I'm home.
My decision to pack was mostly to do with the fact that today is Mrs. Wow's birthday. We had originally planned this as part of her celebrations, but when she returned, all acreak, from grandma duties, she declared an intention of sleeping in a bed for the foreseeable future. I just didn't feel comfortable without her on her birthday and, besides, my tent was pretty well dry so it seemed to be a pity to waste that.
Having made the booking, I really wanted to go so I set off. I knew it would be muddy and wet and I wasn't wrong. I didn't expect to be stung for both tents, I did enjoy the walk down to Bewl Water and the company was first-rate. I was shocked that whoever it is that owns Bewl Water sees fit to charge £4 per adult to enter via the road, when there are public footpaths that are accessible for nothing. Kim and Barakta fell victim of this scam.
We had lunch at the café there, and it was OK. However, there was nothing else on offer for the £4 entry fee. Everything else had to be paid for and if you didn't want to hire a boat, do some fly-fishing or hire a bike then you were pretty well out of luck. We decided that we had had enough of walking, since three of us were suffering to one extent or another, so when Kim & Barakta drove back to the camp site, I accompanied them as I have a child seat in our car, intending to return with it for the other four. I had worked out a cunning plan, involving going in the back way, to avoid negotiating with some jobsworth my way out of a £4 fee just for the privilege of picking up my friends. This worked pretty well until I realised, on approaching the entrance for the first time, that there were large road signs insisting that all vehicles turn left and go past the man in the hut. I ignored this and went straight on, past an audible "Oi!" - there are some disadvantages to driving an electric car. I found the car park by the sailing club and while I was phoning Butterfly to let her know my whereabouts I became aware that I had been joined by a large and scruffy land rover and there were two not-very-pleasant individuals looking at me through the car window. Rumbled!
I'd hesitate to call them "heavies". The bloke who addressed me was quite small, wizened, of advancing years even by my standard and hardly threatening at all, even though I gained the impression he was trying to be. He told me that I was supposed to pay £4 to enter, I retorted that I knew this and it was precisely to avoid paying the £4 that I had entered via the exit. I told him my business, that I had come to collect a young lady who had walked a long way with a child strapped to herself because she was exhausted and also explained that I had already been in today because I had had my lunch there. He seemed satisfied and he and his accomplice buggered off so I drove down to the car park and soon Nikki, Butterfly, Clarion and Nye appeared and we returned to the camp site.
My journey home was marred by a superabundance of motorists gravitating to, and from, Sodding Lakeside. I had anticipated being home by 6 but it was nearer 7.30 when I eventually wandered through the door, bearing coffee & walnut cake for Mrs. Wow, because it's her favourite.
Many thanks to Nikki for organising a weekend the good bits of which were very good indeed, but the bits beyond her control left something to be desired. I have returned with a pocket full of sweet chestnuts for roasting and I can only assume that something or other has persuaded the grey squirrels to steer clear of the Kent/Sussex Weald. Perhaps it's the inflated prices of the dreys.
