A glass of wine sat around the campfire...

[SeaShellsAndTheInlawInvasion]

so I am fed up with the rest of MN (this whole mamazon shite really is the ,last straw), so I am assuming that if any of you are trolling you are showing extraordinary persistence by delving into the thrills of iceytec and are worth chatting to.

So anyway, hi, I am SeaShells, I have 2 dc and have been camping and trapsing through the Great Outdoors all my life. I hang out here as my love of camping is more a love of the countryside and life, and you lot have a similar outlook.

< admires well made fire and tastefully arranged logs with throws>

[RantyMcRantpants]

Can I join in please ? :)

We camp in the October half term and love it. The boys never get cold and I just wear plenty of layers and have plenty of bedding and a hot water bottles.

[Funtimewincies]

Hi, Dh and I have started camping with 2 ds under 5 this year. Dh has never camped before but I went a lot with Guides when I was younger.

We're very minimalist as we have to fit everything into the back (and under the children's feet, down the sides, etc...) of a Ford Focus as we can't afford a roof rack yet.

of luxuries like moonchairs, it's fold up picnic chairs for us at the moment. I do love my space saving Trangia though.

[Slubberdegullion]

Hello lovely people.

What a good idea for a thread SeaShells.

mn is utterly bonkers and I have hidden the lot, apart from here. My active convos must look like it did in 2002, blissfully slow moving.

I will not talk about the icey-tek

[Slubberdegullion]

i am camping this weekend. the forecast is good so we are off. hurrah

[Funtimewincies]

Completely agree how weird MN is at the moment, although it seems to have been getting steadily more bitchy as the economy hit the skids.

It's getting a bit too Lord of The Flies, so thanks SeaShells for somewhere warm and safe to hunker down .

[ENormaSnob]

I am hoping we are going to have a weekend in October.

I absolutely love the autumn.

I am working nights all this weekend so no camping for us

[Beamur]

I'm going camping tomorrow! And the weather forecast for where we're going is actually not bad

[SamsGoldilocks]

ooh I'm a bit late pitching up but i have a full bottle of . We don't camp often enough - other life seems to keep getting in the way but me, DH and the 3 dc's (5 and under) LOVE it. Where's your favourite spot to go?

[winefairy]

Hello all. Not really qualified to talk about the 'camping' aspect as my lovely bell tent has yet to arrive but feel I am justified in joining in as 'wine' was mentioned and I am very qualified to talk about that!

MN can be very, very strange at times and it is lovely to find an area that seems very genuine and avoids all the histrionics. And yet retains a sense of humour!

[Fennel]

We went last weekend at Bigbury. We managed to pitch in a gale and spend Saturday in a mist, when the rest of the country had baking heat. DP snagged the tent on a barbed wire fence in the wind, and the ancient camping stove leaked gas. But Sunday was hot. and we needed a new stove anyway. Only 2 weeks til the next camping trip, a festival in Dorset.

[Oblomov]

Can I join ? I have a glass of rose as we speak. I tendto drink alot more wine when I am caravaning, than when I am at home. Why is that then ?
Mn has been very weird recenly. And the mamazon thing was finale straw. is here safe, from all that nonsense?
we have been caravaning twice this year, but are not due to go again until august, that feels like ages away.

[scaryt]

ooh campfire and wine, perfect. I'm new here really, hello.

[iheartdusty]

may I pull up a folding chair?



just one weekend so far this year but it was for a woodland wedding so extra special.
lots of spontaneous trips are envisaged in our newish pop-ups, and a longer trip overseas in the summer with Outwell doodah and lovely new bivouac stove.

[glitterkitty]

Hello campers (can I say that in a non-hi-de-hi welsh voice? No.)

Nice virtual campfire.

I have been here for 5 yrs and I miss the funny threads where ppl took the piss, but in a witty way, and it was all somehow supportive. It does seem a bit fraught and less mellow lately. I saw a bit of the mamazon thing- but it gave me 'aitch and the huns' flashbacks and had to hide the thread.

[Beamur]

Here you go glitterkitty

[glitterkitty]

Thank you very much Beamur.

Perhaps its like lord of the flies, and every now and then it goes a bit feral on here.

Off to Dorset soon. My low table and glowsticks should arrive any day. I am really looking forward to my frozen wine bags by the fire.

[Vibrant]

[Beamur]

I love Dorset - one of my favourite places. We're off to North Wales for a weekend with chums tomorrow, a week in Devon next month and a slightly longer trip up to Scotland towards the end of the summer and maybe the odd weekend inbetween.
My hair is already slightly frizzy at the very prospect.

[Lilyloo]

Am so pleased that last weekend was slightly more warm/dry than torrential rain. Fills me with enthusiasm (if not wine) for next weekend. I really do love camping (minus the pitching and packing) i really do !

[MisSalLaneous]

Oooh, what a lovely thread. Have nothing to add, I'm just joining in for the wine and fine company. :)

[Lovecat]

I'm currently trying to work out how to pack everything in the car for Latitude. DH has decreed we must pack light (even though we're away for 1 night more than the last time we went) as we could barely fit everything in last time around.... and I seem to have bought a ton more camping kit since then, but now I have SIMs so can hopefully dispense with the roll-mats, sheets and fleece blankets that the airbeds deemed necessary and have some room for the tut necessary items I have purchased instead... it's only 2 weeks away, I need to have a practice packing sesh without DH being around to glare suspiciously at things he doesn't know I've bought...

Why is buying camping kit so addictive? I'm not normally a shopaholic but something about camping ignites the spendthrift in me...

Actually, now I've had a few glasses of virtual wine, can I make a confession? We have a work-led charity volunteering day tomorrow at a nature reserve on the other side of London. I am extremely excited about going there, even though I will be spending all day up to my thighs in a litter-clogged stream, because....
.
.
.
... when I looked at Googlemaps for directions, it revealed that there is a huge branch of Decathlon slap next to the park, and we knock off 2 hours before it closes

[MisSalLaneous]

Hahaha Lovecat. Make a list of what you've got first, or you'll be like me every time I go to Decathlon - all these essentials everywhere. It's the grown-up version of a sweetie shop!

[SeaShellsAndTheInlawInvasion]

Oooh this campfire get together is looking cosy!! I have no more to add as I've been out drinking in RL and this typing is taking a lot of concentration, but lovely to see everyone!

[Lovecat]

List would be good. I actually think I have everything I need (except for an Iceytek but I doubt they sell them there), I just love looking!

I have to keep reminding myself when I cut through Wilkos to the station that I don't need any more camping pillows, I already have four! (there are only 3 of us, I know there was a reason we needed 4 but it doesn't spring readily to mind at this hour...)

Actually I need a tarp. Well, need is such a strong word... it would be v. useful. And I am afeared to buy one from belltent because they use effing bastard Yodel to deliver who are LIARS and have failed to deliver both the base for my to-be-home-made tent carpet and the tealight chandelier that I bought in a moment of madness last month, despite me being in most days. Their latest lie was that they tried to redeliver yesterday at 10pm and the day before at 5.45am. Strangely enough, we were in both days/times but they didn't leave a card...

Sorry, must not let Yodel-rage detract from the loveliness of this thread!

with marshmallows, anyone?