Hikerkidz Meetup at Padley Gorge

Sunday 28th July was the day for the third #Hikerkidz family hike. The HikerKidz meet at Padley Gorge, in the Peak District, towards Sheffield.

A total of 5 families had agreed to come along, but only 3 did in the end, due to the weather being rather naughty on the morning of the meet up! As we drove along the motorway, I was surprised we didn’t end up in an accident with the rain as bad as it was.

We arrived in one piece.

We parked up and used our National Trust passes to pay for our parking. The Longshaw Estate is a National Trust property and we were walking along side it on our route.

The families arrived on time and it had stopped raining for a while so we marched on (after a toilet stop!) and got on our way.

Finley started jabbering away to the boys we met before at the second meet up, while Molly and her new friend Riley held hands and skipped along! It was lovely to catch up with Bernice and her family, and to meet some friendly faces from Instagram.

Ages ranged from 3 to 10 and everybody got along. All of the adults mingled together chatting away, while the kids wandered in and out of the trees and onto the duck pond.

I had brought along some bread so we stood for a while and fed the ducks. They were very hungry!

On we walked, down past some grazing sheep and towards the climbing wall in the quarry. The kids stood and watched a few people scrambling up asking excitedly whether we would be joining them! Alex, Rowans father said he would have brought his ropes if he had realised! The kids quizzed him on ant hills and all things scouts related, as he is a scout leader along with his partner Emmy.

Lunch!

We got to Grindleford cafe rather quickly and managed to eat our picnic out of the rain in their shelter. Maverick snacks had kindly sent some bits and pieces for us to nibble on, so the kids got out their bags and rummaged to see what they could find. There were prompt cards to have some fun, but surprisingly nobody knew what a rap was! I certainly wasn’t going to demonstrate. So we settled for pinning a tail on an unsuspecting victim.

The rain came down.

The way back to Longshaw brought the rain. As Padley Gorge is quite sheltered by trees, we didn’t really feel much of it. I created an adventure sheet specifically for Padley Gorge with a number of curiosities to find on the way around. Examples are the Bed Rock, the Money Tree and the Jammy Dodger Wheel! The kids got quite involved but the rain sadly soaked the sheets they were given.

A few hours in and the kids were feeling tired, but they plowed on and we arrived back at the duck pond. As we sat to say hello to the ducks, the rain came pummeling out of the clouds. We had to make a rather hasty exit to the cars and got significantly soaked in the process! We did manage to grab a picture in the safety of some trees. But, as you can see, the kids were happy and excited with the sudden downpour.

Happy Children

The meet up ended with happy soggy children and happy soggy parents. We all agree that it had been a lovely day, and the kids were sad to see each other leave. It is so nice to meet with other like-minded families and to get the kids be natural and free in the outdoors.

I want to say a big thank you to the children and the parents who came and participated. To Maverick Snacks for providing the fuel and entertainment. And to Ordnance Survey for being on board with #HikerKidz with their #GetOutside program and offering a discount in their shop for all who came to the meet up. Don’t forget to use HikerKidz10 for a 10% discount in the OS Shop.

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