Yes Mrs Fogg is now another year older and wii bit sexier (if that was at all possible).

 We spent Lorna’s Birthday Weekend at Whinstone View near Great Ayton (www.whinstoneview.com) and what a fantastic place it is, log cabins, hot tub, nice food and excellent service (for those of you that have heard me whinge before, this is my biggest bug bear in this country).

Whinstone have a fab addition to your rooms in the shape of a little rubber duckie, complete with his own brand sun glasses.  He was ours to keep and only asked to be taken on exotic holidays, photographed and for us to send piccies back to his family at Whinstone – if they like where he’s been it may result in a free night away!  We think this is a lovelly addition.

 It poured it down all weekend, but we didn’t care, sat out in the hot tub, champagne in hand (again there’s a surprise), watching the rain and just chilling.  It was a perfect weekend spent doing very little in and around the Lodge – we even managed to miss the evening meal on the Saturday night – ho hum…..

As part of the birthday treat we reinstated our long overdue Scrabble matches – commenced in St Lucia and incorporating the revised “Rude word scrabble rules”.  So, nicely chilled by Sunday morning, and just time for another dip in the hot tub we sadly left Whinstone and headed home.  However we plan to return……

 Now Mrs Fogg kept blathering on about wanting to go visit Helmsley on the way back so off we went along the North York Moors route – full of winding roads, several hundred Sunday drivers, four mad families with scores of kids cycling all over the road and, on arriving in Helmsley, the full membership quota of the over 50’s Hells Angels Rejects Club.  Oh boy, old boys and their Missus’ everywhere clogging up the car park, checking each others bikes out and generally getting in the way.  Pure hell, some of the worst parking ever and about three shops – one of which was the Edinburgh Woollen Mill selling clothes that required the wearer to be at least 80 years old.  We lasted 10 mins before negotiating the pensioner chicanes, climbing back into the car and heading off.

A fab weekend  – we just need to unpack the case now………