Rest day in Chester
Staying at Hadlow Fields Guide Campsite
Happy Birthday Hattie!
It was lovely to not have any rush to get up this morning. The girls were up after 9am, and we woke Ollie at 10am!! At home Ollie is always up ridiculously early, so this was a total first!
The day started as all good birthdays do with cake for breakfast! After opening a few gifts (well being handed them as we didn’t pack wrapping paper) we walked into Willaston to find a bakery that had been highly recommended, whilst Phil made an essential trip to K Cycles, a local bike shop, as his rear brakes stopped working yesterday. After the gluten eaters had chosen a very large piece of rather fantastic cake each, we walked on to a cafe for brunch where we were joined by Phil, Sarah, Dan and Abi. Brunch was really tasty, and it was a lovely treat to have time to enjoy it in a leisurely way.
Hattie had mulled over several different activities to do on her birthday, but finally decided on swimming. She found a pool in Chester with a slide, so after lunch we headed there so the kids could spend some time playing in the pool. Whilst the kids swam Sarah did some administration online and the rest of the adults went to a rather nice bar!
This evening we did some more essential bike maintenance, including replacing the incredibly worn brake pads on Bethan’s bike. We then had a picnic style tea and were joined by Sarah, Dan and Abi (Bethan’s family), Phil and Helen (Bethan’s grandparents), Simon (Deputy DC Support for Birkenhead) and Lisa Jane (who is involved with local Scouting and Guiding), the Ryan family (friends from home), and James (ACC Communications, Shropshire Scouts, who is joining us for the next few days of our journey). It was lovely to have so many people with us this evening, and Hattie seemed to enjoy her birthday evening (especially seeing Ella, her friend from home). I think secretly she was hoping for more cake, but we couldn’t quite bring ourselves to permit 3 lots of cake in one day even if it is a birthday!
