Camping in the Dales

On Friday I took my little lad for a quick overnight camping trip in the Yorkshire Dales.  We set up camp at a little site near Richmond - just between the villages of Muker and Thwaite in Swaledale.
After pitching up and a quick cuppa we went on a little explore.  We nipped down to the local river and did a little riverwalk.  We spotted birds, stepped over riverstones, climbed hills, looked for rabbits and dodged lots (I mean LOTS) of sheep poo! 
After a couple of hours the sun started dropping so we went back to camp and knocked up some hotdogs for dinner.  Alfie helped prepare everything and watched the stove like a little miniature version of a quiet Gordon Ramsey.  He swears less too.
The sun soon went down, so we wrapped up and sat under our tarp and read and talked and drank tea by the light of our lanterns until midnight.  I may have had a little tipple of whiskey too. 
I woke just after 4 and stood outside the tent with a cuppa and listened to the dawn chorus.  It was completely silent apart from the birds, without another soul in sight (with the exceptions of a few other campers nipping out of their tents for a quick trip to the toilets).
The morning was too misty for any sunrise shots, so when the local church bells rung five, it was back to the tent for a bit more kip.
We woke a few hours later and had a mug of hot chocolate to warm us through, followed by some Spam sarnies.  We kitted up and had a little walk across to the village of Thwaite and visited a few little waterfalls on the way.  We dodged a thousand cyclists on the roads, walked a few paths and then headed back to take down our camp.

It was awesome.

The site where we stayed was the Usha Gap Campsite.  It's a working farm with a few fields used for camping and is perfect for families.  Really quiet and peaceful and also has the most clean facilities I've ever seen on a campsite!  Phone signal is rubbish though - I didn't get a signal until I was a few miles from the village.  There is a payphone in Thwaite if you need to make a call, but it is card only and doesn't accept coins.  So - if you want to get unplugged from the world for a few days, this place is perfect.
For more info on the Usha Gap Campsite, click on the link  -  Usha Gap Website.

Here are a few snaps from our trip.