A bank hol, when the tent displays are up?
I didn’t even make it to Saturday morning without a new tent…on Fri afternoon took a detour to the CTS on my way between family business in Norfolk and London, just to LOOK at an Esvo Bedouin 280. And umm and aah for a bit, can’t really afford it, don’t need to replace my much loved Eldorado, but oh, all those pegs…but it would be nice to see one up, and think about it…
As it happened, due to freak circumstances, there was no longer one on display. And by coincidence, other customers were also wanting to see the same tent!
So James pulled one from the store and pitched it, which meant I could see how fast it went up. AND get a demo of how to fold it up again.
The other customers bought one too, and were last seen trying out very luxurious SIMS, while I am hankering after the little wooden camping chairs with canvas seats that CTS sell.
I still love my Eldorado, the front looks so pretty with it’s side windows. And the way the double zips can be used to create a stable door effect.
But cannot wait to try out the Bedouin. Camping season, here I come!
Congratulations on your new tent! I totally understand how easy it is to be swayed in these matters and only wish there was a retailer of canvas tents and more niche accessories near me!
Sadly, tenting days are over for me, and I miss my ESVO Bedouin 340 dearly.
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
Just be aware that the pitcher in this instance is a bit of dab hand! A wizard, almost! An artist, certainly!
Not only have I personally witnessed Him (note the capital!) pitch at breakneck speed, despite the outward appearance of remaining calm, serene, and unhurried, but I have also witnessed him comfortably strike a Karsten 380 and fit it comfortably within a bag designed specifically for a 350!
It's almost scary, and certainly magical!
Don't be taken in. I strongly suspect that mere mortals will likely take nearer to 15mins!
Quote: Originally posted by DeborahTurner on 02/5/2022
I’ll do my first test pitch at the weekend….challenge accepted!
Have fun and please take and post lots of pics.
Are you going to attach the guys via karabinas so that you could take them off for storage separately to minimise the risk of mould growth?
I did not bother with my Bedouin 340, however, I was lucky with the weather for the few outings I had.
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
Looks like I might be needing to unexpectedly buy a new tent!
Mate and I have booked (and fully paid) for our camp site in France for this year's Le Mans Classic, thought we had the tent situation well covered without thinking about it much, with either the 6 berth HiGear Colorado that we usually use, or my slightly smaller Outwell Glendale 5, but turns out we've only got 5x5m of tent space on pitch if the car is parked on it as it's supposed to be, and if the typical French dwarf has paced out the premarked pitches on the temporary camp site (we've done this so many times, we know what happens!!!!), probably only 4x4m in real world! So sudden dose of reality, the big tents don't fit! No problem, my mate's got a 4 berth/2 bedroom tent which he used last year, except he hasn't, or at least can't find it, thinking he's returned it to his sister from whom it was unknowingly 'borrowed', and asking to borrow it again is really not an option!
Now I've got a couple of canvas coffin type 2 man (I'm NOT that 'friendly' with any other men thank you very much, that I'd share one!) of dubious age and condition that I've acquired but never used in anger, but thinking I'm far too long in the tooth to be crawling in and out of a 3ft high tent!
We could possibly buy another 7x5m camping pitch at 90 Euros, but then we'd never really use most of it (only really needing an extra metre or so over what we've got), so thinking 90 Euros goes a fair way to a new tent that would have future uses! Something fairly cheap and cheerful that would survive maybe a week's use occasionally, and cope with mid summer weather.
I guess it's the price to be paid for rather hastily made plans, a phone call "how do you fancy doing Le Man Classic this year?", answer "that sounds good", half hour later another phone call "it's all booked - camp site, entrance tickets, ferry, and you owe me £300"!
We've camped at Le Mans 24 hours for decades, but rather mob handed in a big group with huge multiple pitch 'pitches' for a number of tents and cars, but this 'economy' version on a single pitch and just two of us is a new experience, and it's already caught us out!
Well DT, think the tent panic is resolved without needing to buy one!
Mate has found a minuscule 'pop up' 1.25x2m festival tent he had tucked away (he's 15 years younger than me, and not an OAP, so still relatively capable of crawling in and out of tiny tents!), and I've found a cheapo Asda supermarket 3 berth tent in the loft that I bought decades ago and forgot about (think it was something like £15 at end of season clearout for bundle of tent, 2 fold up chairs, 2 sleeping bags and a wind up LED lantern, the rest of the kit got well used, but never the tent!), at just over 1.5m high I won't need to crawl (well not until the beer takes hold! ) and 2x2.25m floor space gives a degree of comfort.
Decided we'd buy a largish poled camping Tarp to provide shelter for 'kitchen' and sitting out area. We've only got 3 nights camping so can rough it a bit. Just hoping the notoriously fickle French weather isn't as extreme as we've had in previous years, that region does some mega thunderstorms and these are very lightweight tents!
Oh how the mighty have fallen, in our heyday when we went in a mob of 14-16 of us, we'd have a 9 x 4m industrial grade marquee as a dining/leisure room/kitchen, and 6 berth tents per 2 people, with what seemed like enough pitch plots to disappear over the horizon! Full blown Sunday roast dinners, fine English ales on tap from the fully equipped bar, a pub skittles alley or a scalectrix race track, Satellite TV, well, we didn't skimp! Used to be the envy of the camp site, only just slightly topped by the professional corporate set ups! Now we 'are' the plebs no doubt looking on with envy at the more luxurious set ups!
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: Anyone else bought a tent this weekend?
via mobile 01/5/2022 at 10:24am
So sudden dose of reality, the big tents don't fit! No problem, my mate's got a 4 berth/2 bedroom tent which he used last year, except he hasn't, or at least can't find it, thinking he's returned it to his sister from whom it was unknowingly 'borrowed', and asking to borrow it again is really not an option!
) and 2x2.25m floor space gives a degree of comfort. 
Now we 'are' the plebs no doubt looking on with envy at the more luxurious set ups!
