From another thread on here about invasion of pitches, which contained a post about a friendship that was formed by being neighbourly, what good experiences have you had? When we as newbies were on our second trip we were pitched on site and saw that we had a puncture and as it was a Polish caravan we had not realised the wheel had different size wheel nuts, and we did not have the correct size wrench. Several people offered help, providing wrenches and tyre pressure gauges and plenty of advice which enabled my husband, with the help of his friend. to wrestle off the spare, carried under the caravan and a b***** to get off and sort out the problem to our relief.
It's the little nicities I enjoy about camping. I've not got one big good experience to tell in this post. It's just all the little bits that add up... Putting your neighbours washing/drying back inside their tent if it starts raining... Re-pegging a neighbours guy line thats managed to unpeg itself whilst they are out for the day... Lending an air pump to the camper that's forgotten to pack theirs and is desperate to inflate their airbeds upon a late arrival...Helping to push a mud struck car... Sharing a BBQ... The occasional email you may recieve after striking up a friendship and swapping email addresses... There are so many little things to mention, but to me, they all add up to the good experiences that I've been lucky enough to enjoy over the times I've camped... Often these "nicities" go unnoticed by the recipricant ... But that's certainly the good side of camping IMO
ADL
PS That "anecdote" was a cracking way to finish the other thread IMO.
I am fairly new to the camping experience but over the last couple of years have been impressed by the generally nice people that go camping. Sadly most of my experiences have been in very poor weather as a review I made of a certain tent from a very cheap source on eBay will tell.
One experience stands out though and that was last year at Tom's Field in the New Forest. Unknowingly we pitched a day before gale force winds were forecast and what an experience that proved to be. The owner (Tom) just couldn't do enough for the campers. Going on the internet to print off the latest weather report, going around the tents with a hammer to make sure the pegs were in properly and even rebuilding unattended tents that had fallen.
I am really looking forward to revisiting that site during the summer and thank him for being a top guy.
Well the "pitch invasion" post has had a huge viewing and 149 answers and "your good experience" post has attracted few viewers and only two answers. Rather a disappointing conclusion to be drawn I think.
One sunny day I was caravanning on a site in Northern France. I sat outside a drunk a cup of tea. It took me about 15 mins and during that time no one walked across my pitch! Had I been on another site or another pitch, god knows what might have happened!
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"If I let go of what I am, I can become what I might be".
When we first got our full awning a lovely man came to help us put it up, even though we didn't need him for long as all the in-laws who lived locally turned up so they helped i really appreciated the kindness of that man and couldn't thank him enough.
Yesterday we were on a site in Cornwall and came back to the caravan to see a couple struggling to put their tent up in strong winds so without even getting a cuppa off i go to help not sure why as i've never put a tent up in my life lol and i was met with such thanks because they were glad of any help as they'd never done it either. Hubby being quiet got brave and came to help too so we got there in the end even though the tent was facing backwards lol. The couple were so thankfull and wanted to buy us a drink in the site bar before they went off for their planned evening out.
I just wanted to help and felt embaressed that they wanted to repay us but it was such a lovely thing of them to do.
Picture the scenario.Pull up on site.Unhitched and drove forward with breakaway cable attached resulting in a verticle handbrake lever and a broken ratchet in the handbrake which wouldnt release.A bloke comes out to help and gets down in the mud and disconects the assembly from underneath for us so we could pitch the van.i'll never forget his kindness and whenever we go back to the site(he has a seasonal pitch)we have a laugh about it.Top bloke.
------------- Those that danced were thought to be quite insane to those who could not hear the music. Angela Monet
we started off with a folding caravan & the 1st time we had it away we were really struggling with putting the awning up. there was an old couple next door & he came out & helped us with it. he must have been about 80 years old
at easter when we were away at beamish there was a couple drew in next to us who had just bought their caravan off ebay & for the 1st night they didn't have any equipment. we had them in at night for a heat & cups of tea & the kids took them a pot of tea in the morning until they got themselves sorted out at the local asda.
When we were at Shamba last year the bloke who took us to our pitch helped us push the 'van onto our pitch and then offered to help us put up the awning. He seemed a bit disappointed that we didn't need help lol. On our very 1st caravan trip in our 1st 'van we needed to sleep 2 in the awning but forgot the air pump. I went up to a tent and asked if they had one i could borrow. We've also lent out various tools in our trips away. It's all part of camping isn't it?
Well the "pitch invasion" post has had a huge viewing and 149 answers and "your good experience" post has attracted few viewers and only two answers. Rather a disappointing conclusion to be drawn I think.
Carol
Well 11 years camping and 28 years caravaning, how many good times would you like?
On a trip to Delamere forest earlier this year we manage to lock keys in motorhome we had a Mezan at the time. We could see keys next to cooker thanks to camper's a tent pole with a tent peg attached they managed to fish keys through roof vent. Everyone was so helpful and friendly .
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: Good experiences when camping?
