The weekend was perfect. We went climbing on Saturday - easy climbs, but really fun, and gorgeous scenery - and canoeing on Sunday. Perfect weather all weekend - hot and sunny, with long warm evenings.





That is Emily, rappelling down from the top of a climb.

The rest of the pictures -

The campsite
Shower and loo - rather cobwebby but functional. Except for the door, which seemed to be missing. However there were enough nettles growing along the path up to the door to give advance notice of anyone approaching.
At the bottom of the first climb
Sophie waiting
Sophie climbing
Emily in action
Me
Bobby belaying
Kids on the see-saw tree. They played on this tree for ages. Luckily, no-one was catapulted down the hill-side.
The pinnacle. This climb was really fun. This buttress is connected to the hillside by a precarious little pathway. (We had to get stern with Sophie at that point - she didn't seem to realise just how sharp and long the drop off the path was.) The side in the picture isn't all that high, as you can see, but the drop the other side is huge, all the way down to the river in the valley below. Stunning views.
Stephen climbing the pinnacle
Steve in close-up. The climbing at Symond's Yat is trad. climbing, rather than bolted - hence the need to carry all the cams and things.
We ate our picnic on top of the pinnacle. There is just enough room up there for five people. Stunning views, and - since we were all tied in - quite safe.
Emily and the view. I love this picture.
River view from the pinnacle to the left
And to the right
Very posed family picture taken with the timer. We wanted to remember all the games the kids had played - we'd taken a soccer ball, a badminton set and one of those velcro-ball catching set thingies, and they were perfect entertainment at the campsite. The summer evenings are so long here that we were able to keep playing till after ten each night.
On Sunday, we went canoeing. It worked out really well; we were dropped off seven or eight miles upstream, and then had half a day to paddle ourselves back down to the canoe-hire place. We took a picnic with us, though we could have stopped at one of the pubs along the way.
Stephen and I shared one canoe, Bobs and the girls had the other. I think I got the better deal.
Swan
We stopped to swim a couple of times - the day was so beautifully hot that even I enjoyed the water, and I am normally rather pathetic when it comes to cold water.
Cup of tea near Tintern Abbey on the way back to the campsite - can definitely see that Bobby and Stephen are related.

So, it was a lovely weekend. I feel like a new person after it - so much more energetic and enthusiastic about life.

Hoping to go camping again the weekend after next - wish we could go this weekend, but the kids' social lives rule that out.