Message Forums

After reading this I'm taking a baseball bat with me next time. (for playing rounders with the kids of course !!!)

Rod

we recently went away with some 1st time campers who said (do we just leave our tent when we pop out)oh and i set about lauphing and said no you take it with you we explained campers arnt like that everyone watches out for each others thing after reading this thread im reluctant to leave my tent

ps im from the northeast

This is a real eye opener!!!  We left our tent overnight at a site in Lawshall, (we did remove the EHU) and came back to continue camping and wondered what we would find.  All we did was put extra tent pegs in the two door openings.  Arrived back 24hrs later and everything was fine ... but after reading this would not rush to do it again .... so sorry to hear that! We are too trusting and laidback and thats when the scumbags hit us (our house had previously been  burglared, so know that feeling too well).

My only suggestion would be to be aware of who belongs to which tent and keep ya eyes peeled for suspisious characters.

I am always sad to hear of these things going on, I do wonder however if because of the internet etc, we can communicate easier that it sounds like things are getting grim, I have been camping in the lakes for a lot of years, and it is nothing new that organised groups target the area, for as long as I can remember we were always advised to lock everything in the car that was valuable ( including sleeping bags) if we were away from the tent, the funny thing tho is a few years ago we stopped at the Langdale site as a family and didnt bother putting anything away and nothing was touched, we have just returned ourselves and unfortunatly the wife left her watch in the shower, realised about 15 mins later and it had gone never to be seen by us again, the wardeness said she would be very suprised if no one handed it in. we chatted to one family who said that last year at the site they had a gas bottle and some clothing taken and this is a small site. It is of course not just England, it happens abroad and from what I hear more so.

Before we went on our first trip a few weekends ago we were concerned about leaving the tents. But we were impressed by the site we chose, there was only one entrance with the reception next to it. The wardens were patrolling regularly, so much that when a stray car appeared on the site they were asking all around who it belonged to.

It also helped that the site was small and not close to any major towns or cities, also off the main roads. In future we will be looking for similar sites; small, away from major population areas and well patrolled.

I would be tempted to lock up the tent in some way but feel that would lead to slashing causing more damage.