Camping without beer is just sitting in the woods

Despite this, or perhaps because of this, we went camping this weekend. We didn't go far, just along the M40 to near Henley, to a lovely site near the Icknield Way.  It was basically a field, with a loo block and a couple of showers, and somewhere to wash up, and that was all we needed.  I didn't take many photos because my phone died and the camera died, but I did managed to take a few of the red kites bombing our campsite. Someone was feeding them, which gave us an amazing view, but probably isn't the best thing for the kites.

I did take a few of them dive bombing, but they are appalling.  You can see the colour of sky too.  So gorgeous.  Of course, it was Solstice, so it stayed properly light until about 10, then it slowly got dark until about a quarter to 4, when it was light again.  Fantastic for insomniacs, less so for parents.  Fortunately the girls slept through the dawn, and didn't rise to salute it until about 7.  Simon woke up, and I was only sleeping fairly lightly, so we were all a little bit tired yesterday.  

The other wildlife we saw were 10 ducklings and their mum, some pigeons, a load of rabbits, two ponies and a moth.  We were hoping to see either a hedgehog or a bat, but it wasn't dark enough early enough for any of us, even though we went for a stroll along the Icknield Way for about ten minutes.  The girls are not great walkers.  Yet.

We completely inadvertently were taken part in the RSPB and Project Wild Thing's Big Wild Sleep Out.  I only found out about it via Twitter, and we weren't doing it officially.  Still, it was great fun, and I'll send the RSPB a tenner too. Next year, we'll do it properly.

Anyway, the camping was great fun, even though I forgot to bring my jumper.  I wasn't cold in bed, my Mock Crocs and thick socks made me look like a recently escaped inmate from an open prison for the terminally confused, and despite the wee-d in sleeping bag (not mine) dyeing the washing a funny shade of yellow, a good time was had by all.  Our next camping trip next month, and we're heading to the Isle of Wight.  I'm genuinely looking forward to it.  I've even made a "camping" tag.