Zoom out from the map to see where we were!
On Saturday we decided to embark on our first camping trip in the UK (excluding Clint’s previous endeavours when he lived in Scotland a while back). So after we’d spent two weeks online trying to order in our perfect tent and other camping gear, we finally caught the train out towards Leith Hill, which is a popular area for hiking and mountain biking.
The camping spot was on a farm at the base of Leith hill, which was about 3 miles from the nearest train station. So we spent an hour walking there in the rain, which was a promising start to the trip! But we finally made it there and discovered we weren’t the only crazy ones camping in the rain – there were several families in the same area. We got a nice spot to ourselves though next to some cows, and pitched our awesome tent for the first time.
I know the Taj Mahal back home has a [very large] place in our camping hearts, but our new Coleman’s hiking tent is kick arse! Light as a feather and took no time to put up. I could go on, but in fear of sounding like a Coleman’s advertisement I’ll stop now.
As it was still raining lightly we decided to wander down the road to a small village called Forest Green, where we found a very cute pub called the Parrot Inn. We had a great meal there and laughed at all the rich country folk dressed in matching jeans and pink shirts with vests over them. By then the rain had stopped and we got to enjoy the sunset on the longest night of the year – it didn’t go down until about 10pm.
The tent fared very well in the torrential downpours that came down Saturday night, but by the time we got up in the morning the sun was out and it was a beautiful day. Clint did a bit of riding why I opted for a lazy reading of the book, after which we packed up and made the hike back to the train station.
Check out my awesome UK summer tan
The trip home was an adventure in itself, involving being lost in a field; Clint slipping into a muddy stream; Clint getting a box thorn to the neck as he tried to escape said stream holding a mountain bike; having a grouse fly out from the long grass right in front of us; the flying grouse then causing a deer to leap out from even longer grass near us; arrival at train station to discover last train had departed; £40 cab ride to next station; and then finally our safe arrival at home!
Will we do it again though? For sure! (we might hire a car next time though)
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