England

At 3 am we plan to drag everyone out of bed and drive for four hours to catch the morning sailing to Wales. We had originally planned to camp near the port this evening, however it is freezing cold and blowing a gale outside. Here's hoping it calms down a bit as we're booked into a campsite in Wales tomorrow night to break the journey down to Devon.

Once in Devon we've managed to hire a cheap caravan - off season is great - and will do the same again in Cornwall. On the way home, we will attempt to camp again. When you have this many kids, the budget dictates it. They on the other hand, view it as a huge adventure.

The reason we're heading to the south west of England is that our daughter is due back at the institute for brain injured children where she attends, for her bi annual review. TG was sustained a traumatic brain injury at three months of age due to a series of hospital blunders (of course, they're not saying that) which has left her with severe cerebral palsy. Someone asked me recently if I wasn't bitter and mad. The answer is no. I believe that this happened in the permissive will of God. I've been following a thread on another blog lately and am grateful that I understand and believe in the sovereignity of God. But that is by the by and probably a topic for different blog.

We plan to make this as educational for the kids as possible. I've been saving my Tesco coupons and have enough to pay for one of the ferries and a couple of days out. In Devon we hope to use them in Exmoor Zoo and visit The Big Sheep. We also have our NT membership so have packed the guide book and will plan as we go - weather permitting. In Wales, all the museums are FREE which is brilliant. A few years ago we did the Big Pit. This trip we hope to do the Museum of Welsh Life in Cardiff which is an open air folk park. In Cornwall (the reason for heading down there) we will revisit the Eden Project.

So, hopefully wifi permitting, I'll get some blogging done on the road but for now, it's off to bed.