Day 1 - Monday 28th June - arrive Manchester

It was fantastic to get off the plane. Finally arrived at the car hire place to find we had been allocated a Volvo!! We were about to be regarded as Volvo drivers. Not sure whether that was going to be a good thing! We received a few instructions on how to drive it (also an aside that it was a diesel) and how to work the inbuilt navigator and we were off ... well sort of ... first time we stopped the engine seemed to switch off and we had to restart. It turned out this was normal. Everytime you put your foot on the brake, the engine stopped and then automatically started when you took your foot off the brake.

An hour or so later we stopped and brought some beautiful sandwiches and had a break while we worked out how many digits we needed to phone Wen's Mum. Finally got hold of Mum and she was so excited we were on our way. She was so excited when we arrived she jumped in the air and tapped her heels ... not bad for 82 years old!

When we were having a cuppa, Linda arrived to say hello. Wen, Mum and I then set off for Knaresborough, about 5 k away, where we had booked an apartment for the first 4 days. The apartment was lovely. It had a lovely big kitchen and a little garden outside to sit in. After unpacking and settling in, we went back to Mum's for drinks and dins. We probably imbibed a bit too much and had to leave the Volvo there and catch a taxi back to Knaresborough. I was totally whacked and went to bed early. Wen went for a walk along Waterside. It was the first night and I had to get used to the fact it did not get dark until 10:30 or so. Not only that, but it started getting light again at about 4am!!

I am afraid there are no photos for day 1 - everything was still packed away.

Please click on links for the rest of the holiday!