On me 'olidays

[eirian]

sounds like you had a fab time, Bunny. I'd agree with you about the beer - the Oyster brewery does some gorgeous stuff (haven't tried the stout yet, but have had a couple of the others), and as for Black Sheep... well.... I'll have anything of theirs too - love the Golden Sheep, but do like Riggwelter as well.
Black Sheep is available in Tesco btw.

[gill216]

It was interesting to read your description of places we have almost on our doorstep and take very much for granted. The dales are beautiful. As for the beer, I dont drink it but OH always tells the barstaff that he'll have 2 pints of whatever takes his fancy and no matter what he asks for next they are only to give him a pint of the weak stuff. Without fail they actually do this wherever we've been

[tricia]

the day I drove through Hardknot Pass scared the living daylights out of me

Tricia

[LAT]

sounds brilliant bunny - and very energetic too!

[Bunnylump]

Yes, it was very energetic. We walked every day except one. So hopefully I might be just a little bit fitter for a few days...

[SparkOut]

I had my 2010 Christmas present, along with Monkey.
So, it's August bank holiday weekend, in Belgium, which is not known for severe drought, admittedly but... on Saturday watching the qualifying for the Formula 1 Grand Prix at Spa, it was so cold and rainy I was really concerned that Monkey was developing hypothermia. A hot drink, hot chips (5 euros, 1 euro extra for a squirt of ketchup) and a bit of shelter sorted him out though. My shoes completely disintegrated inside, and Spa seems to be built around a valley like the Grand Canyon, so it was agony to walk. Fortunately race day was drier, albeit rather overcast still, and we got a personal wave from Lewis Hamilton during the drivers' parade round the track in old classic cars, which was the highlight of the weekend for Monkey. The race was exciting, even after the disappointment of seeing Lewis collide with Kobayashi. Jensen Button provided a great spectacle, especially in the closing stages, finally gaining a podium place after starting from 13th on the grid.
So all in all, despite the rain, cold and discomfort, it was great, but for another time it would be nice to hope for some VIP hospitality! (well, we can dream)

[Bunnylump]

Sounds wonderful, despite the cold, wet and hills...(hey, you should be designed to love that sort of thing, bearing in mind your heritage??) Glad you had a good time.

[SparkOut]

The weather and steepness didn't upset me, it was the broken shoes that were the killer.
(Can you tell we're McLaren fans - especially Lewis Hamilton?)

[LAT]

sounds as though it was a memorable weekend. Would mayonnaise with the chips have been free? Pretty well the Belgian national dish!
My son went to the Malaysian Grand Prix earlier this year while he was off on his travels. Apparently he sat on a hill in the middle where he could see pretty well the whole course. I think his three day ticket was about £30 - but there would be the cost of getting there to add to that.

[giraffe]

This weekend was the first race this year that I haven't watched (on TV) SiL had her 40th birthday party on Sunday afternoon and I even missed qualifying because we were driving down.

[SparkOut]

A squirt of mayo was an extra euro too.

I'd probably rate watching the Monaco grand prix from a large motor yacht enjoying sun and complimentary champagne better, but yes it was very memorable.

[Bunnylump]

Ah well. When I'm rich and famous I'll take you there for a treat. I might even allow you ketchup AND mayo...

[SparkOut]

I don't like ketchup. I'll settle for extra champagne.

[Bunnylump]

Champagne on chips? Blimey, you really are classy.

[LAT]

I'm back from my hols now. Had an amazing time in New York with great weather - not a drop of rain much less snow the whole time we were there.
We saw fabulous views from the Top of the Rock and the Empire State Building and also from the deck of a boat on a cruise round the southern half of Manhattan island.
We walked miles and now all those famous street names mean something to me.
We visited Bloomingdale's, Macey's and Tiffany's (but didn't have breakfast and didn't actually buy anything there )
We went to a show on Broadway and watched the Superbowl final in a pub.
And we saw some great art and artefacts in a variety of museums and galleries. The Met was truly incredible, think of a cross between the British Museum and the National Gallery. I could have spent the whole 4 days in there and not seen it all.

The most memorable sight? This man I think, spotted just after we had visited Ground Zero when we were on our way to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge

man with cat.JPG (38.53 KiB) Viewed 1409 times

[Bunnylump]

I can't believe a cat would stay there like that!! Sounds like you had a wonderful time, LAT!

[LAT]

Yes, the cat was just sitting there looking from side to side while he walked along the street.

Of course I took lots of other photos of the views too but I won't bore you with them, I imagine everyone knows what New York looks like!

[Wulfruna]

I loved New York when we went there some years ago - to my surprise, as I'm not really a 'city' person. I though skyscrapers were all the same until I saw them up close..... so many beautiful, beautiful buildings! I agree about the Met - fantastic collection. Did you discover the Frick collection? Couldn't believe it possible to have so many famous paintings in one small building!
So - glad you enjoyed it

[Bunnylump]

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Been to Studland Bay in Dorset for our annual "family reunion". As this was organised by me, I was more than relieved that it all worked out really well, and everyone seemed to have great fun. The idea was that we met up at a point equidistant from my cousins in Devon and us - and somewhere that two of the others (by a long way the oldest of the group, both in their 70s) who live in Dorset could get to as well. So I picked Studland Bay. We stayed in the Bankes Arms (see photo). As D was working in Poole on Friday, the two of us went down on Thursday, and the rest of the party came along on Saturday. There were 17 of us altogether (plus Doug the dog), and we took over every bedroom in the pub. We were really lucky with the weather yesterday - despite the forecast it was bright and sunny for most of the day. We all had a walk to Old Harry (the stack / stump / chalk cliff in the photo) and also went to the beach (where the cliffs are bizarrely yellow and red!!). We all had a great time and laughed a lot.

I caught up on all the family gossip (mad cousin with speed boats, quad bikes etc. has now qualified as a pilot for light aeroplanes, and has bought an old aeroplane "off some bloke who was going to scrap it" and has made it work and is now flying it. He is threatening to take me up in it...I'm not so sure... My other cousin's son told us all about his trip to New Zealand, and regaled us with stories about how he walked for 9 hours to an active volcano crater IN FLIP FLOPS... etc. etc.

Great fun.

It might take me a week of detoxing to get over it (there was rather a lot of drinking things like 6.5% cider and eating too much involved...

[Bunnylump]

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