A Camping we will go, a camping we will go.....

....... and that is exactly what we did on Sunday!

After having been blown away by Glentress last weekend (see earlier April Blog If you go down to the woods today), we decided to go back but this time to camp overnight and go mountain biking the next day as it was a bank holiday weekend in the UK.

Dexter was self combusting with enthusiasm at the thought of camping and also of going mountain biking for the first time. We arrived at the campsite at 5pm on the Sunday having bought some yummy food for our dinner to cook on the BBQ, and had even stopped off at the dvd rental store before we set off to get some films to watch on the Mac. Yes we are from the city, and so when we do the country, we need to be amused, and not just by the scenery, especially if it is cold, and it was cold that night, believe me!!

Anyway, the VW Sundial Camper was packed with blankets, (although the gas heater decided to run out which was a pain for me anyway!).

Just for the record, we are not seasoned campers, in fact, the only reason I agreed to go camping was if we did it in comfort, hence why we have the VW Splitty. That said, this worked really well when Dexter was wee, however now he is a bit bigger, the VW is actually now a little small, especially as we also have 2 new travelling companions in the form of Marvin Gay & Carly Simon "the Vizslas". Because of this we got a cheap pop-up tent to test out whether we could still do camping with the 5 of us.

At Anders suggestion, he said he would go in the tent (he likes camping you see and is made of hardy stuff), me on the other hand, I am not, and like my comforts, so I got to sleep in the bus! Dexter wanted to sleep in the tent too as originally Marvin & Carly were going to sleep in the tent with Anders. Super excited at the thought of sleeping with the dogs, Dexter thought he would like to go in the tent too, however Anders and I felt it might be a bit too cosy, so we swapped the sleeping arrangements to boys in the tent and girls in the bus, so Carly & I cuddled up in the bus on the rock-n-roll bed in comfort. Carly too is very much the lady, so was very happy to snuggle up with me to keep warm!

Anyway, we had a really lovely evening sitting with our fantastic BBQ copper pit which doubles up as an amazing camp fire (we get a lot of envy from other campers as it is big, warm and doesn't wreck the campsite as it is raised slightly being technically a BBQ). Dinner was:

Pumpkin Gnocci w pesto
Beef burgers on Pitta Bread w Coleslaw
(the rolls were sold out, but actually the Pitta Bread worked really well)
Apple & Walnut cake
Mulled Wine (yes, Anders spotted it and it hit the spot well).

The Mulled wine is in the stainless steel pot, Tea is brewing in the white pot and the burgers are on the BBQ!

Movie for the evening was the choice of Dexter, Ice Age 2 followed by an early night!

Monday morning, we had breakfast at cafe which is situated at the bottom of the forest (Glentress) and actually very yummy and much needed to fuel us up for the 3 hr trek ahead of us. Dexter did extremely well as he managed to cycle to the top it too - yes indeed, 3 hrs of cycling up hill and then back down!

This was the scenery at the top (see above photo as well as this one and the one with Dexter). Thankfully the weather forecast had been correct and the sun was out for us, hence why we went in the first place! Even the hike to the top was lovely as it was just so beautiful and once at the top the view of the hills was stunning. I have never seen them with the amazing blue hue they had - quite spectacular.

Dexter loved the cycling, not so much the up hill trek (but who does), but he did love the free run back down and returned home saying "that was so great". He did have one very small wee fall, but that has not put him off as the other good memories are what we ensured he remembered.

Marvin & Carly kept up with us (as of course you would expect), but having now gotten home, they are pooped, and have literally slept ever since we got home..... as for me, my thighs ache, but then again, I did cycle all the way to the top too, just no photos of me to prove it, but honest, I did as I was the photographer!!!

Oh, also, the other good thing about this type of quick camping trip followed by gruelling exercise (even though the exercise part in this case was also a lot of fun) is getting home and having the best shower in the world followed by bubble bath..... bliss