other kids | Chaos roaming the world

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.

first thing checking if the animals are all still there

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 17^th 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.

We got our little revenge on the Frenchmen in the morning. Number 3 woke up at 7am, punctual as always. There is no such thing as “keeping quiet” when you have a toddler. The Frenchmen however didn’t even show their faces before we left at 10 am.

The Rioja valley got a bit more of our attention before we will wave goodbye to Spain tomorrow. LaGuardia was only a short, but lovely drive away. Too early for lunch, a bit too expensive for coffee. Walking around the narrow alleys, looking into doorways with heavy doors and amazing spaces inside was a good way to spend time here though. It’s a very pretty, walled little town. To get through the remaining time until lunch, we had another little treat in a bakery.

From Laguardia, we drove on to Logroño, the next bigger town. Lunch here came recommended by our guide book, still it was too early for it. The Spanish opening hours around 1 or even 1.30pm really get to us. So we went grocery shopping before finding a parking spot in a central garage and headed into town. The first place we went to was smack in the middle of everything. Now, I could tell that it was Saturday: Town was full of people enjoying food, even a couple of hen and stag dues, I think. The menu looked as if not a single vegetarian thing was offered so Flo made us turn around and try the next place.

The next place was literally called “Umm”. Despite the odd name, it was a great place! I went straight up to the counter to ask for vegetarian food and the second waitress (the first one didn’t speak English) came up with an option for me. It was a mix of caramelized onions, pickled onions and peppers and it tasted great! In the pintxo version, it had a piece of meat but it tasted great on its own.

This was the sophisticated shot from the restaurant

Flo tried two of the daily pintxos with fish, I had their version of patatas bravas, then crème brulee, then Flo ordered one more pintxo from the kitchen (fried pig’s ear, by our guesses) and we had deconstructed cheese cake and coffee in the end. XD And all of that for 23€. Gotta love pintxos and small sized portions…you get to try so many different things!

With this great success under our belts, we left the Rioja valley and turned our faces towards France. We won’t reach it today but it’s the general direction here on out. The camp ground was about a 2 hour drive away, up in the hills. Number 3 and myself fell asleep on the way there (food coma in my case…) but woke up before we arrived at the camp ground. The last 20km or so were windy roads up the hills, right next to a small river. It made for a picturesque drive and then our camp ground was right next to the river as well.

When we explored the place a bit after “coffee”, we found an access to the river where all the kids from the camp ground were playing in the water. Number 3 looked like he wanted to go where all the kids were and started to walk right into the water in his sandals. Thus, Flo took off his shoes and prepared Number 3 for contact with water. One of the older girls came up and said something about “muy frio”, just when Flo put Baby’s feet into the water. The expected scream of protest didn’t come. Huh? Instead, Number 3 kept walking forward, deeper into the water. Soon, his diaper and body were almost in so Flo quickly picked him up. Now there was a scream of protest. Huh? Flo had confirmed that the water was really rather cold and Number 3 was a wuss even in the pools on camp grounds but now he wanted to go swimming in a cold mountain river? The answer was yes. What was lacking every time Flo tried the pool with him was available here in abundance: Older kids doing all sorts of interesting things with toys and tools. Number 3 was ready to get up to his neck into really cold water for that. We didn’t let him get into it that deep. Luckily, some of the older kids took pity and showed him what they were doing in the shallower part of the river. They had small nets and caught fish into a Barbie bucket. The oldest girl even got one of the fish out to show it to Number 3.

In the evening, some of the kids went to the camp ground’s playground so Number 3 had even more chances to absorb them. I thought he’d sleep well after all the input but he woke up again 30 minutes after he went to sleep. Probably his teeth again. He seemed to really be in pain. That last molar is taking its bloody time.