We’ve been having a good time in England – and with some good weather!
I’ve not been able to blog for a while because of limited access to the web, but now we’re at Steve and Ginny’s place with excellent wifi.
Jan’s mum Muriel is in good form and has been very hospitable as usual. We’ve been making plans for her 90th birthday in a couple of weeks.
We had a lovely lunch with Bob and Julie at their place, we’ve met Geraldine and Diana and we took them down to the pub.
Our days at the Mill House in Norfolk have been like an adventure holiday! I’ve played golf and cycled, Jan has been horse riding and we’ve all been for a walk.
Golf was good at Elton Furze – a lovely green English course with nice wide fairways. It was a cloudy grey day, but we were rained upon only once. We all played well and I didn’t disgrace myself. I had some excellent drives and approach shots and some reasonable puts. Steve scored and gave me a handicap of 28 – he and Bernard both beat me, but not by a lot.
The next day Steve offered me the use of his second road racer bike to go for a two-hour ride. He fitted me out with all the right riding gear, including the important padded shorts. The bike is a lovely carbon fibre lightweight job. I had to get used to the clip-in shoes which were strange at first, but then quite manageable.
I’ll let you into a secret – Norfolk is NOT FLAT! There are hills, lots of little hills. I managed all the hills except one where I had to dismount and push. We cycled 21 miles through Willsthorpe, Manthorpe, Witham-on-the-Hill (I told you!) Little Bytham, Careby, Holywell, Clipsham, Greetham, Exton, ending up at Barnsdale Gardens.
Very enjoyable. My legs were a bit wobbly at the end, but I survived. Jan and Ginny came in the Land Rover to pick us up and we drove to Rutland Water to have a little walk. Lots of geese and ducks and swans there.
The cycle ride was in Lincolnshire not Norfolk but it’s still very flat and John wasn’t expecting any hills.