Day 59 - Deep in the luxurious Sherwood Forest Friday July 22nd

For the second night I was up 12:45am for half an hour or so, still suffering with the shoulder. The 9:45 appointment with the Cairo Tractor as Dave calls him, was a positive half hour and he explained that the skeletal was now much better, but whilst working on the muscular aspects, stated that the last to repair is the nerve damage. One more appointment planned for next Friday so hopefully, that will sort me out.

Straight after, we shot over to the supermarket for more weekend supplies then down to pick up Manu and Noah.  We were supposed to get Stewart’s bike out of the garage but couldn’t unlock it with the keys we had...  As Stewart was at work – last day of the school term – guess where the decent keys were?  

We arrived at Center Parcs at 2.05pm, ready for an early admission as normal time is 3pm, but Dave had booked what could be called an executive unit.  Wow! Four double bedrooms – each with en-suite facilities and a TV set, a well equipped kitchen/lounge area (with complimentary wine, juice, water, jams...) and a separate games room, complete with pool table, large TV, and we presume X-box, judging by the controllers. There is a nice covered outdoor area, gas BBQ and even a sauna!   This is the very last unit in this particular area and views from all windows are of the forest, some of it freshly planted.

Vehicles are not allowed on site and once unloaded, they have to be returned to the massive car park. We did just that and Dave and I picked up the two complimentary push bikes allocated to our unit. Dave and Sue have their own; Stewart did manage to bring his – complete with two flat tyres, but Dave‘s needed a fair bit of TLC, as the last time he used it was in deep snow and the chain seems to have seized!  Half a can of WD 40 later, and Dave returned inside, opting to take building lessons from Noah who appears to have been suitably impressed by his pupil.

Dave also affixed a bird feeder outside, as this place has a fair bit of wild life, bird life and plant life.   Maybe the first customers of his feeder will be Birdie and Mac – but so far, they haven’t been introduced to Noah.  He has that dubious pleasure to come, probably when brother Malc arrives tomorrow or maybe even Sunday..

Manu's yoghurt cake

A relaxing afternoon and evening with supermarket pizzas for dinner plus a slice of Manu’s yoghurt cake, good coffee and a few family tales told of a misspent youth - including tales of Malc of course, as he wasn’t there to defend himself. Noah had been retired by then of course, but was over-tired, so much so, that the anticipated splashing bath time was abandoned early.

Meanwhile, the Dawn Princess continues its trundle around the top of Great Britain and Ireland, with the ever efficient Ros keeping us informed of progress.