Under the Stars

Lesson learnt - never say never to Ella! As we were enjoying the beautiful light created by the setting sun while sitting on our dinner rock, Ella mentioned wanting to sleep there. 'You can't do that' was my initial response with many common sense reasons floating in my head as to why. Meanwhile Andy suggested that perhaps Ella could stay up (on their mats and in their sleeping bags) to watch the stars and head into the tent when they got too cold.

With the darkness comes the dropping temperatures. It wasn't long before Katy and I retreated into the warmth of our tent as did Eoin. The bigger girls - Ella and Aoife along with Cath and Andy remained on the rock gazing at the emerging stars. Drifting off to sleep I was convinced that I would soon be awoken by the rustling of the tent as the the others clambered in.

I rolled over at 11pm and no sign of Ella or Andy.

They still hadn't come in at 1am.

By 3am, I was busting for the toilet and didn't need to worry about climbing over anyone as the tent still remained mostly empty! Convinced that Ella and Andy had rolled off the steep side of the rock and I hadn't heard, I checked in on them. On top of the rock only 2 sleeping bags could be seen (Andy and Ella's). It was so cold that they'd both completely retreated to the inside of their bags!

Back in the tent, I tossed and turned trying to keep warm and was in disbelief that Ella and Andy were still out in the elements. A few hours later, I woke up to their voices followed by ruffling sounds as Andy dug into the backpacks looking for more clothes. They both sounded frozen as the dew had soaked into their sleeping bags. Andy set about making hot chocolates in attempt to warm their bones!!

As we all emerged from out tents sometime later, it was clear Ella was pumped with herself having lasted the whole night! I was too impressive although I thought they were both a little crazy for doing so!

Post breakfast and being Easter Sunday, it was only right to have a traditional easter egg hunt and off load the eggs I'd been carrying. We scattered the eggs in a nearby boulder cluster and the girls enjoyed finding the treasure.

Eager to get going, we packed up camp for the last time. Keeping on the northern side of the valley, we ambled through the bush looking for an easy spot to cross the Orroral river without getting our feet wet or having to take our shoes off. It was only a 3km undulating walk back to the car but it seemed to drag on. Perhaps that was all the adults were desperate for coffee! Needless to say we dropped past one of our favourite cafes for brunch - Fox and Bow on the way home. An excellent way to finish a wonderful hiking weekend!