Great Camping Hunt

headcoat

If you are troubled by midges.....look on the net.....best stuff is from Avon, the army use it in Scotland. Not tried it yet but after last time I went I definatly need something. And if you do get bitten get piritan hay fever tablets, they stop all the scratching.

My best buy this year was a roof bag (Kango - Hurricane), cost quite a bit but as I dont have storage for a roof box and no roof bars, was an ideal solution and saved sqashing the kids and everythign in the car.

XYZ_2-2

Remember to tie bright/shiny things along your guyropes (?), especially if you are on a crowded campsite, or anywhere en-route to the loos - stops waking up as your tent collapses/to the sound of drunk people swearing....

coinchaser

I would also advice anyone to book early as ringing around sites in Cornwall this week it seems they were all booked up in January!
Also, we have just moved up to a bigger tent because at 6ft, 6ft 2 and with an 11 year old boy who is 5ft 6in already and a 9 year old daughter we wouldn't all fit in the four man tent!
So we opted for a quality 8 man tent - so they can bring a friend.
However - lots of campsites are saying at 8m x 4.5m it's too big for peak periods (health and safety reasons) - 8m seems to be the sticking point.
We have found a site we're happy with but it was an extra nuisance I didn't think of when I bought the tent, so might be something new purchasers might want to bear in mind.

helwarren

We started with a tent but have upgraded to a trailer tent now, as got more and more difficult to fit stuff in the car! We have a cabanon stratos and would def recommend. Much more comfortable sleeping wise and groundsheet zips on all the way round -with our old tent the walls never seemed to meet the groundsheet properly and things ended up wet a couple of times.
My 'luxury' item as dh calls it, is our porta potti. With kids 5 & 3 I don't fancy the walk to the toilet block in the middle of the night, especially when pouring with rain!

gremlin

headcoat wrote: »

If you are troubled by midges.....look on the net.....best stuff is from Avon, the army use it in Scotland. Not tried it yet but after last time I went I definatly need something. And if you do get bitten get piritan hay fever tablets, they stop all the scratching.

.

its Avon Skin So Soft Oil


it does work, we spend a lot of time in the Scottish outdoors and I take it all the time.

Im particulary tasty to midges and mozzies apparentley :rolleyes: and it keeps me safe.

SteveC_2

coinchaser wrote: »

lots of campsites are saying at 8m x 4.5m it's too big for peak periods (health and safety reasons) - 8m seems to be the sticking point.
We have found a site we're happy with but it was an extra nuisance I didn't think of when I bought the tent, so might be something new purchasers might want to bear in mind.

Having spent years trying to get my wife into camping, I eventually got my own way a couple of years back. Got an excellent deal on a Kyham xxl Excelsior. We have been happy with the sites we have used, but it is certainly harder trying to find a pitch, so I would agree with coinchaser's advice and think about size prior to purchase. I think the extra space is well worth it though.

If anybody can recommend sites that take large tents in peak season, I would love to read about other peoples experiences via this forum.

paulfoel

jamtart6 wrote: »

(2) If you can get to the Gelert outlet in Port Maddog, they do ex-display tents (perfect condition, pss the odd peg missing) for 40%-70% of the original price. We got an 8 man Gelert frame tent, reduced from £150 to £60....

Is that Porthmadoc in North Wales ???? :-)

chrissieT

I have just returned from a motorbike camping trip to The Shetlands.
For those of you have never been , they don't have trees on the Shetlands therefore no shelter.I was one of the lucky people who had a great tent and mattress. It blew a hoolie and rained incessently. We have a Khyam rapid erect tent(Freelander) so it was up in seconds and had extra guy ropes (supplied as standard) to tether it securely,a good self inflating mattress and a sleeping bag.Others were not so lucky theirs collapsed or blew away.I also have a Tesco value folding chair, at under £4 each that can't be bad , a camp stove from Wilkinsons at under £10 what more could you want. Apart from SUNSHINE.

Lots of people have tents/camping equipment that they're not using any more and they advertise them on your local freecycle site online.
Have a look you could get something free and free is always good.:beer:

htjo

paulfoel wrote: »

Is that Porthmadoc in North Wales ???? :-)

Yes!

We find the Kite and Camping store in Raglan (Mon) really great. They usually have a really good range of tents up of varying sizes.

We are seasoned campers and will agree with the 'bigger than you need' idea - we have doubled the sze of tent every time we've bought, 2-4-8, though its only the 8man you can stand up in. An 'indoor' sitting/eating area is vital for us. Think most of our other esentials have been mentioned. We're off again at the weekend....happy camping

Bozz_2

There are lots of campsites listed at http://www.myfavouritecampsite.com
And all available for free download as points of interest for your sat/nav too

And my best buy for camping was
Ring Cyba-lite - Cyba-lite Eco Wind-up Lantern - RT5114, from 7dayshop.com for just 17.99+ pp