St Patrick's Meet

March brings with it a St Patrick's meet. Several other campers whom we have met on sites through out the last year are having a meet.

The meet takes place at keviki. A small site with basic facilities.

We also get to meet new campers,and campers we've only chatted to through the forums.

There is a good range of tents including a Tourag,Cabanon Guadeloupe,Our Sunncamp Gite,a Vango Icarus and a new Vango air beam, which we are all eager to see.A couple of caravans and a small pop up tent.

We all gather around as the Vango air beam is brought to life.Impressed with how quick it went up.Happily throwing good humored insults back and forth between us all.

Keviki

For the occasion some of us have put bunting up,and it flaps gently in the breeze.The weather is quite mild for March and we have sunshine.

We all sit around the camp fire as one camper tries out her new cobb,serving up Irish sausages followed by Irish themed cup cakes what I have brought.
Some of the campers have decided to take a stroll up to the local pub,but it's not long before we are all sat around the camp fire once again.

As the night draws in the weather turns and we are rained off, all heading into our own sanctuary's.

The following day is pretty much the same, with everyone swapping tales of their travels.The weather is behaving once again and the children are enjoying the trampoline on site.It's not long before the adults are vying for there turn on the trampoline.

We end the day sat having a good old chat around the camp fire deciding where and when our next meet will be.

The following morning goodbyes are said as we wave each other off .

 

Tents for all seasons

Well so much for our New Year's resolution. Both the hubby and myself have been laid up with one injury or another through January and February.

So we decided to put the time and camping pennies to good use and bought some more tents along with other camping goodies.

Sunncamp Gite 5

Our first purchase is a Sunncamp Gite 5 frame tent, for quick weekends through the summer,loving the attached canopy. Again it's canvas and very bright.The kitchen area is just adequate enough though  the two bed pods are small (five people never, with just the two of us it was tight). Removing the smaller bed pod gave us a bit more room, but It's not doing it for me......maybe it will grow on me.

Our next purchase is from the great makers Cabanon.The Cabanon vis-a-vis an older version of the much loved bora-bora . Again a fantastic piece of canvas with removable sun canopy,two separate good sized sleeping pods.A good sized living area makes me think this tent will get lots of use.On the plus side it is a lovely shade of green.

Cabanon Vis-a-Vis

Our third purchase is a bit of a hasty bargain buy.An Outwell Cleveland 5 now this tent has space it's well thought out,goes up quickly.But it wasn't Polly-cotton as I was led to believe.We did however use it just the once though before we sold it on.Had it been Polly-cotton it would of been a keeper for those weeks away maybe even stretching it to weekends.I do like Outwell, so we kept searching for our perfect week away tent.

Outwell Cleveland 5

We have found it, though it is an older model again. Boy it ticks all the boxes for us.Purchased from a young couple who had just invested in a caravan,there was the usual marks from a second hand tent.These were soon rectified and all but one have gone.This mark was pointed out to us "the wife went mad with fly spray". Well we have tried most safe methods of removing it to no avail,so we now live with it.After all it's not the end of the world,or maybe it is for me.It can't be seen from outside but on stepping inside I'm drawn to it.One day it will be gone!

Kampa Holkham 6

After trialing all our new tents we have decided that the Kampa is for weeks away,the Cabanon is for summer weekends and Bella is for winter camping.          

The Condensation Dance

   Had great weather for our weekend camp with the new Outwell Winnipeg.The tent stood us well it's very roomy very light.The canopy was a great area for cooking and sitting under as the night drew in.

The only issue was condensation in a morning.Not that it affected me, but hubby.Hubby always wakes first and is up and on it.This particular morning he wakes, exits the bed pod.Half asleep I lay motionless watching my half undressed hubby break into this crazy dance whilst unprintable words stream from his mouth.Trying not to laugh I ask" whats up"? To see my hubby toweling his naked top half down.With a grim look he starts inspecting the material above the bed pod and confirms "no leaks or tears ". I wriggle back into the warmth of the sleeping bag chuckling away that it was probably condensation."well that's no good I'm wet through"he cries.Seeing my chance I suggest a canvas tent as they don't suffer from condensation.

 

Snuggled up

Over breakfast I try to explain the differences between materials.Though I don't really need to he's now interested in canvas.B.S who we are camping with this weekend has a Cabanon Guadeloupe that he cherishes.B is very excited that we are now thinking about canvas,and hubby is engrossed deep in conversation with B for most of the morning.Examining the Guade I see for the first time why hubby is excited over material.It's a fantastic tent.

Cabanon Guadeloupe

Before lunch is upon us hubby has agreed I can purchase a canvas tent.