Camping
Recently hubby and I went camping in the Isle of Wight, what a beautiful place! We stayed at Compton Farm campsite, which was nice and peaceful. We had such glorious weather, it made a refreshing change to the rain we had become accustomed to.
Due to our National Trust and English Heritage memberships, we naturally made the most of our free entry entitlements, enjoying castles, gardens etc. Not trying to plug it, but if you like these kind of things, joining up is really good value for money. Also we went to a model village, in Godshill and a model railway at Fort Victoria. At the railway we happened upon the RNLI demonstrating what their helicopter can do. The craft was really low and so you got a great view. Apparently they only do this display once a year, so we were in the right place at the right time.
We like walking and did a 12 mile approx’ round trip, going from camp to the Needles and back. It was a beautiful day and the sun was shining all the time, however, as there was not really any scrap of shade, I got quite sunburnt! Ouch, sore legs :-).
I might put some photos on eventually, but they have not been developed yet.
One major disaster was that our tent broke and the pole went through the fabric causing a huge rip, about halfway through our holiday, oops! Fortunately my husband was able to strap it up, using a plastic bag to cover the hole, realizing it would not have done much in a storm, he,he.
When we returned home and discovered that Millets, where we had got it from, could not replace the part, a new one was purchased, which is massive. It’s a Matlock by peakland and has lots of space. Compared to the 415ts eurohike we had before, it’s a palace.
So it was sad to see the old one go, but on to new things. We managed to Freecycle the inner tent and plan to use the canvas to make some windbreaks, so most of it will be put to good use.
We tried out the Matlock on August bank holiday weekend. Took my brother and his wife to a campsite called the Halfway House Inn, it is in the Bridgenorth area. Our guests stayed in a tent borrowed from my sister in law. The idea was to convince my bros’ wife that camping is a perfectly exceptable form of accomadation. She had never been before and likes her home comforts. I think it was a partial success, but unfortunate that we had the worst neighbours we have ever experienced. Their inconsideration for everyone else on the site meant lack of sleep all round. Out of all our camping trips, these were the noisest people we have ever come across. It almost felt like they were deliberately shouting ’til all hours, as if to say “look at me”. They seemed to give no thought to anyone, but themselves. Whilst I appreciate you expect some noise on camp, most people do try to keep it down during the night. As for their children, they were shouted and sworn at on a constant basis, even being called little s***’*, which is really not acceptable. It would have been interesting to know how other campers felt about them, particularly those with their own children. Anyway, despite this, the weather was good and the tent was a success.