The plan: IanS and son Matthew, Whealie and daughter Molly spend the day at the outdoor show and then head for a campsite near Chipping Norton for a convivial evening chatting round a camp fire and eating off a barbecue. Me, I've just bought a tent, so I went along just to try it out.
I set off from Norfolk where it was cludy, but with patches of sunshine. Hmmn, I thought, all the weather forecasts are wrong, it'll be a dry night. I wish.
The rain started at Milton Keynes and looked set in for the evening. I arrived at the campsite to find it was empty of tents. But it was full of soggy ground. IanS arrived a few minutes later, followed by Whealie a few minutes after that. We found a patch of ground that looked less soggy (ignoring the campsite owner's advice to leave IanS' van with one wheel on the track) and pitched our tents.
Well, we did manage a fire and the barbecue did reach luke warm before fizzling out. The three adults lurked under a tarpaulin out of the worst of the wind and rain, but gently smoking ourselves by the fire. The children sensibly sat inside the van.
It was a riotous evening. Whealie went to bed about half past eight, while IanS and I chatted until, oh at least nine o'clock before turning in.
The night was one of the wettest I've had for years - and one of the windiest. The number of trees that had come down that I saw on the way home testify to that!
My new Coleman Phad (what a strange name) acquitted itself really well. I can recommend them to anyone at only £85 from Amazon.
Anyway, some pictures...
The first one was taken this morning. IanS took the tarpaulin down before the wind tore it down.
I set off from Norfolk where it was cludy, but with patches of sunshine. Hmmn, I thought, all the weather forecasts are wrong, it'll be a dry night. I wish.
The rain started at Milton Keynes and looked set in for the evening. I arrived at the campsite to find it was empty of tents. But it was full of soggy ground. IanS arrived a few minutes later, followed by Whealie a few minutes after that. We found a patch of ground that looked less soggy (ignoring the campsite owner's advice to leave IanS' van with one wheel on the track) and pitched our tents.
Well, we did manage a fire and the barbecue did reach luke warm before fizzling out. The three adults lurked under a tarpaulin out of the worst of the wind and rain, but gently smoking ourselves by the fire. The children sensibly sat inside the van.
It was a riotous evening. Whealie went to bed about half past eight, while IanS and I chatted until, oh at least nine o'clock before turning in.
The night was one of the wettest I've had for years - and one of the windiest. The number of trees that had come down that I saw on the way home testify to that!
My new Coleman Phad (what a strange name) acquitted itself really well. I can recommend them to anyone at only £85 from Amazon.
Anyway, some pictures...
The first one was taken this morning. IanS took the tarpaulin down before the wind tore it down.