Just wanted to share my excitement of the first camp of the year starting tomorrow. Older teen and almost teen are prepped and ready and not grumbling too much so far. Will just have to prise their headsets off in the morning and lead them to the car waving snacks in front of their noses. Hubby has declared the roofbox packed and no matter what I find now I am not to open the roofbox UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! The new challenge this year is that our number of greyhounds has increased and so in direct correlation our boot space has decreased. One greyhound plus one greyhound equals zero bags in the boot. We have a small trailer but half of it is taken up by the tent. We could have brought a smaller tent but this one is fully zipable (if that's a word) incase the new greyhound attempts a great escape. All that remains now is for us all to fit in the car tomorrow, for us not to succumb to greyhound farts before we arrive (anyone with pointy nose dogs will understand) and for the tent not to be treated like a giant chew toy over the next few days.
Would love to hear of people's experiences camping with several dogs, big dogs or chewy dogs. Please tell me we'll be fine.
Good luck, hope the weather is okay - seems a bit mixed from now on -although we need the rain, I have to admit! Hope the dogs behave and you all have a great holiday. I'm at the other end of the camping journey, having just rehomed my tent; it'll have to be pods, shepherd's huts, caravans etc for me from now on. Enjoy your tent time!
------------- Always edited for sloppy typing - when I spot it!
My first trip this year is Thursday ahead of the Easter weekend, so that I could sit and watch with something cool and alcoholic in my hand the mayhem of vans queuing all the way up the road waiting to get in before check in opens at 13:00 officially.
When I was a tenter, I only had one dog. Normally, he was not tethered inside the tent as it was effectively his home. However, he managed to escape late one night, my fault in unhooking his lead before I zipped up the tent door . He just wandered off to have a sniff around the site and came back about 30min later, much to my annoyance as it was dark and I could not call out to find him. From then on, he was tethered inside the tent to the centre pole (the last 2 tents with Dutch pyramids) with a very long lead so that he could roam around the tent to go to his bed as well as to sit outside the tent under the canopy.
He started off camping using a crate, however, he was a good boy and my late partner and I decided he could sleep in the inner tent with us instead.
Good luck with your first trip out with the family, including the furry ones!
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$$ on it and walk away!
You’re late! There were several tents at Kirkcudbright exactly one month ago. One had a wood burning stove going, to be fair, but another camper was a cyclist who was travelling very light.
First dog - scared of being inside the tent, slept in the car behind the dog bars, tented with a blanket if it was cold (eg one snowy Easter). We used a roof box, almost everything went in there (not the dog, obviously).
Second - loved it, learnt to: she’d had to rest up in my sleeping bag after running over a cliff at Sligo at 12 weeks old. She was crate trained so we could pack soft loose things around & over the crate; not an option with 2 greyhounds.
Third - ah well, we had an old & small Motorhome by then, with different problems of her travelling in the crate safely secured.
Dogs do make very good hot water bottles, I find. I read reviews on here to check local dog walks. I suggest you don’t tick on “dog walk on site” because that seems to refer to a walk that’s owned by the site, and you’ll rule out a lot of lovely places. (But do tick on “dogs allowed”, not all sites do allow them.)
I had the intention to go on my first trip out in March 2025 to make the most of a free CAMC night offer; however, cancelled due to work commitments, hey ho!
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
Our First Trip of the year Commences at 17:30 today when I finish Work, by getting the 23:00 Ferry from Portsmouth to Cherbourg, Followed by a Days Driving down to Sete, Where we will Stay for a Week, before Returnin to Caen on Friday, and back to the UK on Sunday.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: First camp of the year coming up
via mobile 13/4/2025 at 6:14pm
. He just wandered off to have a sniff around the site and came back about 30min later, much to my annoyance as it was dark and I could not call out to find him. From then on, he was tethered inside the tent to the centre pole (the last 2 tents with Dutch pyramids) with a very long lead so that he could roam around the tent to go to his bed as well as to sit outside the tent under the canopy.
