Of weddings and bikes

[lnr]

Last weekend we went up to Harrogate for my cousin Alistair's wedding. They chose a lovely venue - Rudding Park Hotel - and we spoiled ourselves by staying the night before as well. We had a nice potter round Harrogate itself on Friday afternoon: a walk in the valley gardens and a visit to the pump room museum where we admired the old bikes amongst other things and tried the waters (which tasted like an over-salted egg mayonnaise sandwich!). We considered afternoon tea at Betty's but declined in favour of cocktails, before heading to the hotel. Our room turned out to have not only its own terrace but a sauna in the bathroom! We didn't try the sauna but did have a lovely bubble bath and coffee on the terrace in our dressing gowns, and a fantastic dinner in the hotel restaurant.

The next day was lovely: we had time for lunch with mum, dad, Steph, Dave, Oliver and Isobel (who slept throughout) before everyone else started to arrive. The wedding was short (civil ones always are) but sweet - I loved their vows and both Cath and Alistair looked very happy indeed. It was lovely to see all the girls from the hen night again two - three of them looking very swish as bridesmaids. And they couldn't have asked for nicer weather - the sun shone and no-one needed jackets despite it being mid-October. (I had a fantastic new dress too, which I found in Debenhams the week before - I rarely spend anywhere near that much on a frock but I knew it was worth it as soon as I tried it on!) There was the usual wedding breakfast and speeches and cake cutting and dancing - but there were also pirate hats and small children hiding behind curtains - a fab time was had by all.

I took Monday off work to catch up on housework and painting and to take my bike to the bike shop - I'd noticed a crack in the rim of the rear wheel earlier that week and had been riding it somewhat gingerly since then! They couldn't look at it right away but rang me back the next day to say if anything the front wheel was even worse, and I also needed a new set of cogs at the back and a new chain, plus a few odds and ends I was already expecting, and I'd be looking at at least £200-£230 to get it back on the road, if not more. So instead I decided it was time to invest in a new bike instead - the previous Ridgeback had done me a happy 5 years and over 8000 miles so I don't think it owed me much! (See when I bought it)

After picking it out and giving them time to set it up and move all my accessories over from the old bike I picked her up yesterday and rode her home after work. I'm going to have to take her out for a proper spin tomorrow but she's looking good, and I'm very happy so far. I even spent half an hour cleaning the shed out this morning in order to get the even old spare bike I've been riding this week tucked back away at the back and make some room for her.

Anyway, this wouldn't be a post of mine without some photos, so here's the wedding:

And here's the bikes:

In both cases click through for more.