My 1st camping experience was with the Cubs about 1961 near Frensham Ponds. Then the following year camping with my parents in Scotland. We had two small white cotton tents with wooden poles and meat skewer pegs. The doors had two tape ties to keep them closed.
I slept in the smallest tent, mum and dad slept in the other slightly bigger tent (it had walls) My brother and sister slept in the car.
For cooking we had a single burner Camping Gaz stove and not much else.
Most of the time we free camped although I remember camping at the Glen Brittle site on Skye in a howling gale. I spent most of the night trying to keep the tent up.
The following year mum and dad up-graded to a green ridge tent with SIG. Which leaked.
Then we bought a canvas scout ridge tent with extended fly sheet for cooking. (early stages of Glamping)
I have many happy memories, free camping on the beach at Applecross for one.
Driving over a mountain road and finding a quiet spot to camp. Getting water from the stream to drink. It did make a mess of the Melamine cups though as it was peat tainted.
My recent camping has only started in the last 4 yrs and hopefully for many more yrs to come.
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Quote: Originally posted by DamianL on 09/5/2014Last year... I always wanted to go camping as a child. (I'm 24 now) but my parents wouldn't consider anything other than an air conditioned hotel room.
Finally last year as an adult with a reasonable job I decided it was time.. I posted here asking for advice on a £50 Argos tent I was planning to purchase...
If you look at my sig you will see that the rest is history!
This site is notorious for spending money for you!
Started in 2011, it was on my bucket list, everything borrowed, including the tent. The kids (all teens) fell in love, as did I (not OH) and the rest is history. Although, to be honest, in the last year most of our camping has been garden camping...3 man tent specifically brought for the purpose. I get to put it up and take it down but haven't actually slept in it for about 2 years....kids and their friends have taken over, even though they all have their own tents now.
My older teens spent almost all of last summer wild camping with friends.....so jealous
I had been a couple of times in my teens with my Auntie and her family and that was South of France. Then nothing. My husband had been camping every summer from when he was a kid so he was determined to get me to try it again (as an adult).
I have no idea why but I had a nightmare expectation of something along the lines of Carry on Camping - thankfully I was proven wrong and have been hooked and done camping every year for the last 10 years :)
My parents took me as a bay (apparently). I think i slept in the old Morris Van. Progressed on to a dormobile van which dad being a carpenter made bench seats in the back that converted to beds. Mum covered some foam with material for the seats/mattresses. Used a tent for 'dining'. Went on to a static caravan when i was about 8, no loo and gas lamps in the 60's.Still used statics as a teenager/young adult and also when my children were very young then bought a trailer tent. Moved on to a caravan then when hubby and i split i went back to a tent, on to a trailer tent, then a small caravan and now back to a tent. phew! so in one form or another i've been camping for 56 years and still love it.
Always wanted to camp as a child but my mother would rather have had root canal work without an anethetic (spl).
When first married we had the use of a static van, all mod cons, which was great - just throw some clothes and a pint of milk in the car and go. Van was sold following my mother in law's death and my father in law having been diagnosed with cancer.
First summer we hired a static, but wanted something where we could get away for weekend, so invested in a starter pack from a local camping shop, with the idea that the sleeping bags would always come in handy, and we could sell the tent.
Went for a weekend fairly close to home to see if the kids liked, it - with the idea that I would run the kids home to mum, and go back and get the stuff if need be. Took to it like a duck to water.
Would love to be able to go away a bit more, but circumstances have prevented us getting away as often as I would like.
My dad was a scout leader, so was camping from a very young age! And 'proper' camping, hole in the ground for the toilet! First tent of my own was a little ridge tent, just big enough for me and a bag lol
My brother and I shared an orange Force Ten tent in the early 80's, but it was mostly for camping in the back garden or in the fields on the farm where my grandparents lived. It never saw tough action!
When I met my husband, I was 18 and he 26. We were young and free, so we travelled to far flung places for holidays. Then the kids came along and we opted for cottage holidays, villas etc. One year about seven years ago was really bad for us financially, so we bought some basic equipment to go with a tent we had already, a Eurohike Stowe (still have it), and camped in the UK as a cheap option. I came back tired out and vowed to get a bigger tent, so we bought the Vermont XL. That got us hooked!
Daughter, now 16 is getting tired of camping, but the boys (12 and 8) love the freedom a campsite gives. Plus you don't make friends on a villa holiday!
I was in the Scouts and Venture Scouts so started young and camped regularly until I was 21. I then had a few years off until I passed my motorcycle test and started going to bike rallies. Then another few years off when the dodgelings came along and were tiny, We then restarted in 2009 and haven't looked back since.
------------- Dance before the storm and don't look back to where you've been.
If you can keep your head when all around you are losing theirs, you obviously haven't grasped the gravity of the situation.
As a child, we had family camping holidays where the whole family would come along. My grandparents had a caravan and awning, and we had a big frame tent with heavy wooden poles, and we all (aunts, uncles, cousins etc.) used to pile in.
In adulthood, 1988 or so. We had a Relum canvas frame tent, a rubberised inflatable mattress (loved that smell!) and a battery powered lantern that gave enough light to see by.
My first camping trip was aged 6 in 1961, with our upstairs neighbours. They took me to a site near Littlehampton, they had a big frame tent and we went on the river in their motorboat. I loved it!
Nearly 50 years later, I camped at a pub site at Ford and realised it was the very same site!
My first "proper" camping was 1973, in my Marechal Pedestre ridge tent. It cost £35, which was about 2 weeks wages at the time. About 1978, I got a Blacks Good Companion (bright blue!) and a few years after that a Vango (Force Ten?).
From about 1985 I had a bit of a break from tenting as was with a boyfriend who had a VW camper, and went back to it via a range of borrowed tents in the early 90s, before buying a cheap 4-man dome in 1995. That has done amazingly well and is still in the loft, used for overnight stays at parties and so on.
Bad backs and need for headroom prompted the purchase of a taller, 5 man dome in 2003. That is now a bit the worse for wear, having withstood some awesome storms, and after a disaster with a cheap tunnel tent from Argos we bought a Khyam XL Excelsior in 2008.
I managed to break a pole of that in 2010 and bought an Icarus 500, which was somewhat damaged when it was lent (against my better judgement) to my stepson. That has now been replaced with an Icarus 600. The Khyam has been repaired and I'm hanging on to it as it's so good for solo camping.
I can't believe I've been camping for over 40 years.
My first camping trip was as a 6 week old baby during the heatwave of 1976 in a large brown frame tent. My mum hated camping so as soon as funds allowed we stayed in hotels and went abroad! I camped with St John Ambulance as a teenager, had a couple of weekends in a flimsy 2 man tent as a student and started camping properly when I was 30. Until then we had gone self catering in cottages but after a particularly awful week away with the inlaws coinciding with the eldest starting school, we needed to find a cheap way of funding our own holiday. Several tents, two trailers and assorted cars later we're still at it and can now say we've survived torrential rain, howling gales and frost. Hoping for two weeks of heatwave this August for our main holiday in Cornwall!
Our first proper set up, on a proper camp site, with our own proper tent and gear, was...
2 years ago yesterday!!
Friday the 13th, as it was known back then! And yes, it rained throughout the set up, took us well over 3 hours, and it was dark before we finished.
Biggest thrill?
Having snow on our tent just 7 months after starting out.
Biggest disappointment?
Probably sloping front doors and/or cold/damp polyester.
Biggest lesson learned?
Not to fence ourselves in with a windbreak. Can see sweet FA!
Best skill learned?
Tarpology!
Biggest regret?
Not starting sooner!
Best advice received?
Join UKCS!
Best tip for newbies?
By all means take in all the tips and recommendations on here, but find what works for YOU, and as long as it doesn't upset your neighbours, DO IT YOUR WAY! There is no right, there is no wrong!
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: When did you stat camping?
