As you might expect, December has been a pretty busy month. I’ve been really busy with work, and desperately trying to get everything finished in time for Christmas so I can have a break. Laurie has been doing the same, so our evenings have been spent hunched over our laptops furiously typing away in the race to get things finished. I won, and managed to finish all of my projects by Thursday. Laurie didn’t quite make it and has been tying up loose ends today, on the first day of his Christmas holidays.
Ebony has been poorly this month, the weather has been grim and time has been at a premium, but we managed to squeeze in an adventure to Delamere Forest. When I was a child, we used to buy our trees from Bolton Abbey. You choose the tree you want, and they cut it down for you. It was always exciting to be able to pick the tree we wanted (the biggest one available, obviously). After the tree had been netted, paid for and strapped to the roof of the car, we would go for a walk. It was always cold, and often wet, but we always enjoyed it.
I wanted to continue this tradition with my own family, although Bolton Abbey is a little too far from where we live now. I found a Forestry Commission site not far from us, at Delamere Forest, so we decided to go there to choose our tree. It wasn’t quite the same as Bolton Abbey, the trees were already cut so there was no trudging through muddy fields trying to find the best tree. They had lots of variety though, and it took us ages to choose one.
Ebony was dragging branches round with her, and helping us choose the best tree. At one point, she was using a discarded piece of tree as a walking stick, and very slowly patrolling the area. It took us ages to find the right tree because we needed one that would fit in the car. We wanted a nice big one but one that wouldn’t make the journey home too uncomfortable. Ebony was dressed up warm, and marching round the tree site while we were deliberating, and helped us to pick the final tree.
Once the tree had been paid for and put in the car, we decided to head into the forest for a walk. I wanted to do the Stick Man trail, which is a two mile route filled with fun activities for kids. We discovered that this was at the other end of the forest, and we’d have needed to drive round to the start. Getting Ebony into the car seat is always a hassle, so we decided instead to just do a quick route from where we were. I’m hoping we’ll make it to the Stick Man trail before it finishes next month, but we shall see.
Ebony was pretty tired by this point, and asked to go in the carrier. We walked through the forest, and immediately came across a collection of half finished dens constructed from fallen branches. The leaves on the path were ankle high and great for stomping through. If Ebony hadn’t been so sleepy, she would have loved running through the leaves, and adding to the dens. I really hope we go back over the Christmas break, because it was like a outdoors-loving child’s paradise. After a quick explore of the dens, we got back onto the path and began walking. Ebony was asleep within ten minutes, so she missed out on the real adventure, but we had a nice walk exploring the forest.
Did you manage any successful adventures this week?
The full story behind the great adventure blog challenge can be found here.
