Row, row, row your boat

This week we've been sampling the delights of East Riding, Yorkshire staying at Sand le Mere Holiday Village - more on that shortly when I've had chance to draw breath!

I just wanted to quickly share one of our lovely days we had there.  It was totally unplanned, we were just pottering through the lanes and villages in the car when I spotted a sign in Hornsea for 'The Mere'.

We followed the sign down a bumpy dirt track, not quite knowing what to expect.

It opened out onto a beautiful lake, thousands of geese; ducks and swans and the offer of boat rides and ice creams.

The largest natural freshwater lake in Yorkshire, it's 2 miles long and 3/4 mile wide.

In a very peculiar display of machismo, the old man insisted we hired a rowing boat for a jaunt out.  Why is it assumed (by men mostly) that men can row boats?

Luckily life-jackets were included.  There were a few hairy moments in the beginning when I was having serious second thoughts - mainly when the oars kept slipping out of the holder-thingies (that's a technical, nautical term you may not be familiar with).

To be fair, he soon got into the swing of it - probably due to his enthusiastic and vocal cox - and before long it was like a scene from Swallows and Amazons.

Hundreds of beautiful swallows and swifts swooped and skimmed the lake all around us.  The gentle lap of the water against the boat was the only sound - it felt like we were the only three people in the world.

We went out to the island and saw a swan with her cygnets, a seagull nesting and a - erm, any ideas?

The tranquillity was broken when myself and Ruby launched into a hearty rendition of 'Row, row, row your boat'.  Singing at the tops of our voices, with nobody to hear but the swallows, it was pure bliss!

Linking up with Country Kids over at Coombe Mill.