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 Topic: When did you stat camping?
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09/7/2014 at 8:57pm
Location: Cotswolds
Outfit: Vango Shangri La & Renault Grd Espace
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Joined: 04/9/2008 Platinum Member 
Forum Posts: 512
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My brother and I shared an orange Force Ten tent in the early 80's, but it was mostly for camping in the back garden or in the fields on the farm where my grandparents lived. It never saw tough action!
When I met my husband, I was 18 and he 26. We were young and free, so we travelled to far flung places for holidays. Then the kids came along and we opted for cottage holidays, villas etc. One year about seven years ago was really bad for us financially, so we bought some basic equipment to go with a tent we had already, a Eurohike Stowe (still have it), and camped in the UK as a cheap option. I came back tired out and vowed to get a bigger tent, so we bought the Vermont XL. That got us hooked!
Daughter, now 16 is getting tired of camping, but the boys (12 and 8) love the freedom a campsite gives. Plus you don't make friends on a villa holiday!
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Tent + food + glass of cider + friends = perfection
May: Drybrook, FoD
August: La Garangeoire, Vendee
Plus a few local weekends
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14/7/2014 at 10:15am
Location: East Sussex
Outfit: None Entered
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Joined: 02/6/2005 Diamond Member 
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My first camping trip was aged 6 in 1961, with our upstairs neighbours. They took me to a site near Littlehampton, they had a big frame tent and we went on the river in their motorboat. I loved it!
Nearly 50 years later, I camped at a pub site at Ford and realised it was the very same site!
My first "proper" camping was 1973, in my Marechal Pedestre ridge tent. It cost £35, which was about 2 weeks wages at the time. About 1978, I got a Blacks Good Companion (bright blue!) and a few years after that a Vango (Force Ten?).
From about 1985 I had a bit of a break from tenting as was with a boyfriend who had a VW camper, and went back to it via a range of borrowed tents in the early 90s, before buying a cheap 4-man dome in 1995. That has done amazingly well and is still in the loft, used for overnight stays at parties and so on.
Bad backs and need for headroom prompted the purchase of a taller, 5 man dome in 2003. That is now a bit the worse for wear, having withstood some awesome storms, and after a disaster with a cheap tunnel tent from Argos we bought a Khyam XL Excelsior in 2008.
I managed to break a pole of that in 2010 and bought an Icarus 500, which was somewhat damaged when it was lent (against my better judgement) to my stepson. That has now been replaced with an Icarus 600. The Khyam has been repaired and I'm hanging on to it as it's so good for solo camping.
I can't believe I've been camping for over 40 years.
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14/7/2014 at 11:36am
Location: Derby.
Outfit: Karsten 350+Awnings
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Joined: 01/7/2012 Diamond Member
Forum Posts: 9054
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Our first proper set up, on a proper camp site, with our own proper tent and gear, was...
2 years ago yesterday!! 
Friday the 13th, as it was known back then! And yes, it rained throughout the set up, took us well over 3 hours, and it was dark before we finished.
Biggest thrill?
Having snow on our tent just 7 months after starting out.
Biggest disappointment?
Probably sloping front doors and/or cold/damp polyester. 
Biggest lesson learned?
Not to fence ourselves in with a windbreak. Can see sweet FA! 
Best skill learned?
Tarpology! 
Biggest regret?
Not starting sooner! 
Best advice received?
Join UKCS! 
Best tip for newbies?
By all means take in all the tips and recommendations on here, but find what works for YOU, and as long as it doesn't upset your neighbours, DO IT YOUR WAY! There is no right, there is no wrong! 
It's a wonderful life!
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Campervan:
Give us chance!
Tent:
July 2012-Dec 2024: 456 nights.
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