Wednesday 6 August 2014

Week 22- sleep out under the stars

Incredibly, we've had an excellent summer so far and that's been very conducive to quite a few of my challenges. This particular one was to sleep out under the stars and I chose a warm June evening when the light lasted until nearly 10pm.
John and I returned from a walk on the Bryn and lay on the trampoline to enjoy the last of the day's sun. Impulsively I suggested we sleep outside that night as it was so beautiful and John happily agreed. There are 2 things to note here; firstly that I am not impulsive so this was already a bit 'out there' for me, secondly, it was a really good job that John was compliant because I would have been too scared to do it on my own!
The trampoline seemed like a good idea at the time as a bed, but you tended to squash a little into the centre!
Anyway, unaware of this, we armed ourselves with bedding, a torch and of course an obligatory bottle of wine! It was lovely watching the light gradually fade and the stars eventually becoming visible. The bats began to dart between the trees and one or two came very close to our heads!
I fully expected to be awakened or startled by the sounds of the fox or other nocturnal creatures during the night, but I wasn't at all. Having said that, it doesn't mean that I enjoyed a great night's sleep unfortunately. At first I felt cold and then I was too hot and I just kept waking up at regular intervals sliding towards the middle of the trampoline!
Simply put, I missed my bed indoors! Am I getting old? Maybe, in hindsight the air-bed on the ground, or just the ground would have been preferable. At least I've slept on those surfaces before....
But hey, hold on a minute, that's the point isn't it? I'm doing things that I haven't done before. So what if it wasn't my best night's sleep ever? It was an experience, a first, an impulsive (if not spontaneous because it was on my list) adventurous act. Surely all of this will keep me, if not young in years, young in outlook??

The photos aren't very good, but they are proof that it really happened!




1 comment:

  1. That's great! I've never tried sleeping out without a tent, although there are people here who do it when they go camping. Presumably the ones that don't attract mosquitos :)

    The rolling into the middle is an issue with airbeds too in my experience, so you didn't lose out too much :)

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