On Friday I took our new car out for a little adventure to Rother Valley Country Park.
I’ve never been before, but I was meeting a pal for lunch, and we didn’t have much time, so we looked on the map for a green space between my house and his.
The website promised ‘a fun day outdoors to enjoy activities’, and I admit I was rather taken with that slightly quaint way of putting things. Friday, while sunny, was rather blustery, so our activities mainly consisted of walking half way round the lake, leaning into the wind, admiring the waves, and then sitting in the cafe.
On Saturday me and Peter went to Bradfield to commune with the ducks.
It’s been quite a duck-filled weekend, and strangely enough we watched a version of ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’ that featured a duck as the star (imagine that, a duck, right at the centre of the earth! Who would have thought!)
As it turned out, we spent quite a lot of time communing with the instruction manual of the new car… Who knew it could be so difficult to open the bonnet? Can we really not remove the wheels by ourselves? (We didn’t need to, we just discovered they have fancy-pants security bolts and we have no way of undoing them).
In all the excitement I managed to snap the bolt holding the spare tyre in place. Clearly this is a speciality of mine – in our last car I managed to tighten it so much it took a mechanic and a special tool to undo it.
After demonstrating my heroic strength I felt in need of sustenance, so we dropped in to Our Cow Molly on the way home.
I know, February, ice cream parlour, don’t necessarily go together… But who can resist amaretto and lemon cheesecake? Obviously not me – I couldn’t even wait until I’d taken a photo to start eating it.
That was all quite enough adventure for one weekend, and I had to spend most of Sunday lying down. New car is back at the garage tomorrow for a good talking to, and will hopefully be ready for more adventures soon…
a cheerful living adventure 
Every time I drive past I think I must visit that country park, maybe next time. Our wheel nuts were discovered in the boot with the spare wheel on our last car, first time I had heard of locking wheel nuts too xx
I confess I probably won’t go back there… It felt rather, er, flat to me, and there are much more beautiful places closer to where I live… Nice for a couple of hours out if you live close by though 🙂
Good to know, with a dog in tow sometimes flat is good though
That place with the ducks looks grand… I need to find more places like that round here soon… can’t beat a good old conversation with the feathered friends….
oh and February is never too early for ice cream.
Aha, a new blog I see! Must investigate, and I haven’t spoken to you in real life for SO long! Glad you agree about the ice cream…
Apart from the car bit, it all sounds like the right kind of weekend. I remember now that I have not met the challenge set by him indoors…for me to make regular cycle pilgrimages (armed with a cool bag in my pannier) to Our Cow Molly. I was supposed to bring back a new ice cream for everyone to try every month. I only made one trip last year. Must be time for the next ride there.
Well, what a fabulous challenge that is! I can definitely recommend amaretto and lemon cheesecake. Rocky road looked tempting too, and some kind of peanut and chocolate thing, and toffee something-or-other. Quite clearly I’m going to have to go back myself soon…