We are all back in one piece and not washed away. It seems that we picked the only place in the South of England not lashed by rain and storms on Friday. Good job we held off on the Glastonbury plans!
So, we spent a pretty idyllic weekend in Purbeck. Lots of walking, plenty of relaxing and a bit of swimming. We got back late last night, smelling of wood smoke and feeling a bit sunburnt. What more can you ask from a weekend camping?
We squeezed in a trip to Corfe Castle.
We walked a section of the South West Coast Path, which never fails to push my fear of heights to its limit.
It was very hazy that day, so you can't really see that behind Toby and Josie is just a big drop away to the sea. Every fibre of my being was screaming, 'GET AWAY FROM THE EDGE'. It was only the fact that I was suffering a hayfever meltdown at the time that stopped me taking action. Me, heights and summer make a wonderful combination.
Sunday was hot enough to swim in the sea.
Despite appearances, Sam did get his shirt off and do some swimming too.
We had a slightly wobbly start to the camping, as the campsite I had picked on the strength of its website didn't live up to expectations. Luckily we were able to find a campsite we had stayed at a couple of years ago, which was perfect. Wool Palace camping is rough and ready; open fires are essential, although we don't say no to showers. We had lots of space to relax and play games.
So, for anyone planning a camping trip in the next few weeks, I will pass on this tip: When packing your tent for your trip, remember to check that you have your tent pegs. You may think you have them, but if you haven't camped since last summer, maybe you've had a bright idea to separate them from your tent. If you have done this, and you don't check, you may find yourself in a situation where you have put your tent up and it's about 8.30pm and you're in the middle of the country and all the shops that sell tent pegs are shut. Then you have to go to your campsite neighbours and tell your embarrassing story and borrow their spare pegs and then you have to go to sleep that night knowing that your 2 bedroom family tent is held up by 5 tent pegs. If that happens, you have to really, really hope there won't be a storm.
Next time I'll give you the tip for what you should do to avoid a situation where you've held your tent up with 5 pegs and you then go to start cooking dinner only to find that you've forgotten the connector for your camping stove.
sounds like a brilliant roughing it holiday, and you were lucky wiht the weather! I hate cliffs too - how do you know that there's not an overhang about to drop off? Where we go (mudeford/hengistbury head) there's big notices about keeping clear, and I don't even walk near the cliff down below in case someone falls over!
Dawn the paranoid. Looking forward to my slumming it holiday!
Posted by: dawn | June 28, 2005 at 04:19 PM
I think I would rather have stayed at home - my spirit of adventure has long got up and gone......I did go camping once with the Girl Guides, never again.....we did do an awful lot of caravans and trailers though!
Posted by: Jill | June 28, 2005 at 09:32 PM
Had I known I would have come out in my car and lent you some tent pegs! Next time you're down this way, I'll give you my telephone number just in case you forget anything!
Posted by: Tracy | June 29, 2005 at 03:26 PM