Last week we finally returned  to a vague semblance of summer and had  a few sunny days (well, ish - gasp!).

My brother and sister-in-law were over visiting from Canada and we decided to go out for the day to Camelot, a place they always took their now grown-up children.  Although it is quite local we had never been before, not least becasue it doesn't have the best reputation locally.

We had a great day!  The weather did help, but the boys really enjoyed themselves too.  Camelot is a theme park based loosely around medieval times, with jousting and King Arthur and Merlin.  The ride names all reflected that, but were, of course, just theme park rides.  First we went on the log flume.  My brother got wetter than anyone else we saw in the half hour wait we had! (Giggle - what little sister can resist laughing at her big brother?)

The boys were too short for any of the wild rides (thank goodness!), but there were plenty suitable for them. Here they are in the green balloon:

It took me 3 attempts to get them in the frame as my digital camera seems to be very slow!

The highlight of the day was the jousting.  Wow!  It wasn't a cheap day out, but the jousting was worth it!  We went early and sat right in the centre front of the gallery.  The jester 'warmed up' the crowd, telling us about Sir Lancelot, Sir Percival, Gawaine and Mordred and giving us the appropriate words to yell every time they appeared - 'Yeah!, Boo!' a Mexican wave and so on.  Then the 4 horses thundered into the arena.  Spectacular!  Here they are being introduced:

 Sir Lancelot was in the blue.

Gawaine in the red.  Mordred, needless to say, was in black.  Booo!!!!

Lancelot with his lance, having tried to knock Mordred off his horse.

The choreography was very impressive, and not obvious to my boys who were jiggling up and down in great excitement.  The horses passed each other 3 times and then then men fought until one was defeated.  They fought with shield and swords, axes, even flaming torches - very effective, but very careful too.

The jester and his men also entertained the crowd with musical 'instruments' and fire. 

Here the jester is twirling a fiery baton - we were close enough to see the fuel flying off the ends as he twirled it around.

And finally, of course, Sir Lancelot was given control of the king's armies and won the day. King Arthur was still being played by the same man as my nieces and nephew had enjoyed all those years ago (about 10 years).

It was excellent.  They had even got the characters so well cast - Lancelot and Percival, youthful, blond and blue-eyed.  (I cracked up laughing at the teenage girl  exiting next to me squealing "I've got a photo of Lancelot on my phone!  SIGH!")  The other two did look mean - dark hair and beards - older and 'rougher', though at the end when we went to meet the horses the meanest broke into a smile and it totally transformed his face!

Superb!