July 5th-7th. Wye Valley.

We'd first visited this site in September last year.  It's actually the only site we've re-visited, and in our opinion it's the best we've been to so far.  Last time we'd stayed here the weather had been wet, so we'd been unable to explore the surrounding woodland...so this was the first place we headed upon arrival in the afternoon.

We began our adventure by following a sign to 'The brook' and soon found this lovely cooling trickle of water amongst the trees.  Having arrived at this glade sooner than expected we decided to follow another path, hoping for a circuitous route back to camp.  Thirty minutes later, having taken various paths through the woods, we felt ourselves to be lost. 

Alan decided to check his phone in the hope that it would trace our position, and sure enough it did. He was able to confirm that we were indeed standing in a forest.  I found this to be a most helpful.

We were without compass, first aid kit, water supply, sleeping bags or tent.  Nor did we have a St.Bernard with a brandy barrel around its strong neck.  Instead we had a Jack Russell crossbreed whose excess fluid had been regularly released during our woodland walk.

Are you coming?

I think I can see a bear!

I think it's following us!

Imaginatively considering the depth of the forest to be a dangerous place to be in if lost at night, we sought to find our way to safety (I've read far too many children's stories!).

When we'd returned to camp we enjoyed ice cream from the site shop (locally home made) before heading back to the shade offered by Julian.  After awhile of such relaxation (the weather was still particularly warm) I felt sick and had stomach cramps.  Being unwell like this wasn't a pleasant experience it has to be said.  It took awhile to recover and even then I felt extremely tired and from 8pm slept like a log for ten hours without waking.  At the time, I blamed the ice cream...though later wasn't so sure.

I felt fine when I woke next day so we decided to browse around Lydney, Coleford and Bream, and spent between-times walking within woodland shade, having taken a picnic lunch with us.  Again, we returned to camp in the early evening and once more, after a few hours of sitting in the heat, I felt unwell.  This time my stomach cramps were more severe, and were accompanied by faintness, sweating and a rapid pulse rate which, to be honest with you, I found quite scary.  At this point my husband recognised my condition as being heat exhaustion. 
As with the previous day, we found it wasn't easy to manage being unwell whilst in the campervan. I had no choice but to lay sardine-style between vomit bowl and portaloo while my husband tried to channel the air vents to create draughts to cool me down.  When I could stand up again upon wobbling legs I glanced in a mirror and saw that with my lightly tanned skin and green face I was beginning to blend in with the green tones of the surrounding woodland...I thought I was probably suffering from a human version of Dutch Elm disease!

Upon returning home next day I noticed that the greenhouse needed watering and the rest of the garden was dry...but this just had to wait.  In future I'll be staying in the shade until the temperature has dropped.  I will also have a medical check up as my blood pressure has been rising recently.

In all, an enjoyable few days...but certainly with safety-first lessons learned.