Camping in the UK - North Wales

North Wales is by far the most beautiful place in all of the UK!

And I'm not just saying that because my family may or may not be from there. It was seriously, breath taking!  And if you come to visit us, we will try to take you there!

Prince Llewelyn 

On another furlough adventure we stayed in Snowdonia National Park.  Huge mountains! Fantastic landscapes and more history and castles than you could ever imagine. And I mean prehistoric history... Lots of stone circles and burial chambers, Roman ruins, and castles built by the two Llewelyn's!

We took a train to the top of Snowdonia Mountain and considered hiking back (until we realized we have a toddler). We checked out a Slate mine, harassed some church ladies, visited several towns, burial chambers and castles and I would still go back there in a heart beat.

Toddler attempting to run off Snowdonia mountain

In a previous life, you could probably find Mike and I rock climbing in a place like this... but a las we will need to wait for Sophie to get older to join us.

Beauty comes with a price though... On our 3 day adventure there it rained for 24 hours straight. When we got there we picked a camp site near a little stream and thought nothing of if. After 24 hours of rain I was convinced we would be washed away by the stream that turned into a river with a waterfall. Luckily, we were okay! We did have to finally splurge and buy Sophie her first pair of Wellington's (rain boots) due to the tireless effort to keep her shoes dry. But even with all that rain... it was still gorgeous!

Your history lesson for today is: North Wales was the last hold out by the Welsh against the English. This is the land where Llewelyn the Great and Prince Llewelyn came from. And if you go there you can see why they wanted to hold out. Prince Llewelyn was killed in battle by the army sent my Edward I (also known as Longshanks). (side note: one of my best friends last name is Shanks - coincidence?) Edward I then went to Wales and built a series of expensive castles so that he would hold control.  The Welsh people that basically gave Llewelyn up told the King that they would betray Llewelyn if he gave them a Prince that didn't speak English and that was born in Wales. So Edward did just that.  His wife was pregnant and gave birth to their son at Caernarfon Castle in North Wales. They say that he was born in the castle but turns out that the castle wasn't completed at the time of his birth. But any way, Edward took his son and presented him to the people and said here is your Prince of Wales; born here and doesn't speak any English. =/ And so started the tradition of the English monarch's son being the Prince of Wales...

Caernarfon Castle

Camping in the UK - Lakes district

So your probably wondering... How the heck do these people get to do so many vacations?  Well I'll tell you... Our family mission in the UK is one thing... TRAVEL! See the things that are important and find the place that we might want to retire. Cause let's be honest retiring in Maryland sounds boring!

Any way, with the furlough we have been required to take mandatory days without pay. A bitter sweet scenario really.  Here's a 20% pay cut and a day off.  Luckily, we have no outstanding debt so we are able to take the hit and walk away figuring out how to travel with less cash.  And the answer to that is.... CAMPING!!!

So this is how we did it...
1. Bought a second hand tent! Yup, that's right! Used once but totally worth it. It's a British tent so it's amazingly waterproof (cause it rains a lot here!)
2. Shop for all food at the base! The economy is still 1.6 to the $1 so no more buying food out in the world. Keep it simple and avoid the processed American junk. Hard to do but well worth the budget!
3. No alcohol! - Camping with a toddler that is constantly trying to put her life in danger this is a no brainier.
4. Cheap Campsites - All over the UK there are working farms that rent out spaces for cheap. We paid 5 pounds per person. And running drinking water is available, hot showers and toilets!
5. Take the Dog! - no dog sitting here. It's an arm and a leg to board Brian... so we take him with us.

6. Save your Pounds for the sites! - There are so many sites all over this country. I'm a fan of history so we always hit the most important historical things in the area.

Our first camping trip (and Sophie's first camping trip) was to the Lakes District - North and Westish England.  It's fantastic there! Great hiking and amazing people! We saw the towns where Beatrix Potter was inspired to write Peter Rabbit (which just happens to be Sophie's favourite show at the moment) and the place where Wordsworth was inspired to write his poetry. The landscape is amazing with hidden lakes and tall peaks to climb. Tons of animals! But not the kind you would find in the US. More tame animals like cows, sheep, birds, rabbits, etc.

Speaking of rabbits... fun fact: Lots of tourists come through the lakes district (probably because its one of the most beautiful places in England). We saw tons of Americans and Asians (is this still PC?). And the best part of the trip was when Sophie ploughed through all the tourists to watch the peter rabbit screen at the Beatrix Potter story. No one gets in her way when it comes to Peter Rabbit. The girl has passion!