The weather on friday was one of those beautiful mid-summer evenings where shadows lengthen impossibly in golden light that lingers way past 10pm. The children played football, flew kites, ran around happily in gangs while the adults sat in a circle nursing glasses of wine or bottles of beer. Idyllic.
Saturday morning was overcast. No problem. We got up and went out for the day to Brimham Rocks. We all had a wonderful time clambering over and through these amazing rock formations before stopping at the cafe for a sausage roll lunch. Children taking off in gangs, playing hide and seek, exploring, being adventurous. What childhood is all about.
Bacon butties for breakfast... one of camping's great treats.
But then it started to rain. And it didn't stop. By the time we got back to the campsite it was raining in our tent. Not a good thing.
We hadn't slept brilliantly the night before. I think we had all been slightly cold. Not really really cold, but just enough that you don't sleep well. So the boys were restless, and so it seemed that every time we managed to drift off then someone started moaning. At one point I found Dude on the floor having been shuffled off the double air-mattress he was sharing with Pip and out of his sleeping bag. No wonder he was cold. Then Spike started fussing and wouldn't stop. So we brought him in with us. Wrapped in a big blanket and snuggled between his parents he slept angelically for the next 5 hours. From 3 to 8am. But since Dude and Pip were awake from 5:45 we didn't even have that much sleep.
So anyway, come Saturday night and the prospect of cold, wet, disturbed sleep we decided to turn tail. We packed up in the rain (the boys were being fed barbecue by our friends) and drove home (only an hour) to our warm, dry house.
Everyone has said we made the right decision, and that the weather got a lot worse during the night.
Sunday was clear, but there were GALES. The tent, trying to be dried on the line in the garden tried to turn itself into a parachute and take off. Aaaagh! So I laid it on the grass and held it fast with chairs so it wouldn't blow away.
Still, everyone enjoyed themselves, despite the weather and our aborted evening's soiree, and we are all set to try again.
But with a properly waterproofed tent this time.
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