Camping - semi Lotus related

[steve_weegie]

NOTHING tastes as good as a bacon buttie someone else has cooked on a petrol burner at 7am!

[Dominic]

oooh, camping. Waking up in a tent soaking wet with condensation, having had a dreadful night's kip trying to roll over and discovering you can't, you're in a tent, leaving your shoes/walking boots outside so they're filled with sh!te, mix liberally withthe smell of you & another person in a sweaty tent all night. Mmm, fun!

I think I'm passed it...

Spend £50 and wake up in a nice double bed and have someone else cook your breakfast for you. Far less likely to die on the drive home from sleep depravation too

Hotels & B&Bs would not have been invented if we were supposed to stay in tents.

I have heard far too many horror stories of wet miseralble weekends stuck in campsites with noisy neighbours.... deffo not for me.

I also know too many people who have spent £££££s on camping gear, only to use it once or twice.... £££££s far better spent on B&Bs.. IMHO

[MacK]

Mack, that effort deserves a medal..

For what? Half filling the boot? You can easily get a week's worth of stuff in so 2 nights is a piece of piss

And that's with space in the boot for the roof

some more tips:

1. Tent goes behind the seats (a 3 man tent will easily fit)
2. sleeping bag(s) can be tied above the pax footrest (assuming you have one)
3. cheapo inflatable mats pack smaller than the cheapo foam ones (I got some from Asda for about a tenner each)
4. Like John's pic, pack small amounts into lots of bags, much easier to jam stuff in that way

1. We had two tents, so the roof went behind the seats.
2. Passenger was 6'4" so nothing went on the footrest except his size 12's!
3. Agree.
4. There is plenty space above the wheel arches etc inside the clam, perfect for a sleeping mat.

[cla5h]

Lots of good advice there, chaps, many thanks - should be enough to get me started.

To the couple of dissenting voices saying "book into a hotel/B&B" - that's what I've always done up to now, but I fancy the flexibility of being able to go off on a nice long drive, unplanned, without having to turn back halfway through the day to get home again.

Valid point about people buying camping gear, then never using it, though. That's why I'd like to keep the cost down initially, in case I don't like it.

[Shug]

Listen Greg & Dom, I know what you say about the camping - seem to remember thinking the same thing a few times on waking up in a tent

The thing isn't the mechanics of camping on your own - the whole point is the community thing. I'd never go camping by myself (or just me & Elaine for example) I go to be in a group of nutters and not to have to really behave very well. Le Mans, Campaganzas, what are the combining factors? - drinking and larks. It is really a great thing to wake up within staggering distance of the worlds greatest motor race, or a stunning sunrise over a deserted beach...

Still, some folk can't escape their wee comfort bubble

[tut]

May try it again this year, but in my own tent this time, and an air bed that stays up.

tut

[RDH]

Listen Greg & Dom, I know what you say about the camping - seem to remember thinking the same thing a few times on waking up in a tent

I have to agree with Greg and Dom to an extent - did the whole camping thing years ago. Kinda past it - but quite like the idea of stopping anywhere - without a predetermined B&B to head for.

I'd never go camping by myself

From the campest man on the forum

I go to be in a group of nutters and not to have to really behave very well. Le Mans, Campaganzas, what are the combining factors? - drinking and larks. It is really a great thing to wake up within staggering distance of the worlds greatest motor race, or a stunning sunrise over a deserted beach...

Agreed

[GregR]

Don't think I've never done it! I used to be seriously into munro bagging and camped and got lashed all the time. The most recent trip to do Ben More on Mull in '05 was the final straw... the midgies (running from them), the hangover in the stuffy tent with stale odour of flatulence....

As for OP - no need to go for a day's driving and turn back because you haven't got your tent. Plan your route even in the loosest sense and you'll find a helpful & frinedly B&B without any hassle at all

[GilesM]

We’ve do quite a lot of camping and usually take the Elise, we have two tents, normally take the larger one (unless it’s just for one or two nights) a Vango Equinox 4, which is quite big, four man. This tent goes nicely behind the seats, and the rolled up roof fits on top. Two sleeping bags, two good mattresses that roll up really quite small, a small stove, the latest light weight ones with the screw on gas cylinders are really good, very powerful for the size. Billy cans, cups, plates and all that stuff, and there’s definitely also enough room for clothes for two, for two weeks in an Elise.

I think camping is great, but I like somewhere with decent facilities, washing in a cold stream and wiping with a doc leaf doesn’t sound too good, however having said that, Lemans was good, but the facilities there weren’t exactly 5 star.

Have fun

Giles

[ExigeKen]

I have had great and bad experiences of camping 15 days of solid rain in July at Loch Ness but other times when the sun comes out have been amazing and there are some very beautiful places to camp in Scotland. It really is you pay your money and you take your chance.

[cla5h]

I think I've got romantic notions of lighting a small fire by the side of a babbling brook on a warm summer's evening, whilst sipping some wine that I've chilled in the stream.

In reality, the rain would come down, I'd feel manky the next morning as I've nowhere to wash, and the missus would be complaining that she had nowhere to plug the hair-dryer in.
Suppose I could go to campsites, but then you've got screaming weans, and neds threatening you with a broken bucky bottle.

Realistically, I wouldn't be wanting to make this my one and only summer holiday - possibly just heading off for one night a couple of times a year.

[Scotty C]

I do both. depends on who you with and how long you are away.

Would not have liked to have woken up in a tent last saturday in Sort Bill.

Well not a small one with stu and cammy the bed crasher

I tend to avoid midget season on the west coast.

Scotty C

Ps would all you small people stop going on about stuff behind you seats

[MacK]

I think I've got romantic notions of lighting a small fire by the side of a babbling brook on a warm summer's evening, whilst sipping some wine that I've chilled in the stream.

In reality, the rain would come down, I'd feel manky the next morning as I've nowhere to wash,

You can wash in the stream you've camped beside

Suppose I could go to campsites, but then you've got screaming weans, and neds threatening you with a broken bucky bottle.

Realistically, I wouldn't be wanting to make this my one and only summer holiday - possibly just heading off for one night a couple of times a year.

Not all camp-sites are full of "screaming weans, and neds". Get a bit of distance from the cities and there will be less chance of meeting neds.

[Titanium S1 111S (gla)]

I’ve done my share of camping too and on the two or three nights in a lifetime when the weather is good and the midges are tolerable there is absolutely nothing to beat it. The rest of the time it’s pretty grim and I’m with Dominic, Greg etc.

Which is why my real passion is sailing, can you imagine a more pointless activity. Going nowhere – slowly – at truly massive expense – to sleep in a boat which is only marginally better than camping.

Ah I hear you say, it is really about a natter with your pals and a few drinks. One word “Pub!â€

[RDH]

Anyway, I’m looking forward to my sailing holiday in November. Gibraltar to St. Lucia. Could do it in 8 hours and watch TV on the way but I’ll take 4 weeks. Madness!! But why not?

Back to work

Sounds like a good one! What size of boat/yacht/ship?