Sometimes things are so wonderful I cant help but pinch myself to check I’m not dreaming.
This weekend past we took my beloved campervan, Beryl for an overnight camp. Just a single night away under the stars to have a teeny tiny mini break. Its amazing how much of an impact one night in a campervan can make to your rest and refresh.
We aimed for the nearby forest of Ae but the gates were closed to the forest and river tracks as there was some serious logging going on. Huge lorries and gigantic areas being cleared so we cleared off and drove a little further down the road until the perfect spot revealed itself to us.
By the side of Kilder lake we found our perfect spot. A stunning combination of wide open mirror glass reflective still waters, huge blue cloudless sky, forest woods, quiet road and no one else other than the occasional dog walker and HUGE logging lorries (more on that in a mo...) We tidied up the area and set about collecting left behind scorched wood from previous fires and new dry wood to burn with the scraps we had from home.
The burnt fire sign amused us so much we bought it home.
We set up our van within minutes just needing a little lift up onto the chocks for bed angle perfection. we sat by the lake as dinner cooked, the rum flowed and my beloved made the most impressive fire wood pile and got a right good fire roaring to life in mere minutes.
As a car approached I watched in hysterics as my fire wood collecting extraordinaire realised that they had left an eight foot tree in the middle of the road. This sure had them moving quickly to prevent the car approaching round the curvaceous bends behind colliding with the temporarily dropped log. Disaster averted, car passed safely to the view of a mad sweaty elf standing holding a tree at the roadside. So much amusement on both our parts.
The rest of the wood safely collected and stored van side and not road middle, we lit pretty lanterns to help guide us away from the jetty edge so we didn’t fall into the lake. The huge licking flames from the fire cast a bright warm flickering light, blinding us to the waters edge as the dark sky enveloped us. Said lamps were soon knocked into the water by previously mentioned eight foot tree being swung onto the fire.
We chatted nonsense, laughed all night, sipped rum, watched the sky turn from turquoise to indigo to black. Then we lay on a rug under a thick woolly blanket and watched the stars appear and the fire sprites dance off into the sky.
As we snuggled and cuddled under our blanket a strange rumbling roar seemed to come across the water towards us. we sat up to listen and noticed huge bright lights coming over the road before us.
The noise was reverberating off the trees on the opposite side of the lake and getting louder and louder. After staring into the sound from the darkness for some moments and then staring at each like ‘whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?’ we soon realised it was a huge logging lorry hurtling towards us. We pulled the blanket close around our bodies and tried not to look directly into its many many headlights as it appeared speedily around the corner and lit up everything in its path. Including us and our over night cosy camp. Not just one lorry charged past but two, no three, no....in total six huge lorries. All lit up, busy transporting trunks while honking and beeping at our gorgeous camp position and I don’t mean the fire...
They honked at us. We giggled. And waved back. Laying wrapped around each other in bliss, grateful that this was our Saturday night and we were neither driving to and from work or being subjected to the scary possibility of meeting those trucks coming down such a narrow and winding lane. No thank thee.
As we snacked on cheese and olives in front of the fire a huge white wall flash went across the sky. We looked at each other in surprise and then elation as we realised it was thunder! Another loud clap crashed in the clouds that were building behind us. A quick check on our phone informed us of the incoming amber weather warning for heavy rain. But we did not care. We have a van to camp inside and we both love thunder and lightning. Eventually big dollops of rain drove us back into the van where we left the door open, listening to the thunder roll dramatically around the skies above us, the pitter patter of rainfall increasing to a powerful deluge dance moving towards us from across the lake like a symphony crescendo. To the sounds of intermittent bird squawks, insect chatter and the rolling thunder we fell asleep in each others arms.
Sunday morning was pure bliss. The sky was grey, a constant drizzle drifted from the sky. But our hearts and souls were full of sunshine, full of contentment and joy. We wake and bake and snooze some more. Munching on treats and drinking dirty chai as we slumber under each other, under the sound of light rain blowing on the van and wriggling around the crumbs in our bed.
On our second awakening we talked about the future, laced a long single colourful weave into my loves dreads to make a permanent tie back and cuddled under the worlds thickest, heaviest fluff blanket. The world was a beautiful place. We rested well, ate well, snuggled really well and finally packed up to trundle home with smiles beaming so wide and so bright we did not need headlights to light the way ahead through the grey but not in the slightest miserable day.
Eternally grateful for such a simple, wonderful life. And my beautiful mental elf.
