Under Canvas

Wow Its a long time since I posted on here!

I thought I would jot down the things we have been up to lately.

This year we decided to get back under canvas.
Really it is a sort of nylon ,not canvas at all but anyway.

In May we hopped in the car and trundled down to the countryside.
The OH had a bit of a cold and a headache but was sure it would improve...

May Camp

Accomodation

We took our old 4 man tent with us.
This is a tent we bought for family camping about 20 years ago.
It is a sort of widened out dome shape with 2 side inner 'bedrooms'.
The middle is just the open space between them.

Bedtime

Instead of taking our camp beds, we took the double blow up Matress that we bought when we used to go up to Scotland to visit the student kids (now both graduated).

That is a massive luxury, it feels just like being in bed at home.
As it was May,we took 4 sleeping bags , socks for bedtime, wool hats for same and hoodies and trackies to wear over our pjs if we needed em (they were used every night so good thing we took em).

Lighting

We took 2 new wind up lamps  and  a little cheapo hand cranked torch and they did pretty well.
The torch was hung in the centre of the main tent and one night after a blowiy cold visit to the loo , I forgot to unhook the little torch and left it alight all night. It was still alight at about 4am so was running for a good 6 hours .

Cooking

we werent sure the old stove was operational so we bought a little butane stove, the kind that fits into a plastic case. You have to buy cylinders of butane to fuel it.
What a useful thing it is.
Just fix the cannister in, turn the switch and it is lit. No matches or anything.
It was like using a gas cooker at home but much smaller.
The cannisters dont last long, we were gone 3 days and used 2 for only light water boiling.

For cutlery we brought knife fork and spoon from the cutlery drawer at home. We used to have those clip together sets but no idea where they are apart from our son's which is in the drawer and was most recently used when he was a sea scout (about 15 years ago).
For bowls and plates we bought some cheapo picnic versions although we do still have a few enameled plates in the cupboard..
Cups we had a plenty, 2 metal camping mugs and a plastic one. They hold about a pint each.

The mess kit is a nesting kind. Its all aluminium. The little kettle fits inside it.

I made pot cosies out of reflective silvered bubble wrap bought in wickes DIY store.
They are basically a shell pot and lid for each billy can,stuck together with duct tape.
I was very impressed by how well they performed. When cooking pasta, we boiled the water with the pasta in, then put it in the cosy in its pot while we did the rest and it was cooked through when we were ready with the sauce.

Entertainment

We didnt take a lot with us this first camp, mostly because we didnt remember what worked ,what didnt.. We forgot the games and books and so were reduced to playing paper and pencil games (I luckily found both in my backpack).
I have a mifi thing so we can get internet. You need to buy a sim with Data loaded on and then away you go.
(You do still need to be able to get a phone signal though).
We only used it for a small amount of time to check a few emails and such so my 12gb sim was maybe overkill.

The little android tablet was very handy as we had a couple of TV shows to watch on a usb stick.

Electricity and other energy

For the first time ever, the solar panel went with us.
We had 2 at that time .
One is a solar briefcase and quite big. The battery for which, lives in a plastic box complete with its charge controller.
The second is a smaller solar gorilla which I only bought at the beginning of may.
Both these chargers powered my big power bank 33,.6 ah..The 12 volt battery 12 ah and hubs little power bank (about 6ah I think).

The lamps of course were wind up but also could be charged with the usb on the solar gorilla or banks.

This set up meant we had both our phones, the tablets and lamps powered easily for three days and could top up the banks via the 12 volt at night.

Furniture

This was quite basic as we werent sure what would fit in the little car.
We took 2 little seats which fold up and are backless.
The mattress of course.
A ground sheet for inside the tent.

Outings

We took our bikes atop the car.
Mine is 34 years old and still fine.
OH had a new old bike about 25-30 years old which he got on ebay.

We cycled 8 miles to the seaside one day(we only camped for 3 remember) .
It was a goodly long ride and we used google maps for navigation which was not particularly kind to us regarding hills and involved much getting off and pushing.

My allergies seemed to be getting going again and I was knackered way before we got where we were going.
Luckily we had energy drink in our water bottles and an energy gel and that helped enormously.

we lunched out and the ride back was via a cycle network route we found  on the internet on OH's phone while we were eating . It was a fantastic ride back, much less hilly and less heavy traffic and of course we had both fueled up.

One day we ventured down the road and along a foot path ( over a style and across a sheep field) just for a walk. The field was soggy and we were glad we had a change of shoes and socks at the tent.

The last day,we went in the other direction and found the old pumping works.
It was an old industrial looking building  with steam engines pumping away (water).
The interesting thing there for me was the nuclear bunker built right beside it .
We went in and marvelled at the massively thick door (at least 12" thick),  the showers (no cubicles, just on the wall. The loos (chemical toilets) and the bunk rooms with bunks hanging on the walls by chains (just like the wartime underground bunkers we saw in the  museum in Holland).

An enticing half height door led to an escape shaft.
Looking in it was a dark hole with a ladder at the back but the little boy who ventured in to see better ,discovered it was about 6" full of water and had a very soggy surprise.

We managed to drive over to Hastings too  as we hadn't brought much food.
We went up the vertical rail for the first and last time.
When I was small and we went to Hastings, the rail was mentioned and discarded as a fun idea.
OH said his Dad had refused to take him and his siblings   on it too.

Now we know why...It is a cable car thing. You get in and sit down and wait.
Then it slides up the hill pulled by cables along a rail.
It takes about a half minute.
At the top is the top of the cliff. You can walk on it.
Luckily the ticket gives you two way travel (once only) so you can then get back in and slide back down again, get out and walk away.

There were some Japanese tourists on the trip we took in it and I could swear one of them said it was a rip off, when we passed him on our cliff top arrival.




 By the last night, I had a streaming cold and a headache and OH was just starting to get over his.
I guess that explained the allergy feeling and the knackerdness of a bike ride.





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