At last I have a spare hour or so to go over the past couple of weeks. Granted, I won’t put as much detail in as I would if this was done the day after, but I’m gonna do my best…

This spare time is because Toby and I aren’t feeling too well after an out-of-date pizza this evening. We both felt a bit yucky so I’ve come home earlier than I would have normally, and now have some free time on my own. So, here goes…

Boaty Boaty

Okay.. It was… Not one Monday ago, but two. Two weeks ago today, then. It was an early start in the morning to get to Toby’s house for quarter past nine. When I got there I was surrounded by frantic moving people.. Okay, fine, I wasn’t really. Toby and Sarah were just getting odd bits; it was their Dad that was moving. He was packing the car. Suzie arrived at half past and we piled into two cars and set off. Toby, his Dad and I went to the petrol station first to grab some fuel for the boat and some sweets.

We met up with Rosie, Sarah and Suzie at the marine and we unpacked the cars. Toby, Ian and I then went to get the dingy to get over to Valerie Jane, our home for the next three days. We got over there, picked up people and a lot of stuff and set off. We went down to Cookham, stopping at Marlow on the Monday. It was nice, we had a wander around, bought some food and set off again. We got to Cookham in time to set up the tents and have a game or two of badminton before we started cooking. We had burgers for tea and then went to bed when it got to 10. We couldn’t really do anything else as it was dark.

We got up the next day, had bacon sarnies for breakfast and got dressed. Toby and I found a cherry tree whilst visiting the wier, and I nibbled on a few. We picked some more for later and set off on the boat again. We had to drop Suzie at Boulters lock near Maidenhead in the afternoon, so we went up that way and moored up before the lock. We didn’t want to go through as it is a 7ft deep lock.. So.. A bit tricky for a teenage boy driver and two young rope girls (Toby, Sarah and me). So we went and had a wander around the island and saw the guinea pigs and birds… We went up to Jenner’s cafe for lunch, and we played crazy golf before that. Lunch was funny; there were wasps everywhere, and, I shouldn’t laugh, but Toby is allergic so was trying to get away. He ended up jumping backwards off the picnic table! It was very funny! After Suzie’s Mum had picked her up, we went back down the river, Toby and I on the front of the boat as it was sunny. We stopped at Marlow and wandered round for a bit before heading back to base. Unfortunately, after the cherry picking that morning, I felt ill. We were back and forth to the loos as I felt really sick; they either weren’t cherries or they weren’t ripe. I was pretty sure they were cherries though…

I felt better in the evening and we had the same dinner as the previous night; burgers are easy on a disposable bbq thing.. We got up the next morning, probably a bit late. We set off and aborted the plan of going back to Boulters, through it, and back home, as we didn’t have enough time. I was doing the back ropes all day, which was really fun. We stopped just before Marlow for lunch, spotting a boat named Toby that we had seen a few times already. It was moored where we stopped, and I couldn’t resist taking a few photos (which will be added as soon as I can find the USB cable for my phone). Sarah, Toby and I went to Subway for lunch, but their Mum and Dad went to a cafe down the road, and we met up on the way back. Toby and I went on ahead as I felt a bit rubbish and wanted a lie down. I’d had stomach cramps all day.

We got home in the evening. Toby and I took the boat back to the mooring site on our own and Ian followed with a dingy to get us back to the right side of the river. I got picked up from Toby’s house in the evening and I slept well in my own bed with a roof (not a canvas) over my head.

A Nice (Cold, Wet, Windy) Beach Holiday

Well.. We set off early again and drove down to Woolacombe in Devon. We got their early afternoon time, and set up our base camp in damp, cold weather. It was spitting a bit, but we got set up rather quick.

We went to Ilfracombe later and had a wander about. We got rained on by the harbour, which I distinctly remember happening last time we went. We ducked into a nice pub for a bit and had a few games of pool before we went back to the car and then back to the campsite. We got cleaned up and went to the carvery at a pub the other side of the hedge. It was really nice, although we had to wait for more beef! Toby nicked me an extra Yorkshire pudding!

We went back to the tents at about 10 and went to bed. We got up the next day and got dressed before going to see my cousins at their site. It was cool, we bumped into my uncle and Josh whilst looking for their caravan. Molly, the dog, was pleased to see us, but was a bit confused by Toby.

We left them for lunch but met up with them at 3 to go to the beach. It was bloody cold in the sea. Lauren didn’t go in ’cause she’d forgotten her swimming stuff, so she was digging a hole when Toby and I came back to shore after I got brainfreeze and he got hit by his bodyboard. We joined in with the digging and ended up with a hole big enough to bury Josh in! It was funny. Especially when Molly started digging too, kicking sand onto Dad!

We went to get fish and chips for tea. Well, Lauren and I got pizzas ’cause she’s a vegetarian so couldn’t have anything on the chippy menu. We all went and sat on a small cliff to eat. My pizza was yummyness. I do love a good pizza. It wasn’t quite as good, though, as Pollo ad Astra from Pizza Express. That is nice. Anyway..

We went our seperate ways, but met up the next morning to go to a different beach. I can’t remember the name of it, sorry, but Molly wasn’t allowed there anyway. What we did find, though, was a market. I thought it would be a good place to replace Toby’s flip flops that had cut into his feet. We had a look round and ended up finding wetsuits. They were everywhere we went but we found a couple of stalls that had good ones for not much money. Mum, Simon and Toby went to one stall and all got a shorty each, different colours, but amazingly (because of the variations in size and shape) all the same size. Toby’s has white sleeves, Mum’s has pink and Simon’s has a rather girly turquoise. I found another stall that had a shorty and a full-length that fitted me at £15 each! I thought that was fantastic.

We went back to Woolacombe beach that afternoon and went in the sea with our wetsuits. They worked wonders, we were in for at least three times the time we were in for the day before! We then went to find a pub for dinner, and had loads of fun.

We went our seperate ways once more to sleep. Toby and I got up a bit earlier the last day and we had to help pack everything away. We got the tents down, but the gazebo was a problem. The wind had picked up and we’d taken the sides off, which was a bad idea. The wind got up into the gazebo and was pulling it away. One of the bars bent inwards, so I leapt at it and pulled it back the way it should go, pulling the fabric cover as well to stop it pulling even more. I was pretty much at a 45^o angle, being held up entirely by the wind.

We got everything packed and set off home again, holiday over, back to reality and all that. It was a good trip, all in all!