Camping In Derbyshire 2005 - Plans

I am on MSN chatting with my boyfriend when he says he has been thinking...why don't we try to go camping for a couple of days? My immediate response is yes, yes, yes, what a great idea lets go, go, go. The boyfriend cautions me to think about it carefully, he can't get four pillows on his bike together with all the camping gear.

Why four pillows you may ask... Well let me explain. I have for some time now been suffering from severe back pain which causes me to also suffer from sciatica which radiates down my left leg with a great deal of the pain being centred in my arse. So yes a literal pain in the arse it has been.

It started way back in February with a few twinges that got progressively worse until I was in such pain I was unable to go to work and barely able to move. I could not lie flat at all. The only way I could sleep was on the couch propped up at unusual angles by four pillows, in a usually unsuccessful attempt to ease the pain. However, after a recent short stay in hospital, which resulted in no further insight into the cause of my pain, but did leave me discharged with much more powerful and effective pain killers.

So therefore suitably drugged with said painkillers I might just be able to consider leaving the house. After being stuck in for so long I was positive I wanted to try and get out and go camping.

We decided to visit Derbyshire, an area neither of us had explored before. The boyfriend sent me a link to a campsite and we agreed it looked just like what we were looking for, set in the Peak District, it's quiet and scenic. A quick phone call to the site confirmed that vacancies were available and we had ourselves booked into Rivendale Caravan & Leisure Park.

The boyfriend phoned me later, after loading the bike to ensure everything would fit and to confirm how much space was left for my stuff. Space, what space? Lets just say that if you want to be a biker chic going camping you have to learn to travel light! No hairdryer, no kitchen sink. What you need is a small amount of clothing that can withstand being squashed and screwed up and still manage to look ok(ish). Fortunately present fashion lends itself beautifully to this purpose with wrinkle effect gypsy skirts being all the rage.

On my first ever trip away on the bike my boyfriend was very pleasantly surprised by my ability to travel light. I amazed myself even more because when I usually stay over with a friend for the night, I arrive looking like I plan to stay the week. However it's surprisingly easy to get down to basics when one needs to. This insight makes me wonder why we always have to carry so much useless shit around with us all our lives, but we all do it. If it fits, in the bag, the case, the car, the house, whatever, we squeeze it in, we fill the space we have available to the full. Why!?

So with the bike comes a change in mind set. Basic, that's all. I love it; it's freeing not to be weighed down with my own clutter.

So with this in mind I am confident that I will manage easy with the space available on this trip. Ok last time I went there was more room because we was not going camping but I'm sure I got minimalism down to a fine art after just one previous attempt, no problem at all. I hope.

Boyfriend arrives at mine on Sunday evening, so we can get an early start the following morning. I'm so excited I find it hard to sleep, I finally do but I keep waking now and then through out the night, ah typical, I'm going to be knackered in the morning.

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