Well, it’s the end of a bank holiday weekend for me, the end of the summer holidays for Jennie (and the day before her very first day as a real-life primary school teacher!)
We had a great weekend, all things considered – Jennie found herself a new flat and signed the lease on Saturday morning (no need to panic – we’ve decided to live apart before the wedding, which is still very much on, etc etc.) I had a nice lie in while she was off in Darlington getting that done. When she got back (and I got a healthy dose of eggs and bacon down the hatch) we tootled off to the local sailing club‘s open day; we went up to the club about a month ago to have a look around, and found out about the open day and a potential special offer on membership. It looked absolutely fantastic then, and did again on Saturday, and I was convinced to join, and sign up for an RYA level 1 dinghy sailing course, as a birthday present from mum and dad, and in the diary for the 10th and 17th of October. It seemed a really friendly and active club, so I’m going to be going up there quite a bit – the aim is to crew for someone who knows what they’re doing for a while before I buy a boat of my own… maybe a Topper or a Laser, but who knows?
Sunday was Jennie’s mum’s birthday, so we spent the day over there – all good fun. Before we left Langley Park, though, we were racking our brains for ideas of what to do on the Bank Holiday Monday; we wanted to go away, but we’re feeling a bit poor right now. We were just writing off the youth hostel idea when Jennie(!) suggested camping… after her previous suspicion and unenthusiastic feelings for it (especially after I bought a new tent in July), I jumped right on that, so we chucked everything we needed (and far more besides that) in the back of her car. A brief successful shopping trip later, we had a new roll mat, some pillows, a folding chair and a nice stove (all end of season bargains) and were ready to rough it on Sunday night. We booked in to a little campsite between York and Harrowgate “just off the A59″ – and it meant it, we had about 6 metres and a hedge between us and the road, which wasn’t great – no sleep for me, but Jennie was out like a light. That combined with putting up a tent in the rain, and there wasn’t a single moan from her (though possibly one or two from me!)
All in all, a successful first camping trip, getting rid of the dread that Girlguiding camps instilled – we were planning the next trip over breakfast!
We rounded it all off with a couple of hours at Fountains Abbey, probably our favourite National Trust site up here – taking photos, flying mini kites, and napping on the lawn: very pheasant! We’re rounding the whole thing off tonight with some celebratory end-of-holidays steak for tea, red wine, and possibly a silly film.
