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Hi tent peg

were off to centenaryway in filey in a few weeks on a hard standing  pitch will be our first time on hard standing so thinking of putting down a b&q type tarp first then the foot print on top of that.Also got some of those rubber mats from aldi that normally go in the awning so if needed can put them down in the tent.

Think that should be ok !!!    if you havent got a footprint couple of tarps should be ok think thats what most people do  

Billy  

is it a hard standing pitch or is it an all weather pitch for a tent? There is a difference, a lot of sites are now putting in all weather pitches for tents and they have a different type of gravel that is supposed to be better for a tent with a sig 

if it was me and I was pitching on an all weather pitch I would like something like an old fashioned canvas tarp down first or a real heavy duty PVC sheet

some of the sites now loan or rent you a sheet that you can put down before you pitch your tent

Sorry to digress slightly, but can those of you who've pitched on gravel enlighten me on how it actually feels ?

 Must admit it does not appeal to us at all, always think it would feel uncomfortable. I hope not too many sites go this route anyway, grass is nice !

Lets put down a few reasons for the increase in all weather pitches for tents, if you pitch a tent with a sewn in ground sheet on a grass pitch for a two day weekend or a three day weekend when you break camp there will be some yellowing and damage to the grass one week will see severe damage and a two week stay without moving your tent will pracitcally destroy the grass pitch making the almost unusable

A grass pitch has to be left empty for days to let it recover to a standard that makes it fit for use, if the pitch is reused the same day it will make matters far worse, constant use and heavy rain will make a grass pith a quagmire and it will on serve to upset campers as pitching in a mud bath is no fun

All weather pitches don’t need to be rested they can be vacated at 10.00am and reused at 12.00 noon with no detrimental effect to the pitch meaning that site owners can turn the pitches more regularly and they also stay in a good condition throughout the season

A few tips that have been suggested and are great if you have space to carry the extra protection required is to use a standard foot print and that will offer some protection a heavy PVC or a heavy duty tarp or a textarp which has string bonded into it making it ultra strong or best of all a true old fashioned cotton canvas tarp

I would pitch on an all weather pitch but would put additional protection under the bedroom pods that have sewn in ground sheets and then I would just put cheap tarps and picnic rugs in the living area 

I went to a tent display a fortnight ago and they had tents pitched on pea gravel and the ground sheet in the Montana 6 that was on display was shredded to bits now it may have had thousands of happy feet tramping thought it but does show what all weather pitches can do to sig

Quote: Originally posted by Zorro on 12/8/2010

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Sorry to digress slightly, but can those of you who've pitched on gravel enlighten me on how it actually feels ?

 Must admit it does not appeal to us at all, always think it would feel uncomfortable. I hope not too many sites go this route anyway, grass is nice !

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Although I do prefer grass it certainly wasn't uncomfortable, especially with the carpet down, and pretty level too.  Didn't have any worries with muddy tarps or groundsheets when packing up and no moles or anything getting under the groundsheets.  Whilst I must admit to preferring grass it certainly would not put me off a site I liked just because I was pitching on an AWP, I'd just take the necessary precautions.

As I've said before, I hope this gravel nonsense doesn't spread too much. For backpackers, they're a total no-no.  My tent is too lightweight (and expensive) to put on gravel and I do not like the idea of sleeping on a Thermarest on gravel.  Taking carpets or other items to mitigate the effect/damage is also not possible.  Is there a listing of non-grass sites anywhere?  So I can avoid.

The combined effect of rain and cars seem to damage grass sites more than any tent.