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Camping; what are your thoughts?

Camping; what are your thoughts?

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Matt N

Matt N

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Hi guys. I was reading the review of the Stargazing Pods that @pluk posted recently (hope you don’t mind me naming you, @pluk… if you do, I can remove this reference), and it got me thinking about camping. I’ve noticed that it tends to be quite polarising; a lot of people either absolutely love camping holidays and can’t get enough of them, or absolutely hate camping holidays and would never been seen dead in a tent. So I’d be intrigued to know; what are your thoughts on camping? Do you love it, and crave the connection with the outdoors? Or do you hate it, and prefer the warmth and creature comforts of a hotel? Or are you somewhat indifferent towards it?

Personally, I think I err towards the camp that’s not overly keen on camping, although I wouldn’t like to cast too much of a judgement due to my experiences being both somewhat limited and a very long time ago. The only time we ever went on a proper camping holiday was when I was probably no older than 8, and we went to Brean Sands, but we did also camp in the back garden in a tent a few times when I was young, and I’ll admit that I don’t have especially positive memories from any of my camping experiences; I mostly remember feeling cold and wet, and I remember often having headed inside before the night was out when we camped in the back garden. Granted, these were when I was very young, but it must be said that I’m still not the most outdoorsy of people now; don’t get me wrong, I’m partial to a nice forest walk (and living in the Forest of Dean, there’s certainly no shortage of lovely ones within a very short drive!), but in terms of actually sitting outside and doing camping-type stuff and all that “outdoor adventure” stuff, that’s never really been my cup of tea.

It might not help that my family absolutely hates camping; my parents and grandparents can’t stand it.

But what are your thoughts? Do you like camping, or are you not a fan?
 
I love camping. I'm happy with the simple things in life but proper facilities are my strong preference now, especially with a little one in tow.

I mentioned in the stargazing thread you reference my wife not being so keen. I think the actual problem there is she didn't go camping as a kid and as adults the only camping we've done is at music festivals. Music festival camping is not representative of holiday camping and I don't think she could see past that. Foul portaloos, a trickle of cold clean water, no showers, people out of their minds on all sorts of goodies making a racket all night. It's tolerable when you are also out of your mind and loving the music, but I can understand her not wanting that for family time away!

It seems that using the pods has made her see what camping can be (they are pretty much wooden tents, after all) and she's already said she's happy to give an actual camping trip a try.
 
My relative lack of experience may not help my opinion of camping either. Unlike your wife, I did go camping as a child, and my memories aren't the most positive, but it's safe to say that I generally had quite a... domesticated upbringing, for lack of a better word. Don't get me wrong, me and my sister were hardly kept away from nature by any means when we were kids (we live in an area full to the brim with good hikes, and we went on a fair few Lake District holidays that involved lots of walking and mountain hikes), but my parents, particularly my mum, completely turn their noses up at the mere mention of camping, and the one camping holiday we did go on is not a holiday that my parents speak positively about over 10 years later.

So it's fair to say that I was cut from quite an anti-camping cloth!
 
When I was growing up, I was part of the Scouts, so we went camping quite a bit. I usually enjoyed it, other than one time where I'm certain someone decided to urinate against the side of our tent in the middle of the night...right by where I was sleeping. Nice. For a few years when we were teenagers, we also had a caravan that we'd use at various places around the UK, which was good for its time - other than when we were camping at Newark Showground and the weight of the rain ended up buckling the framework for the awning annexe that I was sleeping in. :p (Wasn't in it at the time, for the record.) My main issues with camping, though, lie in the last time I went back in August 2013. It was at the Royal Bath & West Showground outside Shepton Mallet for New Wine (a Christian conference), and I didn't even want to be there in the first place - it had just been assumed that I wanted to go without my explicitly saying yes, but it was too late to back out when I realised. When we were setting everything up, my parents frequently ignored my questions on what needed doing next and generally made me feel like a spare wheel, which wasn't a good start. The talks each day in the main marquee were usually fine, right up until the final evening. TL;DR is the speaker that night was rather arrogant, seemingly boasting about how many people he'd converted on an internal US flight, before then saying he'd 'cured' a male flight attendant of his homosexuality (the FA was originally training to be a priest, then realised he was gay, and was given the choice of renouncing his sexuality or renouncing the priesthood - guess which one he took at that first moment). The guy then went on to say a few things about sex, largely that the only acceptable way it could occur was in monogamous heterosexual relationships, to which almost everyone in the marquee applauded him. I was fuming at this point, but refused to cause a scene. Instead, I took an opportune moment later on to go to the toilet and get some fresh air to help me calm down. My word, I needed it big-time.

Anyway, enough of that digression. I'm going camping in a few weeks' time for the first time since that incident, and I'm quite looking forward to it. No church stuff involved this time. Oh, no. It'll be at the British GP at Silverstone with a few friends from here. I've no doubt it'll be a million times better than my previous experience. :p
 
I’m not a camping fan. I went a fair few times as a child with my parents and the whole thing just never rubbed off on me. I find tents to be stuffy and uncomfortable, I never get a good nights sleep and I hate not having our own toilet and shower facilities.

I can do caravan holidays (like Haven or something), that’s my limit.
 
BigShadowtinytree said:
I’m not a camping fan. I went a fair few times as a child with my parents and the whole thing just never rubbed off on me. I find tents to be stuffy and uncomfortable, I never get a good nights sleep and I hate not having our own toilet and shower facilities.

I can do caravan holidays (like Haven or something), that’s my limit.
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Yeah I'm the same, I can do caravans as they have built-in facilities (will be staying in one in a few weeks actually), but cold, uncomfortable tents with no toilets are not my idea of fun.
 
Bought myself a campervan a couple of months ago and stayed in Wales a few weeks back on a campsite (basic but had toilets and drinking water) and climbed a mountain. Used to go camping with the cubs/scouts and went camping on the booze a few times in my late teens with friends. Next time I'm at Towers I might try out one of the local campsites in my van. So yeah, you can probably put me down as being into that stuff a bit.
 
I've only ever camped three times. Once in a back garden as a kid (if you can call it that), once at a camping site, and a wild camp in the Lake District.

The wild camp was definitely my favourite. Limited resources with no signal and back to basics living for a night. That's proper camping in my eyes. The views weren't half bad either.20190803_201345.jpg20190803_201350.jpg
 
Went camping a couple of times as a child. 1st being 1984. That was good. During a heatwave and being a large tent don’t recall it being overly hot inside, though we would of been out most of the day anyway.

Same again in ‘85 but it rained everyday so left early. One last time in ‘86 and bit of a mixed bag of sun and rainy days.

Some of the early meets back in the Towers Times days involved a camping trip (ah the infamous Star Caravan and Camping Park 🤔). That was pretty good fun until the washout year of 2007 where we all packed up and found hotels for the second night.

Did a few last minute trips when the forecast was good weather, where myself and a friend have just packed a tent and drive somewhere and hoped there was a space on a campsite somewhere around.

Camping is ok if you have the weather. So the idea of booking camping way in advance does it appeal to me. Rather take my chances last minute if the weathers good.

Have been to Glastonbury one year. In 2010. Got lucky with weather. Heatwave 😀, no rain at all. Though with the tent’s being so tightly packed together it wasn’t uncommon for someone making their way back at night to trip over your guide ropes and land on top of you 😂, or actually come in to your tent thinking it’s theirs. (Pretty much all tents were the cheap 4 birth Argos tents, which ours was which were dark and light green or the Halfords equivalent which were blue so easy mistake to make I guess even when you usually get your bearings by other peoples flags.
 
It's a long time since I had a camping holiday in a tent. But one year Eurocamping in France in a tent was pretty good as the weather was really nice. To be honest I prefer static caravans now as you get your own shower and toilet.

I've stayed in a static caravan at the Davy Crocket Ranch at DLP which was great. And I'm also quite partial to a nice static caravan in the UK, particularly if it happens to be in North Wales or Yorkshire.:)
 
I have been a fan of camping since I was little, probably from when I was in Cubs and Scouts. We also used to stop in a caravan in the South of France every summer when I was younger.

As a family, we have taken to camping, but our camping is a bit more like glamping. When I first went camping, I had to do everything as cheap as possible, but now that Lisa is in to it, some of the things we have for camping our crazy. The kids love it because they get to go in the camping bunk beds and we always try and do roasted marshmallows.

Camping on site at Alton Towers would be something which we would probably do, and we would probably stay 3 or 4 nights, as you need to justify all the time putting the tent up and taking it down. I would rather stop in our tent than in the star gazing pods.

What can make or break a camping trip is the weather. In the sun, its all fun and wonderful. In the rain its okay, but putting a tent away in the rain, knowing you will have to get it back out and dry it is a pain and ends on a bit of a downer. The other thing that makes the difference is the toilet and showering facilities, as long as their is hot water, and they are clean that is good enough for me.

We have been to Sherwood Forest, New Forest, Silverstone and Europa Park, and all of them are different but great places to go camping. Keep trying to encourage Lisa to go up to Scotland (Lock Lomond area) camping but she is worried it will be to cold.

Even though we had to get a roof box, it still surprises me how much stuff we can fit in, and take with us when we go camping.
 
I'm not a fan at all. The point of going on holiday (in my books at least) is to give yourself a break from the day-to-day mundanities of cooking, cleaning, tidying, and anything else that requires executive functioning skills. Camping still requires you to do all those things but makes them ten times more difficult. As soon as you arrive after a long journey, you have to build your own accommodation, whatever the weather or time of day. Then you have to try to make some semblance of a meal in makeshift kitchen (which, again, you've had to build first), with only a rubbish paraffin stove and a kettle that takes five times longer to boil than a normal one. But not before you've traipsed a mile and a half to the nearest water source and been assaulted by someone's dog on the way. Then you have to wash up in cold water and put everything away again because there's no such thing as a paraffin-fuelled dishwasher yet. It's now dark and freezing cold and you're extremely bored because there's no TV, so you think it will be fun to light a fire. Except the firelighters you bought last summer are damp and don't work and it takes half an hour and a lot of swearing to create anything resembling a warm blaze. After an hour of inhaling smoke you have nothing left to do but go to bed, feeling lightheaded. Except you can't sleep because you can feel the uneven ground through you rapidly-deflating airbed and the rain and the crying baby in the next tent keep you awake all night. You are also freezing cold. You're woken unreasonably early by the sun, which turns your igloo of a tent into an oven so you get up, stiff and sleep deprived and desperate for a pee. But you have to get dressed first, sitting down (which is much harder than you'd think), so that you can traipse the mile and a half to the toilet block and get assaulted by someone's dog again just to relieve yourself. You might have a passable day enjoying the countryside, but then you have to do it all over again the next evening, and again, and again until the end of your so-called 'holiday'. And really, would it not have made tons more sense just to book into a cheap B&B instead?

TL;DR - Camping sucks
 
I used to go a lot when my son was younger. I think its much better if you go as part of a larger group, it just adds to the camaraderie and the fun.

Camping clientele do tend to be fairly good people in my experience. Chavs can't be bothered with it and tend to head to Butlins instead !!

If you have a large tent and invest in some decent equipment then I think camping can be quite comfortable. I would recommend getting a portable chemical toilet rather than just a bucket though. Found out the hard way when I went for a wee in the night and the bucket handle broke off. Urine all over the place in the middle of the night!

The biggest problems with camping are getting everything to fit in the car, setting up and packing away. Bad weather isn't great either !!

It's definitely a younger mans game though. At 55 I would prefer a holiday cottage or a log cabin these days, Much less hassle.
 
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