Wedding Part 2

The Bank Holiday Weekend was spent up in Newcastle for the second part of Nic and Aly's wedding. Whilst the weather forecast for down south was heavy rain, it was meant to be nice and sunny up North so we were heading to the right end of the country!

I also manage to get the digi wedding album finished for Nic and Aly too. As always I left things to the last minute but am really pleased with how it turned out (apart from the spelling mistake I spotted after I got all the pages printed!!).

Margaret had everything well and truly under control so all that needed to be done was to get the hall ready for the party and keep our fingers crossed that Aly, Jon, Callum and Ray all got to the church in time for the blessing! They did but with only seconds to spare.
It was lovely night catching up with Jon's old friends and his relatives. Callum had a great time, trying to sneak up to the food table and grab some dry crackers, crisps and things. Anyone would think we didn't feed him!

He loved the live band that were playing and spend most of the night on the dance floor clapping not so in time to the music! He did have a sleep in the afternoon, but we were amazed he kept going until midnight. A quick 5 minute power nap and he woke up on the walk back home so it was about 1am before he fell asleep. Thankfully he did sleep in until 9am the next day.

On Sunday, we took Callum to see the Angel of the North. A stunning statue that greets you on the A1 heading into Newcastle. Callum loved sliding down the Angel's feet and running down the grassy banks.Afterwards we found the M&S Outlet Store in North Shields and did a bit more shopping. Managed to get back just in time to watch the end of the Monaco Grand Prix and a Lewis Hamilton win!

North of Duddon Estuary

We ventured north of the Duddon Estuary for the for the first time today and drove up to Ravenglass to catch La'al Ratty (Steam Train) to Dalegarth and back again. As the weather was so nice, we sat in an open air carriage and Callum loved it. The scenery was beautiful and there was plenty of wildlife to keep Callum amused ... and Jon attracted plenty of wildlife too - he's been bitten a fair few times on his legs!!

After the steam train ride, we stopped at Muncaster Castle and walked around the grounds. It was the perfect time of year to see the bluebells and the walk through the woods was stunning. Late afternoon each day, the herons are fed - a routine they know all too well and they were all up in the trees waiting for their tea with time to spare. We were expecting them to be thrown fish, so were surprised to hear they are fed the same animals as the owls - so no fish, just frogs and mice etc.!!

Lake District

In spite of being born in Barrow, I've done surprisingly little sightseeing in the area. Most of the time I've spent here has been visiting relatives.

It made a pleasant change to do some proper sight-seeing! Our first day was wet and miserable but we still ventured out. We drove up to Coniston and visited the Ruskin Museum, then drove through Ambleside to Windermere. We grabbed a bite to eat at Lakeland Plastics, then drove to Holker Hall. We wandered around the Lakeland Motor Museum where the highlight had be the replicas of Bluebird K7 and other Bluebirds. They had cars dating back to the early part of the 20th Century.
We decided against going around Holker Hall and the grounds as by this time Callum was getting very tired and grotty. We drove back along the Coastal Road and by this time the weather was really closing in. You couldn't even see Heysham let alone Blackpool and driving past Nan and Grandad's old bungalow, the heavens really opened.

Today the weather was completely different - glorious sunshine! We decided to go to the South Lakes Wild Animal Park. For years we'd been driving into Barrow and seen rhino and giraffe by the roadside (they've caused many an accident!) so thought we'd have a closer look. We weren't expected much but ended up being pretty impressed by the place. The ring-tail lemurs had free run of the place and were running wild ... the exception being the cafe area where they were quickly sent packing by staff with water blasters! Although this didn't stop one jumping on our table and then leaping over Callum's head!
Viewing was superb and well thought out with high level walkways above the enclosures so everyone can get a good view of the animals. Where ever it was safe to do so, you could get up close to animals as you walk through their enclosures - bats, lemurs (several species), rheas, peacocks, vultures and kangaroos were all mingling with the visitors. Oh, there was also a python out sunning himself with his keeper - he was huge but not everyone hung around to appreciate how stunning he was!

We came back via Furness Abbey - it was less than a mile from Nan's house but I'd never been there before. The site of the former abbey covered a huge area and most of the arches had fallen away, but the remains were pretty stunning never-the-less. Callum spent most of the time running up and down the banks and finding all the muddy puddles. Where he got his energy from, I don't know!