Since there was zero visibility on our first visit, the Shard gave us tickets for a second attempt, and we all went up together with one of Emma's friends over the holidays.
We had a busy family Christmas at home and away.
Colourscape
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Town Farm
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Kirstie and I went to Colourscape on Clapham Common - an inflatable maze of super-saturated colour. No photographic evidence exists of me wearing my coloured cape, but Kirstie looked the part in her's!
Our second camping weekend of the summer was at Town Farm with some of the college crew and their families.
A highlight of the weekend was a walk along the Ridgeway to the Greyhound in Aldbury for lunch.
Fontmills Farm
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We spent a sunny weekend camping at Fontmills Farm with Katy, Mark and family.
Rhoscolyn
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The farm is right next to the excellent 14 mile long Cuckoo Trail (we only walked a tiny bit!). On our way home we stopped off at Pevensey beach.
We had a few days in Anglesey after our trip to Hungary.
Hungary
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We spent lots of time in Lake Balaton while visiting Charlie and Tünde in Hungary.
The sheriff was the Rolls Royce of pedalos.
We were staying in Siófok, the largest town on Lake Balafon.
At the end of our trip we spent a couple of days in Budapest, staying in an old Russian paddle steamer that has been converted into a hotel.
Cornhole
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Clapham South Deep-Level Shelter
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Paris
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There was plenty of cornhole action at Colin and Margaret's summer party.
I went on a tour of the Clapham South deep-level air raid shelter - one of eight built in London during the Blitz, each capable of holding up to 8,000 people in over a mile of subterranean passageways.
Me and the boys took advantage of their school breaking up for the summer early, and took the Eurostar on a day trip to Paris.
Saint-Cézaire-sur-Siagne
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Rhoscolyn
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Given England's lack of progress this is a slightly shorter gallery for Euro 2016 than I'd hoped, but a great time was had by all at the group game against Russia in Marseilles. We stayed at Brett's villa in Saint-Cézaire-sur-Siagne 90 minutes from the city.
We had great weather during our week in Rhoscolyn. Katy, Mark and family were also staying there, with James and Sophie up for the long weekend.
Bristol
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Taking in the sights during our weekend in Bristol.
We had a look around the street art in the Stokes Croft area as well as in the centre of town.
Brandon Hill was a great place to explore.
Rhoscolyn
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During the Easter holidays we spent a week in Rhoscolyn, including a day trip to explore Newborough Forest and Llanddwyn Island in the southern corner of Anglesey.
We stayed closer to home for the rest of the week, fitting in a few different activities.
Madeira
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We spent a weekend staying in Funchal with Colin and Margaret who had rented an apartment there.
We were lucky that our visit to Madeira happened to coincide with the carnival - we managed to catch the parade on the way back from dinner.
Monte is a small parish in the mountains above Funchal, the centre of which is almost exactly the same height above sea level as Snowdon.
The levadas are irrigation channels that take water from the wetter to the dryer parts of the island, often winding along a contour on the side of a mountain. The maintenance paths make for great walking.
