Goodbye Hayworth Road!

On Friday night we held our last ever BBQ at Hayworth Road. Lots of people made the effort to come and we had a really fantastic evening. The pictures haven't quite come out in the chronological order I had planned but nevermind!

Pink was obviously the colour of the evening!

Ian did a great job of looking after the BBQ for most of the evening. Sacko took over a little later on and I had to scrape his char coaled efforts off the BBQ the following morning!

Apparently Daniel only agreed to come because Claire told him he would get his usual ride in the wheelbarrow. The photo is blurry because Grandpa is pushing him so fast!

Baby Louis had his latest night yet, although he didn't manage to eat any burgers of sausages. Perhaps a DNA test should be carried out - surely any child of Andy's should be on solids by now?!

This was obviously later on. Family had all gone home and only the hardcore drinkers among our friends remained. Well...given some of the pictures that are to come, I don't think hardcore is quite the word for it. Let's just say the vodka jellybabies had appeared!

It is usually me that is found asleep in a corner somewhere at the end of a drunken evening so I took great pleasure when Nick informed me that Ian was asleep on the living room floor! I ran up to take a photo, Katie and Emma (above) had other ideas! An absolutely brilliant evening - made me realise just how much we are going to miss living in Sandiacre though I'm sure there will be plenty of parties to come up North!

Following the Dog

Not related to K9s nor an updated form of 'chasing the dragon', the dog is a 7 mile mixed terrain mountain bike trail built by the volunteers of Chase Trails on forestory commision land at Cannock Chase. Having riden it a few times last year, we took Ian and Katie to play with their new bikes. Great weather, great trip (except for when I did my superman impression over the handle bars coming off the duck boards!) and ice creams at the end. Fab!

The North Face course at Grisdale Forest or the Altura in Whinlatter Forest for those of us Lakeland bound!

SUMMER HOLIDAYS!

Last Friday marked the beginning of our six weeks holiday - the BEST reason for being a teacher! Given that the last term had been more hectic than usual; deciding to relocate, marking, trying to sell the house, marking, school camps, marking, DofE, more marking etc etc., we were more than ready for a break. Friday was also a little sad in that we were both leaving our current schools and the whole moving thing was suddenly becoming real! So, when we arrived home on Friday afternoon we were both feeling quite drained and not particularly looking forward to a five hour drive to Pembrokeshire...

We'd been invited away by our friends Paul and Vikki who were planning to camp for the weekend in St Davids with Vikki's parents, Pat and (paparazzi) Pete. For Paul's 40th birthday Pat and Pete had booked for Paul to go coasteering and Vikki had invited Ian to keep him company. It turned out to be an absolutely FABULOUS weekend and the perfect way to unwind at the end of the school year. Having never visited the Pembrokeshire coast before I was disappointed we were only staying for the weekend, it really is beautiful. The weather was superb all weekend and the wind dropped nicely for out BBQ on Saturday night. We came away with colour in our cheeks and feeling totally chilled out. Coasteering looked amazing and Ian and Paul both thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We had great fun watching too, especially since I had the rare honour of being in charge of our SLR camera, (until Pete stole it!) complete with new gigantic zoom lens. Don't think I did too badly with some of the pictures even if I do say so myself!



After watching the boys throw themselves off the cliffs, we went for a walk in the afternoon - slightly less leisurely than initially planned but the scenery was too stunning not to make the most of it.

And of course, no Dumelow walk would be complete if it weren't toasted at the end! This appeared to be the only (proper) pub in St Davids and we were entertained there by a large hen party. Each of the boys were invited by the hen to bite polos from her necklace, all did so but some more eagerly than others, eh Pete?!

Then it was back to camp for the BBQ, not just a bog standard burgers and sausages BBQ, this was 3 a course gourmet feast in true Mrs Dumelow style - thanks Vik!

The next morning saw us being fed yet more delicious food before making our way home. The Dumelows and Browns were stopping off en-route in Fishguard whereas we had decided to go via the Brecons. There was a hill that Ian had spotted in his book. A lone mountain. It would be a pain to go back to and since we were driving past...

Becky and Andrew's Wedding

We were delighted to be invited to join Becky and Andrew at St. Andrew's church for their wedding this Saturday and join them at their old university, Royal Holloway, for their reception. The weather stayed fine and sunny for the photos, the church was warm, the food was great and the bar was free - a perfect combination. Becky looked stunning as always, shining throughout her big day.

Since it was her little sister's wedding, Emma and Dan had hot footed it back from NZ which gave us the chance to catch up for the first time since they headed to the Southern Hemisphere.

OK so we only think to post when holidaying!

Ok it's true.
One glance at our archive means we can not hide the truth.
Our blog appears to be an entirely holiday affair - and only summer holidays at that!

The good news....only 2 more weeks 'til the summer begins (of which Ian is only teaching 4 days) and then it's time to pack up and move off for our next adventure. Well 2 of them in fact.

The first is that we are upping sticks and leaving the East Midlands for the 'sunny' climes of Carlsile. As of the 1st of September we will both be teaching at Trinity School and with luck, spending most of our evenings and weekends in the hills all around. So if anyone would like to buy a house in Sandiacre .....

The second is that along with 5 of our good friends we are off to Tanzania to celebrate Paul's 40th by climbing Mt Meru (4566m) and Mt Killimanjaro (5896m). Trip Details. After that it's 3 days hunting the big 5 (with cameras obviously) and a few days in Zanzibar chilling out (diving in the Indian ocean for those that can't sit still).

Easter in the Lakes

Having mentioned, over christmas, that they fancied doing some more adventurous walking, we were unsuccessful in selling the merits of wild camping to Neil and Al, especially since we would be out over the Easter holidays! So instead it was a Youth Hostel trip with the chance to spend a night at Black Sail, England's most remote hostel high up in the Ennerdale valley.

The plan was to drive up and park at Honister Pass then walk into Black Sail via a diversion onto Fleetwood Pike to take in the westerly view of a setting sun over the lakes of the Buttermere valley. This seemed great when planned within the dry, warm shelter of our lounge but the true Lakeland reality lost much of it's initial appeal.

In a vain hope that even if the cloud did not lift to reveal the view then at least the rain might abait long enough for us to kit up, we ran from the car to the coffee shop at the Honister slate mines. Half an hour later, once again dry but with the only alternative being that the 4 of us sleep in the car, we had no choice but to pull on the waterproofs and head out onto the fells. Never one to change a plan [unless working with 'Mutinous Dogs' ] we still headed up the old slate mine tramway and diverted onto Fleetwood, taking in the infamous view from inside a ping pong ball.

The rain and wind taking their toll combined with tricky conditions for navigation meant unanimous agreement to skirt around the peaks of Grey Knotts and Brandreth, abandon the Gables for another day and hope for a warm fire at Black Sail. Thankfully, conditions eased as we slid rather than walked down the path alongside Loft Beck and so, wet and bedraggled, we dropped into Black Sail. Steve and Lorraine - Black Sail's wardens - were great, getting a brew on for us, lighting the wood burner and unfazed by the amount of water we were dripping throughout the kitchen and common room. Of greater import, once we had started to dry out our kit over the stove and were warming up in down jackets, the wardens were able to sell us a nice chilled beer and a hot meal to go with it as the wind howled around the hut rattling the wooden door and making the run out to the toilet a challenge only undertaken in desparation.

Whilst we were thre, the snow came down turning the Lakes into a Winter Wonderland which made for some great views from the tops even if the air was somewhat bracing.

Finally...photos!

Below I have added a few photos from various parts of our trip, there will be more when Ian adds them from his camera too. Hope you enjoy!