We spent the late May bank holiday weekend visiting Simon's parents in Devon and used it as an opportunity to visit two National Parks: Exmoor and Dartmoor. Both are known for their moorlands (the clue is in their names!) but we wanted to have quite different experiences to keep it interesting.
We decided on a walk around the Valley of Rocks in Exmoor, so avoiding most of the moorland scenery but taking in some unique coastal views. For Dartmoor, we went all-out adventurous and undertook our first ever wild camping trip! More on both another time...
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I'm more than a little behind on blogging about the Peak District and feeling more than a little guilty about it. We spent Easter weekend in the Peak District and, as we headed to the Broads just 11 days after we returned home, I had little time to catch up before prepping for the next trip. Since returning from the Broads, I've been busy at work and at home, and haven't had time to focus on our trips as much as I would like. As it is, we will be heading to Dartmoor and Exmoor soon and I am feeling woefully unprepared, not least because we are planning to wild camp for the first time... Anyway, I want to do a quick summary of our time in the Peak District before I forget it all! As much as I would like to write in more detail, it isn't conducive to relieving my stress levels and I figure a summary post is better than none at all. The photo gallery might be a better record of our time, once I get round to updating that. Friday 14 April 2017 We arrived at our Travelodge (Macclesfield Adlington) late afternoon, having spent the morning canoeing at Clyn Cwellyn and the early afternoon visiting Betws y Coed. It was not a happy start to our time in the Peak District as we were drawn into a road rage situation when we slowed down whilst looking for the entrance to the Travelodge carpark. The rather angry driver behind was irritated by us slowing down and, after much honking, followed us into the carpark, climbed out of his car and proceeded to shout at us. He couldn't quite seem to believe that we were simply unfamiliar with the area and weren't actually out to irritate him. It was all rather frightening. ![]() Saturday 15 April 2017 We bought a great walking guide by walking-books.com, called Making Tracks in the Peak District, which is designed for kids to lead. We did the walk around Eyam, which took us about 1hr 45mins and visited some interesting sights like Mompesson's Well, where food and medicine was left for villagers during the Plague. In the afternoon, we drove to Bakewell and had a Bakewell Pudding (not tart!) at the Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop. Yum yum! ![]() Sunday 16 April 2017 As this was the Peak District, we had to visit a cave. We went to the Treak Cliff Cavern, which is known for its large deposits of a unique stone called Blue John. We went on a guided tour of the cavern which, being Easter weekend, was inhabited by the Easter Bunny. He hid chocolates around the cavern for the kids to find, which was an unexpected (and slightly incongruous) activity but one we appreciated nevertheless. The tour lasted a bit over an hour and was a great way to get out of the rain. (We had carefully planned this part of the trip in conjunction with the weather forecast). After the tour, the kids got the chance to polish their own slice of Blue John stone, which is a great souvenir. ![]() In the afternoon, we visited Lyme Park, a National Trust property close to where we were staying. It was still raining, so we got rather wet as we wandered around the gardens. Sure, we could have gone inside but we are much keener on National Trust gardens and landscapes than their buildings. We did a circle around the gardens, feeling sorry for the staff who had set up the Cadbury's (Easter!) Egg hunt that was being ruined by the rain, then walked up the hill to The Cage, an ex-hunting lodge turned poachers' prison with great views. For all you Pokemon hunters out there, there was a slugma nest at Lyme. There won't be slugmas there anymore but we've found that once a nest, always a nest. It's worth checking it out to see what's there now. ![]() Monday 17 April 2017 Happy 66th birthday to the Peak District National Park! It was the UK's first National Park, created on this day in 1951. We spent the morning doing a little hike around Dovedale. We crossed the Stepping Stones and then followed the River Dove for a short while, before turning back to head home. For once, we weren't following a pre-planned route and just thought it looked like a nice place on the OS map, so we were surprised to arrive to crowds of people queueing to walk over the Stepping Stones. There were a few too many people for my liking, probably thanks to the fact it was Easter weekend, but it was a lovely place and worth exploring further in future. We enjoyed our time in the Peak District and I feel I haven't done it justice. It's probably not my favourite Park, as I much preferred the big mountains of Snowdonia, but I am conscious we didn't explore the wilder, northern half of the Peak District so I am probably making unfair comparisons. Once day we will return and explore the rest!
Our houseboat came ready with a plastic rowboat, which we thought was brilliant because it meant the five of us could go out in our two canoes and the rowboat. Sadly, it was not to be. We merrily pumped up our canoes to find that one (the Platypus Princess) had developed a puncture between the end of our Snowdonia trip and the start of this one. It was a pretty bad leak, which is good really, because it meant we knew there was a problem before we set out in the water. I'm not sure I fancy sitting in a deflating canoe, knowing I have some way to paddle back. We think we developed the puncture at the end of our Llyn Cwellyn trip. What I didn't mention in that post is that our soothing paddle ended in a rather less soothing way. Whilst Simon and I were packing up the canoes on the walkway by the river, Eve tripped and ripped open her waterproof jacket, long-sleeved top and scrapped a substantial amount of skin off her right elbow. We discovered then that the walkway's non-slip surface was made of a layer of ground up glass. I grabbed the first aid kit and took her back to the car to get out of the rain and clean up her bloody arm. She was impressively brave and didn't make a peep, despite the fact she was in pain and there was a fair bit of blood - and not to mention she had just ruined a favourite top. Anyway, all that preamble was to explain that Simon ended up packing away the Platypus Princess by himself on a glass-speckled surface and I suspect that may have caused the damage. So, what did we do? We only discovered the puncture just as we were about to head out so we ended up abandoning the canoe and three people (Simon, Dawn and Jay) hopped in the rowboat, whilst Eve and I took the Green Dragon. ![]() We launched from the jetty by our houseboat and paddled west (right) along the river. It split a short way up and on the first day, we took the right fork which led north up the disused North Walsham and Dilham Canal. Looking at our OS map, we could see Honing Lock about 1.5 miles away and it seemed a good place to paddle to for lunch. Sadly, it was not to be! The canal was narrow and winding and there seemed to be something wrong with the rowboat that meant it was incredibly difficult to travel in a straight line. There was an awful lot of (good-natured) arguing in the boat as Dawn and Simon tried to navigate it up the canal, whilst Eve and I mostly drifted along in the canoe. Eventually, we abandoned all hope of reaching Honing Lock as we were moving too slowly and we found a spot by the riverside to stop for lunch instead. Suffice to say that Jay was a bit fed up of being in the row boat so, after lunch, he and Simon decided to walk along the canal towards Honing whilst Dawn had a go in the canoe with Eve. I thought I could deal with the rowboat by myself. Big mistake! I zigzagged up the canal, turned 360 (unintentionally) a few times, then decided to give up. I had travelled very little distance and basically lost Simon and Jay who were on foot. I decided to chain the rowboat to a fallen tree on the far side of the canal (so that it couldn't be stolen) and Dawn paddled me across to the other side. Eve likes to call it 'the rescue mission' and she filmed the whole event with a hilarious commentary. I might post it on YouTube one day. In the end, I walked along the canal until I caught up with Simon and Jay. Dawn and Eve found the canal impassable further ahead, so we decided to give up and head home. Dawn canoed Simon back to the rowboat and he nearly pitched them both into the water as he climbed into it. Fortunately, they stayed upright (or perhaps not so fortunate, as Eve was videoing and it surely would have made us some money on You've Been Framed!). ![]() So anyway, we didn't make it to our destination but it was a nice day out nevertheless. A couple of days later, after Dawn had left to catch her train home and we were happy that the Platypus Princess had been properly repaired (with a repair patch and lots of duct tape), we took both canoes out. This time, we opted for the left fork and paddled up to Dilham. The 1/2 mile stretch was much wider and actually better suited for a rowboat, even one that won't go straight, so it's a shame we didn't go that way the first time. All in all, I enjoyed canoeing in the Broads more this year than last. The little rivers and canals were much easier and more relaxing than when we paddled around Ranworth Broad last summer. Battling against the wash of the motorboats and the wind across the open broad was hard work and very much not relaxing! I'd pick a quiet river with just a few other canoeists and swans for company any day! We spent one of our days in the Broads at BeWILDerwood (www.bewilderwood.co.uk), a family adventure park in Horning, Norfolk. It is one of our all-time favourite places to spend time as there are treehouses, zip wires and mazes to explore. It's a kind of treetop adventure playground that adults are encouraged to play in too and the entire park is themed around the magical land from a book by Tom Blofeld, a local children's author. This place is fun, colourful and an alternative kind of outdoor adventure. It's well worth a visit. ![]() The Sky Maze was probably my favourite part of BeWILDerwood. It's a high walkway, treehouse maze in which you are trying to find the summit. This photo is of Simon celebrating his win - which he didn't, by the way, as he only managed to reach the top before Dawn by going the wrong way up the exit. So, technically, Dawn won as she didn't cheat. However, the competition was actually the grown ups (Simon, Dawn and me) versus the kids (Eve and Jay). So, actually, the grown ups won. Although we didn't, say the kids, because we split up and didn't all reach the top together. As it happens, I reached the top a fraction before the kids - so all three grown ups made it there first and together - but I only beat the kids by a fraction of a second by also going the wrong way up the exit!!! So, basically, two adults fouled and the kids won. (NB. Simon still disagrees and has asked me to say he won.) We stayed in a houseboat near Wroxham in the Norfolk Broads. As I mentioned previously, it was more like a floating caravan than a boat. After all, we couldn't sail anywhere in it! It did swish and sway in the water though, particularly when the wind was up or when Simon stomped from one end of the home to the other. ![]() It was a cosy little cabin in a picturesque location but the best thing from my point of view was the ability to go canoeing straight from our front door. No driving for hours beforehand and worrying whether there would be somewhere to park and set up when we arrived. And no inflating and putting away numerous times during a single holiday - we just chained our canoes to a post outside the houseboat overnight to use again another day. Not having to inflate and deflate saved sooo much time! This is one place we would definitely consider staying at again in future. ![]() Having said all that, there was one down side. It was supposed to be a cabin for 4+2 people - double room, twin room and sofa bed - but the latter only really functioned as a sofa, not a bed. It did fold out as expected but the bed base was not flat and looked rather uncomfortable, and the mattress was thin, stained and torn. Having invited Dawn along in the expectation she could sleep on the sofa bed, we felt really bad! Fortunately, the sofa and armchair cushions were thick and padded and once laid out, functioned as a makeshift mattress on the floor. So, the lesson I learnt was not to rely on a sofa bed - always bring a camping mat, just in case! I'm a little behind on my blog posts as our trips have been coming thick and fast, and I haven't had much time to blog about one before prepping for and heading off on the next. That's my long-winded way of saying we've visited another! We spent a long weekend in the Broads over the May bank holiday, so that is National Park number 5 ticked off. (And still, I haven't written about our time in the Peak District, so that is two Parks I need to write about now.) As you might expect, our time in the Norfolk Broads was mostly water-related: canoeing, rowing and we stayed on a houseboat. Well, that's what they advertised it as...it was really a floating caravan. But hey, it was situated on the river and made heading out for a day's canoeing easy, so we were happy. We weren't looking for a mobile home, so the fact we couldn't travel anywhere in it didn't bother us - that's what our canoes are for! ![]() As you will have guessed from the title of this post, we invited a fifth Adventurer on this trip: Dawn (Simon's sister). Like us, she loves spending time outdoors. It was the first time we had taken her canoeing and it was nice to share this activity with someone new. We also introduced her to BeWILDerwood - one of our all time favourite places to spend a day and a must-visit place if you are in Norfolk. This photo of Jay, Dawn and Eve was taken there - I must get one of those triple swings for our garden. It's so cool! There's other cool stuff there too - even cooler than a triple swing! I'll tell you another day... |
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