Home Again, back on the wagon..via Lakenheath and Hamerton

Back to Slimming World proper. Never been so pleased to see some vegetables!!

Tree Creeper

So the morning arrived and it was time for us to load the car, return our bikes (boo hoo) and get on our way. We decided that we would go straight to the Lakenheath Viewing Area and see whether anything was happening and then we would spend the afternoon at Hamerton Zoo, which we drove past on our way down. Make a day of our last day! As we walked back from the Cycle Centre to our car Lauren spotted a Tree Creeper, her favourite bird, one thing that always amazes me at Center Parcs is that people don't look around them. They go on a holiday lauded for it's wildlife but just aren't bothered by it. All the times we've been spellbound by our finds, whether it's been Nuthatches, Muntjacs and  babies people have walked past completely unmoved or uninterested, strange! It was the same 2 years ago when the Vulcan did a fly past with an escort of F15's only me and one man noticed round the crowded lake, a chance in a lifetime to see that and can never be seen again now.

Anyway talking of F15's off we went to the Lakenheath Viewing Area (Wangford Rd, RAF Lakenheath, Brandon IP27 0SJ). As soon as we got there we knew we were on to a good thing, 4 Eagles on the tarmac, engines blaring. We had to wait a while for take off but then we were rewarded with 4 take offs, and 8 landings and in between something I've never experienced so close, low level runway flypasts - they come in undercarriage down as if they are going to land and then throttle up, gear up and sped off, sharp rise and bank to come round again - amazing! we didn't want to leave and nearly didn't as every time we did, something else happened. In the end, 2 more came in to land as we were leaving and as we drove past the end of the runway (on the road I hasten to add) our windscreen was filled with the sight of a landing F15 crossing our path, we giggled all the way to Mildenhall, where we were circled by a large transporter plane.

Our next stop was Hamerton Zoo Park, it took some finding we went wrong twice, it's not well signposted and when we arrived we were unsure if we were at the right place. The car park was half full and didn't seem big enough for an attraction.

Lauren and a goose

We soon learnt that the zoo is a small one. All we previously knew about it, is probably what you know too, from the recent news about the death of a keeper looking after the tigers.

They have some really interesting animals, a lovely selection of birds. Unfortunately, the wolves and cats we wanted to see were mostly out of view and there were quite a few empty cages. Nothing can be done about animals that don't want to be seen that's the risk you take with zoos. But the empty cages were a disappointment. There was a lovely little train going round and a nice children's play area. We had a decent coffee in their cafe which was nice and clean but had limited stock - not enough cake!

We saw lots though - baby Meerkats, Lemur, Coati, brilliant Binturongs, Raccoons, Cheetah, White Tigers, Giant Tortoises, Prevost Squirrel, Camels, Donkey, lots of Geese and Cranes and Vultures, Sloth, Jaguarundi, Oncilla and something I've never seen before Tayra amongst other things.

Also we saw several red kites over head which was great to see, as we don't have them in Nottinghamshire yet.

We stayed for a couple of hours until a storm arrived and we realised we were pooped and wanted to get home! Would we go again? Well we said we may try again next year, we thought some of the enclosures were small and some very tired looking, however, we saw signs of development a new meerkat area, a new area for the coati, a new nighttime walk, so perhaps Hamerton will have it's day and grow into a much nicer little zoo, but for now I was torn between seeing some unusual animals and being slightly uncomfortable by some of the enclosures.

The motorway had other ideas and it was nearly 6 o'clock by the time we arrived, but Husband Tony was in and cooked us a fab Slimming World friendly, vegetable laden dinner, however, too little too late I fear for tomorrows weigh in - feel another challenge week coming on! we had baked potato with our healthy extra cheese, a chicken breast topped with leftover chilli and cauliflower, broccoli and asparagus.