26th August, 2011

Bank Holiday weekend and we’ve got two tickets for the RL Challenge Cup Final at Wembley on Saturday.

We’ve booked two nights at a Caravan Club Site on the outskirts of Oxford so set off from the office at 4pm to drive down.

We didn’t get there until 7.40pm and it was starting to get dark so putting up the awning had slightly more sharp words than last time. We did it though then headed out for food. The nearest pub was the Duke of Monmouth (www.dukeofmonmouth.co.uk) which unusually served Swiss food and was run by a Swiss couple. The food was ace and the beer even better.

On Saturday morning we caught a bus into Oxford and then the train to Paddington. We caught the tube then to Queens Park and changed to Wembley Central.

A few beers before the game, a burger (London prices) then the game itself. Even though Wigan raced to a 16-0 lead we were never relaxed. Leeds came back to 16-14 but the Warriors eventually won 28-18 to mark a top day.

We got the train back to Oxford and had an ok Thai meal, before a taxi back to the campsite and bed. (Must buy a portapotti for the next trip!)

We packed up on Sunday and after a trip to the Go Outdoors store at the entrance to the site (where I got stung again, presumably by a wasp) we drove to Bicester Outlet Village (recommended by Alison’s sister in law, Mandy). It was so busy that we had to get a park and ride bus to get there.

I’d like to recommend it as a place to visit on a BH weekend but I’ve got to say I hated it. I’m normally up for a bit of shopping but it was so busy you couldn’t get anywhere near the clothes. Mrs B didn’t even buy anything despite spending quite a while looking!

Home then, getting back about 7pm after we’d picked Boz up from Debra’s.