After a bit of a rocky start, and seriously terrible sleep our original plan had to be quickly revised to accommodate a shorter amount of free time, and desire to drive far. So I moved our Monday plan into the Saturday slot. It’s local, pretty and it can be done in the showers of rain.

Hackfall woods was our new destination and it’s not that big, so easy to walk around. Well it should have been easy, but this leg length hurts my back too much, so it’s not easy and it’s super painful to walk around. Thank goodness there are a lot of seats and prettiness to distract me from pain.

Follies all hidden in the bluebell woods, the smell of wild garlic is divine, it’s worth the slippy mud to be around the river and see various waterfalls, streams and we even found a sandy beach by the River.

It’s raining and chilly but that doesn’t stop us enjoying the area. We have sandwiches and crisps with a flask of coffee to warm us up.

We eventually ended the walk, thoroughly spent all my pain threshold and we were hungry, hunt for a chippie was soon on the agenda. Mission accomplished. The perfect end to a glorious adventure.

Once back on site, we changed into our fire clothes (ie an outfit you don’t mind smelling of smoke) and headed off the the communal fire, for drumming, dancing and stories to be told.

After the cold of the tent, we opted to sleep in the car instead, as we’ve had many a successful sleep in the car. It proved to be a wise choice, far warmer and definitely quieter too.