Back from the wilderness

River Usk

Llangorse Lake

I'm back from the wilderness. Camping was a triumph, and I'd definitely do it again. We stayed in the Brecon Beacons (a range of mountains in South Wales), somewhere I hadn't visited properly in years. I'd forgotten how beautiful it is there.

We camped by the River Usk, a particularly pretty river that's designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest because of its importance to wildlife. We saw dippers and kingfishers right outside our tent.

The littlest boy made a new best friend at the campsite and spent hours playing with him. The middle boy made the camp fires with his flint and steel fire starter. The biggest boy photographed the wildlife and wandered along the river banks birdwatching.

It rained a bit from time to time. We climbed partway up Pen y Fan, the highest mountain in South Wales, but the weather turned nasty - horizontal driving rain - and we were soaked before we'd even reached halfway. The littlest boy wanted to turn back, although the others were desperate to get to the top. We came down, passing plenty of people still going up. I was intrigued by what they were wearing. Some were favouring the shorts approach - freezing legs, but at least they dry off quickly.

We rowed around Llangorse Lake for a bit on our last day. It's a bit bigger than the local boating lake. Everyone had a turn at rowing, and when we weren't rowing we all gave helpful tips to the person who was rowing.

It was short but sweet, just two nights away, and I think everyone would like to go again. I feel as if I have discovered something with camping. It's a whole community of people out there, sleeping in tents and eating breakfast in the great outdoors and playing outside until dark. The littlest boy was particularly sad to leave and I know he's already thinking about next time.

It rained as we packed up the tents, so my job for today is spreading them out, drying them off, sweeping bits of grass out of the big one that we borrowed and tackling the laundry mountain. I'll be thinking about next time a bit as well.

Things with wings

six-spot burnet moth

meadow brown

chalkhill blue

chalkhill blue

chalkhill blue

meadow brown

? meadow brown ? 

six-spot burnet moth

large white? edited: possibly a small white, thanks CT

Up on the Cotswold escarpment the wild flowers are still beautiful. I spent the afternoon having a wander with the boys and snapping butterflies. I'm not completely sure about the identifications. I think the brown one is an older tattier meadow brown.

We saw a couple of painted ladies and some marbled whites as well but I didn't manage to get pictures of them. The littlest boy got stung by a bee and yelled so loudly you could hear him in three counties. To my horror he declared that he doesn't like bees any more. We'll see about that, it's pretty much compulsory in this house.

The camping plan is gathering pace. The middle boy put up a tent in the garden today and the littlest boy found a packet of 36 jaffa cakes which will do nicely as Camping Snacks. I shall make sure there are many delicious things packed. I have a feeling good food is a major feature of a good camp.

Wishing all a good Sunday. CJ xx

To camouflage or not to camouflage

A slightly random collection of thoughts from the week.

The bees in the garden have been enjoying the marjoram which has done well this year, flowering beautifully. Also the verbena bonariensis. All of those little flowers are perfect for bees to hunt around in.

Last year my neighbour had beautiful drifts of white cosmos in his garden. It looked bewitching at dusk. I shamelessly stole his idea and ordered a packet of cosmos "Purity" seeds (white) which I grew on and popped in in various places, pots, a raised bed, down at the allotment. Turned out they weren't quite as pure as I was expecting.

Not a white one among them.

The littlest boy has been perfecting his camouflage.

The geese are giving it away slightly by looking up at the tree warily. They know there's something up there.

This frog operates on a different principle. Bright yellow. Don't eat me.

Every evening I like to look out over the river and breathe deeply for a few minutes. I'm not always that good at stopping and just being, but I'm drawn to this view every single day. Today there was an amazing sunset. I failed dismally at photographing it. A couple of minutes earlier there were rays going upwards from the light, it was beautiful. Here's what I got when I finally decided to get the camera.

Thank you for all of your encouraging words about camping. They ranged from those of you who feel a little panic at the thought of the festival toilet to those of you who love nothing more than a night under the stars. It remains to see which I am. I did once spend about six months living in a tent many years ago while cycling down through France, Spain and Morocco. Seems a long time ago now. I suspect it will be a whole other ball game camping with children. But I'm doing it, I am.

Wishing you a good summer weekend with some relaxing outside time.

Easing into summer

We're sliding easily into these summer days. Entertaining ourselves variously with learning fancy knots, painting birds along with an online course, working out the costings for a lunar theme park, listening to Yngwie Malmsteen's arpeggios from hell (guitar practice inspiration), reading "The Sausage Dog of Doom" and wondering if we could survive a couple of nights in a tent. We could, couldn't we? Although I fear I'm not ready for "No showers; well ventilated compost toilet". Actually the trick will be finding somewhere that has vacancies. I'm mulling it over.

I had another bash at making blackcurrant cordial today. You may vaguely recall the great blackcurrant disaster of 2014 but I'm older and wiser now and I have a new method of straining things. It didn't go entirely smoothly, but it wasn't nearly as catastrophic as last time. There was spillage, but only on the stove top. By 2018 I shall have it completely perfected.

How is the summer treating you? Any plans for adventure, or are you happily ensconced at home? Will you be having a nice break somewhere, and will you at any stage find yourself in a well ventilated compost toilet? Let's hear the details.

Five on Friday

Joining in with Amy and Five on Friday.

1. Photos from a stroll up a nearby mountain. Well, more of an anthill really but we pretended it was a mountain. Isn't the countryside beautiful at the moment.

2. Flowers from a verge in town. I've seen a lot more of this sort of planting this year, along with unmown verges filled with insect friendly plants. Have local authorities finally caught on do you think? I do hope so.

3. Enjoying July. Enough heat to make skin turn salty. Sports day with the thick smell of sunscreen and lots of drama. Nothing quite compares to the Year R (4 and 5 year olds) skipping race.

4. The allotment has got away from me this year. I'm being marvellously calm about it all. What's the worst that can happen? I have courgettes, what more could I need.

5. Bracing myself for the start of the summer holidays. It will be lively, no doubt about it. The littlest boy brought sweets home from school and gave a whole packet to each brother. He really does love them so much, he gives them a big hug in the mornings sometimes when he first sees them. After he gave out the sweets there was a bit of an altercation. The biggest boy said to him, "You know the tangy bit on the outside of these sweets? It's made of pug." It's amazing how they know the very worst thing to say isn't it. I've told them we will be concentrating on being lovely to each other all summer. Wish me luck with that.

Hoping you all have a very good summer weekend.