Wye Valley camping Day 2

The first morning at the campsite started very early. That is the thing about camping in these northern latitudes around the summer solstice -- there just isn't that much darkness! The troops all woke up around 6am and were outside playing by 7am. There was a "Magic Tree" (not the one with the tractor seat) which they were convinced would listen to their secret wishes. It had big roots to climb around and a deeply grooved trunk to whisper into, and they kept running over to tell it things.

Tryfan and Gabriel at 7am by their 'Magic Tree'

Morning shadows over the Wye

 After breakfast, we went on an Expedition to the Brockweir village shop, which was allegedly a 15 minute walk away. We set off through the woods...

We went down a steep hill and could see our destination across the valley (the blueish roofed building in the middle left of the photo to the left of the distant field), but we took the wrong fork at the junction and ended up elsewhere...

Because of all the rain we've been having, the path was really slippery and little Valentin on Cris' back wasn't too stoked about it.

 Eventually we made it to this AWESOME village shop. I am so inspired by this place. I wish our village could put together something like this.

We had snacks and coffee and played in this amazing space for a few delicious hours.

The spider play structure and slide/ sand area in front of the village shop/ cafe and garden

Our kids made friends with the other kids who were playing here and everyone had a grand time sliding, climbing, jumping, digging and swinging. This is the best playground ever.

We spent most of the morning at this place and then got back to camp sometime mid-afternoon. That's when Nia and I set off for a walk out to see Tintern Abbey and the Devil's Pulpit viewpoint, which were both allegedly a mere 30 minute walk from the campsite (in slightly different directions).

View of Tintern Abbey on the north side

Nia and I were surprised to see this very serious plaque about the invention of brass. So here is Nia looking VERY serious

The western side of Tintern Abbey, with a field of cows in the middle ground (between Nia and the Abbey). Some farmer sure has prime real estate and doesn't want to give up his field for tourism.

Self-take with the cows and the Abbey

As you could probably see, we didn't actually pay to go into the Tintern Abbey but we walked nearly all the way around it and the day was warm and sunny enough for us to build up quite a thirst. So we stopped at a pub by the river for wine spritzers before walking back up the hill to the campsite.

Here is Nia after her 10 second rest on the bench

We crossed the Wye River on the bridge in this photo and went back into England to walk up the hill to the Devil's Pulpit. From this spot there is a lovely view looking north with the Abbey nicely framed.

As we approached our campsite, we saw that Auntie Sioned, Helene and the kids were playing games on the picnic table in the lovely afternoon sun.

We started celebrating in earnest at this point by popping open the first bottle of the Elderflower Champagne that we had made a couple of weeks previous. We gave Auntie Nia the birthday presents we had brought and everyone had a grand time.

The Birthday Girl showing off the bracelet, wrist warmer, the plastic champagne glasses and picnic glass holders.

Auntie Sions brought masks for everyone and the troops started doing their Ninja moves

Ninja moves

We made a lovely curry dinner on the fire and the kids got to have hot dogs and marshmallow.

The scene of our firepit, hang out area, and tents with Helene supervising

Marshmallows are sort of mandatory on a camping weekend

Gabs doing a Super Ninja move in the waning daylight

Tryfan had his own Ninja moves that he was doing with this stick.

We stayed up late around the fire and enjoyed the gorgeous full moon

As it turned out, the night was a long one. Tryfan got an earache around 01:30am and then Rhiannon puked around 02:30am all over her sleeping bag. So the morning came around too early and then we were up for the day.... But all in all, it was a fantastic birthday celebration for Nia!