{"id":14257,"date":"2013-08-05T08:38:30","date_gmt":"2013-08-05T07:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/?p=14257"},"modified":"2013-08-05T09:14:29","modified_gmt":"2013-08-05T08:14:29","slug":"free-camping-in-wales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/08\/free-camping-in-wales\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Camping in Wales"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Morgan<\/a>

Morgan as Doctor Who<\/p><\/div>\n

We’ve just got back from another excellent weekend away camping for free in Wales courtesy of Chain Reaction Cycles and their series of MTB Marathons and Road Sportives.<\/p>\n

Morgan was on one of the floats in the Borth Carnival dressed as Doctor Who on Friday, so we packed the camping and cycling kit while he did that and then joined on to the back of the procession in the car. We then met him on the field where the carnival procession ends and all sorts of festivities begin. We had some lunch had a chat with a few friends in the sunshine and then headed off towards Crickhowell.<\/p>\n

It was a nice enough drive on familiar roads, with just a bit of slow-moving traffic but we made it there within two hours as expected. Part of the deal with these events is that you pay for the ‘race’ entry which this weekend was \u00a327 for the mountain bike ride on the Saturday, \u00a327 for the Road Sportive on the Sunday or \u00a350 for both. In with that you get to do the ride and receive the finishers souvenir, join in with any entertainments such as the band that plays on Saturday night in the main marquee and generally enjoy the weekend. You also get free camping<\/strong> and free teas and coffees all weekend too.<\/p>\n

The camping is fairly basic, but its a nice flat field with plenty of space, portaloos and showers and a water tap. You\u00a0don’t really need a lot else and it all works well. Lots of people actually turn up for just one of the races on the day and don’t camp so the campsite is usually quite quiet and this weekend was no exception.<\/p>\n

We arrived at around 5pm and had a pretty much free choice of camping spots. We chose a corner just a little out of the way from the main marquee and toilets etc. but not too far. It was backed by a big oak tree and several smaller beech trees where we could set up the slack-line. The sun was still shining but dark clouds were looming and the forecast was for rain overnight so we quickly got the tent up before wandering over to the catering trailer to buy some dinner and I registered for the two races. We then sat there chilling in the sunshine and defending a space next to our tent for my borther Jay and his tents as they were due to\u00a0arrive later.<\/p>\n

\"Waiting<\/a>

Waiting for the Others<\/p><\/div>\n

Jay arrived just as a few spots of rain started falling. He had two of his children with him, Megan and Harry and they set to putting up their\u00a0three little tents and one large event shelter while Anna, Morgan and I watched on whilst eating our dinner.\u00a0\u00a0The rain was beginning to fall now so once we’d finished eating we helped them out with their tents and we were soon all set for the night.<\/p>\n

It was now raining heavily though so we ended up taking shelter under our canvas and sat there chatting and watching an impressive display of lightning\u00a0accompanied\u00a0by a the rumbling soundtrack of thunder and pouring rain on the tents. Some of the thunder rumbles went on for ages and ages. I know it’s typical Welsh camping weather but sat in our dry tents watching it was actually quite nice.<\/p>\n

It got dark pretty early thanks to the weather so we soon retired ready for a relaxed start in the morning.<\/p>\n

I didn’t sleep much thanks to the sound of the rain and then other people’s children but Saturday dawned bright and sunny so I was up early and starting to dry things out and eat breakfast. The morning routine was something along the lines of coffee, breakfast, more coffee, more breakfast, portaloo visit, more coffee, more breakfast and then a few more trips to the portaloo. In between this we set up our bikes, got kitted up and prepeard to head off into the hills.<\/p>\n

\"Ready<\/a>

Ready to Ride<\/p><\/div>\n

Brad, my other brother arrived along with Mike. They were only doing the MTB ride, not the Road Sportive so were just here for the day. The ‘race’ didn’t start until 10am so it was a fairly relaxed morning and I set the slackline up for Morgan and his cousins to play on before we all headed over to the start line to join the crowds of fellow mountain bikers.<\/p>\n

Before long we were off on the CRC Schwalbe Mountain Marathon, Crickhowell – I’ll write a separate blog post about it so won’t go on about it here. It was good fun though and we were all back at the campsite by early afternoon where we could chill in glorious sunshine. Whilst I was out Anna had been relaxing in the sun reading her book whilst Morgan was occupied playing with his cousins. There was loads of room on the campsite for them to run around, climb trees and generally do what kids do. They were certainly looking pretty grubby by dinner time so had\u00a0obviously\u00a0been having a good time. Ann was enjoying\u00a0herself\u00a0too with very little to do and lots of time to herself.<\/p>\n\n\t\t