The main adventure Josh and I were going on was a camping roadtrip around the UK - up to Scotland, through Wales, down to Devon and Cornwall, the whole shebang. One Wednesday morning, we left my house for Kings Cross St Pancras and picked up a station wagon there. We then drove back to my place to pick up our suitcase of clothes and stuff, plus a whole heap of camping gear that I'd been slowly accumulating since the beginning of the year. I'm talking chairs, sleeping mats, a tent, borrowed sleeping bags, and all the other little things that you need to be self-sufficient for a month on the road!
We drove north, stopping off at a supermarket at Stevenage to buy food and supplies. We made it as far as the North York Moors, before deciding that it was time to look for a campsite for the night. I had marked down several options on a map, and we picked one and drove there. It was a lovely farm stay campsite called Breaks Fold Farm, which had only simple facilities but was exactly the kind of site we were looking for. This was a photo I took of the farm buildings nearby.
We left the campsite early the next morning to go to Fountains Abbey, a National Trust site that I've wanted to go to forever. But we were driving along through these lovely places and stopped at this bridge to get a photo.
We got to Fountains Abbey at about 10:30, which was just the right time I think, as it wasn't too busy. The abbey itself was founded in 1132 and is UNESCO-Heritage listed, but is now mostly ruins, albeit very well-preserved ruins. The grounds also include other lovely old buildings and a huge garden, the Studley Royal Water Garden. It was a pretty place to wander around.
We had a small lunch at the cafe, then went back to the car and drove up through the North Pennines. I had been there before when I went to the Lake District with my parents and I wanted to show them to Josh because I thought that area was really beautiful. So we drove through, then found a campsite at the edge.
We stopped for the night at Pennine Lodge, for another nice night of camping. It was sunny and warm, and we walked along the Wear river into town to buy a bottle of wine and some groceries and had a quiet night.
