They still want to camp in the rain!

[kirinm]

People we are going camping with this half term still insisting on going even though the forecast is constant rain and temperatures of 13/14 degrees.

They’re DP’s family so he can tell them we aren’t going but it’s not unreasonable to not want to sit inside a bloody tent in the rain for a week isn’t it? DD will end up on a screen the whole time. If it was raining and 20C that’s slightly different but rain, wind and cold is just not fun. Plus we have a canvas tent which needs to be packed away bone dry and due to current living circumstances we’d need to put the thing up in a park to have any chance of drying it out.

Surely I’m not being unreasonable here? The journey is 5 hours as well so it’s a mammoth trip make in the first place.

It depends if you’re doing it for you or for your kids. My kids would still prefer it than sitting at home. Presumably they’re going with cousins or similar?

Edited to add, as long as you manage your expectations, take wellies, walk to the pub, don’t mind getting muddy, take a pack of cards etc….

YANBU camping is only fun in good weather IMO and even then I'm using the term "fun" loosely !

That would be a hard no from me.
I don't mind a bit of rain but all the time and cold no thanks particularly if you can't dry the tent and it's just screen time.

I have honestly never seen the appeal of camping, even in ideal conditions. In windy, rainy weather with the in-laws, why on earth would you bother, if you have a choice? Leave your tent folded up: have some nice days out with DC and rejoice in having dodged a bullet.

I don’t mind that at all - and have done it many times - but not when it rains every single day.

It’s a field on a farm with nothing close by. Last year we went and we had rain but quite a few dry days and that was totally fine. But when the first ‘not raining all day’ day is 4 days into the camping trip, I’m very much not on board. 4 days of cold wet kids with no way of drying clothes / towels etc. There’s only so much Dobble and Uno we can play.

I’m firmly on the side of camping and hiking is fun in all weathers for those of us that like it.

However, with kids and family in tow who get fed up, and where it’s just camping (ie. Not as part of an expedition), hell no. Fine weather only, or a couple of rain showers, but not bad weather.

i learned that lesson years ago 😂

Would you normally be staying onsite all day, wouldn’t you be going out and about?

It’s more than I have endless guilt about letting people down. Often to our own detriment.

We have looked at an air BnB so we are at least still away but they aren’t keen on paying for that.

We’d go to the beach. It’s a part of the country well known for its beaches. There isn’t much more to do other than sit in fish and chip shops - which we did last year to get out of the rain! I think we also went to a swimming pool.

the temperature looks to have gone beyond 16C degrees on day 4. I’m hoping for a miracle because 16C and dry I’ll take. Even 14C and dry I’d take. It is the rain in an area where you spend all of the time outside that I have an issue with.

I'm a hardened camper and loved the years I did it with my children but I wouldn't take a canvas tent to a farmer's field during a wet/cold weather week. For bad weather you need drying spaces, hot showers and plenty of places you can visit.

Where? I can't find anywhere that cold in Britain or Ireland?
But wet weather camping is a niche choice.
Is it possible to book a hostel, camping barn, cabin or borrow a more suitable tent? If the point is to see relatives, is there some other way to do it? Anywhere with that kind of weather usually has cheap accommodation along the lines of camping under a roof.

It’s a bell tent. Pretty common and it’s not that it can’t withstand the weather. It’s that it has to be dry to put away.

“We have looked at an air BnB so we are at least still away but they aren’t keen on paying for that.”

So why don’t you book an air bnb and leave them to camp? At least that way, you’ll be warm and dry!

I live in the kind of area you'd be visiting with lovely beaches and opportunities for sailing, surfing, SUP etc. People will still be doing it in the rain but I bet they'll all be returning their 2nd home, holiday flat, AirBnB for showers and sleep. There will still be some tough types in tents but I doubt many with children will stick it out when they don't have any dry clothes left.

Yanbu. We are planning a similar wider-family camping trip in August and I have made it absolutely clear that I won't be camping if the weather forecast is horrible. I don't mind the occasional light shower but it needs to be forecast reasonably clear on the days we will be pitching and striking the tents, and at least some sun predicted in between!

Not unreasonable at all. I’ve done that before and we all got soaked on the first day. It’s hard to get dry again after that. Spent days travelling to places that were a bit of a drive away so we could warm up in the car. Not fun at all.

We camp quite a lot too and camp with about 11 families (not relations) in August. That tends to go ahead regardless of weather but it’s an entirely different set up campsite wise and there are places to go if it’s wet. Plus, the temp is always a bit warmer as it’s later into the year.

We had a terrible year in 2023 (we’d camped both at the end of July and then the following week). We got 36 hours of solid rain in our 2 day trip in July and a named storm in our August trip. That broke our tent (and DP’s patience)!

Sorry cross-posted - no, you absolutely aren't being unreasonable. Have your relatives seen the forecast?
My wet weather set up involves little tents on campsites with free hot water and a drying room, and full buy-in from everyone, and an escape plan involving some kind of actual building. But I have the kind of DC who think eating omelettes in the floating tent was funny.

What is SUP? I should say the kids are all young - under 7 - and whilst we went armed with wet suits last year - because we thought they’d like body boarding etc, most of them were put off by the size of the waves.

DD is braver now (older and swimming lessons finally paying off) so I’m more optimistic that she’d actually like going in the sea. As I do. She did go into the sea on the Kent coast when it was about 17C but it was sunny and we could dry her and then drive home!

I'm going to the west of England next week and some days are showing as 13 degrees. There's a fair bit of rain forecast too.

It’s south west. Can you guess which day we arrive?

It sounds grim. Don't go!

Bad luck! I wouldn't go. But then again I don't camp full stop.

Agree with PP who said get yourself an AirBnb nearby. Maybe let the rest of them in for a cuppa and hot shower...

Are there no hotels/spas near?
Let them enjoy their camping and then breeze off to the hotel.