AIBU to let them camp on an island overnight?

[chomalungma]

(Inspired by another thread)

We are on holiday in the Lake District. Lovely cottage. DH is working away. DC's have seen a lovely island and want to go camping there for a few nights. Light a campfire, cook for themselves. They'll get there by sailing boat. Youngest is 6 and oldest is 14.

Would you let them go?

Don't forget matches, OP, so they can have buttered eggs for breakfast and be able to fry the pemmican.

Hope the 6 year old will be able to swim all the way round the island by the end of the holiday (not one foot on the lake bed!).

I think it'll be a great bonding and growing experience for them all. Go for it.

Well, to be fair, the 6yo is almost 7, and isn't actually the youngest, because she will be staying at home won't she.

Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers won't drown.

But @IceCreamSummer20 better drowned than duffers!

Will they be able to find enough stones to hold the tents down?

This is a fascinating insight into how people read literally no part of a thread before they post.

@SixesAndEights One might almost say, "By Jove!"

(The Coot Club and Big Six are on Amazon video in case anyone fancies some nostalgia.)

@Witchend Ooh, ooh, are you a Lone Pine Five fan as well?

Don’t worry about it overmuch. When a thing’s done, it’s done, and if it’s not done right, do it differently next time. Worrying never made a sailor.

When my kids were small DH read them a bedtime story each night.
Two chapters a night
they got through the first 12 books
and then the kids read them for themselves
He'd not known them before
I'd always loved them

for ANYBODY whose summer is dragging - get them and lose yourself in a wonderful world
beautifully written

@ListeningQuietly I was just going to ask whether they have to call one of their friends Nancy, although that isn’t her real name, as pirates are ruthless!

@FlamedToACrisp yes all of Malcolm Saville really, also Monica Edwards.

I wouldn’t recommend this. Look what happened to Sophie Hook - abducted from a tent and murdered.

Indeed @womanaf.

I had less than no idea what pemmican was when I read the books as a child. I think I filed it mentally under 'potted meat', something Enid Blyton made sound delicious, even if it now strikes horror into my vegetarian heart.

How I longed to camp on Wildcat Island when I was a child (and a teenager, and a young adult, and an older adult ...)

As long as the 6 year old can take his foot off the bottom of the lake for a split second, everything will be fine.

I was thinking Swallows and Amazons too.

If you are serious then no for the following reasons .

1. The islands are owned by people or the NT. So they shouldn’t be on them.
2. You are not to light fires in the Lake District.
3. The Mountain Rescue Teams are really stretched at the moment they had loads of call outs yesterday more than the last four months.
4. Although the Lakes look beautiful they are not always what they seem as you can’t see the bottom lots of people drown. The water is extremely cold and there are shelves that suddenly fall away. Some people have found the cold takes your breath away. There were two young brothers died in Ullswater a few years ago.
5. You’d be irresponsible.

@DappledThings did you go for the name Titty instead?

Watch out for Pirates. Especially a very fierce one called Nancy.

No way.

I know someone who had a horse called Titters but she was always Titty to the stable girls🤣

Nancy was my favourite, too, @ListeningQuietly.

Wonderful books, they gave me a love of boats that is still with me, nearly 60 years on.

[quote ineedaholidaynow]@DappledThings did you go for the name Titty instead?[/quote]
That was sadly never on the shortlist. And Nancy was taken by a close friend. Could have gone for Ruth of course!

Many of the Islands in the lakes are privately owned so permission is likely required from the landowner. It sounds a great idea though and a memory they'll treasure. If the 14yr old is sensible and responsible why not, are you going to be contactable or near by?

I am always a bit ashamed that I have never read Swallows and Amazons. I have read, many times, Enid Blyton's Secret Island.