'The hill behind the campsite with no name.'

Today we tackled the great peak of 'The hill behind the campsite with no name.' Now the said hill was a little lump and had now great quality about it regarding the terrain, the height or the overall distance we planned to walk. However, it has been the scene of a great triumph and moment for proud parent status. Through all our adventures so far, the children have readily accepted what has been thrown at them, be it museums, historical places, travelling around, shopping, trying to speak the language (not to mention the zoo, many beaches, pools, ice creams, sporting activities, cycling etc). Today was a test for them, but there were successes at all levels. In tackling 'The hill behind the campsite with no name' the children first prepared by donning their new hiking boots. So great excitement was to be had at walking around in them, although both of them looked like their legs were thin little handles with a great hammer head on the end of each.  So off we set following a breadcrumb trail I had prepared on the Garmin. 100m in and the road I had picked didn't exist. So a 1 mile diversion got us back in the correct place and we set off. At the first climb we motored through it. At the second climb Maya decided to run up it, and did so. Jasper was lacking enthusiasm. At the increasing severity of each climb though the mood darkened.

So we had lunch. From then on, life was good and there was no further grumbling. We'd lost our way in quite an accomplished manner, so decided to keep walking up 'The hill behind the campsite with no name.' Upon summiting, there was great frivolity and joy and much photo taking, fruit eating and general back slapping.

It even gave us a rare chance to have our photo taken, courtesy of Jasper Clements photography. Sadly the photos from the top still don't do the hill justice, but in our own special way, this was a great achievement. In walking back down, we got quite lost once again, and despite this, there was not a murmur of complaint. In the end we had walked 5.7 miles I think and climbed well over 1000 feet to the top. I'd just like to add in the following photo, because on our lost decent, we were greeted by these lovely cows. Nothing more than a lovely cow picture!

Ed