Hike Norfolk Camping Trip 2021 – Day 4

This is the little story of the Hike Norfolk camping trip, but since it’s a private trip and I’ll get into trouble if I try to give all of the behind the scenes gossip away, I’ll only give a taster of the event. Thirteen of us went on the trip and it was a three night stay in Edale which is in the Peak District in Derbyshire and where I started a walk from last year. Here’s day one, here’s day two and here’s day three...

Just as we were about the leave the campsite the weather decided that it would present itself with beautiful sun. Although it didn’t much matter, as it poured with rain later that day anyway. The group were all leaving the campsite, with some staying on in different locations and others going back home. For me, it was going back home.

That meant it was now time to take down the tents. Richard is in the background started to take down his palace, whilst my little tent didn’t take much disassembling. It fell down a little too easily, but since there were only two poles and two bits of material, I wasn’t overly-challenged with its deconstruction. I shoved it in its bag and job done.

Richard had a rather larger challenge on his hands. His tent was also rather moist, which required him to have to repitch it at home in the evening.

And then there was no trace of where I stayed for three days…..

So, perhaps it’s now time to write about camping. I have to say that I’m definitely a hotel person, there’s something really rather lovely about a bed, a door and an en suite bathroom. I don’t even crave decadent treats in a hotel room (well, I do, but there’s a limit to what Ibis can offer), just the knowledge that the ceiling won’t fall down.

But, there were twelve of us camping and it’s all about the group spirit. I was rather more tired in the evenings than anticipated, not least because I should have taken a better sleeping bag, but I’ll fix that problem next time (and I hadn’t expected it to rain nearly every night). It was though an adventure and I like taking part in adventures of any description, even if I mutter about them….. I’ve also got a couple of camping trips booked on my own for later this year (and more with others) so I’d better grow to like the arrangement, although I think I’ll ensure that there is a lovely hotel before and after the camping, as a little reward. Also, full credit to Liam for helping me get a tent that was very suitable for my needs and which didn’t leak.

We headed back towards Norfolk, with a plan to stop at Ripley in Derbyshire en route. Whilst on the way, we stopped for a while to look at the scenery and to wait for Richard to catch up, but we then realised he’d stormed off in another direction.

Ripley has the most ridiculous number of pubs, I can’t recall a town with so many. There were also a Craft Union pub, a JD Wetherspoon pub and more independents, but I liked that there were two micropubs. I shall be back to Ripley, most definitely, it felt like a really intriguing place.

That signage at Greggs isn’t ideal…..

We stopped for lunch at a little cafe, Cafe Rossa, which was rather lovely. I’ll write about that separately, as I don’t want my ‘important’ food reviews muddled up with camping discussion.

The church in Ripley, which slightly disappointed me as I was hoping to see a medieval church and this was clearly nineteenth century. The gravestones had also been uprooted and shoved around the outside of the churchyard, which made me tut inwardly. And outwardly actually. But, the history here is intriguing, as the church was built as part of the legacy of the armed uprising in 1817 that was the Pentrich Revolution. This is a complex piece of history that I hadn’t heard about until seeing an information board, but it’s made me want to return to the town to find out more. Although unfortunately, despite Ripley having a railway heritage, it doesn’t actually have a railway…..

And so, that is the end of that little adventure. Not very gossipy I’m afraid, as I think some of the participants might not have been best pleased with me if I had gone into to much detail. But there are several trips coming up where I’m allowed to be gossipy, so that will mean a different style of blog for those adventures. It was an exciting trip that was organised by Steve, which I think everyone enjoyed and I know he’s planning future trips, so that’s all rather lovely.