Good Food, and Special Friends, what more do you need?

To continue our day out. Well after getting back to the cars, it was decided that I would lead the way to the restaurant (big mistake!), if you have ever visited the Boat Lift, you will be familiar with the car park. the enterance/exit is down a short drive way from the car park, but continues along side it, with a fence separating the two. I set off in the lead, and turn left (told you it was a big mistake me leading), ups ended up heading back into the car park again! Mark who was driving, waited at the turning, knowing full well you have to turn right, both he and Joan were splinting their sides with laughter. Finally our Birthday scouting party was headed of to check out a restaurant. After a short journey we arrived at the Stanton Arms (next to jct 10, M56) and parked up, off we went into the restaurant, unfortunately leaving Mr Bean and Trixie minding the cars. The first impression was a well laid out, and very clean establishment, things were looking ok! First stop was the bar, with the 2 drivers Mark and myself, sticking to the non alcoholic drinks whilst the girls hit the hard stuff. Joan had a glass of Guinness and blackcurrant, whilst Nette had a glass of Larger and Lime. We found a table and sat down, and started to peruse the menu, now things took a turn for the worst, it was a Haute Cuscine type of menu, and out of the sort of range that we were looking for(remember there will be 2 teenagers with us on the day), so it was decided that as good as the food looked, we would scout out the restaurant on the other side of the junction. The TreeTops, so back to the cars again. With me leading again, and finding the exit with no problems.

The TreeTops has a big sign at the entrance 2 for 1, well things were looking up, also it has a "Wacky Warehouse", which means the menu caters for kids. Once again we parked up and left our canine friends, minding the cars, and headed into the Family entrance. This time the interior was a bit more crowded, but was well presented and clean. We found a table and sat down, and started to peruse the menu, Joan finally decided on Pie with Ale gravy, Nette had a 8oz rump steak, whilst Mark and I had the man sized 16oz rump steak. Mark and Nette went to order (well Nette does come in hand for something), and then took a second trip to get the drinks, this time all of us we on the non alcoholic choice. Finally the food arrived, and what I thought was going to be a small portion, turned out to be quite large, whilst eating we had a relaxing chat, and the time just flew by. Before I knew it, we had finished our meals, not forgetting the doggy bags, for Mr Bean and Trixie. Then the discussion started about desert, which ended up with Mark having a Very Berry Surprise, Joan had a Crunchie Surprise(a bit like a humongous McFlurry), and I had a Warm Chocolate Fudge, with Nette being the only sensible one, and having non. Well after the meal time to head home, but first our 2 canine friends had to have their doggy bags.

Joan had mentioned the Mr Bean was very well behaved, and that if she left a plate of food on the floor, he would not touch it. Today he had his mischevius head on, Joan was sat in the car and had put the doggy bag on the dash (remember it had steak in it), well Mr Bean went onto her lap, something he usually does not do, of course he had a ulterior motif. It was so he could reach the dash to try and get the doggy bag. After the treats had been eaten, it was time to say good bye and thank you for a wonderful day, and then head home.

On arriving home sorted out, Nette went to bed (remember she has CFS, and was very tiered), and I ended up crashing on the couch a sleep with Trixie. Once I woke up, I decided to catch up on things, horror of horrors, I had a problem with G:UK forums, every time I tried to log in, I was unable to. Well after using the system restore 3 times, sending an email to Mark and Joan, asking them to contact one of the admins on my behalf, I had a brain wave, I cleared out all my cookies. Hey presto I was logged back in. after sending another email to Mark and Joan, it was time to get down to the serious business of logging our cache find & TB, writing another epic days Blog, and catching up on whats happening on the forums. Oh and reading Mark and Joans Blogs, to see how they "outed" me over getting lost in the car park. Tomorrows another day, so hopefully will provide a short Blog, and give your eyes a rest.