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satyricaI headed up to the Peak District for half-term on the Saturday (coach to Sheffield, train to Edale) as the same crew from last year were re-uniting to keep the kids entertained by spending a few days in tents: we'd failed to find a campsite that let you have a fire pit and didn't have some nonsense about no noise after 10pm but luckily TQS had devised the masterstroke of camping in his uncle & aunt's sizeable garden, since they happened to be away. Although the plan was to try maintain a vaguely authentic outdoor experience this did mean we had somewhere to retreat to for a shower, to do the washing up and shelter in extremis.
We spent Saturday setting up tents and awnings as various people arrived (H & family inevitably the latest, despite having the least distance to come): we were taking the dinners in turn and E&A barbequed for us in the rain. On Sunday most of us headed off to walk into Edale (only a 15 minute endeavour as an unencumbered adult, but a vast rigmarole once a horde of children are added) leaving TQS to head to a conveniently placed wedding and the Robinsons arrived in the afternoon. We struck out in the opposite direction later on, heading up one of the ridges that enclosed the valley we were in and almost making it to the top of Back Tor. The Robinsons had brought chilli with them and we were at peak-numbers that afternoon as the wedding attendees returned and TQS's cousin, who had come up to the house from London for the weekend (hopefully not anticipating too much peace and quiet!), joined us.
Bank Holiday Monday was traditionally miserable and rained pretty much all morning: we decided that heading underground was clearly the sensible response and finally managed to marshal ourselves (via just the one jump-start) as far as one of Castleton's accessible cave systems, which had a satisfying mix of the local mineral, Blue John, and stalactite formations. The Sucharovs headed off down south and most of the rest of us struck out on a walk further up the ridge and all the way round back to our camp (although different parenting styles led to a rather polite stand-off half-way up), the weather had mostly improved but we still managed to be caught in a short but painful hail-storm when we were pretty much at the top. A&H made us black beans, halloumi and chorizo in the evening and we endured a rather smokey fire.
Tuesday was undoubtedly our best day: we helped E&A to pack up as they were heading off, then managed to cram a lot in to the rest of the day. We drove first to Surprise View so A&H could take us to the Silver Birch Grove where they are getting married in a few weeks, then drove up to Higger Tor so H could lead the kids a merry dance (and terrify their parents) clambering onto and squeezing through the colossal boulders there. We headed into Hathersage where A&H live and I let everyone else take the kids to the outdoor swimming pool while I sat on their sofa, drank tea and read my book. I made fajitas once we got back to camp and we had our most successful fire yet.
Some of us had originally planned to stay until Thursday but there was general agreement that four nights had been enough: it had never got to a really miserable stage but the nights were pretty cold and I seemed to be waking up earlier and earlier to the light and noise of the countryside dawn. It was nice in the morning but we took advantage of that to take everything down and clean the house in comfort, then the Robinsons headed off and the rest of us had a last, symbolic tramp into Edale in the rain. As my ticket home was booked for the next day, TQS had said I could stay over in Sheffield but there wasn't space in his car so I got the train back then wandered up to Netheredge.
I'm always in awe of the liberal community idyll he appears to live in there: we had pizza out in the evening, at a place owned by someone he knows, went for a pint with one of his fiercely intelligent friends (3 pints for under a tenner!), crashed early then did a charity shop crawl in the morning before he dropped me off for my coach, which it turned out I was sharing with the singer from Blackwaters.
We spent Saturday setting up tents and awnings as various people arrived (H & family inevitably the latest, despite having the least distance to come): we were taking the dinners in turn and E&A barbequed for us in the rain. On Sunday most of us headed off to walk into Edale (only a 15 minute endeavour as an unencumbered adult, but a vast rigmarole once a horde of children are added) leaving TQS to head to a conveniently placed wedding and the Robinsons arrived in the afternoon. We struck out in the opposite direction later on, heading up one of the ridges that enclosed the valley we were in and almost making it to the top of Back Tor. The Robinsons had brought chilli with them and we were at peak-numbers that afternoon as the wedding attendees returned and TQS's cousin, who had come up to the house from London for the weekend (hopefully not anticipating too much peace and quiet!), joined us.
Bank Holiday Monday was traditionally miserable and rained pretty much all morning: we decided that heading underground was clearly the sensible response and finally managed to marshal ourselves (via just the one jump-start) as far as one of Castleton's accessible cave systems, which had a satisfying mix of the local mineral, Blue John, and stalactite formations. The Sucharovs headed off down south and most of the rest of us struck out on a walk further up the ridge and all the way round back to our camp (although different parenting styles led to a rather polite stand-off half-way up), the weather had mostly improved but we still managed to be caught in a short but painful hail-storm when we were pretty much at the top. A&H made us black beans, halloumi and chorizo in the evening and we endured a rather smokey fire.
Tuesday was undoubtedly our best day: we helped E&A to pack up as they were heading off, then managed to cram a lot in to the rest of the day. We drove first to Surprise View so A&H could take us to the Silver Birch Grove where they are getting married in a few weeks, then drove up to Higger Tor so H could lead the kids a merry dance (and terrify their parents) clambering onto and squeezing through the colossal boulders there. We headed into Hathersage where A&H live and I let everyone else take the kids to the outdoor swimming pool while I sat on their sofa, drank tea and read my book. I made fajitas once we got back to camp and we had our most successful fire yet.
Some of us had originally planned to stay until Thursday but there was general agreement that four nights had been enough: it had never got to a really miserable stage but the nights were pretty cold and I seemed to be waking up earlier and earlier to the light and noise of the countryside dawn. It was nice in the morning but we took advantage of that to take everything down and clean the house in comfort, then the Robinsons headed off and the rest of us had a last, symbolic tramp into Edale in the rain. As my ticket home was booked for the next day, TQS had said I could stay over in Sheffield but there wasn't space in his car so I got the train back then wandered up to Netheredge.
I'm always in awe of the liberal community idyll he appears to live in there: we had pizza out in the evening, at a place owned by someone he knows, went for a pint with one of his fiercely intelligent friends (3 pints for under a tenner!), crashed early then did a charity shop crawl in the morning before he dropped me off for my coach, which it turned out I was sharing with the singer from Blackwaters.
