Wife has some concerns re camping
Discussion
Output Flange said:
I agree with you 100% - sitting inside a plastic box on velour sofas watching TV sounds like my idea of hell.
Any yet, I have a caravan. Because with a caravan, you can still sit outside (which is why you're going camping, right?) and enjoy your surroundings. We've got an Eriba 'van, so they only reason to be inside is when it's too cold or windy to be outside, at which point you don't want to be in a tent anyway.
I've got to drive to a campsite anyway, so does knocking 10mph off my top speed on the motorway matter? No.
Does not spending hours putting stuff up and taking it away, and the inevitable barney with the Mrs, appeal? Massively.
I could say the same with a tent. Sitting under a plastic sheet in low teens temps in the dark listening to the rain! I've been there and done it. Any yet, I have a caravan. Because with a caravan, you can still sit outside (which is why you're going camping, right?) and enjoy your surroundings. We've got an Eriba 'van, so they only reason to be inside is when it's too cold or windy to be outside, at which point you don't want to be in a tent anyway.
I've got to drive to a campsite anyway, so does knocking 10mph off my top speed on the motorway matter? No.
Does not spending hours putting stuff up and taking it away, and the inevitable barney with the Mrs, appeal? Massively.
I know a lot of caravanners choose to sit in their vans all day and there are the types who make sure that their sat dish is the first thing that they sort just so they get their afternoon fix of The Chase but I use it in exactly the same way I use the tent. Sitting outside enjoying the outdoors until I decide it's too cold or wet. When youre out of season then you don't spend as much time outside anyway. We have an awning so choose to use that like the tent until we give up!
Either way, camping/caravanning is a great way for getting out as a couple, family or group. Some won't like it but lots will.
RonaldMcDonaldAteMyCat said:
The National Trust site in Langdale in the Lakes is good with clean shower and toilet facilities. You can also hire a pod or yurt if camping is not sufficiently glamping.
I cleaned them once on a hiking holiday. In exchange for a free night. 1986. I and another bloke had hiked from buttermere. Having hiked from Keswick, having hiked from patterdale, having hiked from trout beck, having hiked from the station. Ended up Grasmere, Coniston and Back to the station at Windermere.
I carried 2 pairs of clothes, a tent, sleeping bag and an emergency bog roll, plus food. My mate carried cooking equipment and a ground sheet instead of the tent. It was before mobile phones.
Is that not what camping is about?
Used to go camping with my parents with a massive frame tent and an estate boot full of everything we needed. But to celebrate their 70th birthdays, they got an easy jet flight to Portugal, a taxi ride to the nearest tent shop, bought a 2 man tent, and a stove and some other bits like 2 carry mats, then got a taxi to a prebooked beach camp site, and stayed for 3 days, before getting bus down the coast. They ate out every evening, and had a picnic lunch on the beach. They used the stove for coffee in the morning. At the end of the 2 weeks they gave the tent to a family on the last site, and got a bus back to the airport.
KingofKong said:
Ayahuasca said:
Does your knocking 10mph off everyone else’s speed because they can’t get past you matter? Yes.
Do you say the same thing to every HGV driver too? Or even my T6 van which is restricted to lower speed limits?Really odd comment.
CharlesdeGaulle said:
Ayahuasca said:
HGVs and T6 vans don’t tend to clog up narrow country roads on their way to camping spots.
What about cyclists? Pedestrians? Horse-riders? Tractors? But yeah, it's all about Mr Toad...This is my camping set up.
KingofKong said:
Ayahuasca said:
Does your knocking 10mph off everyone else’s speed because they can’t get past you matter? Yes.
Do you say the same thing to every HGV driver too? Or even my T6 van which is restricted to lower speed limits?Really odd comment.
Output Flange said:
I've got to drive to a campsite anyway, so does knocking 10mph off my top speed on the motorway matter? No.
Depends how you plan your holiday too. If you're going to drive down the motorway to a campsite and then spend a week or two there, caravans make more sense than tents. On the other hand I like to camp as part of a touring trip, so different site every night and enjoy the roads in between, hence the lightweight nature of a tent appeals to me more.oblio said:
KingofKong said:
Ayahuasca said:
Does your knocking 10mph off everyone else’s speed because they can’t get past you matter? Yes.
Do you say the same thing to every HGV driver too? Or even my T6 van which is restricted to lower speed limits?Really odd comment.
My favourite expression is 'Shed dragger'.
Ah, but you are always on the open road with a caravan. Unlike the queue of people behind you.
I used to commute to Keighley from the Yorkshire Dales daily for work from Near Settle. Up the A65. Friday Afternoon we used to clock off at 3:30
From March to September it was nose to tail with caravans doing 36 mph in a NSL and 36 in a 30
Most heading for the Lakes and avoiding the Dales obviously.
Used to boil my piss, but i was young and impatient. Then I started to commute to Burnley. Over the hills, via Gisburn. Bloody large capacity sports bikes holding me up(downhil) in my 1.4D AX. Scared of the bends obviously, which I'd take flat out in the dry. Flat out being quite slow.
I used to commute to Keighley from the Yorkshire Dales daily for work from Near Settle. Up the A65. Friday Afternoon we used to clock off at 3:30
From March to September it was nose to tail with caravans doing 36 mph in a NSL and 36 in a 30
Most heading for the Lakes and avoiding the Dales obviously.
Used to boil my piss, but i was young and impatient. Then I started to commute to Burnley. Over the hills, via Gisburn. Bloody large capacity sports bikes holding me up(downhil) in my 1.4D AX. Scared of the bends obviously, which I'd take flat out in the dry. Flat out being quite slow.
Lord Marylebone said:
oblio said:
KingofKong said:
Ayahuasca said:
Does your knocking 10mph off everyone else’s speed because they can’t get past you matter? Yes.
Do you say the same thing to every HGV driver too? Or even my T6 van which is restricted to lower speed limits?Really odd comment.
My favourite expression is 'Shed dragger'.
I should have qualified my statement as I meant to say "on motorways". I also think its 50 on single carriageways for caravans and HGV's.
dave_s13 said:
Purchased on a whim from Facebook marketplace. It's nowt fancy. Basically a sprite classic (but a special edition so has some different upholstery). Single axle. 6m long total and about 2m wide, 950kg. So you can tow it with anything focus size and above really.
Looking to upgrade to something twin axle and longer though, once we have a storage spot sorted as I can't really fit anything longer on the drive, and it does look very council to be fair.
6mx2m is hugely smaller than our tent (which clearly doesn’t have a toilet. Looking to upgrade to something twin axle and longer though, once we have a storage spot sorted as I can't really fit anything longer on the drive, and it does look very council to be fair.
Our tent is 8mx5m and then we have a further 2.5m in length for the canopy and then another 1m for the vestibule.
So 11.5m long x5m wide.
It’s officially an 8 person which is 6 at the end so 5m for 6 people and then a removable pod in the middle for 2 which is 3m long x 1.4m wide.
You could easily have another 8 in the original carpeted space which then leaves you with the cooking area and canopy for more.
My point being a lot of space for 5 so on wet days where if we choose not to go out there is so much room for everyone.
Lol it is 57.5m2!
Welshbeef said:
6mx2m is hugely smaller than our tent (which clearly doesn’t have a toilet.
Our tent is 8mx5m and then we have a further 2.5m in length for the canopy and then another 1m for the vestibule.
So 11.5m long x5m wide.
It’s officially an 8 person which is 6 at the end so 5m for 6 people and then a removable pod in the middle for 2 which is 3m long x 1.4m wide.
You could easily have another 8 in the original carpeted space which then leaves you with the cooking area and canopy for more.
My point being a lot of space for 5 so on wet days where if we choose not to go out there is so much room for everyone.
Lol it is 57.5m2!
The awning and annex more than double the usable space.Our tent is 8mx5m and then we have a further 2.5m in length for the canopy and then another 1m for the vestibule.
So 11.5m long x5m wide.
It’s officially an 8 person which is 6 at the end so 5m for 6 people and then a removable pod in the middle for 2 which is 3m long x 1.4m wide.
You could easily have another 8 in the original carpeted space which then leaves you with the cooking area and canopy for more.
My point being a lot of space for 5 so on wet days where if we choose not to go out there is so much room for everyone.
Lol it is 57.5m2!
But I know you
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