Long Detour

After driving over 1600 miles without encountering much traffic, my luck ran out.  I was going to take A1 back to Leeds, but the closed A1, I was put on a long slow detour onto A616.  I really should check traffic before going anywhere.

Dragon Boat at Leeds Dock

There were dragon boats race as a part of the Leeds Waterfront Festival.  And the festival was again another ploy to bring people to Clarance Dock.



My Hong Kong friends first reaction was, "the dragon boat festival was last week."  And I got to explain the story of the custom.

It was a nice day out by the dock.

Strewberry!

Sarah identified one of the bushes as a dog rose, and it is weed-like.  So I cleared away some branches recently.  Then their flower died off and the fruit turned red, they looked more and more like strawberry!  They smelt very nice, but the birds got to them.  I did not many to safe the strawberry for human consumption.  Perhaps I will acquire some nets for the future harvests.

Isle Grand Tour: Day 14

We had to drop off the car early, so we set off from Leeds early.  M62 had been kind to us, and we dropped off the car as scheduled.  We waited for a long time for a shuttle to get back to the airport.  It was 11am when we got to Manchester.

We utilised their free shuttles today between station, Great Northern and Northern Quarter.  I took Carol to the finest of Northern Quarter: Pie Minister and Teacup.  She was not too impressed with the venues.  To be fair, Pie Minister was okay, but I think it is a little overrated.

We were stuffed full of cake when we head towards the station.  En-route to the station, I stopped at a Leodis-cum-post-office and Carol finally found a suitable of Manchester United tee for her friend.  We parted at the station, and she made to the plane all okay.

The long and rather exhausting trip has concluded.  I really need to return to a quiet idyllic life.

Isle Grand Tour: Day 13

We were going to stop via Yorkshire Sculpture Park, but since we were not too energetic, I suggested to go to the University of Leicester Botanic Gardens instead.  We had a quick walk around, and Carol thought we were going to see topiary, sculpted plants instead of actual sculptures.  I was glad we did not go to YSP!

We got back to Leeds early.  I had time to go some quick shopping in the market and took Carol to a few funky places.  She was quite impressed with Roast and Conch and the Arch.

We went home early.  Carol got on with packing, and I got on with weeding.  We had some dinner then I remember we had time and we could hit around.  Carol was equally excited about the idea.  Instead of walking down to the tennis court, we drove.  Whinmoor tennis court was occupied!  And since we drove, we drove to Roundhay instead.  Carol called it, "tennis court hopping".

We messed around for an hour before calling it a day.  The newly strung rackets were very good.

When we got home, I got home and carry on with my errands, and so was Carol.  What a productive day!

Isle Grand Tour: Day 12

Before the games, we went to town centre for the market and a quick wander.  I got a giant focaccia for lunch, and Carol stroked an owl.

Due to the cost and the availability of good seats, we opted for Court 1 ticket instead of centre court ticket.  There were plenty of good matches to keep us in and out of Court 1.  Again we were too busy watching games, so we just eat my remaining snacks and the bread.

Again, we left 'early' as we had no interest in the remaining games.  We went to Harry Ramsden's for some fish.  Carol really liked Harry Ramsden.  I also told Carol about their original shop at Guiseley.

When we came back on another long drive, we were thankful that M25 had been kind to us.

Isle Grand Tour: Day 11

As the second day of the tournament, there were lots of matches all over all the courts.  We caught up with Riske at the practice court, and busy all day watching game.  We were so busy watching game and not got an opportunity to queue for food!

We left about 7pm., we could have stayed for longer.  Then we went to Beachy Head.  According to the news, the light house got a new coat of paint in 2013.  I feared it was destroyed by the storm two years ago.

We were going to go to Solo Pasta, rated highly in trip adviser, but we ended up in Wetherspoons for Steak Night instead.