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 Topic: Back from a one night stand
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29/6/2012 at 7:01pm
Location: Leeds
Outfit: Vango Icarus 500
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Joined: 24/6/2012 Standard Member
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We've just got back from our first trip away as campers. Me and my fiancée have both camped when kids, and I went to a couple of festivals in the mid-90's and with a friend's family 3 years ago, but really we are newbies.
I'll post a site review, but thought I'd post a quick experience report here. We'd both liked the idea of starting regular camping, and after toying with the idea of getting a touring caravan (second hand, probably) decided on a tent. To me a tent sounded better for short trips away as well as longer week plus holidays (no need to retrieve it before going as we only have communal car park), and after some research opted for the Vango Icaras 500 (bought at Go Outdoors with a price match of the Blackwells sale price).
So, eager to try it out we opted for a one night away and chose South Lea as our camp site (as its dog friendly and only an hours drive). Although we didn't need to take lots of clothes/food/etc we did seem to have quite a bit. Well, we also got two Hi-Gear camping chairs, sleeping bags, and rechargeable LED lantern also from Go. We already have a camping mattress (bought once when we had guests) and I'd got a campingaz single burner stove that was on offer at Tesco.
When we arrived it was raining, oh joy. Booked in, but then took the site owners advice of nipping out into town for lunch in the hope it stops. It turned into light drizzle when we did. After securing Jake, our dog, to the tether screw (he doesn't like being left in the car if we are not in it), set about erecting the tent. I'd found a couple of Youtube videos on how to do this, so it went up relatively easy (laid it out secured the corners, put in the poles, then messed around with the guide ropes several times - the wind and drizzle didn't help Michelle's (my fiancée) mood, so I finished the rest off whilst she sat in the car with Jake.
This was then further compounded when I took a toilet break whilst unloading the car, with Michelle & Jake inside the tent, Jake escaped whilst Michelle was putting stuff away and went into the camper van of our neighbour's. Although he was in for a few seconds, as Michelle had gone after him and she apologised, they were not pleased.
That minor setback aside, after we had a tea break and everything was put away, we drove out to find somewhere to walk. We spent the evening in the tent relaxing, then zonked out early at dusk and woke up around 6! After a relaxing breakfast we packed up and then put everything in the car. The rain had stopped yesterday, so we had a gloriously warm evening and the morning warmed up after 7am. It started to cool down around 10am (with rain clouds coming over) so we packed up the tent with a bit of urgency, but taking effort to pack properly and using the suggestions of the youtubers to roll the folded tent to get all the air out.
We thoroughly enjoyed it and aim to go away longer next month, probably in the dales or somewhere where there are plenty of walks from the camp site.
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