No, not solo! I brought my eldest daughter. She is 8 now and has been asking for ages to come out. I've been waiting for better weather, warmer nights, her to be in the right mood (she has an ASD diagnosis, Autistic Spectrum Disorder) blah blah blah...
Well finally we'd both had enough I we just went for it. At the end of a normal Saturday with gymnastics, trampolining, homework and all the rest we just grabbed some sausages and bacon (she can plan the menu again) threw my hammock kit and ground sleeping kit in, plus her sleeping bag and set off to our usual day spot and my occasional overnight spot.
So we spent the walk mainly in darkness through the woods, headtorch territory for getting the tarp up with her only a little nervous about be being out of sight on one side and the half erected shelter, with her on the other side holding the hank of cord I was pulling out. Soon enough though it was up, the fire was coming to life and not a moment to soon, it was dropping cold and quickly.
Teatime is normally about 6, so come 8 I was purging to get some sausages in a pan but a hot drink came first for hand warming and thirst quenching. The sausage butty tasted as it only can outdoors by a fire on a chilly (about 3 celcius at this point) evening. The production of a small bottle of ketchup and another of mustard only helped!
That's when I noticed the stars. It was a beautiful, clear night as the rapidly dropping temperature probably already told you and again, the stars were crisp and numerous as only the (relative) wild can show. We only stood in a silence only broken by the occasional crack from the fire for a few moments but they were beautiful moments. Warmed on our backs by the small fire, orange light flickering on the tree trunks and our cold faces turned towards the sky it's a moment that'll linger in my mind for a while.
Then the fun bit began... Getting an 8 year old with more than the odd sensory issue to wee in the woods, then climb into the hammock, out of the snuggly warm coat and lined wellies! Fortunately she doesn't really feel the cold at first so before long the little pink gnome was ensconced in her sleeping bag (rated to +10C) under my DD top quilt and nestled in the underquilt, which afforded her full coverage as opposed to the marginal coverage an adult gets. Snug as the proverbial bug in a rug. I shuffled my self inflating mat towards the edge of the tarp to maximise my view of the sky and settled for a pretty good nights kip with hardly any waking from either of us and fortunately, no midnight toilet trip for the little one! If I'd thought the stars were good looking though, the moon, rapidly followed by sunrise was simply magical. If you ever wanted a sunrise to impress someone, this was it!
Lighting a fire early to get ready to receive a miniature camper just added to the atmosphere. A fairly standard morning of drinks, bacon butties, breaking camp and watching our smoke lazily drift off in the longest calmest smoke trail I think I've ever seen was as expected. The 0C overnight temperature being quite easily survived (she took her hat of not long after going to bed as she was too hot) was a bonus and I'm sure it will be repeated, more than once.
I did take the camera along and did film a couple of bits but this is a memory I don't think I'll need much prompting to conjure up again. Kids eh, I wonder if they'll ever stop making us smile (I'm wearing rose tinted glasses right now, so ignore everything else they do!) Vid below if you are interested.
Well finally we'd both had enough I we just went for it. At the end of a normal Saturday with gymnastics, trampolining, homework and all the rest we just grabbed some sausages and bacon (she can plan the menu again) threw my hammock kit and ground sleeping kit in, plus her sleeping bag and set off to our usual day spot and my occasional overnight spot.
So we spent the walk mainly in darkness through the woods, headtorch territory for getting the tarp up with her only a little nervous about be being out of sight on one side and the half erected shelter, with her on the other side holding the hank of cord I was pulling out. Soon enough though it was up, the fire was coming to life and not a moment to soon, it was dropping cold and quickly.
Teatime is normally about 6, so come 8 I was purging to get some sausages in a pan but a hot drink came first for hand warming and thirst quenching. The sausage butty tasted as it only can outdoors by a fire on a chilly (about 3 celcius at this point) evening. The production of a small bottle of ketchup and another of mustard only helped!
That's when I noticed the stars. It was a beautiful, clear night as the rapidly dropping temperature probably already told you and again, the stars were crisp and numerous as only the (relative) wild can show. We only stood in a silence only broken by the occasional crack from the fire for a few moments but they were beautiful moments. Warmed on our backs by the small fire, orange light flickering on the tree trunks and our cold faces turned towards the sky it's a moment that'll linger in my mind for a while.
Then the fun bit began... Getting an 8 year old with more than the odd sensory issue to wee in the woods, then climb into the hammock, out of the snuggly warm coat and lined wellies! Fortunately she doesn't really feel the cold at first so before long the little pink gnome was ensconced in her sleeping bag (rated to +10C) under my DD top quilt and nestled in the underquilt, which afforded her full coverage as opposed to the marginal coverage an adult gets. Snug as the proverbial bug in a rug. I shuffled my self inflating mat towards the edge of the tarp to maximise my view of the sky and settled for a pretty good nights kip with hardly any waking from either of us and fortunately, no midnight toilet trip for the little one! If I'd thought the stars were good looking though, the moon, rapidly followed by sunrise was simply magical. If you ever wanted a sunrise to impress someone, this was it!
Lighting a fire early to get ready to receive a miniature camper just added to the atmosphere. A fairly standard morning of drinks, bacon butties, breaking camp and watching our smoke lazily drift off in the longest calmest smoke trail I think I've ever seen was as expected. The 0C overnight temperature being quite easily survived (she took her hat of not long after going to bed as she was too hot) was a bonus and I'm sure it will be repeated, more than once.
I did take the camera along and did film a couple of bits but this is a memory I don't think I'll need much prompting to conjure up again. Kids eh, I wonder if they'll ever stop making us smile (I'm wearing rose tinted glasses right now, so ignore everything else they do!) Vid below if you are interested.
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