The day started unplanned and too early. Wind and rain had picked up over night and had me worried at time for our awning, still up. At 5am it turned out, the worries were not entirely unfounded. I woke to a new noise, unfamiliar even over the drumming of rain and wind so far. The constant rumble of wind had finally rattled open the zipper connecting the awning to our tent. Luckily, the pegs still held, so it was flapping wet and helplessly in the wind like a sea bird in an oil spill.
Nina and I got up in our PJs and jumped to the rescue. At least it was warm enough to not get cold and miserable while doing so. With the awning saved, storm cover installed we went back to bed.
At getting up time proper, the rain had let up enough for us to feel safe enough to bring the awning back up. After a bit of a rough night, the kids indulged on chocolate spread on the last bit of sourdough.
From here on, days will be decidedly less rushed with much less distance planned for each day. Today, only 250km to the last camp in Britain before leaving to Ireland. We took our good time, but the weather kind of helped to speed us on regardless. So even with another good animal watching session we managed to be back on the road by 9am. The weather had not improved much further and was not expected to before noon. We decided to turn this into an opportunity and go for a second breakfast in the first Scottish town on our way, Dumfries. The lonely planet app was helpful as always and provided a recommendation for great coffee and a good snack.
At the café, we weighted our options and decided to go for castle over forest park this time. Not too much of a tough choice when the option is called “Drumlanrig Castle Adventure Playground & Gardens”. The 17th century Drumlanrig Castle proper was closed today, but the gardens and playground area was open and right the level of exercise needed for our kids. After a good session in the playground area, we got to explore the neatly maintained gardens as well. As it was past lunch (and nap) time now but both were still on pretty great behaviour and everyone got a round of treats before we moved on for the last bit.
As we had travelled north a bit from Dumfries, we were now heading across westwards off the main A75 on mostly single track roads and straight through the Galloway Forest Park towards our camp. Both kids fell asleep and Nina got carsick. I take that as a compliment of my driving. We did not stop again in the national park, which was a bit of a shame. But it was getting into the afternoon and Balloch O’dee campground promised to be a place to explore in its own right.
The campground definitively held up to the expectations. Great grass pitches with plenty of space to set up. The grounds, clearly inspired by the owner, gave of a splendidly relaxed vibe. To top it all off, there were plenty of fire pits all over the area, an indicator of how the day will end for us.
Number 3 once again made a new friend within the first 10 minutes and was on his absolute best behaviour for the rest of the afternoon. I could hardly have refused him when he asked to be allowed to have a bonfire as well after our quick and simple dinner (still getting great value out of that Iranian breakfast dish we picked up all those years ago), could I?
He bought the firewood and we agreed to have the bedtime stories at the campfire instead of in the tent. After putting the little ones to bed, Nina and I let the day fade out going through the remaining logs in our bag of fire wood. The sun had gone down and we got to chat, make a few plans and call it a night.
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