Not necessarily camping/caravanning related, the worst must have been when I was 10, we lived in Warwickshire then. Dad was a horticulturalist and wanted to visit the gardens at Wisley, so one Sunday off we went. Dad needed the loo, so he disappeared into a wood and came back with his head pouring with blood from head height barbed wire. Luckily Mum could drive, so off we went to the hospital in Oxford. Had to wait ages, only a superficial scalp would in the end.
I'm sure something else happened on the way, a flat tyre maybe? anyway, when we finally arrived at Wisley it was shut. We certainly didn't have a luverly day!
Once, about 35 years ago, we were camping close to London for a holiday. So we decided to go to Heathrow and see Concorde. I'm sure many of you will remember that cars often had horrible vinyl seats in those days, and were often fitted with removable seat covers so you didn't lose your skin on a hot day - well, our car fitted that description, complete with velour seat covers.
My brother wasn't an excellent traveller, and he was violently ill (without warning us - he was about 9 or 10, so knew very well when he was going to be ill) all over the back seat and me. My mum gave me her cardigan so I could remove my un-wearable t-shirt, but dad wasn't keen on the idea of removing the seat covers - he'd have to take the back seat out of the car!! However, there was NO WAY I was getting back in that car with the seat cover in place - I'd have spent all day in the lay-by we'd stopped in first!! So dad had to remove the back seat of the car to get the cover off (he was a mechanic and always had a tool kit in the boot)! By the time we got going again, we'd missed Concorde and were still about an hour from Heathrow. So we turned round and went back to site - my brother was not popular!!!
I think the worst day of my life was when I took a friend and her two kids to Legoland for the day. I parked the car in a huge car park and we walked to the entrance. Had lovely day, nice weather, and decided to stay until after dark to watch the firework display.
After that we made our way out of the entrance when suddenly the skies opened and rain started bucketing down with gale force cross winds. I did have a golfing brolly with me but that blew inside out as soon as I opened it, and then the catastrophe...I couldn't remember where I had parked the car
Anyone who has been to Legoland will know that there are several huge car parks which all look the same and containing thousands of vehicles. If you forget where your car is, then add darkness, a howling gale and pouring rain, the chances of finding it again before the car parks clear is pretty slim. It didn't even have a key fob so I could flash the lights and was a dark green colour which disappeared in the dark.
Friend and her crying kids were sheltering in a telephone kiosk while I set out on my marathon search. After what seemed like hours I did manage to find the car but by then I was soaked to the skin. I then had to drive my friend and kids back home on roads I didn't know (no satnavs then) in the dark and pouring rain, nose to tail traffic and the windows steaming up due to my wet clothing...the things nightmares are made of!
I can't remember the rest of the journey home. I think I just blacked out and went into automaton mode.
From that day to this I make doubly sure I know exactly where I park the car in large car parks.
We had that om Ibiza (went out to eat and forgot we were parked on a different road), and managed to lose my friend when we once went to the Knebworth Festival. She didn't turn up until the next morning (at our house). I also lost OH at West Ham football ground when I went to the loo (found him at half time, unfortunately...).
I was in my early 20s at the time of the Millennium. I had spent Christmas at my parents and then gone down with flu - no, not the man-flu variety, this really was the real thing - shortly afterwards. I've long since forgotten what plans I had made for the new year celebrations but do know that I cancelled because there was still a very real risk that I might either collapse or be sick without the help of any booze.
However, our home town - Fishguard in Pembrokeshire - for the first time in its life, was going to put on a firework display and a live band for the night. And under no circumstances were any members of my family going to be allowed to miss this.
Mum and Dad enjoyed chatting to people they knew and the whole community atmosphere thing. I didn't feel any of it. It was cold and mostly raining, I had discovered that one of my trainers had a leak, even to my still young ears the band were terrible and all I wanted to do was to go home. The organisers eventually realised that they had missed midnight by 3 or 4 minutes, frantically sang Auld Lang Syne and set off a single firework, which hit the wall of the town hall instead of exploding in the sky.
The town council have organised a New Year's Eve party every year since and have got very good at it now. But to this day, my mum recalls that first year a lot more fondly than I do.
------------- "Don't wait for the perfect moment. Take the moment and make it perfect."
When cars had individual footwells in the back, and only a mat in them if you were lucky, one of our kids threw up badly, and half filled their footwell with vomit.The smell was so bad that the other kid proceeded to fill theirs. We had to travel about 20 miles, in the pouring rain with the windows down because of the stench.
To clear the vomit when we got back, i had to punch the drain plugs out and tip buckets of water in till they were clear. Never did fully get rid of the smell of sick on warm days.
Quote: Originally posted by SGThomas on 30/7/2019
We once went to Charles Dicken's birthplace. Set off with great expectations but arrived at a pretty bleak house.
------------- Freedom is a light caravan and an open road.
Quote: Originally posted by SGThomas on 30/7/2019
We once went to Charles Dicken's birthplace. Set off with great expectations but arrived at a pretty bleak house.
Bit of a twist then...you should have asked for more.
Quote: Originally posted by SGThomas on 30/7/2019
We once went to Charles Dicken's birthplace. Set off with great expectations but arrived at a pretty bleak house.
Bit of a twist then...you should have asked for more.
The worst week nah,It'll be a month.12 months ago we booked a week in Dorset somewhere we had never been,Sunday to Sunday.On the Saturday night my Brother in law was taken ill we spent most of the night in A&E,we then decided to not go on the Sunday but would travel on Monday.A bad decision a 3 hour journey took 6 hours,arrived on site pitched and had a lovely few days.
On the Saturday before we were to leave had an incident were I wrote the car off,this happened 12 hours before we were due to leave.I contacted the insurance company who arranged transport home for three of us two dogs and the car,but not the caravan.
We were then carless the van was in Dorset and Brother in law seriously ill.I spent a week dealing with the insurance company who were very good and the had the problem of finding a car getting a tow bar fitted and collecting the van.I managed to get all sorted it had taken almost a month and decided to fetch the van on Sunday 7th September.A 400 mile round trip a long day 3 stops but Peggy was back home,
Brother in law by this time was in a coma and his wife wanted taking to hospital visiting.It was now 4 days before we were due go to Norfolk for a week,he hung on until the Friday night when the family had said go to Norfolk sadly he passed away in the early hours of Saturday morning.We went had a reasonable week but we had to go home with sadness in our hearts.His funeral was a fortnight later.
Actually a month more like 6 weeks.
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: bad days out
via mobile 08/8/2019 at 9:02pm
