Des Hughes is fundraising for Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland - JustGiving

Des Hughes is fundraising for Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland - JustGiving

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What has 2010 got in store?

Well, the festive season is over and now my head is very much in Camping mode again.   Im looking forward to getting out there and seeing this wonderful nation again from the doors of our tent.   There is nothing more satisfying than opening your tent zips in the morning to a different view.   The sizzle of Bacon (not to mention the hypnotic smell) cooking on the coleman stove.  The kettle boiling the water for that first brew of the day and not a single watch or clock being acknowledged.   Time stops when camping.   

My hopes for 2010.

I would like to see more of the southern end of England, however I am very concerned at reports of more and more sites being fully booked already - Its January for goodness sake!   I don't like and have never liked booking in advance for camping.  Its always been a phone-call to the site to check weather and space, then turning up.  Always keeping a plan B nearby just in case.   I would also like to see more of Scotland this year than in the past.  I live here and haven't seen some places that are only a 30 minute drive away - that's terrible!  The only thing that tends to put a dampener on things is the weather.  I don't mind the rain, but the wind is the tent camper's enemy.  Its not wise pitching in high winds and not really a nice experience worrying whilst lying in the tent at night if the next gust will kill the tent and end your holiday.  This year I plan to see more - thats about the gist of it.  

A little summary of our Camping life this year.

Its been a fairly productive year for us by the way of camping trips. First trip of the year was to Annstead farm just between Beadnell bay and Seahouses in Northumberland. The picture of the Norfolk lake to the right was taken as the sun set around 7.00pm in April. It was a cold trip, but we thoroughly enjoyed our week away. This was also the maiden voyage of our Norfolk Lake tent, so it was a bit of a hold your breath moment! Just incase the tent started leaking or a pole broke etc. Luckily the tent stood tall, but we had to invest in some heavy duty plastic pegs, as we didnt have enough. We did however lose our windbreak on this trip. Its poles were bent 90 degrees in the wind ,so to the bin they went and that was that. Seahouses is a fantastic little town, with lots to do in it, and even more to do around the area. It has some of the most beautiful beaches in the UK in my opinion. I could imagine a lot of bathers and sandcastle builders on those beaches in summer months. The whole area is quite unspoilt and gives the impression that life goes along at a leisurely pace all the time. I like that a lot! To the left is a photo of the bottom of the main street of Seahouses. As for the beach at Seahouses. Just below is a picture of our family on the beach directly across from Annstead farm Campsite. The beach seemed to stretch out for miles and miles. When the tide went out, it was about a 5 minute walk from the edge of the beach to the water. We regret not taking our Labrador Max to this site with us, he would have absolutely loved this beach. Swimming is one of his very favorite pastimes. The kids (and me) enjoyed writing our names on the sand, and it was so deserted, you'd expect our names to be still there months later. If you don't go anywhere else in Northumberland, you have to sample Seahouses beach. Buy some fish and chips in the local chippy (a favourite of the Hairy Bikers), and go for a walk along the beach. I'd highly recommend it. Ideal kite flying area here too, as it seemed to be windy the whole time we visited. The only downside to staying in Seahouses is, that if you are looking for supplies, you really only have a Co-operative Mini supermarket to shop in. It isnt the best of stocked shop ive been in, but its better than a 20 mile drive to the nearest big supermarket. The big towns nearby are Berwick upon Tween to the north and Alnwick to the south - Talking of which, Alnwick castle is a MUST visit. It was used in the Harry Potter Films as Hogwarts and also used in other films and TV series too.

At the May bank holiday this year, we went North for a change. This was our very first camping trip to the North of Scotland, as I much prefer going South camping, as I have this thing about the North of Scotland always being cold (How wrong I was). We booked the Forest Holidays site at Loch Morlich, just outside Aviemore (about 6 miles or so). It is by far the most picturesque campsite i've had the pleasure to stay at, but I wasnt too happy at booking a pitch then being "slotted" into a spare pitch. Not a great pitch either as it was mainly rubble. We decided to go Electric this trip, as I really didnt fancy being cold at night in the Highlands. As you can see by the Picture, this was the stuff of fairytales though. We got our tent up and our Utility tent was taken too this trip. I dont like using space in our tent no matter how big, on things that dont really need to be in it like the cooker and kitchen stuff. The Utility tent has paid for itself over and over. Very useful bit of kit. As I mentioned earlier about the pitch. This is it here to the left. Not a great start, but We got the tent up and made the best of it. This is something that really annoys me about campsites. We wanted an electric pitch and this was the best they could offer - even though we had booked in advance. It was another example of campsites not thinking about the tent populations out there. A tent field with some electric hook up points would be great. It would solve so many problems and stop tents getting hemmed in by caravans and motorhomes who seem to trip the electrics constantly due to the heavy wattage microwave ovens etc. Now normally heat and light and a radio are the only things that Im looking for when im camping electric hook up wise. But this time, knowing full well that we could be getting cold and wet and possibly stuck in our tent all weekend. I decided to take a telly and dvd player. Not a 32" widescreen telly or anything like that , just a small one that would sit neatly on our camping cupboard and entertain us and the kids if it was raining. It was practically unused!! So one lesson learned there then! The weather throughout the weekend was spectacular. Really nice days and a whole weather system at night, but the really great thing was NO WIND! Not a gust! that to me is the worst thing about camping. I hate the wind. I can cope with torrential rain - snow even. But wind. I hate it. It kills holidays and it destroys tents. Luckily we have been lucky where the wind is concerned so far, but a few years back we nearly lost a tent in Scarborough to the wind. The site warden told us that during the night it had been snowing, yet we were walking about during the day in light jumpers or tshirts. Strange place the Highlands. I got a fantastic picture of the kids on this break, and its one of those ones that you want the whole world to see, so here it is. One of those golden moments that money just cant buy. We are lucky, because our kids love camping. In fact our two youngest have been camping since they were babies. There is plenty to do at Loch Morlich, from fishing to watersports to bike hire. The boys wanted to go fishing to we went to the Rothiemurchus estate and hired rods and went trout fishing. The boys caught a nice big succulent rainbow trout each, and I cooked David his for dinner that night in some herbs and butter. Ben wanted to bring his home to show everyone, so it was promptly frozen and stored in the freezer the minute we got home. Even Max considered this place as Doggy "heaven" He saw the loch and promptly just HAD to have a swim. The dot on the horizon is Max.


The tent and the Utility tent really came into their own on this trip,as it was the first time that we could set up in decent weather and take our time getting used to pegging the tent and unfolding and folding properly too. We put the Lake up first and then David put the Utility tent up whilst I put in the bedrooms and the various other bits and bobs. It was really a pleasure to set up the tent and my wife and the other 2 kids went to the local shop to get a drink for me - Its thirsty work putting up a tent you know. Heres a picture of our camp set up at Loch Morlich.
We're all going on a summer holiday!!

For the summer break, we invested in a fitted carpet for the Norfolk lake. It was less than half price in Go Outdoors, so we decided it would be a very good addition to our setup. And yes, it certainly was a great buy. Theres something quite luxurious about walking around a tent in your bare feet on an outwell fitted carpet. Hmmm a bit much there I know. We had to pitch the tent in the rain at Waterside House Farm, campsite just outside Pooleybridge. This was our second trip in the space of 3 weeks here. This time we brought the kids as we were sure they'd enjoy it as much as we did - and they did! As with all holidays we have, they dont take long to make new friends, so within an hour or two they were out playing cricket with a couple of families up the hill from us. Thats the beauty of camping. The entertainment is home made, so its free and simple. We opted to go this summer electric free camping. Im glad we did, but I have to admit, I did miss some of the luxuries like the refridgeration - I found it difficult to keep foods fresh with just coolblocks and im thinking about alternatives for next time. Everything else was absolutely fine - Camping gaz lanterns are very effective lights, and a battery powered radio for the news and weather and a little light music too. I like to keep in touch with my emails etc and my phone was fine for the task, but I feel the need for something that we can use for booking sites and checking the weather etc, so ive got a pocket surfer which will be just perfect for the job next trip. We like to move on when camping rather than just go home. Not always an option, and this was one of those no option trips unfortunately. The UK summer was as usual totally rubbish this year. Rain and wind, with the odd sunny day thrown in the middle for good measure. We got all of that on our week at Waterside. It was great to get the opportunity though to get away during the summer - especially as I'd fractured my Shoulder at the beginning of summer and was told by a specialist that I wouldnt be able to use it for at least 6 months. Not bad eh? In the picture that you can see just above is a view from the internal living area of our Norfolk lake looking toward the front and outside is our windbreak and our newly bought sunshade (Aldi). We bought it in Penrith and its a great addition to our gear as it is so versatile and can be set up in numerous ways. An ideal shelter. Heres a better view of it and also a view of the tent with the main porch area opened up. This was actually the first time we managed to get use of this door opened like that. It really improves the look of the tent when the front door can be opened up. The utility tent was kept to the side of the tent this trip. It made it easier to pop in and out of it to cook and get things, and it also kept it reasonably out of the way of anyone who might wish to help themselves to our food. There were reports of thefts on this site the week prior to our visit. That is a worrying sign. In all the years we have been camping, I can honestly say that is the first time we've ever heard of theft on a campsite. To the left is a picture of Rebecca announcing that the Breakfast is about to be served. Or something like that. The weather unfortunately got the better of us on this trip. Drainage at certain parts of the site isn't great, and we were unlucky enough to be pitched on a flood plain. So we got up on the Friday morning to squelching. Underneath the tent was flooded. This is when our zip in groundsheet really came into its own. We were bone dry in the inner area of the tent, but the porch area was flooded (the bathtub groundsheet became a bathtub.) The reason for the front flood was that the bathtub had dipped at the front and the water was running in all night and we had a big puddle. Not to worry. We packed up. And came home. The only other camping trip is our trip to Ardgarten in September. I'll post about that later as its ridiculous o clock and well past my bedtime.

Well, its a few months down the year since summer, and winter is approaching fast and furious. We've had a fair few trips away in our tents this summer and the weather has been "interesting" to say the least. We decided that a weekender tent was a necessity, so after trawling ebay, we found a Gelert Linea 6 Polycotton tent. This tent is VERY rare, especially in the UK as it was designed for the continental market. It has a very unusual setup within, as it uses both steel and fibreglass poles for the structure. The steel poles form the front part of the tent and the rear sleeping pod is basically a dome tent. Its Not got a sewn in Groundsheet in the porch area, but im going to design something over the winter with an old outwell groundsheet that I have sitting doing nothing. The mudflaps all round are good at keeping the draughts out, so im going to put eyelets in them to make them peggable too. the picture above was the tent in its first outing to Ardgarten forest Holidays site at Loch Long, in Argyll, Scotland - Not far from home! This was the weathering weekend to get the tent actively waterproof. It's frame was also put to the test as the wind was approaching 50-60 mph that weekend and we were right in its path. Shown to the left is a front view of the Linea, and as you can see, it resembles the Gelert Utah - one of its selling points to us to be completely honest. Its about the same size of sleeping area as the Utah, but the living area is just a little bit smaller. A canopy or extension is probably going to be another addition for next year - funds permitting. I spent some time researching where this tent design originated and contacted Gelert. A nice lady emailed me and told me that the tent is the polycotton version of the Gelert Skydome. This was helpful, because it allows us to be able to source spares if needed. It also resembles a model of the coleman tent range too. One thing that is for certain though - There is no way that our 3 kids and us will fit comfortably into the tent on inflatable matresses. So another item on the wishlist is self inflatable matresses. Then again, we havent tried it as a family yet, as my wife and I went on its maiden voyage. To the right is a picture of the view inside - a bit of a mess there, as it was just before we packed up to come home, but it gives an idea of the space. It is quite spacious and I think on a family outing the Cooker etc would be relegated to either under a canopy or into the utility tent. This would allow space for all of us. Well its been weathered, Its been dried out and now its back in the bag and ready for the hibernation of the winter - unless we get an October heatwave! But I dont think there are any predicted.

Camping Light!

My wife and I got the opportunity to get a few days down at Pooley Bridge by Ullswater. Rather than take the Norfolk Lake, we decided to borrow David, our son's tent. Its a nice little 3 berth Vango Delta 300. A little higher than your usual lightweight domes, but still low down compared to our monster tent. I was very impressed by how easy to put the tent up. and When we had to finally strike camp, it was simple to fold and pack back into the bag. No condensation problems with the tent either. We managed to fit a double inflatable matress (widthways rather than lengthways), and a little camping shelf unit too. For lights we used the Lanterns that you can pick up at poundland. Ideal for keeping a little area like this well lit. I especially like the little porch area that the Delta has. Its great for keeping shoes and jackets in. I do have a confession to make though! We may have been basic, but it didnt stop us taking our Double Outhouse. It made an ideal shelter from the rain (which we did see on a few occasions). I stupidly forgot our kitchen unit, so our rolltop table became kitchen stand and place to eat from. It wasnt too much hassle because it was just the two of us. I'd recommend the Outhouse to all, its a very valuable part of our kit. To be able to store things in this rather than the tent creates a LOT of space that would otherwise be full of dangerous camping gear and foodstuffs for all to trip over. It is so easy to set up too. Just 2 poles that slip into sleeves on the roof, then clip down the four sides. Its nice and sturdy once its guyed down. Pack size is VERY small too, so even with the Big tent, it still fits nicely in the car.

The Utah

Never a truer saying is you dont appreciate something till its gone. Thats how im feeling about our Gelert Utah 4+4. We sold the tent when we got our Norfolk Lake due to lack of storage space. Now we've moved to a bigger house and we could really be doing with a smaller weekender tent for the little short jaunts that we sometimes like to make. I really regret selling it now. So many happy memories and some fantastic campsites hosted our tent on many occasions. The picture is of the Utah during the Easter holidays 2008 at Eskdale camping Club site. This was also the first outing of our Outhouse utility tent. Another fantastic buy and I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to maximise space in thier tent. Very useful if you have kids! It keeps the dangerous stuff out of the way. I plan to give some reports on the various sites ive visited - and sites im visiting this summer. Keep watching.

Our World of Camping

The last thing we needed this year to be totally honest was a new tent. But when life throws an opportunity at you, sometimes you just have to take it and say "what the heck." We originally used our Gelert Utah 4+4. A great tent, plenty of space for the five of us and really easy to erect. We were in the Go Outdoors shop in Coatbridge (Scotland), just after christmas and to our surprise they were selling off all the ex-display tents. I initially was very interested in buying the Outwell Hartford XL, but when I spotted the Norfolk Lake, It was love at first sight. We all looked at the tent and just knew it would be ideal as a step up from our beloved Utah. So when the guy in the shop said it was reduced from round about £900 to £110, We just had to buy it. First impressions of the tent told me that although it was wind and watertight, It was quite dirty and needing a little bit of TLC to get it worthy of taking on our travels with us. So two weeks later, the tent was dried, bagged and ready to pick up. This is when I have to admit the doubts started kicking in. The bags for the tent are ENORMOUS - So big infact they alone take up a good portion of boot space in our Vauxhall Zafira. Despite the doubts, I was delighted to finally have the tent our kids could enjoy many years of camping trips, and with care possibly our grand children one day too. When I got the tent home we unpacked it and tried our hardest to compact it into the bag better, which we did, but not to any great reduction of sheer size. Did I mention the weight? Its VERY heavy, so I think we may need a weekender tent too. Its just too big and heavy for short breaks (unless the weather is going to be extreme). I sold our other tents due to the lack of space we had in our last house for storage. Something I would learn to regret - but not because the Lake isnt the best tent we've ever had! It ticks every box! I will reveal later why I regret selling the other 2 tents we owned.