Sparkshop Premier News

It was the final game of the league season and after the initial win we enjoyed in the first game we have managed to put together a run of 7 matches in a row without a point. No real surprise in that as we were always going to struggle in the rarified atmosphere of the premiership.

We lost 3 - 1 with only a penalty to show for our endeavours and it isn't hard to see whay we struggled with just 9 goals scored in the 8 games.

However, we are more than competent in the championship and look forward to the new season with relish as we have begun to strengthen the squad.

Dougie played in goal and made several great saves even using his face on two occasions!

In defence we lined up with Matt and Craig in the absence of Dom who decided to play for the opposition as they were one short. Despite that they still beat us! We also had Vern who had played a couple of weeks previously.

In the middle we had one pint Pete this week and the returning Spanish Dave.

For what it's worth, I was up front and managed to gain the penalty when Dom generously handled in the area.

With Phil, Rich and Dave to return, we have quite a squad now and will be top of the league to gain promotion in a few months time.

Back on the beach

It was sunny on our final day and we nipped down to the beach for a final time on our return from Saltram. Joe relaxed in the sunshine with his guitar, serenading the seagulls, and Maria walked round and round the beach following the little streams and along the shoreline. We found a dead mackerel which had already had a chunk bitten out of it and a shoal of sand eels before exploring the rock pool with its limpets and barnacles.

Saltram again

Being in Devon meant we had to spend at least some time visiting Saltram, although we missed being able to tour the house as it was a Friday and the house is closed then. The children had a picnic and a walk, with Murdina and Chrissie proving their expertise at hide and seek again.

Mermaid on the beach

Chrissie got into making a mermaid sand sculpture which turned out to be something the children loved doing. There is also a photo of Buckfast Abbey which we visited on the Thursday. It's a beautiful place to visit.

Glen - Live from Challaborough

There was a talent show during our week in Devon and Glen perfomed in front of a packed audience against a mighty line up of two 9 year old girls who 'danced' i.e. moved about a little cutely while their parents cheered.

He managed to retain his credibility by covering Karma Police in a move designed to avoid pandering to the easy option of crowd pleasing with a ballad or similar. I'm guessing not many of the audience were familiar with Radiohead's opus.

Challaborough continued

We had fantastic views across to Burgh Island which I explored fully for the first time ever. It's cut off from the mainland at high tide but is accessbile easily most of the time across the sand. After years of visiting Bigbury beach which is just around the corner from Challaborough, I made the effort to walk over and climbed to the top of the island which hosts an exclusive and very expensive hotel. It probably sounds as if I made more effort than was actually the case. It isn't a big island by any means.

The photos show Murdina and Chrissie reacting differnetly to the kites they were flying. Murdina looks as if she's about to be attacked! You'll see Maria had a lovely time with her cousins, Grace and Lily.

Challaborough

Last week saw us in South Devon at Challaborough enjoying a cool but relatively dry week at the beach. Our caravan was right next to the beach but before arriving we had to risk the extremely narrow lanes leading to the site and a sat nav which seemed determined to take us down the most seldom used tracks in the south west.

The campsite was typical of its type with a range of activities provided for children throughout the day along with evening entertainment that was fun to watch despite the variability in quality. I doubt I'll ever watch a balloon entertainer again but he filled an hour and the children seemed to enjoy it.

There were lots of opportunities to meet up with the family and we spent most days with them and are looking forward to Rachael and John's wedding next year as we have a week in Cornwall in the run up to the wedding at Easter.

We played lots of boules and Glen got himself a board to skim the shoreline which he quickly mastered after some intriguing contortions as he sought to gain mastery without plunging into the water.

Day 3 continued

From Orrset Head we took ourselves to the Lake District Visitors Centre midway between Windermere and Ambleside. The adventure playground is great for younger and older children and Maria was happy to play for a couple of hours. In a nearby field a huge group was playing an impromptu game of cricket with some menacing fast bowling proving unplayable on the uneven surface. We walked down to the water sports area and the sun broke through. The gardens were beautiful with a small putting area and space for croquet.

The three of us were sat on a sloping lawn trying to stop the ball Maria has from disappearing down the hills and into the bushes. She didn't seem to mind us having to go deep into the undergrowth to fetch it!

In the mid afternoon a trio of musicians arrived on the terrace and began playing a mixture of classical and popular tunes. There was a cello, violin and guitar which sounded quintessentially English in the midst of a beautiful English home.

Lake District Day 3

We spent Saturday evening in Bowness which was very lively with a funfair and large parties of visitors exploring the town which appears to be the most commercialised of the holiday venues. There were many places to choose from to eat and the evening was nice and sunny, good enough to encourage us to take a drive to the southern end of Windermere, Lakeland which was stunning.

The next morning was damp but there was no stopping us from taking a trek up Orrest Head, a mile walk taking us to the summit of the first of Wainwright's walks. Maria needed carrying a few times but she enjoyed running around the trees and boulders. The views from the summit were somewhat obscured by the drizzle but it was interesting to see the cloud breaking to the east as it cleared the Lake District with grey clouds sweeping in from the west.

Lake District Day 2

We were up early on Saturday morning and took a drive around the Lakes ending up in Keswick and back to Windermere taking in some great views on the way. The first stop was at Glenridding, in fact a small National Trust car park just a little way on from there as we made our way to Aira Force, the biggest waterfall in the Lake District. The car park was opposite a small area of shoreland looking across Ullswater and passers by had been building cairns as they had done when we were at Grasmere the previous day. Maria worked on her throwing technique and was getting some impressive distance as we found plenty of pebbles and stones to throw. Not many skimming stones though and Alison just had to take my word that I had been pretty impressive in the past at bouncing stones along the surface of the water.

Aira Force is another National Trust property with a small tea room as well as a fantastic walk. I did it on my own at first as Maria had fallen asleep by this stage and Alison stayed in the car with her while I got out and explored. There was an interesting tree which had fallen and was packed with coins hammered into it making it look like a reptile sprawled on the floor, its scales metallic in the intermittent sunshine. The waterfall was in full flow and a mist swirled below it as the water crashed down impatiently. Maria managed almost the whole walk, nearly 2 miles, although there were some steep steps on the route back down.

On the way back from Keswick I managed to watch a few minutes of the afternoon cricket at Ambleside. The photo shows a ball which got the final batsman out - I watched just two overs and saw 3 wickets fall which means the fielding side were very much on top.

Sparkshop update

It was a somewhat depleted side which took to the field of dreams last night with Dave injured in a cricketing accident the day before leading to his having to wear a splint and give the goalkeeping a break for a while.

Rich - in goal
Dom and Doug - defence
Matt, 3 pint Pete and multiple pints Phil - midfield
Craig and Iain - attack

It was a tough game again against a decent side who passed the ball well up front but were a little open at the back. It is fair to say 3 of their goals came somewhat fortuitously but they could have scored others which meant 5 - 2 was a fair reflection. There were some moments of good passing amidst sterling defensive work but we were behind early with a low shot carrying enough pace to hit the net despite a strong hand from Rich. Unfortunately Matt got on the score sheet at the wrong end when he deflected the ball in from a cross which simply hit him.

The other goals seemed to deflect about in front of goal and seemed to support the opposition's early assertion that they could wear us down by passing the ball about. However, we finished quite strongly and pulled a goal back through Craig's first goal for us, a superb shot which dipped late to lob the keeper and go in via the underside of the bar. The second was a simple goal from a long throw by Rich and controlled by me in the area with plenty of time to contemplate trying to get it on my right foot. However, the shape was all wrong for that and it was the left foot swinger that incredibly didn't just fly wide or over.

The sausage and chips provided some compensation but there is work to do if we are to avoid relegation from the top flight once again. It is fair to say life in the championship is probably where we are better placed.


http://www.stinkyriver.co.uk/

Here's the link to new Matt's blog of his travels around Europe. It continues to be a great read.