B and I (and sometimes family and friends too) are discovering Porthkerry Country Park. Somehow we’d never been here before though it’s close. We try it out for our 200 challenge and realise we’ll be back for more…

200 – The first visit! Planes and viaducts

Sunday 15 June.  Sunny and breezy. 21°C

It’s an absolutely beautiful June day, fresh and sunny. Today marks 200 challenges left till the new year and I want to do something special. I have dreams of making a big number 200 out of something cool. Maybe stones? Maybe a beach then? But just stones is boring, you sort of want grass too? I’m sure there’s somewhere that can provide these things but it takes me a while to think of Porthkerry Country Park.

I don’t know why we’ve never been. Lots of people have told me to go, and have been amazed when I say I haven’t. When we get there we all see why. It’s got everything. Playground, cafe, loos, beach and lots of different types of paths and natural environments. We find ourselves walking in the woods, passing ponds full of wriggly things, going on board walks and exploring a ginormous viaduct, all in about forty-five minutes. We’re definitely going to have to come back a lot! There’s lots of families clutching nets and buckets and I’m filled with envy.

For now, we’ve brought a plane. It’s a nice windy day and the plane is a new acquisition. I’m thinking it’s a nice alternative to the ongoing kite saga and thankfully I’m right. B has a minor pout at the start when her grandma gets it to fly and she can’t. Then she works out how to throw it into the wind.

We don’t get any somersaults (promised on the packet) but it flies beautifully if it catches the wind right. We have two or three failed attempts for every successful one but that’s ok. The joy, when the wind catches it and takes it fifty metres away, is just glorious.

As for my 200 sign… in my excitement I forgot to check my phone battery. It died an hour in, just as we were about to start building. Cue despair, and a make do solution with stones from the garden and the grassy bit round the back of the house when we got home. We will go back and do it properly very soon.

186 – A grasshopper called ‘Camo’, an amazing den, pond dipping and a lot of rocks

Saturday 28 June. Sun and cloud. 22°C

We’re back, with fully charged phone and lots of enthusiasm. First job is going to be making a big 365 for our Instagram and Facebook profile. As we failed to get the 200 we’re thinking bigger. We head towards the beach and immediately get side tracked by a small pond. B has her net and bucket this time. We’re much better equipped. She has a go at getting one of the little fishes in the bucket and we admire it. Then we have a go at getting one of the black beetle things that are hopping very quickly across the surface. There’s something that may or may not be a water boatman too – which we fail to get. Already feeling like accomplished nature challengers we head on.

Near the beach there’s a round space where a fire has been lit and I decide it’s perfect for a 365. While I’m gathering rocks, B is having fun with them. She starts off throwing them violently onto other rocks to break them. Then starts scratching pictures on them with sharp corners. Occasionally she breaks off to fetch flowers for the logo. I finish the 365 and do a 186 for good measure. B sneers at it and scratches one on a rock instead. Then we all go off to play pooh sticks on the little bridge.

Now we separate. Middle aged adults climbing up lots of steps to see where the path goes, while grandma and B try and catch a grasshopper. After about thirty minutes the adults are tired and B has made a friend. She calls it ‘Camo’ for camouflage. It is missed one hoppy leg (B swears not because of her – it explains how she was caught). After discarding the pond bucket as impractical, grandma and B obtain a plastic cup from the café and put lots of grass it for her. Then they turn it upside down, put stones on top and rest it on the café table while we have lunch so they can watch her. After lunch B releases her into a shady patch of grass where she can hear lots more grasshoppers.

In the afternoon we go for a walk in the woods and find an amazing pile of sticks waiting to be made into a den. B and I plunge in and, an hour later, we have built the “Best Den EVER!”. We are both very proud. It has a curving back entrance around the trunk of the tree and we’ve elongated the structure so there’s lots of space to sit (if not to stand).

Today feels like a pinnacle of Nature Challenge achievement. Almost half way through now and we’re beginning to do these sort of activities easily and really enjoy them. Hopefully the rest of the summer will have lots more days like these.