Cheerio!  We've had another wonderful day in cloudy England.  We've been so many miles I can hardly remember this morning.  After breakfast, we boarded our "coach", not bus, with our new driver Colin.  I tried to explain to him that I'm the coach & the bus is the bus, but he just couldn't understand.  We had a little over an hour trip, with Mark's commentary which is getting better, to a village in Wales called something that sounds like you're choking.  You'll have to ask Emily's mom the name because she's writing everything down.  The country is very mountainous, very green, & very beautiful.  Sheep everywhere - the cows all live in England.  We walked through the village to the canal.  There are long wooden boats that are pulled by a horse.  We boarded our boat & Tia was wondering how they were going to get the horse on the boat!  When she figured out that the horse would walk on the path beside the canal & pull the boat, she was afraid he would get spooked & take off.  I can't remember who, but somebody else was wondering if the horse would swim in the canal to pull the boat.  Everything was sorted out & we started our journey down the canal.  We talked to some people from Holland & guess what - the lady had a fjord horse (like mine).  Small world!  Tonya was excited to learn some Welsh words from the boat pilot.  Ana got a little boat sick & decided to walk along the path when we headed back.  We were a little nervous when she took the rope & started leading the horse!  Now, for the highlight of the canal trip.  About half way, they unhitched the horse & held him on the path so he could pee.  Of course, we all blamed it on Ana.  We did some shopping & took pictures in the village.  Then, we had lunch in little cafes.  In the cafe where I ate, there was no bathroom, so they gave you a pass to go to the sweets shop next door, where the bathroom was located outside.  Smart move - guess where we all went for dessert!  I have to say, we were full from tasting all the kinds of fudge before we decided what to buy.  Then, naptime on the bus.

We had about an hour at the hotel before we headed to the gym for our workout - 30 minutes to find the room & 30 minutes to dry off.  All the girls had a great practice.  They will be stars tomorrow!  We really enjoyed working out with the British team.  All the coaches & athletes were helping everybody else & it was great fun sharing skills & ideas.  The mainstream TeamGym squad from that gym showed us their EuroGym championship floor routine & then tumbling, vault & mini-tramp.  The have a room especially for the tumbling, etc. that has padded walls & mats so thick you can't believe it.  Let's just say the padding was well used.  The gymnasts were fantastic & we had lots of fun watching.  Most of our girls said they are happy to be doing rhythmic gymnastics instead of TeamGym!

Tonite, we went to a marina & saw lots of the wooden canal boats at dock.  We had a private dinner with the British team & it was great fun!  We have so many new friends already.  They gave all the girls a goodie bag with some great things inside.  I think the favorite was the Tinkerbell pin.  We took lots of pictures & then headed back to the hotel for an early night.

Tomorrow, we go to a pottery in the AM, then our competition.  Wish us luck!  If I can stay awake long enough for the internet to connect, I'll give you a full report tomrrow night.  Wish you could all be here with us!   Cindy