Mumsnet Talk

I learnt that it is better to wake DH and tell him I am creeping across him to reach my bag than to make him jump and think we have an intruder

I learnt that waterproof on the label of a jacket doesn't necessarily mean that.

I learnt that no matter how many pairs of socks the kids have you will need to treble it.

I learnt that no sleep is not conducive to happy marriage. (High winds, tent flapping, stress of being blown into lagoon = no sleep).

Oh yes - that farkin' flappin' tent. Has made me want a very expensive cotton/canvas one for next summer.

I learnt that electric hook up, a portable DVD player and fan heater are actually quite useful on a camping trip with 9 kids although DH and I mocked our friends and their "elastictrickery" as not being real camping when we arrived.

I learnt that I like mead

I learnt that it is worth shelling out a bit more for an airbed that won't deflate during the night, every night.

ah, yes, I sneaked the fan heater in too and it was a good idea of mine .

I leanrt that if you leave the electric coolbox plugged into the car for 5 hours it flattens the battery

excellent learning curve dusty.


One of our battery lights needed recharging and we took it in the car and plugged into lighter socket. It started smoking and we grabbed it and chucked it out quick but DH burnt his finger.

THANK GOD we didn't plug it in in the tent and go out for the day.

I learnt that if I drink more than 2 bottles of smirnoff ice in the evening I have to get up in the night and venture over to the loo in my pj's .

I learnt that when you decide to go over to the loo at 3am in your flowery pj's and with your 'camping' hair there is a good chance someone will see you and that when you see them in the daytime you may be embarassed .

I learnt that it may be a good idea to take ear plugs next time so that I can get to sleep without having to listen to the young couple in the next tent getting fruity.

I learnt that there is no point in taking fruit as it will just sit and rot. Camping food needs to be cake/biscuits/crips.

I learnt a new phrase of rage from DH

"I am so angry I am going to shatter into a thousand pieces".

I also learnt that extricating oneself from within a sleeping bag, that itself is within a 3 tiered poncey airmattress that has deflated, is NOT made easier invoking God, Mary, Joseph and all the Saints in Heaven, or as a reserve the Great God Dizan (from Flash Gordon).

I learnt again that the perfect camping accessory is my dp. He adores cooking real food on a barbecue - and actually produced a roast dinner compelete with roast potatoes using a fire pot, a barbecue and a one ring camping gaz stove. And the first thing he does at a new campsite is to find a tree to hang my wonderful hanging chair on.

I learnt that after a week children don't actually get any dirtier.

I learnt again that children behave much better when they have absolutely no screen time at all of any sort.

I've learnt that you can never have too many batteries and that if you go out leaving the ventilation cap of your tipi open anything under neath it gets wet.

I learned that I don't like camping as much as I think I do

I also learnt that DH is not to be trusted when he says he will get a camping stove for the holiday. He came home with this!! Cost a fortune, sounded like a hot air balloon was passing overhead and scared the pants off me when I had to light it!!

I wanted something simple like this

He said it could boil a kettle on Everest, I pointed out that we were in a flapping tent in Cornwall and he had been a little OTT!

Barrie - you would if you had my perfect camping accessory!

I learnt that I can poo in a portaloo and have overcome my portaloophobia this summer

I learnt that I've gone off camping and we will be caravanning from now on, oh and that my dh's outdoor culinary skills get better each year

I learnt that camping while seven months pregnant is great as long as you camp near the toilet block or use a cooking pot as a potty (and are be careful where you put it so you don't knock it over and get wee everywhere). Also, when camping while pregnant a decent tent flap is good as opposed to one which your dh has to shove you through onto the air mattress and push you out of.

I learnt that camping while seven months pregnant is great as long as you camp near the toilet block or use a cooking pot as a potty (and are be careful where you put it so you don't knock it over and get wee everywhere). Also, when camping while pregnant a decent tent flap is good as opposed to one which your dh has to shove you through onto the air mattress and push you out of.

I learnt that I really need to put the wee bucket away from the side of the tent where it can be blown over if the tent rocks, or somewhere that dd won't knock it over.

I learnt that EHU (hence fan heater and rechargable lantern) rocks and my camping fridge (hence cold wine and food that doesn't go off) rocks even more.

I learnt that we can survive a fortnight without watching tv or dvds.

I learnt that I still take far too many clothes.

I learnt that if you pitch a footprint, followed by a tent with SIG on a very wet pitch in the pouring rain then the grass underneath goes a delightful black colour,it dies, becomes very squelchy and smells soooo bad that tenters on neighbouring pitches think that we don't wash/shower!!

I learnt not to be a smart arse and try and be a hardened camper by making toast over the gas burner holding bread over naked flame with a metal fork.

It gets bloody hot and I had a lovely blister to prove it!!! [stupid pratt emoticon]

Makes note to self to make a trip to camping shop and buy a toast rack.

Oh God, that sounds like I leave a bucket with wee in it in my tent all day long! Can I just state that it was knocked over by the wind in the night, and when dd got up in the morning before me. Thankfully it was in a pod too so the wee was contained and not in the main bit of the tent.

<<Not sure why I felt the need to explain that so fully>>

I learnt that I don't like most other campers

I also like very clean toilet blocks.

I like trees with my camping, not windswept coastal sites.

Like surfermum, we took one holdall for clothes between us for 3 weeks and still had too many clothes - the delights of not being able to plan in the British summer - we wore shorts and t-shirts all the time and I did a wash half way through!

I love my Lakey - she's the best

I learnt that I am NOT a happy camper.

Snap hennipenni! We had to febreze it when we got back.

I learnt that when camping in the rain you can never have too many clean towels.