Camping with the Keebles

The weekend before last saw us packing up our camping gear and heading off to sunny Folkestone for a weekend away with Gemma, Marc, the boys at the site where Ian and Carole have a static caravan. We had added several pieces to our camping gear to make us more self sufficient including a camping stove, kettle, table and funky new moon chairs.

The weekend didn't get off to the best start as I was almost taken out on the M20 by a foreign lorry and unfortunately the postcode for the campsite doesn't actually take you to the location of the campsite when you plug it into your satnav. After a couple of phone calls to Gemma and several wrong turnings I finally arrived! Ollie caught the high speed train after work and me and Gemma picked him up from the station after a trip to Sainsburys for essentials. (Chocolate buttons and cake!)

The site was lovely. Nothing like I was expecting. When Ollie told me that the campsite was halfway up a cliff I was really worried. We've done camping by the sea with no protection from the wind and it wasn't fun! But this was completely different. The site was broken up into tiny areas on loads of different levels, all protected by trees and shrubs and felt very private. The views were amazing.

Friday night we pitched our tent and had a very nice BBQ. Unfortunately the guys pitched just above us also had a very nice BBQ and a few bevvies and were making noise until gone 3am! Then the boys got up at just after 5 so all in all very little sleep was had.

We were still determined to make the most of the day though and packed up our picnic and headed off to the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch railway. I hadn't been since I was small and there were lots that I hadn't seen.

We went in the model railway at New Romney and then hopped on the train to Dungeness.

We thoroughly upset some miserable old bid by getting in a carriage with her and she huffed about it all the way to Dungeness before trying to get out before the train had stopped, managing to shut her head in the door as she did so!

We stayed on the train back to New Romney to eat our picnic in the play park.

It was then back on the train towards Hythe. We decided that we didn't want to spend the extra 40 minutes on the train for 20 minutes watching the turntable so got off at Dymchurch leaving Ian, Carole and Zach on the train. We spent a fun 45 minutes putting 2ps in the machines in the amusement arcade. Harvey managed to win the phone charm I had been working on.

Then it was off to the beach. We hadn't got any beach gear so we sat and had a drink and a snack and the boys went off with Marc and Ollie to play long jump across the breakwater. I had to have a go as well but managed to loose my sunnies on my first jump and stamped on them while trying to avoid them. Luckily the sand was soft and they just sunk, no damage done.

Donkeys on the beach

Once we had meet Ian, Carole and Zach it was time to hop back on the train and go home for our fish and chips for tea. We walked off our fish and chip supper by a climb to the top of the cliff. It was quite hard going as it is quite steep in places, but the views from the top were amazing.

It's a long way up!

While we were out some Eastern Europeans had moved into the pitch next door and we were a bit worried about all the coolers full of beer and the giant fire pit. However, there was nothing to worry about as they went to bed quite early and as the owners of the site had a quiet word in the ear of the noisy lads it was a very peaceful night all round.

Sunday we had decided to go and get some exercise, so after we had packed up our pitch we headed off to the tennis courts. Marc and I won the first set and the second set was called a draw after we were tied on games and the last game kept going from advantage to deuce and back again. Ollie, Gem and I left the others to go for a round of golf while we headed to Sainsburys for more picnic supplies.