Nobby and Gail's Big Adventure

It's a dual purpose post today, with a special adventure for YAM-aunty's Final Friday Feature, in which we get close to nature for the LLB Gang's weekly blog hop.

Carry On Camping!

Golly gosh I was so excited when Gail told me we were we Going Camping this week.

I've read all about our friends Rosy and Sunny and their exciting adventures in the magnificent and luxurious 'CeCe' motorhome.

I've seen with my own WFT eyes the more modestly sized but still wonderfully comfortable electric van, the 'Grey', so cleverly converted for cosy domesticity by our friend YAM-aunty.

Imagine my consternation when Gail, after burrowing around in the back of the box room, excavated an elongate black bag and announced that this was going to be our accommodation on Monday night!

The plan, I learned, was to meet up with our friend Imogen at the Ballater Caravan Park. Imogen was riding the c.45 miles out there, her bicycle fully loaded with her camping gear as a trial run for a forthcoming solo expedition to France and Spain, and Gail would drive us out to meet Imogen, carrying an extra blanket for our friend in addition to our own kit. Apparently this was to be a 'test' for me too.

We arrived first and, ignoring my offers of assistance, Gail erected the tent. I tried not to look too envious of the more substantial accommodations parked nearby.

Imogen showed up shortly after and I noted that her tent was even smaller than ours!

Gail claimed it was quite a deluxe camp site, with excellent, clean and modern bathroom facilities. I was not so sure about my bathroom option...

Fortunately, Gail decreed that, as it was not raining and I was dry and relatively clean, I would be allowed into her tent with out the need for pre-bedtime ablutions. 

I was a Good Boy over dinner in the nearby pub (The Balmoral Arms) and did not even complain when Imogen and Gail refused to share their big and juicy venison burgers. A fellow diner commented that I matched the carpet...

Soon it was bedtime, and inside the tent I experimented for a while with various sleeping positions, but decided eventually that I might be more comfy on the mat beside Gail rather than lying draped across her chest.

It was dawn before I knew it, and oh what fun to be enjoying breakfast, listening to the birds twittering away and sniffing the cool clean Highland air.

And what a lovely surprise, a chance encounter with a familiar foxie friend, Merin (who lives quite close), out on an early walk through the campground with her owner Claire.

After breakfast, our 'mobile homes' were collapsed and packed away, and while Imogen headed back to Aberdeen on her bicycle, Gail and I enjoyed a short walk up Craigendarroch Hill.

You can see the Ballater camping ground in the distance below.

When I asked Gail if we could go camping again she declared that I had aced the test and so another outing in the tent is a distinct possibility.

Hooray!