot my GPS so you can’t see the point at which I found control 14 when I was looking for 9 where I realised I hadn’t been to 8! That cost me around five minutes and there was more time lost just a control later. On top of which, the Inov8s that I had bought to replace my (dis)Integrators left me with a massive blister on my heel. At least things improved again with a trip to the beach at Findhorn.
Day 6: The last day was always going to be a disaster at the point at which we decided that, rather than having a late start, I should use my punching start to get out early so we could make a quick getaway. Coulmony was another ‘classic’ forest with a mix of bilberry, marsh and head high bracken. Interestingly, although RouteGadget shows some noticeable blunders, SplitsBrowser appears to show a pretty straight line so I must have been uniformly bad throughout! The only remarkable thing is that, despite taking 10 mins/k, I still had a 14th place to count towards my best four of the week and a 14th place overall.
Despite having already confirmed her 3rd place on W35L, Christine still managed to pull out a win on the final day! We didn’t stay for the prize giving though, instead setting off West to head down towards Glasgow via Loch Ness, Fort William and Glencoe. Unfortunately the rain had returned in force and we only stopped for a couple of short leg stretches on the way to our B&B. The return flight from Glasgow the following day was pretty uneventful, Emma being engrossed in the in-flight magazine for most of the journey!
All in all, it was a good week with enough sunshine to make you forget the rain and (some) excellent areas. Most importantly, the children enjoyed themselves!
Duncan turned four this week and boy did he get to celebrate it: nursery, home, playgroup and then a party today! With Tree Fu Tom as the theme, inspiration was lacking when it came to cake decorating and we decided to just order a cake topper. Unfortunately when it arrived, they appeared to have inserted “6th” in-between “Happy” and “Birthday”! They agreed to send another and so I get to test out the faulty one on the cake that we had at home on his birthday. Barring the white space that you can see in the photo, it looked pretty good. Sadly, when it came to the cake for his party, the topper was a little more stubborn in leaving it’s backing paper and needed piecing back together again. I suspect we managed to whisk it away to be cut up before anyone really noticed!
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