In The Pink

Tonight I am camping and I CANT WAIT!!!!! Its been a long while for one reason or another but it is one of my favourite activities and I always sleep the best with all that fresh air. Image Credit: Cool Hunting It probable wont be like this as it is raining here today, and I am on a camp site and not in the middle of nowhere, but I really don't care, I can't wait to get my camp set up and then go off for a yomp for the evening before retiring to my sleeping bag. I stay away for work once a week and have been planning to camp as soon as the weather was warm enough. I have camped all year round but when you are up for work the next day (early to boot) a goods nights rest is vital so I have waited until the cold spell shifted. Only 4 hours until I am off to get set up...and counting!

We had a fabulous holiday in Wales again this year. I was reading a historical novel while we were away which had some Welsh history in it which really brought the countryside alive for me and made the trip we made to Caernarfon Castle  much more meaningful too. Here is a selection of our snaps taken at the tent, the castle and on the many beautiful walks we did. Its nice to know what that amazing place name means! I still cannot say it in Welsh but Mr Dancin can! The mid point of a great walk on Anglesey and a chance for the dogs to have a swim! A huge Crab Apple on the way to Aber Falls. Aber Falls. A farmer with a sense of humour! Storm front moves in! The beautiful Snowdon seen from a third of the way up Moel Hebog. The view from Moel Hebog summit. Beddgelert Woods. Fun back at base. Taking a moment. Campfires in the evening. Aberglaslyn Pass. Taking a dip. Views from Aberglaslyn Pass. Views from Aberglaslyn Pass. Views from Ab...

We are now on the final count down to our summer holiday! Yey!!!!! I have been starting to collect up the camping gear and the camping lists are printed and updated. There are a lot of little items we do not want to forget but have done on many previous holidays. Oddly enough the most common forgotten item is sheets for the airbed! We are going to Wales again this year to stay on a friends farm in Snowdonia so I have been looking through our photos from the last visit there two years ago and have been remembering the amazing walks we did and what a great time we had. Here is a small photographic summary which you can click to enlarge. I can't wait to get there and get the tent up and the camp fire lit! I have to say Scotland is my favourite holiday destination and when we don't go there for our summer holiday we are both always a little sad that we will not be exploring a new area of Scotland, but Wales is beautiful and does not have midges!

Image Credit: Bing

I did not post any pictures of me in my recent holiday postings but wanted to put this one up, taken by Mr Dancin, at the summit of Ben Hiant. We usually go for a group shot at the top of mountains but it was just too plain windy! I do actually need to hold on with two hands and my left leg is wedged against the trig point to stop the gusts from blowing me over. It was the kind of wind that is so strong you just have to laugh, but not for too long as its so cold it makes your teeth ache! This was a most lovely and memorable walk!

Well we have returned from our summer hols and I can honestly say it was a most relaxing 2 weeks! The tent withstood the small amount of wind and rain thrown at it and the rest of the time we had sun and did plenty of lovely walks through the amazing area of Ardnamurchan, west of Fort William. Here are some of my holiday snaps!

Blimey it is the second to last day of August! This month has just flown by and although we have been busy doing really nice things I am still having trouble accounting for 31 days! That's actually one thing I really like about blogging, it allows you to look back and remember things you have done or thought, music you have found or friends you have made.  We have a similarly busy month coming up next but smack bang in the middle of it is our summer holiday! Two whole weeks in the tent in Scotland and I cannot wait! Mountains, fresh air, camp fires, walking all day, reading all day, flying the kite oh and teaching Buddy to swim! Anyway, I have been looking back through my blog for the last holiday we had in Scotland which was on Skye, and instead stumbled across my first Thursday Thirteen post, where I noted 13 things I like about camping, and this photo I took while working in Scotland a few years back. I am looking forward to views like this and the reasons for my love of cam...

Ever since I posted last I have had Van Morrison singing Into the Mystic in my head (please note I am not complaining) it has been 3 days now! Well I am delighted to say it is Friday and I am starting to get that Friday feeling, helped along by the sunshine which has returned albeit through thin and intermittent cloud. The dogs and I have had a long lunch time walk and swim (as usual I did not swim but as usual the temptation was there) and they are enjoying an afternoon nap! I miss the ignorance of childhood. I am a water baby and as a child would accidentally on purpose throw myself into any available water. Now the desire is still there but knowledge prevents my actions. For example the stream may look nice but the cows poo in it and the farmer washes his equipment and such off in it upstream! Still I will be plunging myself into the water on holiday in Scotland next month, no matter what the temperature. We are usually very lucky with the weather in Scotland. The year the sto...

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I have been away for a week in Suffolk working and attending a 3 day course and took my tent with me. Mr Dancin' got lots of comments like 'Can't the company afford to put her up in a hotel?' but the truth is I would really prefer to camp. I love camping and really mean if I could live in a tent I would. Also I hate staying away in B & B's on my own. I never sleep well and it is always awkward doing things in the evening like eating and going out in the town as a girl on her own is always a little odd to other folk. This way I got to spend my evenings sitting out in the open, in the glorious weather, or walking through the countryside, or when it was raining sitting in my tent reading or playing on my laptop. It was fab! The people on the camp site were really friendly and I even got a visit from a dog when I most needed it. I did actually have one bad day and returned to the tent feeling a little blue and a dog appeared out of no where to cheer me up. It'...

What a few days it has been! I have written many mental posts but have not had the means to post any of them! Now there seems so much to catch up on! So for a good starter here is a collage of some of the things I have been up to! It's good to be back!

My internet connection has been playing up all day today...I spoke too soon, there it goes again....and its back! I think it's the heat! We have a horrible tendency in this country to complain about the weather what ever we get! And I am no exception, this is as hot as I like it but apparently its going to get warmer! I guess I would not mind if I could go swimming in the sea everyday like I used to when I stayed in Greece. It was only for a year and was ages ago now....17 years ago in fact! Now I have scared myself! But the memory of my time there is very strong and seeing Greece on the TV makes me homesick for it. My very good friend Izzy is visiting from Greece next month and I can't wait to get together with her, it's been three years since I saw her last. (Izzy, if you are reading this how can us being in Porto Heli together be 17 years ago?!?!?) I suddenly feel the urge to go look at some old photos! Anyway aside from intermittent internet connection it has been a goo...

I have been looking at some old holiday snaps from the beginning of the Millennium, in particular shots of our old and first dogs. The brown dog is Pink, the black and white one is Mojo. When my fella and I first met we had a dog each. My fella got Mojo as a puppy. He exchanged a box of vegetables for him with a local farmer. I found Pink in Greece. I lived there for a year. Pink was a stray hanging out with the gang around the marina. She came over to the camper the first day I arrived in town and just sat with me. I decided to adopt her after that and the rest is history. Although things are considerably different in Greece now at the time strays did not have a great life and Pink, not being a very dominant dog, was hungry, thirsty and bullied by the other dogs. She took to adoption very well. When I moved on and eventually returned to the UK I of course brought her with me. The dogs were 5 years old when I met my fella and after a few initial grumbles when we moved in...

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I grabbed this shot one day on our camping trip. The buzzard was a regular visitor to the field and had just delighted me with a close fly over. He hovered over my head for ages and I allowed myself the pleasure of just watching before I decided it was worth a mad dash for my camera and a quick lens change. My big lens takes better shots from the tripod as the small movements of my hand and breathing make for blurred images but I was pleased to be able to get this anyway. To join in or see other participants in Camera Critters click here !

I have been a little reluctant to return to all of the normal routines since we returned from holiday. We had such a relaxing time, in fact it has been voted our best holiday ever! As a result it has taken me a while to get some pictures up on the blog but finally here they are! (Picture 1 - base camp with fire pit!) We stayed in the one place while away which is new for us, we were lucky enough to be able to stay on a friends land just outside of Caernarfon with mountain views, 25 acres to ourselves and the use of a farm house for washing ourselves and drying clothes. The dogs, needless to say, were in heaven and spent all day, when we were not off on a yomp, playing with their toys in the fields and exploring. This shot was taken at the summit of Moel Shiobod (872m). We were in the cloud and the wind kept blowing the camera over for the self timer shot. We did evenutally get one but you can't really make us out too well though the cloud! It was a testing day for leg muscles and w...