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>

What was pemmican? I asked my mum as a child and she said corned beef. Which seemed distinctly unexotic...

Having looked on Wiki, Pemmican is a concentrated mixture of fat and protein used as a nutritious food. The word comes from the Cree word pimîhkân, which itself is derived from the word pimî, "fat, grease". It was invented by the native peoples of North America. It was widely adopted as a high-energy food by Europeans involved in the fur trade and later by Arctic and Antarctic explorers, such as Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen.
The specific ingredients used were usually whatever was available; the meat was often bison, moose, elk, or deer. Fruits such as cranberries and saskatoon berries were sometimes added.

So, I think what the Swallows took was actually corned beef but they pretended in was pemmican in the style of Scott and Amundsen.

Ahh. Sorry, I was being v. lazy there, should have wiki-ed myself! Must confess I couldn't get into S&A, I enjoyed the first book but the ones thereafter I found rather dull.

No, no, I wondered myself as I was typing out my post!
I loved S&A, and re-read it recently in an attempt (vain) to get the DC to read it. Much more plausible than Famous Five.

DH is currently reading DD The Faraway Tree in an attempt to get her into his childhood faves. I am actually aghast at how dull it is on re-reading! Gigi (not the film, it's about a merry-go-round horse) was a hit though. Hoping to get her into the Uncle books by JP Martin next, they were my addiction when I was a kid...

Lovecat what is 'tilt at a target'?! I very am impressed by your achievements, I just wanted to marry Robin Hood. Didnt achieve that either. Although I have morphed into Friar Tuck fairly successfully.

I prefered Famous Five, although I had worrying 'Anne' tendencies (playing house by making beds of dried seaweed (ugh) etc, not being a girly weed I hasten to add) think camping may be an extension of that....

Happy birthday scaryt (for yesterday) I hope you had a nice day. Sorry to hear of your poor DS being unwell. There seems a lot going about at the moment- caused by change of weather? (my mum says)

scary, hope ds had a good night and is feeling better this morning.

Glitter I think tilt at taget is to do with jousting, lovecat will fill you in I'm sure.
VERY impressed lovecat btw. Dh and I did archery before the dc came along. Not a big fan of horses to that's where my medieval aspirations came to a halt.
Having a hawk would be SO cool. A camping hawk. You could send it out in the morning to fetch you a brace of coneys and maybe a paper.

Pemmican sounds grim level 11.

Talking of books for the dc, I want to stock up my kindle before we head off. Have a 6 and 7 year old. Tried a few Famous Fives but to be honest I was cringing and guffawing too much which put the girls off. Any other series you guys can suggest that would be fun for them and me to read?

Roald Dahl? Moomins? Borrowers (v thrifty)?

ta glitter. Have read most of Dahl, but haven't done Charlie and the chocolate factory so that might be a go-er. Dh read first Borrowers to them, are there more?

Will investigate moomins.

kindle testing

Chippy, it's not very nippy is it, posting on the kindle?

Looks like I can do it though so will be able to pop in and wave whilst on the ABA.

Me, showing a stranger around a camping thread. "So here you are, this is the thread where people with lots of camping knowledge exchange frank views and discussion, with a humorous overtone".

Stranger "sorry, I'm a bit confused. What do gin, jousting, pants on fire, pemmican, Brillenzakjes, Haven caravans and Vick have to do with camping ?".

Me. "Ah sorry, you've stumbled into our parallel universe thread. Let me show you some bell tents and a picture of a dog guarding a stove"

Blimey! its like reading an English comprehension if you miss a day away from this - I have literally sat with a pen and paper trying to follow the train of thought.

I feel like a newsreader doing a round-up.

So first, Happy Birthday to Scary, hope the poorly boy is better soon.

Glitter, Haven eh? (disappointed, not angry - but at least you got me off the hook for daring to go Forrin without a tent )

Lovecat - hope the mouldy tent doesn't ruin your holiday, hopefully the weather will pick up soon......

Chippy, I'm in the throes of packing round annoying useless husbands and technology. I remembered this morning that, whilst I'd packed three european plugs, a DS, a multiple headphone converter, a digital camera and a portable DVD player, I had not actually packed a single pair of pants for myself.

Sal - good choice of husband and lovely treat!

Waves exuberantly to Seashells, Reshape and Funtime.

Slubber, I'm still Cross because my Kindle STILL hasn't turned up! I wanted to spend these last couple of days lazily downloading stuff and instead I will do my usual at the airport and spend £300 on a bag of books weighing a ton, which I will then have to lug round.

Harumph.

Crikey, what a ridiculously long post. Looks like my new Travels with my Tent thread which I'll start tomorrow will be well due by then!

Have a good day all, will catch up with you later.

Happy Birthday Scary and hope that your little boy is feeling better soon. Is it a campsite in NW Wales you're looking for, or general stuff to do?

'Tilting at the target' - yup, jousting term. A tilt was a barrier (often with a target on it) for lancing training and competition, I think

Peep around a bush to wave 'hello .... is this the bit of mumsnet that is nice & interesting & funny & not all shouty and ranty ?' .... and can I just say Mallory Towers to anyone still here ....
(gets out crumpets and toasting fork)
Could I bother all / any of you to tell me where you cook when camping ... outside I assume when weather permits but otherwise ... in the tent ? boot of car ?
Am panicking & packing for Cornwall (Treloan) on Tuesday - 10 days with DP, DS & DSD - can't wait

Morning pingusmum! (and everyone else)

I loved Malory Towers but not til I was a bit older (about 10 - possibly I was a late developer, I was into Roger Lancelyn Green & Henry Treece's Greek mythology books up til that point, didn't 'get' girly books at all unless they involved horses! - Slubber, how about Alan Garner? Elidor etc.?)

I cook outside, in the sun, in the rain, never in the tent. Not considered the car boot but again, fire safety would lead me to suspect that it's a no go, given the huge tank full of petrol in close proximity to a cooking flame... I am going to get a tarp eventually to cook beneath in inclement weather, but in the meantime a pop-up gazebo (without sides) is my rain cover of choice where campsites allow it.

We're away to Cornwall (Holywell Bay) on Sunday - I can't wait either!:)

Yep, tilting at a target is a jousting thingy. Several years before DD, we went to a place in Scotland that specialised in Le Trec, which is a v odd but v enjoyable horse sport - 1st part orienteering on horseback, 2nd part obstacle course - and the obstacles can form just about anything. The guy who was doing the course was the Olympic gold medallist at the time, so the obstacles were fairly extreme - we were cantering weaving around poles, beneath low-hanging foam sticks (hanging sideways onto the horse - great fun!) and grabbing things off poles set at odd angles as we thundered past them. He also threw in a bit of jousting, much to my joy.

Hmm, a camping hawk... if I could train it to fetch the Guardian and make the tea of a morning that would be cool...:o

hi all (lured back by talk of Swallows and Amazons )

We have been camping this last weekend, at a festival (Tolpuddle, which is a sort of leftie socialist thing, it was lots of fun and not too rainy) and now we are gearing up to go to the Scillies camping for 10 days in early Aug. No cars so it has to be all carry-able, which is quite a challenge for 10 days in the UK cos it might rain for all of it. We are packing lots of books, including Swallowdale for the dds.

Scillies! You lucky lucky thing. Thats my dream trip. Along with hebridies.

How on earth do you manage with no cars?

I hope it'll be nice, but I am a bit worried that 10 days in a field with no car and no indoor activity options could go horribly wrong in a British Summer.

We had a horrible week camping in the outer hebrides once, and that was before kids. We couldn't get out of the camper van for a week, due to driving rain and wind. Fantastic beaches. but you couldn't stand up on them. No pubs. NO PUBS!! We played a lot of travel scrabble. But you can see why I'm a bit wary of British Island camping. At least the Scillies has pubs, I think.

Hello everyone!

Lovecat-im most impressed with the jousting, that's a cool hobby to drop into conversation! I'm sure a camping hawk could get thee a guardian

Fennel-Dh is a leftie, he hasn't dragged me off to any festivals though, which one did you go to?

Swallow dale was my favourite S and A book...I love the lakes thanks to that series.

MissSal-I'm about to start work for a SAfrican, so any polite words would be fun (personally I always start with swear words in a new language but he might not find it funny )

Hi pingusmum-I second not cooking in the car or tent-the supermarkets are selling cheap gazebos, or get a tarp for shelter. I send dh out with a golfing umbrella and remind him of his Nordic credentials if it's pissing down with rain.

Nothing to report here, lots of visitors staying so having crazy busy time :)

Have to admit that rereading Enid Blyton as an adult has been something of an eye opener. But Five in a Caravan was an entertaining read. I haven't reread S&A so will try that next. Gosh, I loved the Borrowers and there was a whole series of those. And Malory Towers when I was older.

Boy's appears to be much better today and I start my holiday today (hurray!!!!!) so the snuggles can continue apace tomorrow. Will drag him into school tomorrow to take his mind off it (one of the benefits of working in Reception - lots for him to play with).

funtime - sites please would be fab. And jousting 'eh? What a cool hobby.

notwaving - this is truly the most surreal, yet eversopleasant camping thread.

Just time for a quick > oh my god the Alps are amazing.

Had a satisfying moment last night pitching said to DH 'told you we needed rock pegs' and thought fondly of slubber. Lots to post and even more to catch up on, just don't ask about ds1's river of poo and puke, NOT, a highlight although DHcleaning up and using his entire vocab ('bonjour')was fucking hilarious

Evening all.

Fennel, hope all goes well for you, I'm sure it will be fantastic. Back to proper grass-roots camping without a car. The Scillies must have less rain fall than the Hebrides surely? Know what you mean about no pub angst. It's a bit like that on the Lleyn. I do love travel scrabble though, and UNO. So good when the dc move on from snap and can play decent games.

Borrowers and Swallows and Amazons do not appear to be on kindle yet (I won't tell you what the book suggestions were for the word swallow ), bed time reading they ain't, well not thatsort of bedtime reading.
dd1 also informs me she has read Charlie and the Chocolate factory, no idea when that happened. So still on a search for now animal based good stories for a 6&7yo...I may start a thread in.....another topic
[dah dah daaaaaaah]

In other news, the dog has at some point cut her leg and NOT alerted me to the fact by convieniently limping or bleeding or licking it. Now it's infected so she is on house arrest for 2 weeks and is taking a course of the most expensive antibiotics in the world ever

Dd2 6 has also started doing cross-stitch and I have a new purple pulsing vein of tension on my forehead.

Hi pingusmum

lost . Oh no! no rock pegs!

River of poo puts cross-stitch rage into an altogether different parental nightmare perspective. lol @ bonjour

Oh gosh, rivers of puke...last time we went to France, DS1 was sick as we got off the ferry, DD was sick half-way, and DS2 waited until we arrived at the site and puked just as DH switched off the engine .

Slubber: Try some of these books, which DD(7) is into (no idea if on kindle yet) Pippi Longstocking
Lotta
Winnie the Witch
Worst Witch
Gargoyles series
Pudding Bag School series
anything by Jeremy Strong
anything by Heather Dyer
those infernally twee rainbow fairies

Also quite a few free kids books to download if you have a search around.

I am currently packing the car, whilst DH and the DC are at a footie match. Amazed at how many cubbyholes I discovered, for stashing assorted flippers, oars, cereal...now, have I remembered my pants?

Ta Chippy. She has read quite a lot of them already but will check out those on the list she has not to see if they are chez Kindle.

Happy packing and holidaying and fingers crossed for a pukeless trip.