Words About Things

Despite the less than suitable weather I spent the weekend camping on the North Devon coast. Anyone who has tried to visit Devon during the bank holiday weekend will know that the roads are overwhelmed by caravans and campervans and getting anywhere fast on the M5 is unlikely. We overcame this problem by taking mostly smaller roads which made navigation a lot more difficult. Luckily my phone (Nokia E71) has a Google Maps application which combined with inbuilt GPS and a girlfriend willing to shout out directions makes for a good approximation of a Sat Nav.

The surf was good although I hadn’t been body boarding for quite a few years to it took a while for me to remember that it’s quite important to keep your mouth closed when sea water is involved. There were lots of people to dodge but very few sharks so it was good fun.

We woke up on Sunday morning to find that it was raining pretty hard so the tent and all the extras (cooker, empty cider cans, unwashed plates) got thrown in the boot to be sorted out when we got home. I’m still trying to convince my girlfroend that we need to buy a used van as this we require a lot less setting up. Unfortunatly as I normally end up putting up the tent by myself she didn’t think that this is too much of a problem.

I fear I may be getting too old for camping. When I was a little younger the idea of spending a weekend sleeping in a tiny tent, getting muddy and sleeping very little appealed to me.  Last weekend I went camping and remembered that my tent is considerably shorter than I am which makes sleeping a challenge. I had a great time but I think I either need a bigger tent or a camper van. Some people at the campsite had huge tents, I’m pretty sure one of the was bigger than my whole flat.

I think I might prefer camper vans than a giant tent that takes hours to put up, especially as my girlfriend always claims that she is unable to help as she doesn’t know how the tent works. Putting up a big tent always seems harder than putting up a small tent and takes longer, a vital consideration considering how often it rains here.

I think it’s about time I invested in something along these lines:

Apparently van hire is an option as well although if you own one you have the freedom of being able to leave at a moments notice as soon as the sun comes out!