camping it up

This summer we have mostly been...camping. Or that's how it feels anyway. We had tried camping in groups in the past with varying degrees of success and enjoyment and I think I'd decided that it just wasn't for us. I did however envy those who enjoyed it and were able to 'up and off' on a cheap getaway, so when the opportunity, and support, came up this summer I decided to give it another try. We were lent a tent and a helping hand for our first try, which lasted 3 nights. It chucked it down, and there were a couple of dramas with other campers, but we were snug and felt very comfortable with friends who held my hand when I got a bit wobbly. It buoyed me up enough to try it again, this time for 5 nights, in Scotland to visit my Big Girl. She had friends to stay at her little place so offered us her tent. We found a nearby campsite and away we went. Again I had a lot of help putting the tent up and I knew the area quite well so we had plenty to do while we were there. The weather wasn't brilliant, but we were warm enough and again we survived to give it another go. By our third trip, after a one night mini camp in the garden with our friend with the tent we've just bought, I was feeling a lot more confident and, if I remember, I think I was actually excited to be setting off to do it all on our own this time. I managed to put the tent up, and get it down again at the end of our trip, with help from the kids. I even managed to pack, unload and load up the roof box on my own, at my height no mean feat.

So I think we can safely say that we've well and truly embarked on this camping journey, but I'm still not certain that I actually 'get' this camping lark. I've been thinking about all the different campers we've met and there seems to be a continuum of types of campers. There are non-campers, then there are reluctant campers, virgin campers, interemediate campers,seasoned campers and finally, the nirvana of camping, happy campers. Maybe I won't really appreciate the whole experience till I'm out of virgin territory. There were things I  really enjoyed and which gave me a warm glow inside, such as making and breaking camp all by myself, and setting up my little kitchen (windbreak, low table, stove, washing up bowl, kettle) and watching the kids going off and exploring and being outside a lot of the time. Equally there were things I could have done without such as squabbling rooks and seagulls fighting over scraps of food right outside my tent at stupid o'clock in the morning, little Hitlers who think they can make up their own rules about what others on the campsite can do and tipping down rain. There are also things I'm not sure I'll find a way round such as going to bed freezing cold and waking up too hot. Sharing a bed with a 5 year old octopus didn't help with that one as she'd get too hot and throw the covers off which left me scrabbling to pull them back over me before I turned to ice. Many's the night that I had the covers pulled right over my head, and even sticking just my nose out lowered my body temperature by way too many degrees. Then there's the uncertainty of whether you're going to wake up in the middle of the night needing to go. And if you do need to you lie there debating with yourself whether to try and make it till morning until you're so awake you might as well get up and go anyway. There's also the problem that the kids won't sleep till it's properly pitch dark and then get woken up with the sun. The resulting sleep deprivation for all was tough to deal with. I really don't have a handle yet on the food aspect either. I decided that I wasn't even going to try and cook, so we'd have one meal out per day and have cereal and sarnies the rest of the time, which doesn't make for a very balanced diet, but something has to give. Camping isn't supposed to be torture (I'm presuming). 

I'm sure that I'll get more discerning as we go along as regards choosing which camps to join in with, how to choose a good campsite, how to choose a good pitch when we get there and how to field the little triumphs and crises that come our way. I'm still prepared to give it a try and see how we go.