Airbed Issues
After a dodgy night of slumber with a very rude 3am (then 5am) wake up call due to a rapidly deflating air bed, I was up, showered and drinking my cup of tea in the sunshine by 8am. Despite the baking hot temperatures in the tent the rest of the Hooper gang were still snoozing. Abigail was pretty much on the floor the air bed had gone down so much but she didn’t seem to mind. That’s what playing out until 11pm the night before does to you! Shattered. Luckily we have a new one just out of the box for the next two nights. Phew!
Bacon Butties and Tea
We really did have a great pitch at the camp site with great views of the surrounding hills. Just up a small hill from the toilet block (helpful after consuming lots of prosecco) and next to the kids park. It was a real sun trap too with loads of space around to spread out our growing collection of camping paraphernalia.
Once the rest of the happy campers were up, it was time for Stephen and Alan to spring into action and cook bacon on the stove. Just can’t beat it! More tea was also consumed you just cannot rush on a morning in the sun. It really was a lazy start to the day and the kids were happy enough to play around.
Out and About
Imogen is on a mission to get as many Brownie badges as she can and thought the Out and About badge was a good one to work on this weekend. Part of the badge was for her to pack a day sack for hiking and show how to dress appropriately for a walk. She managed this well and laid out the stuff for a quick pic before going in her bag. Kit-Kats were her choice of essential emergency snack. Let’s see if she actually carries her bag or it’s just something else for us to hump around on the walk?
Bowness-on-Windermere
We headed out of Kendal towards the Lake District and were soon in Bowness. Don’t think I have been here before, it definitely didn’t ‘ring any bells’. The village is built up on the lake shore and is very busy and there are multiple docks for boat trips around Windermere leaving from here. Although very pretty, it’s not my favourite place as it was a little too commercialised with its tat shops, hot dog stands and amusement arcade.
Making Tracks
Everyone assembled, we followed the walk around Bowness from our Making Tracks kids walking book. The walk was 4 miles in length and took us almost immediately uphill. Cajoling the kids up the almost vertical climb we were soon rewarded with great views over the lake. Some geocaching took place on the hillside and a debate ensued over whether the pile of rocks was the cairn we needed to pass..or just a pile of rocks! It was the cairn definitely. Then a debate over which set of tress were the firs! You can take the people out of the town and all that! Maybe a proper map not just a children’s one would have been helpful at this point. But not as amusing.
We descended down the hill via a forest which provided plenty of stick searching opportunities for William. That kid just loves a stick!
Heading back into Bowness we got a tad lost again in a residential street. A helpful man fixing his decking said he could open a tea shop the amount of people he redirects back to the main road! Maybe he was just making us feel better, but we were soon back on track.
Chips and ice cream
Back in Bowness we had a quick snack stop in the sunshine and slowly walked back to the car park (via more geo-caches!). After a quick supermarket stop we were back at the campsite ready for another sunny night of eating and drinking! Successful first day in the Lakes.
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