Last week my family and I went camping for the 1st time is around 3 or 4 years. We have had a tent for a long time, but the Kyham 8 berth has sat idle in the rafters of the garage for a long time. When we eventually lifted it down, we were pleasantly surprised that it was still in one piece and ready to be used. The real fear was that the garage mice had climbed into the roof and eaten the fabric, or worse, had babies (or little mice poos) in the tent fabric. None of the above seemed to have occurred so - believe that the garage is probably a mice free zone (MFZ as the cool kids call it).
So the big day arrived and the sun shone and shone all weekend long. I turned up in a field in Derbyshire (urghh) at 12 noon on Friday and met Martin who was mt fellow tent erector for the day. We had been thrown together by our weak wives, who felt the only way to get us to go camping was to offer us an afternoon without the kids and with a pub within 2 minutes. We put the tent up in an hour (easy) and then went onto the pub for a long lunch of sandwiches and pedigree. Aahh, beer on a sunny afternoon.
Later in the day the kids arrived and the tranquil adult beer fueled afternoon ended in the sound of hyped up kids. It was great fun and we all had a really good Friday night. Everyone went to bed too late and everyone had too little sleep. We all woke up too early on Saturday, cranky, tired, hung over and hungry. We all enjoyed the Saturday, the highlight of which was the row boat ride on Carsington Water.
The rest of Saturday was spent water fighting 5 year olds and having a great time. I think we all need to grow down a bit.
Saturday night was much more tranquil and full of middle aged people trying to pretend they were not over tired. We were all over tired and eventually went to bed early.
Sunday morning we all got up too early again due to the strong sunshine burning the tent before 7am. The smell of bacon in the air was strong and lasting. We had croissants, tea and theb I managed a bunch of kids to punch rockets in the air. Bliss.
Sunday afternoon and we all got home, tired, emotional and in need of some. TV. Especially the kids.
I enjoyed the weekend and hope that we can go camping again, as long as the sunshines and we have a friend to put the tent up.
