Rather than easing ourselves into the freezing British weather gently, Phoebe & I decided to fling ourselves in head first & spend Sunday at the Point to Point.
Held on top of a icy hill in Somerset, Point to Point is a whole day of amateur horse racing. It’s a tradition spanning over 250 years, each race is about 3 miles, everyone places their bets, grabs a drink & enjoys the afternoon.
You can’t really feel your toes from the cold, but that’s all part of the fun.
We were helping Mum & Dad do the fences (making sure anyone who falls is taken care of) so we all started by walking the course. Or galloping in our case.
Dad patted down the loose bits,
The races & riders were announced by this dapper young man,
And the horses were paraded in the ring for the gamblers to cast their well trained, beady eyes over.
Even seå˜or Custard got involved before being swept off his feet & taken to the start line.
The horses chomped at their bits & stomped excitedly while jockeys jostled each other and joked about the heated competition.
Finally, they were off!
Punters watched in eager anticipation, waiting to see if their horse would bring home the bacon.
Some were more interested than others…
We didn’t win the first race and by the time the last GG crossed the finish line our teeth were well & truly chattering.
Chairman James D. came to rescue us and took us in for some much needed mulled wine & a hot lunch.
There were hot dogs, cheese & crackers on offer so obviously this delectable monstrosity had to happen…
We nicknamed them Blue Dowgs.
All washed down with cheese & pineapple (a timeless classic)
and lashings of mulled wine.
With warm, full bellies & slightly light heads we dragged ourselves back out to watch the hounds parade.
I think they enjoyed it even more than we did!
I found this little cutie hidden away on one of the old fairground games.
Sadly she wasn’t one of the prizes so we played with our own cutie mcfloody.
The rest of the day sailed by in a sea of races, blue dowgs, mulled wine & horses.
There were only a couple falls, but thanks to the quick work of the stewards & huntsmen there was no lasting damage to either the horses or riders.
Thank goodness.
It’s been lovely spending the weekend with my family… but I’m about ready to go back to Fiji now! Can I go back to the sunshine, please?
