Dartmoor

When choosing a camping site it's advisable to get back from Exeter when it's still light. If you avoid this advice you end up with a tent on a 20% slope because in the dark in "looks great", or..."oh for god's sake it'll do, I just want to get out of the bloody rain and get some sleep". You will also wake up with a neck ache. This secluded spot (above) was near Postbridge.

When we woke up on Saturday morning (with aforementioned neck aches) it was pouring, so we stayed in the sleeping bags until about 1pm, when it finally became obvious it wasn't going to stop... Then we drove over to Widdecombe-in-the-Moor and found a pub. Perfect. Next we drove out of the village and looked for another place to camp (pics above are around Widdecombe). This time there wasn't just the rain, but a howling gale. Even more perfect.

Waking up on Sunday morning to yet more rain, I decided to go back to sleep. While I was asleep it seemed to stop and the tent dried off in the still howling wind. It was gone lunch time again by the time we'd packed up and despite cries from the shortest person with us that he wanted to go home or to go to the pub, I decided we were going to go for a walk, like it or not! He liked it - he found three 'letterboxes' on the tors around Widdecombe and left his name in soggy scrawl in all of them. Then of course it was back to The Old Inn for something to warm us up and a read of the Sunday papers before the drive back home.

For someone who's been finding it hard to wind down a bit lately, it was a very relaxing weekend. I thank the rain for that - I love listening to it spatter the tent and like feeling safe and dry in my little cocoon, wrapped up snug as a bug in my sleeping bag with no desire to get out of it and get wet whatsoever! I spent most of the weekend daydreaming, hmmm perfect!