It is indeed an epic journey to Cornwall from the Isle of Man, especially if you don't break it up with a night somewhere on the way. But the newly-bought especially for the occasion DVD players did us well on the 8-hour drive which followed the 4-hour boat trip to Heysham:
We got in late at night and dropped into bed, which made the view which met us from our flat balcony in the morning truly spectacular:
(And, in case anyone were to doubt, this is actually a picture taken from our balcony when we woke up that first morning!)
The flat was lovely, on a cliff overlooking the beach, in a block booked out for the group. So it was that when we were out taking the photo here, we were shouted up to by friends below, and then friends above shouted down from above to join in. Lovely!
Here is Finn enjoying breakfast with the cliff on the beach just about visible in the background:
The place being full of friends meant that it was a lovely environment to be in while we were there. Friends were all around us, and trips out meant bumping into and joining up with friends at every turn. Such as a lovely trip to the beach, which meant a great time getting wet, building rivers and lakes, and exploring caves and the like.
You will be able to guess from the pictures, we had to return to the flat for a change of clothes before going on, to the aquarium, as it turned out:
But we were there to dance - this is the schedule:
As well as preparing the uniforms for Finn and herself, and others in the group, Cori also put together one for Orry. He wasn't actually dancing, but he was definitely a part of the team, and he did look very cute in the costume, as the pictures we took at the flat before we set off from our first dance shows:
After the warm up schools event, the Main Event was the Dance Spectacular on the Friday night. Everyone was great, and we were delighted to see the kids, including Finn, wowing the crowds (folk dance festivals apparently don't generally attract heaps of children, so the Manx kids were a treat for everyone).
After the dancing shows, ceilis followed each evening. Many of the other kids from the troupe were all for these into-the-night dances, dancing till they dropped. Not our Finn or Orry though. Evidently they are not late-night people. They were home shortly after the evening concerts and in bed soon after. This was normally accompanied by Cori sneaking back out to the dancing, friendships & alcohol (generally sneaked into the venue in her boot to avoid the full price of the hotel bar!). - It was very much like returning to student years!
Orry, however, did not like Cori going out and leaving him to just his dad. On one night he even rebelled sufficiently to throw himself away from me in protest. However, it was already so late, and him so tired, that he fell asleep just like that!
Most of the other parents had something to contribute to the trip, whether as a musician or dancer. I had nothing, but it was nice to use the opportunity to film much of the dancing, so that I could make something about Manx dancing when back in work on my return. One of the bits I was pleased to film was the rehearsal everyone did inside the only free venue available which could fit everyone - the carpark beneath our flats. It looked great, like some 90s urban dance off thing with a Manx twist:
I also did some short interviews with the kids, but, perhaps predictably, it was effectively unusable. This was partly due to Finn, whose talkativeness was very obvious even from the shortest of clips...!
This is in contrast to the Manx version, where he, and the front row of his class mates were evidently not up to contributing very much at all!
A rather more useful father on the trip was someone who worked for the paper, which meant that there was a great write-up of the trip in the paper, along with some great photos:
These group pictures were from the final day's dancing, where we also took some pictures ourselves:
We were in Cornwall over the 5th, which meant bonfire night, celebrated with sprinklers donated from a friend:
All in all, it was a wonderful trip, with lots of family, friends and dancing. What could be better. As the final pictures, here is Orry & mate (Cori!), and Finn & mate, at the last meal before we returned home to make ready for the 4am setting off to get the boat back:
In contrast to the journey there (an easy sailing and a horrible drive) the way back was a fairly easy drive (with mostly sleeping children) and a truly horrible sailing. The seas were really rough with big waves and the boat was rocking back and forth. Everyone around us was starting to feel ill and the toilets were off limits except for emergencies because so many people had vomited in them. We were all feeling it (except for Finn who was COMPLETELY fine throughout and hadn't even the smallest hint of being at all seasick) and I was trying to hold myself together and listen to music. Cori had taken off her shoes and put her feet up with Orry sitting on her lap while the two of them looked at a magazine. When all of the sudden, with no warning, Orry started vomiting profusely, filling Cori's shoes and covering her trousers as well as himself. It was pure horror. And of course one child vomiting set off a few others close by to us and it was like puking in surround sound. It was truly awful. The shoes had to be poured out into a vomit bag, the carpet covered with a blanket and feeble attempts were made with baby wipes to clean it off the people involved. Unfortunately, we were only halfway in to the journey - which meant Cori had to last another two hours (thankfully now with a sleeping Orry) covered in vomit before we arrived and we were able to return (barefoot) to our car and a change of clothes. Not a journey that we want to repeat any time soon.
But, let's not end on that! Instead, here is the film that I eventually made at work, which shows pretty well what it's all about:
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