Tour of Britain Cycle Race

Today's leg of the Tour of Britain Cycle Race started in Frome, Somerset. A nice bright morning, the town centre and roads along the route were crowded with spectators. Here are a couple of the photos I took.

The Throckmorton Coat

We paid a visit to Coughton, (pronounced Coat-un) Court (owned by the National Trust) , while we were on holiday in Shropshire last week.

This is the home of the Throckmorton Coat, made (as the result of a wager) from wool shorn, spun, dyed, woven and sewn all between sunrise and sunset on 25th June 1811.

Coughton Court has been in the Throckmorton family since 1409 when John de Throckmorton married into the de Spiney family. Home to one of the UK's oldest Catholic families, this house has witnessed defining moments in British history, from the court of Henry VIII to the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

Bank Holiday in the Lake District

Striding Edge, Helvellyn (photo from Wikipedia)

We went up to the Lake District over the Bank Holiday weekend because our son and 12 year-old granddaughter were going on a camping and walking trip from Glenridding to the top of Helvellyn. Our granddaughter had never been camping before, nor done a walk longer than a couple of hours or so, so it was all a great adventure.

I am very glad that I did no research into their route, because in the photo above, along the ridge, is the path to the top!!

Rather than camping, our daughter-in-law, Chris and I found a comfortable B & B in Keswick, and the three of us spent a pleasant Sunday ambling round the lakes and visiting Windermere while they were walking.

The day started off quite well weather-wise, but by mid-day the mist was coming in and the rain started to fall again. We all met up in the Inn-by-the-Lake in Glenridding at the end of their walk. Unfortunately there was no hot food available late on a Sunday afternoon, so we made do with lots of hot coffee and sandwiches. Simon was pretty tired, but Kay was quite keen to go for a walk with her Grandad in the evening!! She told me that she didn't know that she was scared of heights until she was doing that path accross the ridge. We think she did amazingly well.

On Bank Holiday Monday we had said we would take a Boat Trip around Ullswater. This was the view from the window of the boat. It had been blowing a gale and pouring with rain all night. Kay slept through it, but Simon got soaked packing up the tent and spent the first hour of the boat trip hanging over the heater trying to warm up.

We were all dressed for the weather and spent an exhilarating time on deck towards the end of the two and a half hour trip with tourists from all over the world.