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by lizzieslayer
And by the way how does one pitch a tent?!

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Follow the instructions, or get someone else to do it for you

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by lizzieslayer
Anyone had any horrific camping trips?

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Nope

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by lizzieslayer
Can anyone recommend any tips, neccesities to take and things for us to do. I know we will get bored and I'll probably get annoyed with him and end up putting frogs in his sleeping bag .

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Ummm don't forget your toothbrush etc?
If you go somewhere interesting enough that should suffice, with nice walks, etc etc The whole point of camping is to get away from things

Always carry a bog roll close to hand

or look for a ready supply of dock leaves

(Edited by Stoo 16/07/2003 23:03)

Right, the single most important thing you can do on a camping trip is to put frogs into the sleeping bags of your fellow campers...

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by lizzieslayer
I know we will get bored and I'll probably get annoyed with him and end up putting frogs in his sleeping bag.

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Oh, you already know that one...

Personally I'm not a fan of camping. I like to sleep somewhere proper.

LIZZIE!!!!!!!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!

Don't do it. Camping is dirty *ick*

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by Teresa
LIZZIE!!!!!!!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!

Don't do it. Camping is dirty *ick*

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What she said

Camping rocks!!!

Tips:

Take. Lots. Of. Bog. Roll.
Cups, cutlery, pot noodles, crisps, general munchies, burgers and buns, gas stove and spare gas, torchs, and plenty of your favourite intoxicant.
Take the biggest bottle of water you can carry, preferably with a nice big handle. Essential for washing you and your cups.
Take liquid soap rather than solid. It's easier to use and wastes less water.
Take a good book.
Do lots of wandering. Day and Night, if you feel you're far enough from civilization.

One of my favourite trips someone had some old rags in the back of their car. We ripped them up and wrapped them round some dead branchs we found and covered them in petrol. Dipped them one by one in the camp fire, carefully, for some home-made torchs, and then went for a wander. Took electric ones with us for when the rags were burnt out.

As for pitching the tent, make sure its the first thing you do. The temptation is to leave it til later, then it gets dark and things get really messy. Make sure you're familiar with the instructions before you set off, to avoid confusion.

And have fun.

Best place to go camping: in the middle of nowhere, like in Sweden (piccies) taking only with you what fits in yer kayak.

And yeah, first thing to do is pitch yer tent. Make sure you don't put it on some weird bumps/stones as that makes sleeping a tad uncomfortable...

(Edited by The Noid 17/07/2003 10:12)

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by Teresa
LIZZIE!!!!!!!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!

Don't do it. Camping is dirty *ick*

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I know, I know. But I have to "rough it" once in a while. I have refused to go anywhere that doesn't have hot water and showers. Plus we found a campsite with a pool so its not exactly going back to basics

I will be taking several amounts of wipes, face cleaner, deodrant, flannels, soap etc!! And of course insect repellent.

What you really need is to make sure that Matt is carrying his credit card(*) and you have a list of suitably swanky hotels for where ever it is you are going

* This is using the universal rule that says the bf has to pay cos it's gonna be his fault when it all goes wrong no matter who's idea it was

Too damn right. He will be carrying his credit card and debit card . We got the bill and its going to be about £20 I think, I told him I'd put something towards it and he was like "nooo you have to pay half and half." But I mentioned I have no job and he has two. In the end I told him he could go on his own if he didn't like it, and we reasoned I would buy all the food and supplies. 2 weeks till camping!

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by lizzieslayer
We got the bill and its going to be about £20 I think, I told him I'd put something towards it and he was like "nooo you have to pay half and half." But I mentioned I have no job and he has two. In the end I told him he could go on his own if he didn't like it, and we reasoned I would buy all the food and supplies. 2 weeks till camping!

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Good on you!

I mean who in their right mind would pay to sleep on the ground with no heating, cooling or running water and a toilet guaranteed to be dirty and at least 200 meters away?

Wait till you need a pee in the middle of the night, jamies getting wet in the grass, weak torchlight is all you have to see by and creepy crawlies just waiting to pounce!

Suss out what the weather's going to be like, hopefully get a completely dry weekend -- it makes it all soooooooo much easier!

Definately bring something mattressy, at least a large chunk of foam, preferably an air mattress, but anything's better than nothing, especially if you're going to be, ummm... amorous; likewise if you've got a lovely sunny August weekend it's probably going to be a bit warm at night to be in a four seasons sleeping bag -- go for blankets and/or a single light bag opened up.

As always the three most important things to have to hand will be a car, a credit card and a mobile phone -- few problems will be encountered that can't be solved with these!

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And by the way how does one pitch a tent?!

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First upgrade the tent to a caravan, that way it dosn't need to be pitched; then upgrade the caravan to a B&B that way you don't have to bring it with you; lastly upgrade the B&B to a hotel that way you have room service and cable TV.

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by Callum
First upgrade the tent to a caravan, that way it dosn't need to be pitched; then upgrade the caravan to a B&B that way you don't have to bring it with you; lastly upgrade the B&B to a hotel that way you have room service and cable TV.

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LOL, but dude! That's cheating!

Take twice the ammount of bog roll anyone else has said

It depends on how "rough" you want to rough it, if you're going out of the way completely, you'll need to take enough water to drink in case you're not camped up anywhere near a clean supply. If you're going to a camp site, this won't be such a problem.

If you're really roughing it, things like washing can be completely forgotten. If you're on a nice camp site it may have hot showers and clean toilet facilities.

And I'd suggest practicing pitching the tent in the garden a couple of times just so you know how and can do it quickly in case it's going to chuck it down all weekend.

The other thing is make sure you've gotstuff like insect repellent, and a first aid kit including some stuff to sooth an insect bite/sting.

And just for safety's sake keep a mobile handy and always let folks know exactly where you're going.

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by MonSTeR
And I'd suggest practicing pitching the tent in the garden a couple of times just so you know how and can do it quickly in case it's going to chuck it down all weekend.

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No no Mon. That's not the spirit at all! You don't practice pitching the tent. You turn up at the campsite just after it's gone too dark to actually see anything and just as it's starting to rain. Then one of you stays in the car (guess who) whilst the other struggles with poles and ground sheets by the illumination of the headlamps. The one sat in the dry car then shouts helpful things like "No, that's all wrong" until the one doing the work finally comes up with something that looks like a tent. Of course it's not until 3am when you're tucked up in the sleeping bag that, because the flysheet is on the wrong way round, you find the thing leaks water like a sieve.

Oh happy days.

I. Dont. Do. Camping.

Went once to one of these campsites with 'supposed' hot water and showers. NOOOOOO. To get the hot water you had to get up at like 5am to get in the QUEUE for the shower.

Here's my advice if it starts to rain turn round and go home. Water will always find a way into your tent. Even if its a new one. Even if you sprayed the seams with that waterproof sealant stuff. Make sure your car is parked close so if it does rain you don't have to spend the night drenched and cold.

If all else fails put your tent up in a beer garden. Then youre nice and close to all amenities.

I was put off camping by my mum and dads expedition where they were lost in Wales, night had fallen, my mum was reading the map and the fog was so thick they had to stop driving. My dad pulled up and they decided to pitch the tent there beside the road until morning when they would find the campsite.

However when they woke up they had pitched the tent in the middle of a roundabout

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by Cat
I mean who in their right mind would pay to sleep on the ground with no heating, cooling or running water and a toilet guaranteed to be dirty and at least 200 meters away?

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Absolutely right, You can camp somewhere with no heating, cooling or running water AND no dirty toilets anywhere near for FREE!

I recently went to a military history/vehicle fair at Beltring which goes on for a week. Several friends (as indeed do a whole load of people) had elected to camp out there, their little cantonment consisted of the usual tents plus a Land Rover, Saracen and Humber Pig. And one of the guys plans to get himself a Ferret by next year...

BTW someone said he could get me a fully operational Chieftain tank *if* I had a class 1 firearms license and £55k. My first thought? £55k?!? I could get a Mercedes S-class for that!

One of them was demanding to know when I was going to go down there with them instead of just turning up as a punter. "When I've purged too many years of management consultant soft living out of my system!". At that point she took slight umbrage and pointed out her range stove and that they had a portable generator... Another chap also mentioned he'd brought a TV and a DVD player the previous year!

Even so, while I quite fancy the idea of hanging round more armoured vehicles than you can shake a stick at for a week, having seen the state of the chemical toilets by late in the week, I'm still not entirely convinced.