Michelle's birthday was looming and with little cash and no idea, the Richey's wandered what they could do to somehow mark the occasion. The answer seemed to present itself like a beam from the sky as the Argos shopping catalogue flipped open to the camping page and proudly displayed a 2 man tent for the bargain price of £11.
"£11 honey, I think we can stretch to that!" announced the man of the house, and set about making arrangements and picking out a campsite.
Although the summer had been pretty gruesome, the forecast was for sunshine, and with picnic and duvet in tow, the Richeys set off with a smile on their faces to the beautiful Peak district of Derbyshire (that is Pride and Prejudice country for those of you that care!
Think Chatsworth house - you with me?)
On arrival at the camp site, and with no one else around, Mike and Michelle broke open the picnic and started to roll out their new tent. It was the first time they had rolled it out and they brimmed with anticipation at what it would look like.
Small and perfectly formed might be the right description, as it stood about hip height off the floor. We looked, we laughed, we wondered how on earth we would fit inside! Looking at the mega gazeebos stationed around the rest of the campsite we felt maybe just the tiniest beginnings of an inferiority complex, but boldly brushing that aside, we set up our high tech camping duvet inside, and decided to get walking.
The weather delivered all it had promised. It was a golden day, and we walked along the top of the valley that led from the farm to the near by village of Moneyash.
The biggest creamiest home made strawberry ice cream ever was our reward for the (not so) strenuous walk. We had seen a few people along the way, but the evening was closing in and as we walked back we were totally alone in the valley to watch the sun go down.
We got back to the campsite to find that the family we had camped near had returned, and returned in force. There were screaming kids and thier gobby parents everywhere, and we were a bit worried that if they stood on our tent by accident they might crush it flat. We decided to get out of the way for a while, and that maybe when we got back they would have gone to sleep.
We swang on the tire swing, we went down to a pub in Bakewell for our tea and a game of boggle, and when we came back we wrapped up in a blanket and sat underneath the stars telling ghost stories. Infact it was Michelle that told all the ghost stories, and her that got the most scared in the end.
Still, when we got back to the tent, the chavs were still at large, and we lay down to try and go to sleep (you could only lie down in our tent) listening to the sound of them trying to light a fire with petrol and their lively beer fueled debates.
We woke up bright and early the next morning to the glorious misty sunshine, and sang and talked loudly to see the day in. Some would say it was a type of revenge, but we were really just feeling jolly:-)
We planned to walk again, and had picked a route we thought would take us all day, with the plan we would end at the Young family residence for a birthday cake and a curry. However, today our map reading skills were not so sharp. Having sent one old couple off in the wrong direction, we proceeded to make the same mistake, taking a detour that lead us down past some quick sand and spat us out where we started by 12 noon! Ah well, we had the best time. Mike had become obsessed with finding walking sticks in the woods and wanted to bring one home, but accidentally obliterated it before we got back to the car. We snooped a little longer around peoples houses, and decided to leave and get a curry - which WAS TREMENDOUSLY GOOD!
All in all, a lovely birthday - thanks Mike and Family Young for making me feel better about being 29!
