Camping in England

After Hadrian's Wall we went to a little village near Carlisle for our first night of camping. We had heard that camping in the UK was quite different than what we were used to in America. Most places don't allow campfires, and most are typically big fields with a bunch of tents pitched right next to each other. We camped two nights and both places we found ended up being great. 

The first place allowed campfires, and even provided a "firepit." So we roasted marshmallows and cooked hot dogs in proper American-camping fashion. And we pitched our huge tent. It was just on a big field like we'd heard, but there were only three other people (all on foot or bikes) camping there, so we had plenty of room. The kids loved the facilities, too. There was a nice warm dry room with bathrooms, couches, tables, etc to hang out in. If we go to the area again, we will definitely camp in this same place again! 



See this huge tent? It looks perfectly set up and nicely staked out, right? Well, don't be fooled. We actually left the stakes at home, so Eric looked for big sticks to use. It worked great the first night. The second night (at a different campsite) with high winds and rain, we had a few small technical issues. But that's another story for another day :)



See how light it is here? Guess what time it was. (Hint: we were in the far north of England, and it's almost summer solstice.) Did I get very much sleep? No, no I didn't. The kids did finally fall asleep, and managed to sleep past sunrise. (The birds didn't get that memo, so they woke me up.) Given that sunrise happens around 3 am this far north at this time of year, we'll call that a victory.


Enjoying the high class facilities. Seriously, the shower here was nicer than the one we have at home.



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