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OK, so perhaps I'm being a little melodramatic - but we had nothing but rain between 8am yesterday to the early hours of this morning, at which point the wind took over for a short while before giving way to more rain again just in time to pack up today.

On the bright side at least I know that my Quechua pop-ups are very weatherproof - they both held up admirably to the elements!

EDIT
Just wanted to add that we had a lovely weekend despite the weather.  We didn't get chance to do a proper walk, but did manage an hour tramping round the local lanes with the dogs yesterday afternoon.  Sometimes just being 'away' is enough!

Now I must get back to drying off the tents in the living room :0)

Just returned from our first trip to Keswick with the tent and we gave up after 3 days as whne we got back to tent yesterday afternoon opened nit up to find puddles in the middle and yellow water inj the corners of the ground sheet.  Wern't sure how to deal with it as had pitched the tent in the pouring rain on Thursday and thr ground underneath the tent was just getting softer and softer and muddier so gave up and came home.  Wouldn't have but had boys aged 22 months and 5 and the little one had to be carried everywhere.  Any suggestions of how to deal with this type of weather would be really useful for the future.

Thanks Andie

Quote: Originally posted by Andie p on 10/8/2008

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Just returned from our first trip to Keswick with the tent and we gave up after 3 days as whne we got back to tent yesterday afternoon opened nit up to find puddles in the middle and yellow water inj the corners of the ground sheet.  Wern't sure how to deal with it as had pitched the tent in the pouring rain on Thursday and thr ground underneath the tent was just getting softer and softer and muddier so gave up and came home.  Wouldn't have but had boys aged 22 months and 5 and the little one had to be carried everywhere.  Any suggestions of how to deal with this type of weather would be really useful for the future.

Thanks Andie

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The trouble is Andie that most family tents sold are made for occasional rain with Hydrostatic head ratings of 1000mm to 2000mm. For the type of heavy downpours we've been getting the last couple of years this isn't really sufficient. It's also a good idea to make sure the seams are taped and that they have not started pulling apart where they are stitched. After a while nylon and polyester tents will deteriorate due to ultraviolet light and will either need re-proofing or replacing, Grangers and Nikwax both do re-proofing products and seam sealants.

If the ground is completely sodden though then eventually it will probably find it's way in through the grounsheet however good it is. The only way to try and get around this is by making sure you pitch on a well drained pitch or raise the groundsheet from the ground using hay or ferns or anything else that comes to hand.

Is it that bad in the Lakes?!! We are supposed to be going camping with some friends this weekend. My OH and I have done the rainy camping break before but I know one couple has never been before and aren't the most hardy... Even if the weather clears up by the weekend, is the grass going to be like a bog? We too had the ripple effect groundsheet in France last year...

Hope it brightens up soon!

Quote: Originally posted by caster on 10/8/2008

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What you have to consider is, why do they call it the lakes, without the rain they wouldn't exist

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