Reflections on the puddle of life

A couple of weeks ago, we went camping again. This time we went a bit further afield, to the Forest of Dean which is on the English/Welsh border, towards the South of England close to Bristol. The campsite is called Christchurch and is operated by Forest Holidays. It's really reasonably priced, especially compared to the last campsite, and the facilities are good and clean. If you were thinking of camping near the Forest of Dean, I'd recommend it. There's a further campsite called Bracelands a little farther down the road which is also operated by Forest Holidays but which doesn't get such great reviews. I can't vouch for it or otherwise, as we didn't really have much of a look around.

One of the great things about Christchurch campsite is that they do pizza which we were very much looking forward to. In the end, however, we didn't get our pizza. If you want to know why, read on...

So we arrived the first day at around 11am, pitched the tent in record time and kitted it out. All in, it's taking us about 2 hours to pitch and sort out the tent, which sounds like a long time but as we're busy the whole time you hardly notice. This time we brought my Mum with us. It's the first time she's been camping, all credit to her, at the age of 70. Despite her age, she pitched in as much as she could and overall she enjoyed the trip (enough to want to come back anyway) and as far as fitness goes, well, in some respects she did better than my 11 year old son, so it just goes to show that age is only a barrier if you think it is. I was really proud of my Mum on this trip, and when I'm older I hope I'll remain as fit as she is.

After pitching we went for our first walk around the forest. There are various sign posted paths with varying degrees of difficulty. We were warned on arrival that there are wild boar in the forest and there are signs up advising you what to do if you sight any boar or get close to them, most of which amounted to 'run away'! The kids were a bit nervous about encountering boar in the forest, but in the end we didn't see any so they had nothing to worry about. I, on the other hand, was very disappointed.

What we did see were frogs, millions upon millions of squirrels (to which we responded in the manner of the dogs in the movie Up - for details see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaAxzIFgNso apparently my impression was the best which, as my husband pointed out, means that I sounded the most like a dog. Nice ), a dormouse which has prompted a sudden request for a pet hamster from my son, and lots and lots of birds.

And of course, there were lots of trees




The next day we decided to explore a bit more of the countryside. It is a stunningly beautiful area, classic British countryside with rolling hills, meandering rivers, sheep, cows and manicured fields. As we were very close to the River Wye we decided to walk up to a place called Symonds Yat rock and then down from there to the river. This was the view from Symonds Yat rock, very beautiful:



My daughter said it was like looking at a photograph, except it was real.

From the rock it was a long way down to the river. A guided path leads you to Symonds Yat East, a small collection of houses edging the river, a great area for watersports and generally chilling and watching the water roll by. This is the river from the bank:



and a view upstream and across the rapids:



We found some rocks here and on our last day we brought a picnic and sat on the rocks and ate sandwiches and dipped our feet in the ice cold water. Lovely.

The walk up from Symonds Yat East back to the rock is a killer. I was surprised how hard my son found it, given his general excess of energy. The girls all managed the climb much better, I'm proud to say.

The next day we went into Monmouth, which is about 8 miles from the campsite. Monmouth is a beautiful little town, and famous for being hte birthplace of Henry V. Here's his statue:



There's also a castle and lots of lovely little shops. We found a local butchers called Hancocks of Monouth and bought some sausages and they were the best sausages we've had in years. Very reasonably priced too. We also bought some fruit from the greengrocers directly opposite the butchers and I think we found the very ideal of perfection in raspberries. They were so good, my daughter refused to share them!

After our little trip out to Monmouth, we drove down to Symonds Yat East and hired a couple of canoes. The girls shared one, and the boys the other. Despite the fact that only my husband has canoed before, we picked it up really quickly and had a fantastic time paddling up and down stream, avoiding the steamers and kayakers and other canoers enjoying the waters.

And the weather was fantastic. Despite downpours the week before, and grey, overcast skies since, we really lucked out and even got a little sunburned! On the last night we sat outside until 10pm, talking in the late evening warmth while the kids played with their new found friends in the gaps between the tents.

On the last night I wanted to go for a last walk in the forest. My Mum and daughter decided to come with me. We were only going to go a couple of miles then come back, but sadly my navigation skills were a bit lacking and we ended up walking about 8 miles. As a result, we got back too late for pizza, and were too tired to have eaten anyway. I think my husband was a little disappointed, but we had a good giggle about it and we all got some well needed exercise.

I was really impressed with how my Mum took it all. She struggled a little on the first night, because sleeping in a tent is really like sleeping outside - it's noisy, cold and can be a little unsettling. Plus my daughter's snoring kept her awake! She wasn't fond of the mummy style sleeping bag, so next time we're going to get her a rectangular one so she has more wriggle room for her feet, but otherwise she loved it and she'd love to come back camping with us again.

A little picture of my Mum and my daughter - this was taken on the rocks by the river. I think everyone looks pretty happy:



A couple of things we learned from this trip:

1) we need a firepit/barbecue. The smell of barbecued meat after 7pm is so, so tempting and having a little fire to sit beside as it goes dark would be fantastic.

2) we need to make a list of things to bring - we forgot a few bits and pieces this time. Nothing essential, but things we would have liked to have had around.

3) camping fridges are great, as are heaters. Both will now be coming as standard on our camping trips.

4) Don't go for a walk without your mobile phone. It helps when you turn up in a village miles away and need an emergency lift home!

All in all another fantastic trip. We're on the look out for our next campsite - might be back to the lakes (I missed the lake) or we might go camping near London and take the kids into the city to see the sights. Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated