Camping in the Brecon Beacons

Sometimes the family spent a weekend camping, which was a bit of a headache for Miles as he had to organise everything. All the family loved the countryside. They thought being out in nature, sleeping under the stars, was the best medicine. Dr Laugherty had a very stressful job, and the best remedy for him was getting closer to nature, though he still liked to have the butler and the best food whilst they were camping.

Miles sometimes stayed up late into the night when they were camping. He waited until the last embers of the campfire had died down, and then he sometimes took out the telescope to look at the stars. The children also loved learning about the constellations, such as the Great Bear, the Giraffe, the Eagle, the Dolphin, the Hunting Dogs and all the zodiac constellations. They enjoyed going camping, and they enjoyed singing round the campfire and telling stories. Sometimes they were ghost stories, but if the ghost stories were too scary, Miles would be asked to stay up all night to ward off any ghosts.

Even Mog Og went on the camping trips, and even he would get very scared by the ghost stories. When he went to sleep he had nightmares.

Patrick and Penelope didn’t like some of the really scary ghost stories Miles told.

Sometimes they had a glass of sherry before bedtime, served on a silver tray by Miles, who’d wear his butler suit even when camping. He had very little time to relax, but he enjoyed it that way. He got up early and went to bed later than everyone else, but he did enjoy camping under the stars. He felt most refreshed by it.

Sometimes when they went camping, strange and scary things happened. When camping, you can get creepy crickets making noises all night long and other strange noises; you get ants in your tent and large spiders coming in. You have to be prepared - well prepared - but it’s great fun.

Sometimes the wristwatches helped out if anything was creeping about.

Oliver had received his wristwatch for his tenth birthday. The watch was named Julian Quartz and lit up in the dark. It lit up neon blue, argon green, jasper red, vivid violet, ochre yellow and oasis orange. This was an especially good watch, and it came in very handy when the family went camping - which they often did at weekends.

One particular weekend they went to the Brecon Beacons in Wales. Oliver was in his tent at the foot of the Brecon Beacons. He had heard that some of the locals had seen strange lights in the sky and heard an almighty crash. It could have been thunder or an earth tremor - or aliens landing.

As he lay in the tent the thought of this was making his heart pound. It was pitch-black in the tent - panther black - blacker than Welsh coal dust. The slightest noise set his hair on end and his teeth chattering. Suddenly he heard a strange bleating noise and something huge brushed against the tent. All at once Julian Quartz lit up and the whole tent was bathed in an eerie neon-blue light - and the creature outside the tent disappeared. Oliver was glad of the light from the watch, and he was glad that whatever it was had disappeared!

The watch also emitted a laser beam. It could stun strangers and hypnotise them, but it could only be used in an emergency. So far Oliver had never had to use it, but he knew that when the laser beam came into action a voice said, “This is an emergency - an emergency.” He could switch the voice off if he wanted to, so as not to scare everyone.

On this particular night in the Brecon Beacons it was only a stray sheep outside the tent. The watch somehow knew this and reassured Oliver.

“It was a stray sheep. It was three years old. It was a pet sheep from Mr Ewan Evans’ farm. It was called Woolley.”

Woolley was sleepwalking, bumping into tents and scaring everyone inside.

“Thank goodness for that!” declared Oliver. “I thought it was an alien from outer space.”

None of the other family members woke up. Daisy didn’t wake up; nor did Penelope or Patrick; nor did Miles. Mog Og was in a tent of his own, and he didn’t wake up either. He was on a well-earned vacation.

Only Oliver woke up.

They all had a laugh next morning over breakfast. They all realised something must have gone bump in the night as Oliver’s hair was stuck up on end. He had to comb it ten times before it finally flattened into place. In fact, he had to put a bit of hair gel on it to flatten it. His hair was dark brown like Patrick’s hair, and it was thick and curly.

Unfortunately the hair gel attracted flies, wasps and bees, as he soon found out. All day long Miles had to help to keep the flies, wasps and bees at bay, and sometimes Oliver ended up running like a wild thing to get away from them. Daisy found this funny. She laughed so much! Eventually Oliver had to take a shower and wash his hair. He had so many flies and midges stuck to it.

That was a hilarious camping holiday in Wales - at least, Daisy thought so. Oliver was glad Julian Quartz had come to his rescue, so he was quite happy.

Miles had had a good view of the night sky, and Penelope and Patrick had had a well-earned vacation out in the country air.