One more sleep to go

Or at least there is for some. As there is still fair bit of packing to do, I fear I won't be getting much sleep tonight.

I remember when travelling was easy - the night before we used to just casually throw some clothing into the case, check that we had tickets, passports and credit cards and that was it. If we forgot anything, we could always buy it or just go without, no biggie. Now I have spent past 2 weeks running around making sure that we have every bit of paper that any customs officer might want to see, getting the van serviced, booking dogs to the vets to be wormed and vaccinated and that we have enough currency for the various countries we're driving through. I have even resorted to writing lists. I used to laugh at people who wrote lists in preparation for holidays.

So, dogs' paperwork is sorted and ready in a folder, passports and various car documents have been copied, Nipsu's toys have been packed, sleeping bags are stuffed. We still need to pack clothes for everyone, some of which aren't quite dry yet as I didn't get laundry done on time, and load the van. And we're due to leave in 6 hours..

Time for a first trip - Day 2

It was so nice to wake up to a beautiful morning with mountains all around us. It had been far too long since we last had woken up to scenery like this. The little ones stayed asleep until 8am too, so everyone felt much more refreshed. We had every intention to be self sufficient and cook breakfast, but that was immediately forgotten when we found out the onsite shop sold tea and fresh croissants!

I was watching with slight envy, when people were preparing for a day out in the mountains, but right now none of us were ready to take part in that. After leisurely morning, which Nipsu (our toddler) spent cycling around the campsite and attempting to scale the bouldering wall, it was time to drive out to Keswick for a bit of shopping. From there we carried on down to Borrowdale for a lot of reminiscing - many a happy weekend has been spent there. Visit to the lakeshore was also a hit with Nipsu and his dinosaurs. We do have to add our sincere apologies to the local duck population though.

 

For evening meal it was time to go to Old Dungeon Ghyll to enjoy some nice food (opting out of cooking again :) ) and an outstanding pint of Old Peculiar, another one of those little things that just aren't available down south. The pub also had a free wi-fi, which was a big bonus. This gave us the opportunity to check weather report for the rest of the weekend, which unfortunately promised only rain and then some more rain. On the way back to the campsite we could see the clouds rolling in already.
 

After discussing various options we decided to cut the journey short and travel back the following day, as right now it would be near impossible to try to entertain over enthusiastic 3-year-old in the van. However, we were feeling far more optimistic about the big journey which is due to start soon.