Camping in the rain

[Yamin151]

And I thought the fan heater was the absolute nadir of this conversation ...

Hey! Who said that camping has to be cold, damp and miserable?? I'm all for a bit of comfort and warmth. And having tried the alternative, in the rain, when you feel permanently slightly damp and cold, I m happy to have come far enough from my comfort zone to forego bricks and mortar!!

[scary mum]

I posted earlier on saying that I thought you were all my soulmates, but I cannot understand camping, particularly in the rain with a wet dog. I love the outdoors, I love walking, but just can't do camping. What's wrong with a nice B&B? Anyway, my post disappeared. Was it that offensive?

[southbucks3]

Scary, until you have popped your head out of the tent in the new forest to find out what the noise is and discover a snow white baby donkey and its mummy chomping the grass you just wouldn't get it.
Or lie back and watch the clouds of a welsh hill valley cast shadows across the grass at dusk when you are camping at the bottom.
Or share a glass of wine with friends and a very ugly, very spotty toad sitting under your chair in the tent all night, until it is time to sleep and the women insist it is evicted.
Or umpire a campsite game of cricket with twenty kids who all met for the first time that evening.
Or sting your bum behind the hedge at night when you can't be bothered to negotiate the trip to the loos and laugh so much that everyone clocks what you are up to anyway.
Or lie back reading a sad rag as your kids go feral, swim and play in the river all day like a happier scene from Lord of the flies, stripping the BlackBerry bushes bare and catching Cray fish...but chickening out of cooking them.
Or lie back to sleep, waiting for the jaberwocky to cone visiting.

It's just a different world!

[Yamin151]

Scary, until you have popped your head out of the tent in the new forest to find out what the noise is and discover a snow white baby donkey and its mummy chomping the grass you just wouldn't get it.
Or lie back and watch the clouds of a welsh hill valley cast shadows across the grass at dusk when you are camping at the bottom.
Or share a glass of wine with friends and a very ugly, very spotty toad sitting under your chair in the tent all night, until it is time to sleep and the women insist it is evicted.
Or umpire a campsite game of cricket with twenty kids who all met for the first time that evening.
Or sting your bum behind the hedge at night when you can't be bothered to negotiate the trip to the loos and laugh so much that everyone clocks what you are up to anyway.
Or lie back reading a sad rag as your kids go feral, swim and play in the river all day like a happier scene from Lord of the flies, stripping the BlackBerry bushes bare and catching Cray fish...but chickening out of cooking them.
Or lie back to sleep, waiting for the jaberwocky to cone visiting.

It's just a different world!

Poetic. Just perfectly put.

I posted earlier on saying that I thought you were all my soulmates, but I cannot understand camping, particularly in the rain with a wet dog. I love the outdoors, I love walking, but just can't do camping. What's wrong with a nice B&B? Anyway, my post disappeared. Was it that offensive?

And why not a B and B? Errrr, apart from it being restricted room (can you tell I have boys??), it's so much more expensive. SB has sold the idea of camping perfectly. I hates the idea until I do it, now I love it. And I've noticed you make far more of our dodgy weather. Instead of looking out of a window onto a grey day and feeling restricted, you are outside of your tent anytime there is not a drop of rain, you make the most of every dry moment (and even some wet ones!)
And my boys told me yesterday that their favourite sound, presumably because denotes holiday to them, is the sound of zips on tents! And here's us thinking that was annoying!!

[kenyancowgirl]

I was brought up camping in Africa - we would chuck everything in the Landy and off into the bush - pull up somewhere and strike up camp - no toilet blocks and showers, no "bbqs only on breeze blocks" - no people - if you didn't count the local Maasai who would always find us out and get my dad to bless their children (no, we didn't fully understand it either - he's agnostic...) We would plan to stay for a week or two - moving around if the whim took us - twice we have been stuck in the bush for nearly a month as various coups took place around the country, meaning if we had visited a town or village, legally we wouldn't have been allowed out again - survival in the bush is not hard with careful rationing - and a gun for the odd guinea fowl...and the helpful Maasai who would supply milk and posho. I suspect for health and safety, no one would do this with quite the cavalier attitude we adopted, nowadays.

For toads, read scorpions - we would have them running about in front of the fire and when camp was struck there would always be a nest cosy under the tent...For deer read lion - literally we would hear the cough, cough outside the tent and my dad whispering (mum and dad would be in another little tent next to us) "keep quiet" and the next morning we would ignore the dinner size paw prints all round the tents and chairs. We have had to jump in the Landy as a herd of elephants troop past, getting to the river - or even worse, hippos - you never get between a hippo and water. And swimming in a river, happy as larry, to be told that friends who happened to have stopped 100 metres up, round a bend, couldn't get near the river for two enormous crocodiles....

And the sun shone always - except when it didn't and if you have never experienced an African monsoon rainstorm then you haven't experienced rain...all the animals come out to celebrate - the sheer weight of the water is frightening - tents get battered down, everywhere turns into a river - flash floods in dry river beds are commonplace - and one of the most dangerous things ever...and then it is all over again, just as soon as it started...and it is like a new day all over again - the birds and animals and trees fair singing with joy that they have had a drink again....

I'm afraid, I have tried on many occasions here but do struggle to maintain a happy face surrounded by other people and the interminable damp....!!

[southbucks3]

See....some people always have to do one upmanship.... personally spiders, toads and jaberwockies are enough excitement for me. Having camped in the everglades and resorted to using super strength american nytol to get to sleep while listening to alligators rolling about, I know my limits.

The experiences you had sound positively terrifying kcg. No wonder the ofsted inspector did exactly as you told him!

I love British camping, it may not be action hero exciting, but feeding a friendly mallard, seagul or squirrel whilst propped awkwardly in your collapsible camp chair is still special.

Plus tolerating other campers is a good lesson in life, although I have upped camp before (twice) as I couldn't stand the fellow field dwellers....Dh knows if I am not happy I will ruin the holiday, so toes the line.

[kenyancowgirl]

Actually, I am bowing to your superior staying power - I manage one or two nights before the black mist settles firmly in my head and I want to go home... I persevere because I do know it is a particularly special thing for boys and dads to do when they are growing up. One of the best camping weekends was when the boys went to the Gower with their dad and the dog and I stayed at home and got a takeaway!!

Our tent gets used every year, regardless, as both boys love having a camp out with friends in the garden every summer!

[Yamin151]

I was brought up camping in Africa - we would chuck everything in the Landy and off into the bush - pull up somewhere and strike up camp - no toilet blocks and showers, no "bbqs only on breeze blocks" - no people - if you didn't count the local Maasai who would always find us out and get my dad to bless their children (no, we didn't fully understand it either - he's agnostic...) We would plan to stay for a week or two - moving around if the whim took us - twice we have been stuck in the bush for nearly a month as various coups took place around the country, meaning if we had visited a town or village, legally we wouldn't have been allowed out again - survival in the bush is not hard with careful rationing - and a gun for the odd guinea fowl...and the helpful Maasai who would supply milk and posho. I suspect for health and safety, no one would do this with quite the cavalier attitude we adopted, nowadays.

For toads, read scorpions - we would have them running about in front of the fire and when camp was struck there would always be a nest cosy under the tent...For deer read lion - literally we would hear the cough, cough outside the tent and my dad whispering (mum and dad would be in another little tent next to us) "keep quiet" and the next morning we would ignore the dinner size paw prints all round the tents and chairs. We have had to jump in the Landy as a herd of elephants troop past, getting to the river - or even worse, hippos - you never get between a hippo and water. And swimming in a river, happy as larry, to be told that friends who happened to have stopped 100 metres up, round a bend, couldn't get near the river for two enormous crocodiles....

And the sun shone always - except when it didn't and if you have never experienced an African monsoon rainstorm then you haven't experienced rain...all the animals come out to celebrate - the sheer weight of the water is frightening - tents get battered down, everywhere turns into a river - flash floods in dry river beds are commonplace - and one of the most dangerous things ever...and then it is all over again, just as soon as it started...and it is like a new day all over again - the birds and animals and trees fair singing with joy that they have had a drink again....

I'm afraid, I have tried on many occasions here but do struggle to maintain a happy face surrounded by other people and the interminable damp....!!

Am ignoring my natural tendency to stick two fingers up to this kind of twenty-five puma ship because 1. I know Kenyancowgirl is not like this and 2. Because her description is like something out if rudyard Kipling and so so evocative, and pretty darn scary! How the heck did you do that?

I'm with SB, we were thinking of camping in Everglades when away recently, but suspect I could never have coped with it, knowing the alligators were around. And I have to confess a big warm feeling in my tummy when I read SB "defence" of British camping, as she puts it so well and captures all that is good about us Brits and our love of camping.

[Yamin151]

And the other great thing about camping? Being cruel to the kids and sending them off with the bucket of washing up while you kick back with another glass of white.........and taking a photo as they sulk, lol!

[kenyancowgirl]

I managed it because I didn't know any better and saw it all as one big adventure...I think it was my folks who took the risks - although going to Kenya with a 2 year old and a 6 months old baby, to live upcountry, speaking no Swahili and with no other white people for miles around was probably a bigger risk! It's only now looking back that I kind of think - well, that was pretty dangerous! But I wouldn't have given it up for the world and do wish I could give my boys that experience.

I love sb's description - and in my head, that is what it is all about - whether you are here or in glorious Africa, the principle of "why camp" is the same - and honestly, that is why we persevere every year and camp for a few days - it's just the principle gets a bit muddied with my memory of how (to me) it SHOULD be!!
xx