Camping, again, in Teesdale, again

Reference last September.  Having enjoyed the little campsite in Teesdale so much last summer, we went again this summer.  At the end of our trip, with one more camping weekend to go, Elspeth and I reflected on what a good camping year it's been, and what did I see when I looked up last year's Teesdale post?  The same thing.  What lucky people we are to enjoy camping and to have children who enjoy camping too.

It was a little different this year of course.  The weather was never quite as glorious, the children were two rather than one, and our tent was a year older and leakier.  Still, we had a great time. 

It didn't seem that we spent as much time at the campsite this weekend.  Enough though for Thomas to confirm he likes camping pudding, and for Marisca to learn a new funny game.  And trust me, that is even harder than it looks.

With unspectacular weather we spent Saturday at a train museum in Shildon followed by a farm park up the road.  The trains were fun - particularly for Marisca to enjoy, and utterly show off at, the shunting game.

The farm park was probably more fun, with a 3 day old calf and 3 week old piglets, lots of feeding (goats, donkeys, "reindeers", lambs from the bottle, sheep, and llamas) and even a stroke with a couple of bunnies.  The first was big, white and jumpy; Risky preferred the smaller cuddlier calmer black one.

Sunday was cold and showery, which put paid to our plan for a walk, until we decided not to be so silly and went anyway.  And then the clouds cleared and it was a lovely day.  We walked out of Stanhope on a c. 7 mile trip around the heathery moors.  While up there I followed a couple of grouse to see if I could get a good photo; as I did so I disturbed this lot and swung around in time for a reasonable shot of classic moorland walking.

It would be true that pictures paint a thousand words.  It would also be true that they can mislead entirely.  From the two photos below you'd imagine that Marisca spent at least some time walking.  Not really, this was literally 10 seconds after lunch, and the last 5 minutes of the walk once we'd told her there was a playground at the end.  Still, nice pictures of our girl out and about.

Back at the campsite then and sunny enough to play outside :-)

Finally, on the way home we stopped off at Fountains Abbey for a break and some lunch.  Tom and Marisca both had fun travelling around the cloisters at their individual preferred speeds.

And that was that.  Four successful camping weekends out of four, and we're looking forward to a last one of the year in the Lakes in September.  Let's hope it's five out of five!