Lauramy

Well after lots of looking we have found a camper van, yippy...... but its all the way up in Sheffield! So we decide to hire a car and head North again. We stayed the night in a fab hotel, the family room was huge with really nice comfy beds, a great big flat screen tv, and a shower that worked. What more can you ask?

The next morning we woke up to lots of snow, which the girls thought was great, especially as the hotel car park had been closed to cars due to the fact it was on quite a slope, which made it perfect for sledging and they had it all to themselves.

While Pete went off to seal the deal with the camper van and return the rental car the girls and I went to the Cooper Art Gallery in Barnsley, and had an enjoyable and warm afternoon looking at the art and spending time in the kids section which had lots of cool activities.

Once we get our hands on our new camper we head out of Sheffield to a lovely area on Timber Lane near Chesterfield, with the intention of staying the night to get settled into camper life.

The snow and ice in the car park of Timber Lane helped us choose our parking spot for the night! Luckily there were no other campers in the area as we found ourselves stuck in the snow!

Pete getting a bit exercise, and the girls having a ball.

Once we start to get ourselves set up in the camper we find that we are a little short of water, so the girls go snow collecting.

The next morning the friendly neighbouring farmer gives us a much needed pull out of the car park, and we are on our way.

Once we're on our way we head into Chesterfield for water and other supplies and find a church with a crooked spire.

After we have stocked up we head into the Peak District and start looking for a camping spot for the night, and after what seems like a very long time, we come across a diary farm with camping available so we decide to stay the night and as we start to reverse towards the camping power supply box to hook up to the electricity we get stuck in the snow....again.

The next morning while we waited for the farmer to finish milking the cows the girls made the most of their time..... Yes they were on the sledge again.

Then it was all go......

.....and before we knew it, we were on our way again.

Our next stop is just outside Castleton to the Blue John cavern where we went down some 300 feet into the Blue John caves to see the semi-precious stones know as Blue John. The sparkling fluorspar comes is many different colours from blue to yellow and the veins can be seen quite easily down in the cave.

Parts of the cave tour are very narrow,

While other parts of the cave open up into large chambers, and the largest is know as Lord Mulgrave's Dining Room as the lord once put on a banquet for the miners there.

The girls looking up at the sparkly veins of Blue John.

Back up to the top at last.

From the Peak District we headed West to North Wales and stayed the night at the lovely village of Betws-y-coed. We arrived in the early afternoon and found the wild camping spaces very easily at the back of a very large carpark. We decided to have a walk around the village and had some fun jumping boulders and breaking ice puddles down at the edge of the beautiful Llugwy river, which flows right past the centre of the village.