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Yorkshire #1 (Happy birthday Izzy!)

Ah the peace... I'm sitting at the kitchen table in The Firs, deep in the North Yorkshire Moors at the end of 4 days of remote bliss (for me anyway!). Glenn and the kids are still in bed and I'm having a cup of tea after a long stomp over the moorlands this morning. Despite the weather forecasts being dire, we've had mostly cold, clear beautiful sunshine, interspersed with quick bursts of hail or snow which has been quite spectacular. Who could ask for more?

This trip was Abi's birthday present - a trip to meet someone she has read about and admired for ages. Both the girls had read Amanda Owen's books before we got here so I was a bit worried they might get star-struck but no. As soon as we met her she put everyone at ease, not least she's the most down to earth person you could meet, and they have had an amazing time here. The last 2 days we've walked the 2 miles (uphill, with no complaints from Izzy!!) up to Ravenseat and we've had a few hours helping out with the lambing, with both kids sucking up knowledge as fast as they can. Abi has followed Amanda around asking question after question and she's been brilliant, telling her all about the farm, how they work the land and the sheep, the challenges of lambing and so on. Izzy has made friends with Anna in particular and while Abi was stuffing cold lambs into biodegradable lamb sacs (like a see through pac -a-mac for lambs!)' Izzy was off playing in the stream with Anna and Clem, 2 of Amanda's 9 (9!!) kids. They have LOVED it and are already asking when we'll be back.

I've loved the peace, the space and the wildlife. The Moors are teaming with life and beside the lambs there are copious hares (possibly my favourite indigenous British animal), grouse (including the Black Grouse which apparently is quite rare), curlews, lapwings, wagtails, dippers and a whole bunch more which of course I can't name. I love the walking, the wild weather and the lack of people - I have also had the most fantastic time here.

So onto Glenn, who it's fair has lived the cycling - the roads here are either up or down and when it's up, it really is up! There are 25% incline around pretty much every corner and he has got in some really great miles.... and that's about it for him. There's no wifi and it's miles from anywhere (true, the nearest pint of milk is about 6 miles away down a rollercoaster of a road, single carriage way) so as someone who can't see the point in walking for walking's sake, once you've had your bike ride then you're pretty much done for the day. Oh well, can't please all of the people all of the time. We've liked having him with us, even if he's had his grumpy face on a bit of the time.

Simon and Sharrron spent the first couple of days with us which the kids thought was great, I enjoyed the company and gave Glenn a riding buddy. Sharron is a willing and continual participant in the game of Frustration which we'd all had enough of after day 1 so that's definitely a bonus when you're Abi or Izzy. Much as it was nice to have them with us it was also nice to then have the house to ourselves and it did make Glenn a bit less grumpy to not have me saying "for goodness sake smile, they'll think it's them" every 10 minutes!

Of course the reason we travelled on the Monday was that we celebrated Izzy's 9th birthday on Tuesday - happy birthday Izzy! Her most wanted and most cherished present was a Kindle which she has hardly been parted from since. I thought I'd downloaded more than enough books but it appears we will need wifi for her also before we go home given she's finished nearly all of them already! She just loves to lose herself in a book and hasn't missed her trashy You Tube videos at all while we've been here.

So on from here to the Wedding! Everyone is congregating today at Bigland and the celebrations will commence! I'm a bit worried that we will go from remote wilderness to people overload (not least I'm pretty sure the kids have been in the same jumpers since we got here) but I'm sure we will all clean up nicely by tomorrow lunchtime! Here's hoping the other end of the scale in respect of civilisation won't tip Glenn into grumpy old man syndrome again - at least he'll have company with Dad, Dave, Alex and no doubt one or two others!!


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