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.