Anyone considering not camping this summer? A rant.

[Erebus]

• Cos I have just gone and done it. I have crossed the bridge of no more English camping. There, I said it.

I just called (absolute last minute I was allowed to!) to cancel our summer camping trip. Lost the deposit but it was only £20, and I reckon that's a small price to pay now I have come to my senses and recalled that the last 4 summer camping trips have been between 'compromised' if not ruined by rubbish weather, AND they've been getting worse, from 3 days out of 7 in Lyme Regis (inc sitting on the beach in hoodies on the good days), to 4" of rain in North Devon last summer, absolutely no sun and a huge petrol bill as we spent days driving a bit aimlessly around. I think that was the trip that broke my spirit- it took 2 weeks to scrub the red clay mud off the tent and dry it off; it took a month to finally get rid of the fungal foot infections we picked up by having wet feet ALL the time; we barely socialised with our friends in the next tent as it was far too cold, wet, windy and miserable to sit outside beyond the huddle in the day tent to eat, after 5pm (the DCs watched DVDs, back to back on their laptop every evening!).

I confess my eyes have been opened a little, albeit expensively, by an Easter trip (yes, I know, Easter, which was The English Summer this year!) to Australia visiting family where we stayed in 2 resorts for 4 days apiece, in units. No mud! Things to do inside on the one day it drizzled! Warm drizzle at that. Free use of a washing machine and tumble drier (Devon cost us £15 in drier bills!- I can do 'grubby' but not damp).

Thing is, I am a camper! I have always camped inc some rugged, carry everything hill walking. We have camped every year for the 8 we've been in the UK. But I have just reached the point where I sadly concede it is no longer worth our while. The 'trade offs', the sitting outside in a pleasant field, DCs off running around in shorts and T shirts, BBQ sizzling, wine in hand, sun slowing setting over a bucolic scene of English summer evening loveliness- well, it just hasn't happened for us for 4 years now, but the mildewed tent, the constant mild, damp discomfort, the having to take the entire winter wardrobe as well as shorts and T shirts (and buying a trailer to carry all the excess 'rain-proof' gear, wellies, gortex, fleece x 4 apiece, tarpaulins +++), then having to wash everything when I get home has!

So today, late July when the weather forecast said '23 degrees with occasional showers' and in fact we have 12 degrees and a deluge has convinced me. DS1 is out on a school trip (hopelessly ill equipped as I had to choose what he should take as he has to carry it all day and I decided on a change of summer clothes, a light rugby shirt and a kagoule, based on what I thought I knew!) and will come home wet through and possibly miserable!

Grr.

As you were.

Erebus, I am (partially) with you.

Last year 2 weeks of camping in N Wales in August broke my spirit. It was more of an ordeal, an endurance test, than a relaxing holiday. We had split the two weeks, a week each at two separate sites. On the day we struck camp from site one we were so wet, so cold, so miserable that we drove right past site no 2 and came home. I washed all the clothes, we all had baths and the next day we drove back to site 2.
(and had another crappy week).

I've mentioned it before on here but my pleasureometre swings wildly when I camp. When it is good it is very very good, but when it is bad it is horrid.

I won't do more than a week in a row in the UK now.

Last minute weekends yes.

Spring/whit camping yes.

But 2 weeks in Aug. No.

Good to hear the campers take lots of gear, Erebus!

Every single photo on websites of the Scillies shows a cloudless blue sky and sunshine. But they would, wouldn't they?

Slubber you sound totally with me!

Bit of an update.. our friends with whom we were camping have reinstated our booking for the summer camp! They thought there was some horrible mistake with the cancellation, they got it changed back! Note we were amongst several families, camping, we weren't going to leave our friends high and dry! Actually, I am rather amused, now that I have calmed down. We have decided to Go With It, safe in the knowledge that if it is a repeat of the past 4 summers, I can mutter 'told you so' and officially stick the tent on ebay.

And ah, The Scillies in a tent. Like Slubber says of camping, 'When it's good, it's very very good, when it's bad... There's The Turks Head'

That's my worry. Obviously if it's hot and sunny for 10 days I will come back praising camping in the Scillies as the best thing ever. But I feel concerned if it doens't work out, if it does rain constantly. However. it will be character building perhaps. And next year, the Picos in Spain...

We had two miserable years in Norfolk on the trot and we decided to go to France after that. We usually (apart from this year, cos of GCSE results) go in the last two weeks of August. We book the ferry usually by Easter which is usually cheaper than before Christmas. We have never (apart from this year) booked a site in France and have had a fantastic time every year.

We usually decide before we leave what general area we want to go to, but always check the weather by looking at the papers in the hypermarket. We then change our plans accordingly. If you book your ferry at the right time and get a cheap deal and don't use the motorways, then it really doesn't work out too expensive compared to the UK, especially when you're having to pay out to go to stuff because of the rain. You'd have to buy food, anyway, fuel's cheaper and the sun just makes you feel so much happier.

By the by, we're going to southeast France this year and the weather's not really any better than the UK. the French have been complaining about it.

Oh!

I have spent at least four hours tonight researching bell tents and expensive coolers and bunting only to now read your enlightening anti-tenting rant.

I have owned a very lovely caravan for the last few years and booked the first holiday of 12 months or so for next Monday. Was feeling rather pleased with myself until dh pointed out that I have changed the car and so no longer have a towbar for said caravan

Price for a towbar was around £200 so I thought sell the caravan and get one of those family pack £79 tent pack thingies (I can hear you all groaning). This has escalated into £884.90 worth of utterly essential glampish crap including travel kettle and SIMs and cushions with sequinned union jacks on .

I am still going to tent it up but with better mental preparation thanks to your post and also with less stuff. If I leave the children behind I will have more room for wine and that tealight chandelier

Erebus hhaaha sucked back in! Your friends sound great. Maybe this is the year for you. The year that fulfils your camping dreams. Fingers crossed for you.

QBEE LOL at camping spends escalation. It does that you know. That chandelier though [sniff]

We have only bought 2 new pieces of camping equipment this year and one of them - our nice new stove - can't go on our minimalist camping trip anyway, we'll have to pack the lightweight ones we think. I have a new lightweight eco-deckchair thing to take though seeing as we can't take our normal camping chairs and I feel a bit old and creaky to sit on the floor for 10 days.

It is still lovely weather here in our bit of Devon, perfect for camping (though we are at home). I'm hoping it will last.

Maybe, just maybe, a tealight chandelier might be a Game Changer for me... Mmm.

Perhaps this is what my camping experience lacks. Glamp.

So I will report back in tedious, mind-numbing detail upon my return, OK? However, a work colleague looked at the longer term wevva forecast today, and it said 'Henley, 28 degrees on Monday. There must be some sort of mistake.....

We are getting over our panic at 11 days on a field on an island with only what we can carry in 2 bags each. We have borrowed some huge bags, the weather is good here, we are busy trying to squeeze rubber dinghies, snorkelling kit, oars etc into these holdalls. We will not be glamping though. No space for tealight chandeliers.

I HATE wet camping - but have to say that it's been a lot more enjoyable since we bought a small folding camper that we tow behind our campervan. Being off the ground is so much easier. If we're going for a week we take the awning which more than doubles the space. Just use the van for sleeping (DH and I) and travelling about.

Hi Fennel, just back from 11 nights camping on St Mary's for the third year running and had a fabulous time. 5 or 6 very warm days and no rain during the day at all. We took masses of gear as freight on the Scillonian, although we flew over on Skybus. Do they limit how much gear you can take to the 'off islands'? I must admit we prefer to stay on the main island as there are slightly more options and less inconvenience if the weather is poor but the odds are in your favour and the islands can be fairly spectacular in bad weather. Enjoy!

Thanks for that choirmum, it must be OK camping there really as so many people keep going back. We are camping on St Marys too (Garrison campsite) - half on St Agnes and then half on St Marys.

Can I ask, what is there to do on St Marys, and what sort of shops? are there 2nd hand book shops? shops for clothes? snorkelling gear, crocs, things like that? I remember a great ice cream parlour but this was about 25 years ago.

Fennel, to get an idea of the weather daily look at Scilly webcam It's not always perfect weather (they wouldn't have had that many shipwrecks if it was) but it's generally far better than the rest of the country. We were swimming in the (cold) sea in mid September last year and everyone was phoning us telling us about the horrible rain.

There's not a huge amount of shops on St Mary's. Clothes, yes (some very expensive) Snorkells, crocs, touristy things, yes. Books shops, not that I've ever seen, There's LOADS in Penzance though. You couldn't have a day shopping on St Mary's... maybe a couple of leisurely hours at a push.

As for what to do. Beaches, walking, hire bikes, and pony trekking too. Go and visit the other off-islands. If your phone has a GPS thing on it you could get the info on some geocaches, there's a few on each of the islands and they're usually in interesting locations.

long weekends are the answer i think.. we often go for multiple long weekends rather than a week.

Ah! I have started a thread over here about Scillies- please may I pick your brains people, Fennel in particular it seems!

We only ever really do last minute camping because we're disorganised and indecisive I pencil rough dates into the diary and hope for good weather. If it looks like being miserable we don't go. To be honest we cam't really go if the weather is miserable as our garden is too small to dry the tent out. It was awkward enough drying the footprint out this weekend.

However I'm panicking now because we're planning to go in 2 weeks with friends, one of whom is not a keen camper and we're trying to persuade her otherwise. The campsite we want to go to gets full quickly, you have to pay in advance, and we need 3 pitches.... all of which adds up to the conclusion that it's guaranteed to lace it down!

Well, here I am sitting in my day tent just outside Henley, and, so far, the weather has been fab! Can you believe it?? Hot, hot, hot. So, needless to say, I was hopelessly prepared with only 2 summer T shirts but with Gortex, wellies, fleece - you name it!

However, Thursday's forecast says 'heavy rain' so I can relax back into the English Camping Experience...

But will it snuff my tea light chandelier out, I ask?