Camping

I have been so looking forward to our first proper camping trip of the year - I'm sure I've been driving everyone mad, watching the forecasts and generally being rather over-exciteable, counting sleeps, etc. 

The weather was fairly kind to us - at least it was dry - although it was quite fresh for most of the time.  Andy had all the camping and fishing gear in his van and I had Finn, the cage and .... well, mainly food! ..... in my car.  We got to the campsite at lunch time on Wednesday - we waited for the rain to stop as we didn't want to set the tent up in the rain.  That's the beauty of camping less than ten miles away - you don't have to leave home at silly o'clock to get there.   I know some of my colleagues were a little underwhelmed when I said I was going on holiday to Hevingham.  But when you're in a tent, in the middle of a field, you could be anywhere.

On Thursday, Mum and Dad paid us a visit - they arrived, bearing cheese and cake!  They spent the afternoon with us - Dad fishing with Andy, and Mum and I back at the tent reading magazines and chatting.  We had volunteered to make us a brew as it was quite cold at the lakeside, but the men were much hardier than we were, so they stayed there!

We all went for dinner at The Fox and had a lovely evening - it was nice to warm up a bit, before heading back to camp.  Although once those doors are closed and we're snug as bugs in rugs in our sleeping bags, it was lovely and toasty.  Especially as Finn sleeps on my feet at the end of my camp bed.  Heaven!

On Friday, the sun shone all day and I got quite an interesting suntan.  Not to mention midgey bites - good grief, they were horrendous.  Despite smothering myself liberally in mossie repellant and suntan lotion - factor 30! - my legs and face are covered in bites and I'm dosed up on antihistamine and hydrocortisone cream now.  I do tend to react quite badly to bites but I'm not sure why they pick on me anyway - I take daily garlic capsules - every day of the year, winter or summer - as they're supposed to keep the beasties away.  I must be very tasty.

We spent Friday evening outside the bivvy, with half a dozen citronella candles burning, and a few beers and a bottle of wine.  We chatted loads this week - we probably talked all sorts of rubbish to be honest - and it's the evenings I'll remember most, for the companionship - we talked about finances (that's always high on our agenda!); our house; the house we'll buy in the future together (our "forever" house); holidays past, present and future; families; friends.  I'm not sure there was much we didn't cover to be honest.   When you've got no 'phones - we'd turned both of them off at the beginning of our holiday - no computers, no TVs, you have to make your own conversation.  It's those times I love best.  During the days, we were very quiet anyway - Andy concentrating on his fishing and me on my knitting.  But, in the evenings, those distractions were put away and we could concentrate on each other and putting the world to rights. 

I'm feeling quite low today - Andy's gone back to Heathrow - and I miss our chatting.  Telephone calls normally only last a minute or two - neither of us particularly like speaking on the 'phone - so our conversations tend to be very matter of fact and practical.  

But it's been an absolutely brilliant few days and I can't wait for our next camping weekend - scheduled for the middle of June, although Andy's moving job from Heathrow to Reading the week before, so we may very well be moving that weekend instead.  We shall just have to wait and see.