Luke's 18th

Luke awoke to find nice things waiting to be unwrapped. Suzie's fantastic surf cake was too nice to slice.

We all ate at Giannis to celebrate his coming-of-age. Luke headed off to the pub and we went home for a rest.

Bradford On Avon

For a cultural change, we cruised South of Chippenham, stopping at Lacock where we walked the olde worlde streets of this picturesque stone and lime-washed village. Then to the Abbey and gardens, before moving on again to The Court Gardens at Holt, full of irises and topiary. Bradford-On-Avon was next:

Starting at the busy lock on the Kennett and Avon Canal, with barges gaining or losing several metres in water height to proceed East or West. We walked the canal to Avon Cliff where we enjoyed a drink beside the canal aqueduct over the river. 

We stayed overnight on a pleasant CL (surrounded by guinea fowl) we walked to a nice manor house (above) and would have walked around it but it was shut! So we went to Bath - which was very much open!

Fire Wine

The best way to spend a warm(ish) evening.

Weekend Workout

As we couldn't decide between biking and climbing, we did both: Popping North up some steep bits we grabbed a look at the view briefly before diving to the foot of our favorite 'bouldering' rocks. A glider sailed along the escarpment and then returned below us. When we had eaten all the cake we rolled home so Jerry could enjoy an extended workout cutting the hedge and mowing the lawns in the afternoon. After a brief flop, we were off to Jules' party for even more cake!

Her Majesty's Ship Gloucester

Freshly applauded by the good people of the city yesterday, the crew of HMS Gloucester welcomed us aboard for a capability demonstration of nautical firepower. Being moored at Avonmouth they weren't actually allowed to  launch anything that whooshed or banged, but they did assure us that they would be very fab at killing anything in the skies if called to action by Her Majesty. After pims, nibbles and mingles we disembarked again to leave the type 42 destroyer and her hospitable crew to their collective decommissioning fate. 

First River Run

Opening the 2011 river paddling season, The Three Mongos pumped their rides for the Ross to Symonds Yat section: Setting off in heavy rain, the day gradually improved with the sun out by the time they met up with the girls for the refuelling stop at Lydbrook. Three runs of the rapids there yielded sufficient falling-in to satisfy before Claud and Claire headed for the viewpoint and The Three Amigos paddled the last section. En route to the bluebells above Blakeney, a large family of wild boars crossed the road in front of us. Then we had an absolutely superb meal at The Apple Tree pub before finally making it home. What a wonderful day!

All That Jazz

After a nice Italian lunch as a family, we joined the Jazz In The Square crowd for some bank holiday tunes. A very pleasant afternoon in the sun.