Continuing with tradition, we spent the afternoon in Waterstones before leaving for Huddersfield and home.
It seemed that the whole world had seen and studied Periodic Comet Holmes (17P) as we cast our eyes sorrowfully towards England's week-long blanket cloud. But today's gloriously sunny afternoon slipped into a starry night and we now proudly present you with our celebration!
We set up at our local Huddersfield Observatory before darkness and used binoculars to sweep for a daylight sighting. Using 10x50 binoculars, Holmes was easy to spot even in a blue sky and was soon visible to the naked eye. The tail is directly behind the front of the comet and therefore not visible to us. We followed the comet into darkness with a combination of naked eye, binocular and telescope observations, with Gain imaging in the brief window before moonrise. 
In the light of the risen moon we decided that this adventure was coming to a close temporarily and proceeded to shut down the observatory, bidding a grateful 'goodnight' to the clear, night sky as we closed the dome. So oblivious we had been of the skies beyond Perseus that we were shocked to step out into a wintry downpour. Our determination to grab that first bit of clear sky had again paid off and we were doubly grateful that the telescope had been put to bed before the rains had arrived. Remaining on the steps for protection from the rain, we beheld a night-time rainbow (moonbow!) which entertained us on our wet jog to the car.
"Amateur astronomers the world over have been stunned and amazed by the weirdest new object to appear in the sky in memory. And it's one of the brightest, too.Less than a week ago Periodic Comet Holmes17P was a tiny, roughly 17th-magnitude nonentity out between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Then on Wednesday, October 24th, skywatchers looked up to see a bright new yellow-orange "star" shining in Perseus. For no apparent reason, the comet had brightened about a millionfold to shine at close to magnitude 2.5. That made it plain to see even in the bright moonlight and through all but the worst light pollution. It looked truly starlike; even high telescopic magnification barely resolved it as anything larger at first. But within a day it had expanded into a perfectly round, bright little disk with a tiny nucleus as seen in binoculars and telescopes. It looked like no comet ever seen.It's star like appearance gives way to a fuzzy blob once you point a pair of binoculars or a telescope toward it."
Cardiff, and the Park ‘n’ Ride bus took our £10 before dropping us about fifty feet from the car park and a good half hours walk from the stadium. Although undoubtedly cheated, we were grateful for the opportunity to laugh at how Gain’s shoulders scraped the ceiling of top deck, his head tucked low into his chest.
We paid homage to a few Torchwood landmarks as we galloped through the city towards Kebab Street for our evening meal of pie and chips. 
Fully fuelled, we were punch-pleased to enter the Millennium Stadium by the main entrance and celebrated with the purchase of tour t-shirts. There was opportunity to work off that pie with the high-altitude climb to our seats, which were located near the token drunken fans. This worked out brilliantly as really got us all dancing and singing, with Gain taking up the opportunity to again play air-guitar with Adele’s left leg. We were reportedly part of a 55,000 strong crowd.
A photo had to be taken of Gain enjoying the live performance of Roxanne; After all, that was the reason for us being here!
We drove out of Cardiff that night and headed for Brecon Beacons National Park, coming to rest in a remote lay-by when our eyes refused to stay open. Too exhausted to care for comfort, we slept as we sat and awoke in the morning surrounded by a burger van and its many customers! It transpired that we were in a fishing hotspot, extremely beautiful in the morning mist.
Saturday was to be a day of travel, journeying North and chancing to meet with the occasional local.
As we drove up through the Brecon Beacons we spied a line of men at the roadside, each armed with binoculars. Excitedly thinking we had stumbled upon a spot of birding, we pulled over sharpish and leapt from the car to ask what was about. A suspicious man replied 'hounds' and turned back to his business. 'Hounds?' thought we. Neither of us had ever thought about the possibility of wild hound spotting before. That very moment, a hound appeared on the adjacent mountainside and scampered across the landscape. From his point of appearance came a band of huntsmen on horseback, all dressed in red, white and black. Hounds! a FOX HUNT! Sadistic blood sports being rather low on our list of entertainment, we did not take any images of this parade and left immediately.
A birthday surprise detour to the Lake District and Ullswater for a romantic trip aboard the Lady Wakefield was to be our first stop (after taking on provisions at Manchester).
After darkness had descended upon us, Gain illuminated a little birthday cake by festive candlelight and gave sporting renditions of 'Happy Birthday' and 'For She's a Jolly Good Fellow'. 
No phone signal was accompanied by no television/satellite reception. Eager to support our team, we drove ten miles to the nearest off-site pub for the England v Estonia European Cup qualifier. We missed kick-off at 3pm but were in time to see two of England's three winning goals. 
England were playing France in the Rugby World Cup Semi-final and we continued our sporting Saturday by enjoying their last minute win. All was merriment and we went from chalet to caravan to tent to outdoor barbecue before finding our way to pillow and blanket on the naughty side of 4am. 
We viewed Chester's Fort and Housesteads Fort before resolving to revisit the history of the wall and return at a later date to hike a portion of the trail; Watch this space! 
