Back to Reality

Got back from holiday mid-afternoon yesterday and I'm halfway through editing around 350 photos and videos.

Here's a few to be going on with:-

The new chair "in action"


The Church at West Ashby

The Main Lake at Elmhirst

The last day of our holiday was interesting.....

As already reported, the forecast was lousy so we decided we'd just relax and fill the day without fishing.

First of all we had a visit from the owner of the site - a lady called Anne who is originally from Sheffield and who has become a good friend over the 17 years we've been going to Elmhirst. She popped in for a chat because she hadn't seen us in the 2 weeks we'd been there. She has offered us a few days "free of charge" later in the season if we can manage to get away. This is her "customer loyalty bonus". All we have to do is call her and see what's available and she'll make sure we get accomodated. Very nice that isn't it?

I took the Duchess into Horncastle for lunch and we then headed off to Freiston Shore - another RSPB Reserve near Boston. On arrival, the sky looked a bit "heavy" and as it's a 200 to 300 yard walk to the hide, we decided to stay with the car until the weather made up it's mind what it was going to do.

Good job we did! As the sky all around us darkened, we heard the first claps of thunder and saw the first flashes of lightning. I managed to get some video of the flashes and as the rain started, got back in the car.

Within seconds, it was absolutely lashing it down. The heavens really did open and for around 20 minutes, it felt like we were sitting in the car wash! I had the engine running and the wipers going. We've never seen anything like it!

As it eased a little, we decided to head back to Horncastle and carefully threaded our way through deep puddles and flooded fields before the weather cleared as we headed inland.

Stopped at the chippy in Horncastle and took fish and chips back to the lodge. After we'd eaten and washed the pots, we headed for Huttoft where there is a car terrace. We wanted to have a last look at the "seaside" on our last evening.

Got up at 7 a.m. Saturday morning, packed the fishing gear away, loaded up the car and after saying our goodbyes to friends and the wardens on the site, we headed back to Sheffield, stopping at Ollerton for "brunch" (full English Breakfast!!)

We arrived home around 2:30 and then unpacked the car, stowed everything away and settled down to wait for Monday morning and the return to reality.

......... What holiday??!!