Half term, perhaps the only bit of summer we'll see this year (if recent trends continue) so no excuse not to get out and about. Myself, brother, sister-in-law, niece, family friend and his daughter set off in convoy to Lofthouse, near Pately Bridge.
Travelling by car gave me the oportunity to "road test" my Decathlon double-skinned popup tent and my Decathlon tarp.
Surprisingly, the campsite was fairly quiet. In fact we had most of it to ourselves!
The views from the camp were excellent.
We even had our own on-site gorge to explore!
Which was floodlit after dark.
But first it was time to visit the local village and for my brother to find the pub.
I just love stone-built villages.
Thinking it might get busy as the weekend approached, Friday was time to explore the gorge.
There was some interesting wildlife down there I tell you!
A highlight of the gorge was a 100 metre cave which came out on the campsite a few yards from the tents.
After lunch, and with the young'uns nicely settled sunbathing outside the tents, it was time for us chaps to explore the non-touristy part of the gorge.
So we headed out through a gate and across the fields.
Eventually arriving back down in the gorge.
Returning over the other side of the river.
Saturday saw us exploring the area between Lofthouse and Scar House Reservoir.
There was a cave showing on the map, so it was time to find it.
It's surprising how youngsters can home in on anything without any need for a map when they are excited about something.
We three men thought that our headlamp batteries had all decided to give up on us simultaneously, until we realised that the darkness was so dense in the cave that they couldn't penetrate it! Therefore, we were soon reunited with the girls who were waiting outside for us.
The cave was above a dry valley, however we could hear rushing water while we were in the cave so we walked about half a mile up the valley to see in the river would reappear.
But the only water in the valley was from a few small tributaries.
