Catching Up: Saturday 21st July: Blackpool

Blackpool is a seaside holiday resort in the northwest of England, the waves of the Irish sea lap its golden sands and wet the rolled up trousers of the descendents of the mill workers, who spun slave cotton into fabric. It wsa very popular in Victorian times and still is, although it is undergoing a makeover.

We were greeted with the Red Arrows of the Royal Air Force.



There are two Piers and the infamous Blackpool Tower, an imitation of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It's a bit like Coney Island.



Here is Xavier on the north pier with Blackpool Tower and gray radioactive Irish sea behind him.



So inspired by aeronautical acrobatics of England's finest fighter pilots Xav decide to take a ride in a flight simulator.



We had fish and chips next, a very traditional seaside lunch. Then it was off to the Pleasure Beach. A huge amusement park with very frightening rides.



Then we went on this.....




Just kidding Grandma. This is the one we went on next, Flying Ships, built in 1904.



Then this the Big Dipper, another old ride but still took my breathe away, as did the toboggan run.



The next day we did something completely different that included mysterious woods, tiny mushrooms, elves, goblins, caves, waterfalls and sheep.......oh and J.R. Tolkien.

later

The Rockfax Babies

home

I'll be home soon.

The Jousting Tournament At Lithingow Palace And The Rest Of The Week

Real Knights with real jousts.....REMEMBER...click on the photos to make them bigger.



This must of hurt!



And this:



My Aunt Felicity, second cousin Ben, and Mariah and little James.



Then it was back to Kendal and the English Lake District and quite a bit of rain.



We went climbing at the local Rock Gym. And I climbed.......



And sometimes fell off.



After climbing we went fishing a few hundred yards from the Rock Gym and caught my biggest trout yet.....at midnight it was off to the book store to get the latest Harry Potter.....I'm upto page 106.

Managed it. This is the coffee shop in Edinburgh where J.K. Rowling started to write the Harry Potter books. We are on our way to the Royal Mile and Edinburg Castle.



Here we are, Edinburgh Castle and a Scottish Thistle.



Sitting on a cannon in the Castle overlooking the Firth of Forth and Edinburgh city.



We saw lots of armour, canons and the Scottish crown jewels also known as the "The Honours of Scotland". They consist of a crown, sword and sceptre. They were made out of Scottish gold in 1540.





The next day we went to a Jousting Tournament at Lithinglow Palace the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots, with Aunty Felicity, her son James and family, Mariah and James.

We've got a bit of a slow internet connection here in Kendal at the moment, so apologies for the lack of posts this week.

We left Fort William and Ben Nevis on Saturday 14th of February after two days. We stayed at the Achintree Farmhouse. Below are our hosts, Scott and Heather.

Unfortunately the internet is still slow and we can't post any photos.

We shall try later.

Edinburgh

Now we are in Edinburgh




More later

Two Days: Glencoe, Loch Ness and Ben Nevis

First stop in the Highlands of Scotland was Glenco. Jump here, jump there. !SPLASH! don't get wet. This is where they filmed the Highlander and Dad tells me that there is lots of climbing here.



Next stop was Loch Ness and a small village called Drumnadrochit. We had dinner here and Dad did some work on his computer as they had a free wireless connection. Then we went down to the shore. On the way we met a fisherman who told us the salmon were biting at the mouth of the river and the loch. We dug some worms out of a dung heap, called Nanno. We caught a couple of small ones but in the morning I caught.......





This.....it put up a bit of a fight. Then we took a photo and released it.



We went to the Loch Ness Visitor Center. It was closed. But we did see Nessie and went for breakfast.






Don't look now .......... I can't explain this. But I was honoured with a Nessie appearance. Click to make this photo larger.





zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz.........actually, this is just before I woke up at 5am. We are in the Achintee Farmhouse in Glen Nevis at the base of Ben Nevis which at 4,409 feet is the biggest mountain in the United Kingdom. Funny we used to live at 4,409 feet in Bishop, California. This day we got an early start, an alpine one, and starting at sea level climbed the 10-mile roundtrip to the top of Ben Nevis.



High up there was even snow.








The summit of Ben Nevis, 4,409ft. We were the second people up this day. A German man was first. Time 9:17am we seet off at 6am. It was cold, but we had good food.

Mama.....this is Tesco's finest chicken and basil pasta. Then we had to go down.

There are big 1,000ft cliffs on the North Face. Dad climbed one called Tower Ridge last year with his friend Greg.



This is Tower Ridge.




Attack of the sheep

On the way down we passed a million other people and said, "good morning," a million times and that yes the bar was open and no they didn't have far to go. As we got back down to the valley...sorry Glen......a lamb attacked me.

Scotland, the beginning

Set off from Kendal at 2pm and arrived in Glasgow at the home of Aunt Felicity at around 5pm. Aunty Penny is here and we have had a great time which I am sure Xavier will write about in the morning. Meanwhile here are some photos of Xav with his two Great Aunts.

Attack of fat and fish

Monday 9th June.
I got up late in the morning. Had a nice lie in. Dad wanted to take me to an english breakfeast so we went to a nice little cafe called the Union Jack where Dad and I had grilled toast, eggs, bacon and sausages, washed down with a cup of tea. On the way back we got a fishing pole and a fishing license. We took Kate's dog Jess along with no leash!

Then we took Jess home to go get me a English Sim Card for my mobile phone, on the way it was tweleve so we had a cheese brocoilli pasta before we got my phone.

After fish and chips in the evening, eaten outside, we went fishing. We walked about a mile and a half, walked off all the English food, till we got to a fishin' spot but we had no luck so we moved to were the two rivers meet. Dad casted and within two minutes he had a large trout.

I had a go and caught two tiny one to small for eating, after a couple hours we checked the time and it was almost 10pm and still light, then we walked home.

Today we drive to Glasgow, Scotland to meet Aunt Felicity and Aunt Penny. Tomorrow we hunt the Loch Ness monster.

Xavier

Oh and click on the photos to see larger versions and don't forget to post a comment by clicking on "Post a Comment."

I may as well post another photograph. This of Xavier above Kendal. You can see the Rover Kent flowing through this little market town.

EARLIER THAT EVENING




Xavier arrived in England by Manchester airport at 8.30am on Sunday, 8th July.

It's now Monday night and he has had a busy two days, met lots of relatives, eaten English food, drank too much tea, taken Jess for a walk, has a mobile phone (he's probably called you), a new pair of hiking trainers for the hard work ahead, a walk across Morecombe estuary, explored Kendal (been to a moat and baily castle) he has a rod and fishing licence, and tonight we caught three brown trout.

He's now fast asleep. But we shall upload more photos and I'm sure he will write lots tomorrow.

It is magical to be with him.

Mick

Here he is with with Grandpa Peter and Grandma Rita, in the rain in Darwen, Lancashire.








Hmm. I think I'd better post the picture of the trout we just caught. We eat it for lunch tomorrow before heading north to Scotland.

M