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Quote: Originally posted by spiritburner on 14/1/2016Reading this forum over the years it wouldn't surprise me if folk just get overwhelmed with kit & the packing & unpacking. I know I'd get sick of it if it took me hours to set up & pack away then having too stash it all away at home & dry a tent the size of a Zeppelin. Keep it simple - to me that's what camping's about. If folk need every mod con they have at home maybe a van is the way to go. My parents have had caravans & a static - that suits them but being in the vans used to give me the ab-dabs. Mobile suburbia.

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Quote: Originally posted by Mucker1884 on 14/1/2016

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Quote: Originally posted by spiritburner on 14/1/2016Reading this forum over the years it wouldn't surprise me if folk just get overwhelmed with kit & the packing & unpacking. I know I'd get sick of it if it took me hours to set up & pack away then having too stash it all away at home & dry a tent the size of a Zeppelin. Keep it simple - to me that's what camping's about. If folk need every mod con they have at home maybe a van is the way to go. My parents have had caravans & a static - that suits them but being in the vans used to give me the ab-dabs. Mobile suburbia.

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Maybe not exactly overwhelmed, in our case (No tellies/Microwaves/slow cookers etc, etc), but I can certainly see where you are coming from. I think I'm just about at that point now where I'm still happy to spend the best part of two hours grafting, then the next 2 hours pottering about, to set up for two full weeks on a French campsite, but I'm beginning to think a good hour or so is more than enough for a 2 or 3 nighter here in the UK, which is the majority of our camping.

I'm not gonna get obsessive (or down-hearted!) about it, but I think I'm more likely to be "Cutting back a little", than going down the 'vanning route, mainly because we love the canvas experience once we are set up.

Due to our style of camping, we've already started to not bother with a cooker set up on many occasions, relying a lot on a leccy kettle and snacks on site, plus eating out (as we spend the majority of time off site anyway!) That may appear lazy to anyone looking over from a neighbouring pitch, but I'm not too fussed about that, and it seems to work for us.

We're looking to get away in a week or so's time, and I'm also tempted to not bother with the camp beds, as we were comfy enough on our Expeds on the floor for our French overnighter... but I suspect the cold may just tempt me to spend the extra 10 to 15 mins to set the beds up (inc. valance sheets, of course!), and keep off the floor! Maybe nearer the Spring, we'll leave the beds at home!

Trouble is... if it can be called "trouble"... is that I've found that many jobs are almost literally 2 minute, or 5 minute jobs... it's just that there are so many of 'em!!   

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Quote: Originally posted by lidds0 on 15/10/2015

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Has anyone been full-on, camping-mad for decades and then found themselves not remotely interested in either tents or equipment?

I must be getting old...

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Sometimes You're the windscreen; sometimes the fly

Quote: Originally posted by spiritburner on 15/1/2016

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Some campers are campers. Some campers are vanners who don't know it yet.

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Sometimes You're the windscreen; sometimes the fly

Quote: Originally posted by fiona karen on 20/1/2016

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I love camping, in fact camping saved my sanity when I was going through some rough times, but last year with a dodgy knee and all the rain, there where a couple of times when I was lumping wet canvas about, I was finding it a bit hard.

Near the end of the year a friend introduced me to Hammocking and another friend took me my first wild camp I only had to walk for 25 min, but I found it quiet liberating only having my rucksack to carry stuff and now know down sizing is the way forward even for car camping and quiet looking forward to this years camping with all my camping buddy's.

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