Washing

Both my phone and my camera went flat on the second day of camping so I couldn't take any pictures this morning.

If I had they would have been of rain, soggy clothes, damp everything and sad faces as we packed up.

Someone (no names as we were all having had a drink taken as they said in The Irish RM) did not zip the tent up correctly at bedtime last night. Therefore, quite a large amount of the relentless rain that began at midnight ended up in our tent. When I got up at about 6.15 it was like Lake Windermere out there (luckily not in our bedrooms. Bedrooms! Makes it sound much more comfortable that it is!).

No one else was up and I took Charlie for a walk all around the village green and the churchyard. The rain had stopped and it was beautiful, everything so bright and shiny looking. I didn't see another soul. There were lots of beautiful graves but sadly I didn't have my camera.

Still no one up when I got back so I went back to bed! We all surfaced at about 9 and we very slowly and reluctantly began to pack up. It rained a lot. Chris and Paul did most of the work whilst the rest of us sat under the gazebo and drank many cups of tea, one after the other. The children had, for breakfast, in this order; large amounts of biscuits, then scones, then bacon sandwiches then apples then crisps.

We left the Forrester Frazers there, and drove home through torrential rain. I took Charlie for a walk when we got back and Chris unloaded the car. We each took too many clothes and only wore 1/3 of them but everything needs washing because it is either damp or smells of woodsmoke which smells so nice when it's outside but terrible inside.

I have at least five loads of laundry and eight bedrolls, six sleeping bags, a massive tent and a groundsheet need to dry properly before they can be put away.

We ordered a takeaway curry and collapsed on the sofas. The cold I should have felt for the last three days seemed to kick in and I spent all evening wrapped in a sleeping bag, complaining about how cold I felt. I couldn't bear to part with the sleeping bag even when I went to bed so took it in with me under the duvet until even I had to admit I was boiling.