Cycle ride to Luss, Loch Lomond

For a slightly more active day we took a 3 generation bike ride on the West Lomond cycle path. This runs from Balloch to Tarbet but we joined it just outside the town where the old main road ran alongside the estate. At first it was a road but soon became just for bikes and pedestrians:

The route did some times run right alongside the A82, which luckily wasn't too busy. The route was pretty undulating but fairly well maintained (some of the bushes could have done with a trim!). It was nicest when it was a dedicated path: 

After about 7 miles we dropped back down to the side of the Loch and had to cycle on the road which would take us into Luss:

Reasons to be Cheerful. Last week of the holidays #R2BC

Its the last Thursday in August so my last time hosting until October. I will be handing back to Michelle for September. The school holidays are racing to their finish and we have managed to pack quite a lot in. Here are a few things that have made me happy this week:

1) Kendal Museum

We went to the museum whilst friends were visiting. It was the first time for 4 years my son had stood next to the polar bear. What a difference:

2) Race photos

The official race photos from Grasmere Sports included this awesome one of my son's sprint for the line. He finished one second behind the boy in front:

3) Scottish Dancing

I went to the U3A country dancing class with my mum and my daughter. It always brings a smile on my face to have a go at Scottish dancing. Roll on November when we are going to a whole evening of it!

4) Peekaboo

I had fun tickling our neighbours' German Shepherd through the gate. He is a big softie to anyone he considers pack (which includes us and our guinea pigs!) but woe betide a stranger:

Back in the saddle

Now my son is back cycling we have borrowed my mum's bicycle to give him more confidence and get in some practice. It has meant that I have dragged my bike out of the shed so that we can get out and make the most of the cycle friendly routes around Kendal:

We headed out along the old canal and then up along the River Kent as far as Dockwray Bridge:

We turned around on the industrial estate before heading back down the river:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Be More Wit Wit Woo #R2BC

The blogging community is currently reeling from the sudden and unexpected death of one of the most optimistic and vivacious members Kate Sutton. Back in the early days of Twitter when I was a newly single parent she kept me sane with conversations online. She was an inspiration for me to embrace life and not care what anyone else might think! Rest in peace Kate.
Here are my reasons to be cheerful which I am sure she would have appreciated:
1) Insects
Its wonderful to see busy bees and butterflies making the most of the flower bonanza brought on by the unusually warm weather:

I am glad to have done my bit for them with the wild flowers in my front garden:

2) Clearing Out

We did another car boot sale on Sunday and got rid of some more bits and made a few more pounds for the holiday kitty! It was also a good social occasion:

3) A Trip Down Memory Lane

I went through lots of boxes in the garage for the car boot and found loads of treasures. This included the children's christening gifts, some missing Denby and this rather bizarre guinea pig I made in art at high school:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Camping Fun #R2BC

The lovely Michelle is back from her summer holidays and hosting the linky for September. Thanks to everyone who joined in during August and I will be back hosting in October. Here are my reasons to be cheerful this month:

1) Roses

My roses are still holding their own and look beautiful whatever the weather and it makes me smile to look out the kitchen window at them:

2) Trip down memory lane

My friend posted this photograph of my son at a medieval reenactment when he was a toddler. An authentic dress for my historic tot:

#CountryKids Get Cycling at K Village

At the weekend there was a special cycling event at K Village and we went along on Sunday so that the children could try out a load of different bicycles with Get Cycling. My daughter is a keen cyclist but her brother isn't so keen. However there was something to tempt both of them:

One of the more unusual bikes was a miniature penny farthing which both my daughter and I had a try on. It was incredibly strange and I found it hard to turn corners:

My son's favourite was the recumbent bike but I am not forking out £300 for one!

#CountryKids An active outdoor Sunday

On Sunday my daughter was invited to go on a bike ride with Gramps from Kendal to Staveley. The longest and toughest ride she has done since she got her grown up bike for Christmas. Whilst they were gone my son and I headed out for run together:

It was a freezing cold day but the sky was pretty blue. My son set a good pace but he needed some well earned walking breaks as we went round. There was even time for a family selfie whilst he got his breath back:

#CountryKids Biker Girl

Not to be undone by her brother's outdoor sports this month my daughter asked to go out on her bike today. She was desperate to try out all her new biking gear and her ladies' bike:

She hadn't wanted to wear long trousers but by the time she came home she was frozen! Needless to say we have now ordered long cycling tights....

#CountryKids at Ambleside Sports

For the first time since moving up here 4 years ago we made it to Ambleside Sports. The event has been running since 1887 and since 1947 have been held on the last Thursday of July in the same field (except during the Foot and Mouth outbreak):

We arrived not long after the gates opened at 10 to avoid queuing for the car park. Then we had 1.5 hours of wandering around the stalls etc before the Cumbria Thunderdrummers entertained us with Taiko drumming before the official opening ceremony:

Reasons to be Cheerful: The End is Nigh! #R2BC

I don't mean the end of the world but the end of term! Here in Cumbria Friday afternoon sees us breaking up for the holidays and I can't wait. No wonder it hasn't taken much to make me happy this week:

1) Tea in the park

Last Friday it was so hot I treated us all to fish and chips in the park it really was bliss to chill out in the sun at the end of a busy week:

Hoping we get more days like this in the holidays!

2) Family Bike Ride

It had been too long since we went out cycling so I took the offer of another adult willing to come with us to get us all out on our bikes. The second half of the bike ride had me smiling once my son got his confidence back:

3) Staveley Carnival

This is such an amazing event for the whole family. I've written a long post about it already but here is a taster:

Shame we have to wait 2 years for the next one!

4) Operation House

It's nice to feel at the end of the week that progress has been made in sorting the house out a bit. There are little areas that look so much better to me though its still very much a work in progress to be be completed over the summer. I even cajoled the children into starting to tidy their rooms and I am managing to slowly increase the number of chores they each do. Not a smooth ride but hopefully it will be worth it in the end..

5) Positive body image

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#CountryKids Family bike ride

I am struggling to get my son bike confident so today I was very pleased to have another adult along to help us out on a bike ride. We hadn't been out for 2 months so he was not at all happy about getting on his tag-a-long. Every bend, bump and slope was an excuse to get off. Having a child scream "I am going to die" as you sedately go down a hill on a main road is rather distracting! Some other lovely cyclists even tried to reassure him but it didn't seem to work... so it was a relief to get to Kendal weir (a whole 2 km) and have a rest:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Week 16 - 2014 #R2BC

Once again thanks to Jo for hosting this week! Have to say I am not just smiling this week but grinning from ear to ear and here is why:

1) Family Fun

Think I will need a holiday to recover from this holiday with all the days out we have had! Cycling to Wray Castle, local fun at Damson Day, an adrenalin rush on Go Ape Junior, hunting for the Gruffalo at Grizedale, hiking from Elterwater and a day at Brockhole. There has been a lot of faces looking like this this week:

2) Blue skies

It's been wonderful to have so many days with blue skies which has enabled a lot of this fun to go on:

3) Winning things

I know I have had some lucky wins in the past but in one day I found I out that I had one two. The best one is a week's holiday in Cornwall thanks to their tourist board! Due to restrictions on dates we have to wait until next Easter to take it but something really exciting to look forward to. Just wish I'd been able to invite more of my family but will be great for my children to spend time with their only cousin.

Then I won tickets to see the Liverpool Philarmonic just a shame I can't get there and I am asking my family if they can go instead! Hey ho hope someone makes the most of my windfall..

Why are you smiling this week?

#CountryKids Cycling to Wray Castle

I have been struggling to get us out as a family cycling happily due to the contrasting levels of confidence and ability that a 3 year age gap makes. Having to watch one shoot off into the distance whilst the other constantly stops is a nightmare. So I was very happy to acquire a second hand tag a long yesterday to try and make cycling more enjoyable. We took advice from the Go Lakes web site on cycling in Cumbria and headed over on the ferry to the western shore of Windermere:

It adds to the fun to take the ferry and at £4.30 for a car its cheaper than the car park! Once over the water we made use of our National Trust membership to park for free at Harrowslack. Then my daughter and I assembled my son's new mode of transport:

My daughter looked very professional in her cycling gear:

#CountryKids An afternoon out in Kendal

Some days even when you feel everyone needs to relax there comes a point when you just have to get the family out the door to save your sanity! Today was one of those days with the children starting to get on each other's and my nerves an excursion was required....

So we dug my daughter's bike out from the shed and I pumped up the tyres:

Her little brother prefers 2 feet to 2 wheels so he opted to "jog" and I had to put my running shoes on to keep up:

Rediscovering Cycling

When I was a young adult I was a very keen cyclist. For my 18th birthday I got given a really good touring bicycle and I did a lot of miles on it. My friends and I cycled around the Loire Valley for a fortnight after our A levels as a big adventure! I also took part in a couple of London to Brighton bike rides and one London to Oxford one. Then I got a job and bought a car....

My bicycle then spent quite a lot of time sitting in the garage going nowhere. I married and had children and the bicycle sat in my parents' garage as we had no where to put it! Then we moved up to Kendal and my children started learning to ride bicycles themselves:

My son's first solo ride without stabilisers

Unfortunately one is highly confident and one is quite nervous so going out on an actual bike ride is not all that fun unless 2 adults go along. We don't get very far either... So today after having run back home from school run I realised I had a chance to get the bike out of the shed and cycle to work then to go back to my children's school which is about 6 miles from my work via the quieter back lanes. 

The easy bit was to work only 10 minutes away. Then I had to tackle the narrow country lanes with twists and turns and plenty of ups and downs! There were a couple of close calls with vehicles coming very fast the other way... I had a few issues with my gears not changing and then dropping rapidly so I had to give up trying to get up steepest hills as the bike had to stay in middle gears. I did get a chance to see lots of beautiful countryside along the way:

Now I just have to hope that the weather holds so I can do this again and get better at cycling! This is what the Garmin made of my ride:

Whose eggs? Easter family forest fun #weloveforests

Your local forest is a great place to have fun this Easter and they have plenty of activities to do with your children such as this downloadable activity sheet. It is full of facts such as:

Then there is a challenge to find something related to those facts:

And a place to draw something too:

If you want even more ideas go to their Discover and Explore page.

Josephine Lavelle, Forestry Commission, says:

“Easter isn't just about chocolate, it's a time when lots of woodland animals lay their eggs. Our free downloadable activity sheets will help children learn about more about the forest and the animals that call it their home.”

For those you want to combine fun with fitness the forests can also be wonderful places to get on your bikes as a family. If you want to know which forest is best for your family's cycling abilities then they have a great search engine to help you choose.

Paddy Harrop, Forestry Commission:

“Lots of families come to the Forest of Dean to enjoy the fresh air in their lungs and have a good run around. The Family Cycle Trail is pretty popular, and visitors have rated it a 4.2/5. It’s laid over former railway lines with connecting routes to local villages and picnic sites – you can imagine how nice it is on a sunny day – and it ends with a long downhill stretch which is a hit with children and grown-ups alike!”

I know I'll be off to Whinlatter at some point over this Easter break (snow permitting!) and maybe I'll get the bikes on the car and head back over to Grizedale now my children can both cycle.