Blazing June - that's the phrase if I'm not mistaken. Well not on the day we had scheduled  a visit to Alton Towers. Someone in the queue for the monorail remarked "Never plan anything for the same weekend as Glastonbury, it's bound to rain". That, and it's Wimbledon fortnight too - I suppose we were doomed from the outset.

There was a big event going on for employees of BT. Emma managed to meet Cheryl Baker.

And Tony Blackburn

She won a T-shirt for spinning a ball on her finger.

We knew the weather was going to be bad from the forecast so we were well prepared with waterproof clothing. Still, as we travelled north we grew more depressed as the skies closed in. The rain only started as we entered the park and then it came in heavy showers throughout the whole day. We felt pretty miserable and discussed going home early but in end we stuck it out and the more rides we went on the better we began to feel.

We started off on the smaller rides and worked our way up. Kate kept her spirits up by drinking hot tea to try and keep warm.

By the end of the day we had reached the big stuff.  'Corkscrew' and 'Nemesis'. We were all ready to go on 'Air' and the real challenge 'Oblivion' when we ran out of time (Phew!).

James and I have been coaster buddies since our first taste of the big rollers in Florida. Now we are both pretty hardened and can face most things.

There was one ride 'Spinball Wizzer' which we saw at the start and came back to at the end. He sneaked on it without me and by the time I realised the queue had been shut for the day. Now he won't let me forget that he's been on one more scary ride than me.

We topped the day off with a trip back to the entrance on the 'Skyride' (cable car). We decided that despite the weather we were still glad we went and maybe we will even go back again next year to tackle that dreaded Oblivion...