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A soggy weekend camping

4K views 15 replies 7 participants last post by  Whealie 
#1 ·
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.
 
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#2 ·
Here's a few shots of us packing up.
 
#3 ·
And just a few yards down the road outside the campsite the stream had burst through onto the road.

We took a detour into Banbury for a cooked breakfast in a café before going our separate ways. IanS and Matthew headed north for home, Whealie and Molly to CadburyWorld and I back east to Norfolk.

I'd like to say what a wonderful ride home I had, but I didn't, so I won't. It was still rainy, very windy and cold. And when I was putting my bike back in the garage, the pannier caught the wall, the bike tipped over and broke the right-hand Acerbis handguard.

Apart from that, it was a real experience. Thanks guys!
 
#5 ·
And hats off to Molly and IanS's lad for going along too eh :thumbup: :D:D:D

yup i can hear them sitting in the van say our parents are sooooooo gonna pay for putting us through this:D:D:D:D



nice one all you are truly hardcore:thumbup:

jac sorry to hear about the little misshap in the garage not to much damage i hope:thumbup:
 
#9 ·
It was an adventure (as we adults kept saying to each other on Sunday).
OK pretty poor photo of the set-up (did not get my good camera out in the rain).


It was raining then, but persistent drizzle. IanS got a fire going and Matthew stoked it continuously. "Why do you keep doing that?" asked Ian, To which Jaqueslemac beat me to the answer: "what? how can you leave a fire alone?"


Anyway. On Saturday morning, Molly and I had left home a little late in the morning, and then had Starcom issues - it is at the new one and I did not have it set up right for pillion. So we stopped earlier than planned on the M25, and had a crap, lukewarm, dry service station breakfast - I'd Welcome a flippin' Break from them I can tell you. That was £14 down.
Then we did 97 miles non-stop to the NEC. Molly said her arms got cold at 85mph, so we slowed to 70 to keep her warm (an bought her a nice pink fleece at the show to speed our return journey).
Met IanS and saw the show, bought a few things and saw some awesome stuff, then headed off.
Stopped in a little village to buy marshmallows, having promised Molly them toasted by the fire. The corner shop did not have them but the young girl serving suggested a sweet made of marshmallow. When she noticed she had none on the shelves she went "out back" and found a huge box. They were 12p each, so I bought ten:thumbup:. They were lovely toasted by the fire (that's Molly with Jaqueslemac behind her)



Got to the site and we all erected tents. It was raining then but not so as to cause a problem. It was also still, so, stupidly, I did not put all the guy ropes out etc.
Fire was alight but then the rain picked up and picked up and despite having a shelter we all seemed wet. And the BBQ just went out as the rain came down so we lit stoves (some faster than others hey Mon ami Francais?)
We ate and had a beer or two and then realised that beer would mean trips to the loo - in the rain - in the night. And the tents would be dry. and eventually I think Molly and I hit the tent about 8pm. We had a scream chatting and ringing mum on the phone and playing word games and I-spy (in a tent?) until 9pm. The big boys went to bed about then too.
In the night it rained, and rained and rained. But just after 2am I heard IanS and Matthew up. It turned out Matthew had rolled into some water in the tent. IanS had also realised that our makeshift awning was heading for the Isle of Wight if he did not stow it away. So up he got. Only hearing him and the van door closing, I feared his tent had leaked so badly (ours was only just holding up) that he was moving into the van to sleep.
Next morning we got up to flooding on a big scale.The field was swamped.
After we had pushed the van out (twice having to use sticks under the wheels to get traction) we pushed James out and I walked my unloaded bike out and loaded up on the path. Just look at the squelchiness.



We saw a hell of a lot of flooding just on the way to Breakfast in Banbury but right outside the campsite was the flooded road. This is Jaqueslemac going through it - about 100 yards.


having stuck Molly in the cab of IanS's van, to warm her up while I packed the wet tent, sleeping bags and clothes away, She stayed there until Banbury and then IanS offer to drive her all the way to Cadbury World.
We had a lovely time there, ate too much chocolate and then headed back in less rainy weather.
Cadbury World staff were great, with security taking all our wet stuff, including helmets, and storing it for us.
Molly fell asleep on the way home, which was worrying. She woke up suddenly and her glove fell off (on the three-lane M40), so she arrived home with one very cold hand.
 
#14 ·
Been cleaning the kit today so thought I'd add a comment about it.
My police hi-viz gore-tex jacket took the brunt of it and was pretty damp throughout by the time I went to bed (and put it back on in the morning), but it had kept the rain off me and I had only had a fleece on once camped. So no idea how my Rukka jacket would have coped as it was nice and dry. i still think this gore-tex over is a really good option - less than £30 off ebay.
My Hein Gericke XCR gore-tex trousers were abused. I had mud all over them I had been kneeling in water to get the tent up and down, sat in the wet grass and so on. Not a drop got in and I was as warm as toast.
The Oxtar Infinity gore-tex boots also stood up to the test, despite being through flooded roads and walking about in water for 24 hours.
Molly had some Leathers (brand) textile trousers and they did not leak, nor did her babybiker jacket or her Oxtar gore-tex boots.
I think this was key. The fact that, no matter what, we could get into warm and dry clothing that ensured we stayed warm and dry made a huge difference. If we had been slipping our feet into wet boots (we both had sealzkin sokcs on but never tested them) or had leaky trousers, I think it would have been unbearable.
A hat - that is what I was missing. I had a gore-tex baseball cap, but the rain ran down the back of my neck. I am buying a hat with a brim (always used to have one) from now on.
 
#15 ·
It’s my fault.

Just nip down to the show, have a look round and a play on some toys, then a night under canvas with a nice open fire and wander home on Sunday.

Started well with an early off and apart from a bit of fog on the journey south good time made down to the show.

The show was fantastic as always, got the bits I wanted and a few more plus loads of ideas for the future, on hindsight should have paid more attention to the tent section.

Matthew had a go at fire lighting.



And we watched one of the hardest climbing walls I had seen.



At 3.30 we left the NEC for the short trip south to the camp, the rain was just starting.
We all arrived within minutes and with tents soon pitched and fire lit we struggled to cook in the rain so after some normal XRV banter we all retired for the night, the earliest on record for a bike trip.

The rain continued all night with changeable winds so at 2.15 I was up removing the now flapping awning from the van. Morning broke to find “a little stream which you can hear as background noise along with the naying and eeoring of the horses and donkeys in the adjacent field.“ from the camp guide now a raging torrent.







Matthew had rolled on to the side of the tent so his sleeping bag was wet, so it was decided to break camp and find a café for breakfast. After pushing the bikes and van out of the mud, we headed for Banbury, the nearest large town. The local Kwikfit garage pointed out the nearest café, Paw Paw’s near the bus station in Banbury (recommended by all).
The party then slit with Jacqueslemac heading home and the four remaining diehards heading north to Cadbury world, good job I had the satnav on or we’d still be looking for it today.
Molly reunited with dad Matthew and I headed north again to find somewhere to give our dogs a walk. Matthew saw signs for Bosworth battlefield as he is studding the Tudors at school the afternoon was spent with an old man called Richard.







Thanks guys for a fantastic weekend and a good challenge, will certainly be buying a new tent this season.

IanS and Matthew
 
#16 ·
Just think about this: look at the tents. Look at the angle of the wind. The left hand side of the tents is billowed out and the right hand side is blown in.
Xander, the scientist, should be along shortly to say which in concave and convex.
For the unscientific, it shows how strong the wind was. And believe me it was a calm morning compared with the night before.
Great fun though
That climbing thingy (wall would be an understatement) was awesome and we saw the guy do it in less than ten minutes).
Thanks to Ian Se for the lifts and help and to Jaqueslemac for the best fire lighter in history.
 
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