'Weeping Window' - a privilege to see

We recently visited 'wave', an installation using the poppies that were originally at the Tower of London as part of 'Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red. We own one of the poppies at home. So when we found out at the artist has two installations this year, one in Southend and one in Derby, we decided to see both.

On our way back home we stopped off in Derby and visited the Derby Silk Milk . During the war it made medical supplies.

The Weeping Willow installation is outstanding. The poppies cascade down the silk mill and all I kept thinking was how each poppy at the Tower of London represented someone who died during the World Wars. A privilege to see.

https://www.1418now.org.uk/commissions/poppies-weeping-window-at-derby/

A lazy day on Sunk Island

Gosh did it rain and rain and rain so instead of exploring, we spent the day in the cottage reading. Mid afternoon the sky broke and I managed to take a wander around Sunk Island, which isn't an island, but once was in the sea. It's flat, very very flat and on the walk I couldn't help but think we were in the Netherlands. A lovely evening walk on a lazy day in a beautiful cottage.

Crossing the 'listed' Humber Bridge

Today was our Hull day, home of City of Culture 2017. We started at Humber Bridge Country Park with free parking, tourist information and a lovely cliff walk through the woods. Sailor and Penny enjoyed a good sniff as we wandered around the red route. A mere 5000 steps so onward to our next stop.

The Humber Bridge has just been given 'listed' status so we visited a great viewpoint of the bridge first and then paid the £1.50 to go over the bridge to Lincolnshire. Our next stop was an English Heritage site - Thornton Abbey and Gatehouse. The Gatehouse is the largest in England. We wandered down to the ruin of the Augustinian Abbey. The nave, cloister and chapter house were visible in the ruin. Penny absolutely loves a ruin and looks in all the books and crannies.

Back to Hull, the Environment Agency Tidal Surge Barrier has also been given listed status so we paid a visit.

Sand between the toes and the stunning Bempton Cliffs

Our East Riding day started with a drive to Withernsea, which features in the book I'm reading at the moment 'Bletchley Girls' because one of the listeners was based in a seaside hotel there listening to German messages. We just had a drive through the seaside resort and went onto Hornsea Mere which we hoped was a lake that we walked around. We had that embarrassing moment when you realise you have just walked around a car park, there was not a route around the lake, but there was a lot of people in the café looking at us. So back in the car and onwards.

We tried to find a dog friendly beach and first tried Skipsea but alas we couldn't find the beach. Onwards to the next but we couldn't actually find the way down to the beach and the road was closed. It literally looked like the road had fallen off the cliff and the rest of the entrances to the beach had holiday homes in front of them. We eventually found Wilsthorpe and it was a cracker. I love the feel of fine yellow sand between the toes. The beach is huge and connects the beaches we couldn't find, all the way to Bridlington and around the Flamborough and it's chalk white cliffs which look like the white cliffs of Dover. We ate our picnic on the sand and had a paddle in the warm water. Well warm for the UK.

Onwards to our next stop - Bempton Cliffs. We spotted the leaflet and noticed that the reserve allowed dogs which is rare for RSPB sites so off we went. Oh my gosh, what a treat. £4 entry or free for RSPB members. We walked down to the first viewpoint of the cliffs and it took our breath away. Gannets, fulmars, guillemots, kittewakes and puffins everywhere! There were so many of them flying and clinging onto the cliffs. We visited 5 of the viewpoints and each one completely stunning. We had no idea the gem we happened upon.

Staying on a sand bank - Sunk Island

A leisurely morning started our holiday. After Northumberlan and Cornwall, going to Hull was just a short 3 hour hop with only a couple of stop offs. We are staying in Sunk Island, which is completely flat and as I've been told about Cambridgeshire, it boasts an amazing amount of sky because it's so flat. Sunk Island is exactly the same. To get to Sunk Island we drove through an amazing tree lined road which went on an on, then we arrived at Woodlea Cottage.

It's amazing to think that Sunk Island started as a sandbank in the Humber Estuary. Then during the reign of Charles 1, the land was drained to form the land today, full of agricultural land.

A sign of a good cottage is if you can imagine living there permanently, and the answer is a big yes. It's a modern cottage with wooden floors, very high end décor, view onto the chicken coup on the garden and fresh eggs, bread and milk awaiting our arrival!

Para Athletics - watching Aled win gold again

We have loved Para sport since the Paralympics in London 2012. An early morning start to Stratford International and the walk we did during the Paralympics to the Queen Elizabeth stadium. The event started with visually impaired athletes doing long jump so the crowd could not clap as it's when the jumper knows when to take off. We watched Aled Davies win gold in discuss in London 2012 and five years later we saw him win gold again! We had amazing seats right on the finish line, row 6 and had a good view of the post event interviews on the TV. A great morning of para athletics.

Guiding Pride in London

What a fabulous day at London Pride and having the opportunity to march with Girl Guiding again was a dream, this time with Meerkat. We got on the train in St Neots with the tourists and already stood out with our rainbow headgear and rainbow facepaint. Two others on the train were rainbowed up and once we got talking, it was their first time to pride, first time to London and they were only 14 and 16 years old! So we took them under our wing, escorted them on the tube and showed them where to get off an view the parade. We gave them our number just in case. We giggled that the last thing their parents said was not to talk to strangers and it was the first thing they did!

On route we bumped into a group of Canadian Guides and had to introduce ourselves. We arrived at HQ and donned our bright pink 'girls can be proud' tops, covered ourselves in rainbows and all 50 of us boarded a bus to the starting point. I was sat next to a gentleman wearing full blazer and long trousers on a really hot day. He was off to the members enclosure at Lourdes and was shocked when the bus turned pink with guiders.

We took the long walk to the start and set up camp. You could tell who had been before, we were the ones sat down straight away and ready for the very long wait. The wait seemed much longer this year. Half way through the wait I found the work walking group and wished them happy pride. Meerkat and Philippa were loving it and we hadn't even started yet!

We finally made it to the start of the parade and we were off...then stopped...then off...then stopped. That was the whole parade. We high fived the crowd, blew bubbles at them, blew whistles and gave out stickers. My favourite bit was making the crowd do the guide promise sign.

The most thoughtful day

Thoughtfulness is something I value highly so my leaving day left me in tears, multiple times! Gifts from committee members, a cake of my handbag with a suffragette quote on it, flowers, Jane my fellow founder of the network joining us at lunch, and new co-leads treating me to a bottle of bubbling after the day. The thought that went into the leaving day is something I will never ever forget.