How bad does the weather have to be before you cancel?!

[justwondering72]

We are already in the south of France, not camping at the moment. But we are due to head to the Pyrenees today, for 7 nights, camping with a camper and two young children. Its pouring now. And the forecast is for this to continue for days! The campsite we booked is beside a lake, with canoeing and fishing etc, very rural, not a lot else to do than enjoy being outside etc. we can't put the camper up easily in the rain.

So what would you do? I am all for canceling the first few days until the weather improves a bit, packing a lot more warm clothes and waterproofs. DH is a bit more gun ho about camping, he's a lot more used to roughing it than I am (does lots of hikes with his students and they go, whatever the weather).

How bad does the weather / forecast have to be to make you cancel / delay / change your plans?

It would depend how close to home we were. Two-night trips within two hour drive from home we are entirely hung-ho and go whatever the forecast. In your circumstances though, being abroad and for a longer period on an annual-summer-holiday type trip I'd definitely be following the forecast and looking for an alternative to a remoteish natural outdoorsy site if it was just going to tip it down relentlessly...

Could you move a bit further east, to the Med side and get a campsite there? We are just back from near St Tropez and the weather was lovely albeit with the odd thunder storm. Seems a shame to go home if you could find somewhere with a better forecast.

Or drive down into Spain if you have time maybe?

Years ago I'd camp in any weather, just can't do it any more. Any more than showers and it's all off.

Am in the lucky position where we can mostly go at the drop of a hat though and we only go to sites where you don't need to book.

Personally I'd rather stay at a crap site in fantastic weather than a fantastic site in crap weather.

It sounds like you can stay put for a few days? In your situation I would do that and keep an eye on the weather, hopefully the forecast will improve.

I'd let DH camp and book myself into a hotel.

Went camping 3 years ago having booked and paid up front. Storm warnings were coming in, everyone else on site packed up except us and our friends. That night the wind ripped a hole in the tent. We came home and decided to get divorced that weekend. Not entirely unrelated.

If you are not as hardcore as your H will you resent him for making you tough it out? Will you have sense of humour failure if you're stuck inside all day or your clothes get wet? We've done trips where the appalling weather has been a real memorable feature, but you need to be in the right frame of mind.

With current DP we had a night of freezing cold temps that nearly made us pack up, but we discussed it like adults, listed pros and cons and made a joint decision. If you can do that you'll be fine.

Cheers all. It continued to pour, so even DH agreed that setting off would be a bad ideamp. So I feel like less of a wuss! We live in France so can opt to go camping further into the summer instead.

Frozen - we thought about heading east towards st tropez for a whole two seconds and discounted it! Yes plenty sunshine, but the French school holidays started on Saturday, I can't imagine there's room to pitch a tent along that coast by now, and it's only going to get worse! You timed your holiday very well.

That was lucky just. We had no idea! We were due to go later too but rearranged due to DD 's drama commitments (at 4) . Turns out we had a lucky escape!

Glad you are able to go later. It isn't much fun in the rain. The UK is a bit more set up with rainy day activities, for obvious reasons I guess. Less so elsewhere in Europe.