Geoff and Sarah Mitchell and their young family, Daisy and twins, Rupert and Archie are former neighbours who have always been jealous of our camping trips to Oman. We have finally managed to arrange a weekend away with them. It was difficult to tell who was more excited, Sarah and Geoff or the kids.

Departure time was dictated by the children’s home time from school and then Goeff was delayed at work. So a relatively late start and a bit of paper work at the border crossing meant that we did not arrive at the camp site until late in the evening and we had opted to cook a meal on the camp fire when we arrived. Big mistake. Dinner was served at about 11.30. So some very tired, but very happy campers got to bed close to 1 a.m.

The late night did nothing to curtail Friday’s activities.

Rupert and Archie scaled the nearest mountain before breakfast and named it Mount Mitchell. As far as we know no one else has named it so we expect to see the name on all future maps of the area.

A cooked breakfast was created by Geoff – complete with Curtis’s Black Pudding brought by us, all the way from Dorset.

Sarah took photos of Rupert and Archie reading their Beano Annuals by the fire. Many months later they won a special Beano award.

Breakfast provided all the fuel needed to get us to the top of a nearby ridge with views across the wadi and then on to our ‘secret’ swimming hole.

A much earlier evening meal around the camp fire meant that there was plenty of time for marshmallows afterwards.

A lazy Saturday began with another cooked breakfast followed by a cheese damper to have with coffee. All very decadent.

All too soon it was home time, but naturally we found time to visit the beehive tombs.

Thank you Mitchell’s. A fabulous weekend.