Word of the Week- Camping

 

Well that was certainly a memorable week in more ways than one. The Cotswolds is a beautiful place to visit and I will definitely be going back there. But not in the tent.

It all started when we packed up the car and headed off. We were about less than an hour into the journey and the car suddenly started making loud revving noises and Craig said there were issues with the cruise control. The car slowly started losing speed and revving loudly every time Craig tried to accelerate before it started to slow down. We moved into the inside lane and put on the hazard lights before finally making it to a pull in area (Stupid smart motorways). We got out of the car and were greeted by a very strong acrid smell coming from the engine. The clutch had gone. Thankfully we have breakdown cover but Penny was not happy being so close to all the cars and the noise whilst we were waiting to be picked up. The garage we bought the car from and were taking it back to be repaired gave us a courtesy car so 5 hours after our original departure time we left.

When we finally arrived at the campsite the rain had stopped so at least we were able to put the tent up without getting wet. It was dark by the time we finished and had bought supplies so we fell into our beds, hoping for a good nights sleep. This is where the issue I have with camping comes into play. In the past we have had mats, but we got too cold so we upgraded to air beds but after a couple of days they would just deflate so we bought camp beds. Now, I sleep on my front in the recovery position. A camp bed has metal pole either side which are very uncomfortable to rest your leg on for too long. I could not sleep in my usual position. I tried sleeping on front but straight legged, I tried sleeping on my side but the pressure on my legs was too uncomfortable. Sleeping was not good for me for the whole week. I couldn't wait to get back home to sleep in my bed.

Unfortunately the car and sleeping were not the only problems. It started to rain on Sunday morning and we discovered the tent was not was leaking. It has not been used for several years so we are not sure if it was the fact it had been stored for so long or when we tried it out a few weeks ago it had been put away slightly damp but it was definitely no longer waterproof. We had a spare groundsheet so we quickly put that over as much of the tent as it could and Craig and I took a quick trip to Go Outdoors, not to buy a new tent (which was Craig's option) but to buy another groundsheet to cover the rest of the tent. 

The two groundsheets did the job perfectly for the rest of the week. I wouldn't let Craig buy a new tent as I did not know when we would be camping again and it was forecast to rain on the day we were leaving and I did not want the new tent to possibly end up the same way.

Monday and Tuesday were pretty memorable as Craig ended up going to the walk in centre at the hospital in Banbury due to a flare up of a knee problem and Penny ended up at the vets on Tuesday because of an upset stomach. Luckily the rest of the week passed without incident and we visited some beautiful places and made Matthew's year by going to Diddly Squat Farm Shop.

The tent did not make it back with us. The owner of the campsite kindly let us put it in his skip. We are not sure if we will buy a new one as Craig has seen a few Youtube videos on converting the C4 into a micro camper and that is what he is thinking of getting done. Watch this space.