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Like many campers here, our equipment has 'evolved' to what we have now... I could pretty much go anywhere with the equipment we have now... makes for very comfortable camping.

But.

It's not the same.

I used to get fired up about new equipment. Toys for grown ups. Spent an hour putting it all away after one night away. Paggered by the end of it! Sweating!

Thinking of going back to the small tent that takes 5 minutes to put up, the small gas burner and a frying pan, no EHU because it's just too tempting to pack half the house with it!

Want to get back to simple weekends away.

Anyone else been here or am I just like the petulant child who wants to ditch their Sony PSP for the snakes and ladders board?

Hello Morag

I 'm in complete agreement with you, we've just returned from a long weekend (3 nights) and we packed the car (boot & back seat) a roofbox and a trailer, EHU means fridge, heater portable dvd........... It took longer to unpack the car and put everything away than it did to get back from the site which was just over an hour away.

But....

It is nice to have all of the luxuries

Quote: Originally posted by Morag MacDoodle on 20/5/2007

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Like many campers here, our equipment has 'evolved' to what we have now... I could pretty much go anywhere with the equipment we have now... makes for very comfortable camping.

But.

It's not the same.

I used to get fired up about new equipment. Toys for grown ups. Spent an hour putting it all away after one night away. Paggered by the end of it! Sweating!

Thinking of going back to the small tent that takes 5 minutes to put up, the small gas burner and a frying pan, no EHU because it's just too tempting to pack half the house with it!

Want to get back to simple weekends away.

Anyone else been here or am I just like the petulant child who wants to ditch their Sony PSP for the snakes and ladders board?

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You're the first person I have seen who owns the same tent as me...a Eurohike Coniston (apart from my neighbour who quite coincidentally has just erected one in his garden). As tents go, it has to be one of the easiest to erect given the spaciousness of it, and only 3 poles.

However, I found erecting it on my own quite tiresome after a long journey, and like you, after I had packed the car with all the necessary equipment I felt shattered...and that was before I had even left home! Then after a long weekend away it all has to be packed in the car again. Then on arrival home it all has to come out of the car and be packed away. I always felt I had just returned from scaling Mount Everest!

I now have a small caravan and although that has it's own worries and concerns, in terms of convenience and a more relaxing break, it wins hands down. Mind you, I am approaching my 60th birthday and although I still consider myself fit and healthy, my body doesn't always seem to agree, so anything that makes life just that little bit more comfortable is welcome. I'm not sure that going back to a 'crawl in' tent would have been the answer.

We enjoy both extremes of camping. For short stays, it's just the tent, self-inflating mattresses, one gas ring cooker, each meal in a small box complete with disposable plates so that the lot can be jettisoned with no washing up.

But for our 2 - 3 week stay in Devon we do take everything including the plumbed in kitchen sink!! ... and I do still enjoy pottering around 'setting up camp' as I have plenty of time to do it.

I totally agree with some of the posters, if you are going away for a Weekend break, you want to go 'minimal' with your gear, although if you are going away for longer, than it becomes necessary to take more gear.

I just love the short weekend breaks, much rather do a few of them that 1 long break.

When the kids were born we upgraded to large frame tents and all the other "essential" equipment for family camping.  Now that the kids have grown up and left home I am on my own, so I have downgraded to a tunnel tent, single burner stove, a table and a chair.  What a difference it makes, not having to bother with a trailer or a roof rack.

Yes, I know this feeling!

I sold the first EHU we had a few years ago as it seemed to be the root of a lot of evil in terms of taking too much stuff away with us. All sorts of things that were aimed at increasing comfort, ease and happiness and actually just added up to more work in terms of packing, transporting, setting up blah blah blah. I also sold a hideously heavy accordion-type cooker stand, cooker with grill and windshield, gas bottle etc and cut out all sorts of other stuff.

We still don't travel light in any way shape or form but feel that we have  a much better balance of kit and tent (s)  to suit ourselves. I have been given another EHU this year which we are going to use for the fridge and various chargers but that is it! MT