First time GLAMPING (covid-19 edition 2020)

As the world watched in dismay as the pandemic swept the globe one thing I knew for sure was I would not be doing any camping this year. Facebook camping groups were posting great photos about garden camps and expressing dismay about their favourite campsite not opening, limiting numbers or excluding certain types of units, such as tents. In the bigger scheme of things, the camping holiday is not that important. The camping holiday will be there for the future.

The holiday industry reeled from cancelled holidays abroad and the general population appeared to consider holidaying at home as flights were cancelled and holiday destinations deemed not safe. It would appear that the camping gear retailers have mopped up on a lot of extra trade as this is the year of the 'staycation'. I worry that this 'new breed' of camper will not have picked up on all the well known, unwritten guidance about noise, consideration, and thoughtfulness towards others and so that is another good reason to skip the camping this year. The new campers will be the ones to provide the campsites with a living and it would appear that many of the campsites have put their prices up to make up for the lost income earlier in the year. I appreciate they have faced many challenges this season.

Personally, I did not feel comfortable spending time in a campsite this year because of the shared amenities. I do not think it's possible or practical for staff to deeply sanitize a toilet between every single use and the showers are a problem as well. I decided therefore to go self catering, knowing that any respecting accommodation provider will deep clean before my arrival and I can clean door handles, toilets etc myself when I arrive. I also know it will be deep cleaned once I leave in anticipation of the next holiday makers who arrive.

The accommodation I went with was Seal Cabin which is approximately 1.5 miles south of Strangford village at Strangford lough. I spent 6 nights in mid july and although it was more expensive than camping, I felt it was worth it to get a break away from pressures at work. Seal Cabin is a log chalet in the grounds of a dwelling that is lived in by a young family. It is the only holiday accommodation on their grounds. It is quite separate, the holiday chalet has it's own parking space and there is a patio with table and chairs outside. The family have an extensive garden elsewhere in the grounds for playtime and I did not even see the children or their Mum once the whole time I was there.

The view from both the house and the chalet is over Strangford Lough and in particular, this part of the lough has islands only exposed at low tide. The seals from the Lough pull themselves up on to the islands for a bit of sunbathing and that is why the chalet has been named Seal Cabin.

The accommodation was all one room with a partitioned off corner to accommodate a bathroom. The narrow part of the space beside the bathroom has a fitted kitchenette and then the other end of the space is taken up with a double bed. In between the two 'zones' is a sofa, likely a sofa bed for extra sleeping arrangements if a family were staying. It was decorated in a coastal theme, with beautiful fabrics, decor and all the crockery in the kitchen matching their chosen theme.

 

I used the cabin in the same way I use a tent, it was a base to see whatever there was to see in the area. In this case I enjoyed seeing the abbeys of Grey Abbey and Inch Abbey, both very famous landmarks in their own right. I also spent a wonderful afternoon at Ballyhornan beach and although it never got warm enough for a dip in the sea I did go for some paddles.

I very much enjoyed socially distanced dining, I actually prefer the extra space in restaurants as some of the tables have been removed and also the privacy of having screens between tables. I was also able to dine outside in the sunshine depending on the weather at the time.

The Lobster Pot in Strangford has indoor and outdoor eating areas, and the indoor eating area had some of their tables removed so that there was more space between tables. The food was excellent and the price fairly standard for what you would expect. The Artisan Cafe is very good too, they have screens between tables and also less tables in the indoor area. They are particularly good for breakfasts with an extensive menu including granola, porridge, pancakes and a 'wee fry' and a 'big fry'. I stopped in a couple of late mornings in order to have brunch, which kept me going all day.

I visited the gardens of Mount Stewart on the Ards Penninsula. Due to the global pandemic, the house itself is closed. There is a new protocol in place for entry, it is not possible to just turn up at the moment. I had pre-booked the friday before and got a timed entry which was Wednesday at 2.30. The gardens were great but it will also be nice when all the restrictions are eased and we can do normal stuff again, whatever that will come to mean!

If you have an interest in staying in Seal Cabin visit either Seal Cabin Airbnb

or Seal Cabin Booking.com

A quick kit list for newbie Campers.

This list is specifically for a couple, who are thinking of throwing a few things in the car and heading off on a mini adventure, It is inspired by an overnight camp I did in Corgreggan Mill, near Dunfanaghy. The nicest, craziest, most ill prepared couple came along and camped nearby me and I nearly wet myself when they tried to get a double airbed into a tiny, single skinned pop up tent. They were like an upturned turtle and the pair of them were in fits of hysterical giggles. We parted friends and it is in tribute to them that I write this post. 

Tent

Editors Choice Camping Magazine Awards 2014 chose this tent for good reason. It costs a shade under £120.

The Quechua 2 Seconds XL is double skinned, so it will keep you nice and snug in an inner pod which is breathable, will wick away all the condensation from your breath and will prevent your bedding from coming into contact with the waterproof outer tent. The tent is a pop up, so is easy to put up and although there's a knack, just as easy to put away. 

It's small enough you can probably dry it out in your living room when you get home. It's big enough to let you sit up in comfort, and gives you the space to get changed. It's super strong, even a strong wind will only flatten it but it will not break it. This particular one even has a built in light. 

It's a three berth tent which makes it better for two people because tent manufacturers are always a bit on the mean size when it comes to calculating how much room a person needs, and it has a porch for your smelly shoes, your clothes bag or for storing that little backpackers stove you've picked up to make a cuppa with. 

QUECHUA 2 SECONDS XL III ILLUMIN FRESH POP UP TENT - 3 MAN, WHITE/GREEN

Link to website

Argos Ready Bed Double

This is a budget solution (about £40 but often on sale) to a double sleeping arrangement in a tent. It is not the best airbed on the market, but then even the most expensive ones are prone to leakage, as anything inflatable is. I'm a fan of Ready Beds because they are one of the few sleeping solutions that have a sleeping bag built in to the design. It is essentially a double sleeping bag with an airbed slipped in to a big pocket on the underside. That means that when you turn around, the bedding stays put, and I find this far more comfortable than struggling with individual sleeping bags that twist around you when you turn. The bed is sealed all around which makes it a better option than taking bedding from home as you will have gaps around the sides which will let warm air out, and cold air in. 

The cons of this bed are that the bedding is quite flimsy. This can be offset by taking a big throw or fleecy blanket from home. And you'll be together, so you can keep each other warm. 

The dimensions of the bed are 180cm by 132cm. Considering the above tent has a sleeping area of 210cm by 210cm there's plenty of space left over. 

Ready Bed Double from Argos currently £28

Extra Insulation

As airbeds are essentially a big bag of cold air, if you have it adjacent to cold ground then the result will be that you will possibly get quite chilly. Counteract this by using a layer of insulation underneath the airbed. This can be something like cardboard from a local shop, or a foil backed picnic blanket. A few pounds spent on foam camping mats, or even yoga mats will help enormously.

These Yellowstone mats from Amazon are foil backed which will help reflect your body heat back at you. They are about £6 each and you will need two for putting under a double airbed.

A free alternative, other than the aforementioned cardboard, is if you are installing some laminate flooring at home keep a bit of the insulating layer that you put below the laminate for under your airbed. If you really have nothing else, a couple of newspapers spread out will be better than nothing.

Seating

A very basic seating area can be achieved with a picnic blanket. I think that if you are just trying this camping lark out and you are young and reasonably fit, you can't go far wrong with a picnic blanket as your seating solution for your first camping adventure at least. Then, if you really like camping you can start to look for camping chairs. 

These picnic blankets, from Home Bargains are £4.49 each.

I haven't touched on cooking or basic tea making facilities, because in my eyes you start to get in to a whole lot of extra equipment. However I would recommend taking snacks, drinks and a picnic and store food in an airtight container to minimize attracting wild life into your tent. You will probably find you eat out in the evenings at least. Just go, enjoy and if the weather turns bad shove it all in the car and go home. There's always next weekend! 

A One-nighter in North Donegal

In the past fortnight I have managed to aquire another tent. It is a Vango Halo which is a three man backpacker (sort of) it's really too heavy for true backpacking but for a light, throw up car camping tent it is ideal. More on my Vango Halo (300) to follow, for on this occasion I couldn't help myself but use the Bell Tent again.

I have a friend who is a biker. This guy and his friends all have a motorbike each and they go on these little road trips. I knew this in advance, knew where they were going to be and decided that I would take a run their way for the craic - well they had asked me, which was lovely of them.  As their location was an hour away I thought of just heading up for a few hours for a bite to eat but when my eldest son (aged 18) expressed interest in going too I thought why not stay over!

The site is a bit special, and a secret. I'm not saying anything more than North Donegal. It's on the coast in a bay where you can see mountains across the bay. There's a good reason for keeping this place quiet, the bit of land that is used for camping is not a designated campsite as such and there are complaining neighbours - so the current land owner might get the 'order of the boot' if the council come crashing down on him. However, while this site is still available it is well used. It has absolutely no facilities but there are public toilets within a minutes wander. There is a pub in front of the site and you can use their facilities and they also offer a bar menu. So it's good manners to support the pub with a pint and a pizza if you are going to be popping in and out of their loos.

Note: You may figure out for yourself where this secret place is, but if you are knowledgeable enough to know, then you deserve to know and I trust you not to blab about it either. 

Now I'm a girl who's golden time of music was a certain era. When Bon Jovi, Aerosmith and Guns & Roses blasted out guitar riffs and spectacular as their hair and makeup wasn't just for girls. And so it was that my son has been brought up on this stuff, and guess what - he's a fan! Big time, he even has long hair and plays guitar. He does not wear eyeliner though.

My playlist was loaded and ready to go. It was entitled 'Road Trip'. The weather was stunning. 21 degrees (in April) and not a cloud in the sky. I felt a bit like that girl from the Aerosmith video Cryin' and I was breaking out, disappearing in to the far blue yonder all shiny blond hair and aviator sunglasses. The music was on extra loud, and the windows were down. The both of us sang the whole way. For once in my life I really started to relax, and I my frown was turned upside down.

The Bell Tent practically pitched itself. The other guys were already camped, but there was no sign of them or their bikes. They had a variety of dome tents and one was a Halo as well so at least I got to look at one. Just as I was getting water boiled for a coffee I said to my son that we'll hear those guys before we see them. And funny enough - the loud rumble of big motorbikes, across the bay to a road we could see. We counted as they appeared and within another minute they were with us on the campsite.

I'd met three out of the four of them before, and so introductions were made and we all got on really well. The guys had brought themselves a picnic table over from another part of the site and we were quite content sitting there, soaking up the rays and drinking red wine out of a plastic mug.

Things were so relaxed and there was no pressure to do anything or go anywhere. In the end we split up for tea and met up again in the bar. I was on half un's of Guiness all night and the bar was busy with a great atmostphere. They have a really cool beer garden, but all that cloudless sky translated into a nippy evening and there was a turf fire in the bar so we stayed in.

The Bell Tent was very basic in it's set up, you can really bling these things up but all I took was a self inflating mat each, a big 35l 'really useful' box with  all the bits and pieces we wanted like mugs and torches. I took one small camping chair and a fold up bench as well. I brought a table but didn't use it.

We had no source of heat, and so I took extra sleeping bags. The night was terribly cold, I ended up sleeping inside a sleeping bag inside another sleeping bag. I didn't sleep that well, I probably should have drank a lot more Guinness. My pillows kept slipping off the top of my self inflating mat which really got on my nerves. I've been googling this all week and it seems I'm not the only one complaining of pillows slipping. Various workarounds are mentioned, such as putting your t-shirt over the pillow and over the whole end of the mat. Anyway I ended up putting the chair on it's side and butting it up against the top of my pillows, and managed a few hours sleep after that.

I was up at 6am answering the call of nature and just happened on the moment the sun came up. It was so spectacular I crossed my legs and went back to the tent for the camera.

The following day there was no pressure to be up, or to leave. I was up about 8 am and over to a nearby shop for a coffee and took it to the sea front for a half hour stare at the sea. I could see the guys emerging from their tents over at the campsite. I wandered over their way. I made coffee. My son woke up. We went to the cafe for a wonderful breakfast of french toast served with bacon, maple syrup and a dollop of blueberry yogurt on the side, for €7 (about £5) and then went back to the campsite. Two more bikers had turned up late the evening before, so we all introduced ourselves and had a good chinwag and then they all started to pack. I'd no intention of packing, so waved goodbye to all the men and went for a drive. We drove to the top of a mountain where you have views of the sea all around, and I filled out my sons Student Finance form as this was the only spare bit of time I'd had in weeks. I got burnt sitting in the sun and we drove back to pack the tent. I think we got cleared up about 4pm and we put the music on full blast and drove home, completely refreshed, chilled and still feeling like I was in a 90's rock ballad music video.

I'm warming to the Bell Tent. The low door didn't annoy me as much and I wasn't bothered by the main guy rope coming from the centre of the door as much as the last time. I got it packed away completely dry and it was quite easy to get inside it's bag once I used the pole bag to really compact it down. I think I'll keep it.

First camping trip and the New Bell Tent

First trip report post of 2015! Well I decided that I needed a Bell Tent, don't know what notion I took but in the long winter months I fell for the idea of having a Bell Tent (actually not for the first time but financial constraints always stopped me before) and eventually I tracked one down at a price I liked. I bought it direct from Germany and it is a 4m Polycotton.

Unusually it has two windows in the walls which is one of the things I liked about this one, and I also liked that being polycotton as opposed to cotton canvas, it would be quicker to dry and a lighter weight to handle. I'm not absolutely tied to 'real canvas' anyway. It is branded '10T'.

So I just needed an excuse to use it and I got the chance on a Monday evening over the Easter Holidays. I wasn't due in to work until the Wednesday so I sprung at the chance. It was only one night so I packed little but the tent and my bed and headed off to a campsite called Hillfoot which is near Dungiven in Co Londonderry. As it happened I arrived quite late and didn't get the tent up until it was practically dark which was around 8.30pm. The next morning I had to be away by 10am so it really wasn't much experience of the tent, and first impressions weren't that great.The door was far too low, the single guy rope outside the door kept threatening to decapitate me and the air inside the cavernous space was far too much to heat never mind that it was damp and cold as well. A friend lives on the site and so I actually didn't spend much time in it except to sleep. Being early April it was bloody cold at night but anticipating that I had brought lots of blankets. I was still freezing and did not sleep that well to be honest. The next day, despite direct sunlight, the thing did not dry and I hadn't the luxury of hanging around until it did. So it was bundled away wet and I do so hate having a wet tent to deal with.

It was nearly ready for Ebay at this point but I got it dried in work (an empty, unfurnished office provided the space and the boss gave the go ahead - little does he know, this is the new tent drying area) and I left it for a good five days to make sure it was bone dry. I struggled to get it into it's bag as I was doing this on my own, and the tent really is a heavy brute.

I didn't even get any photos on this trip, I literally had no light in the evening and in the morning I was busy putting it away.

Pro's

It is mahooossive.
It is a lovely colour.
It is really nice quality fabric and the floor is strong and thick, cream coloured pvc (or whatever groundsheets are made out of).
The centre pole and the door poles are strong and substantial.
It literally took about 8 minutes to pitch. First time, never having pitched one before.

Cons

The space means it's hard to heat, any heat goes up to the 2.5m tall centre.
The door is low
The guy rope outside the door is in a stupid place
It's really heavy, I can hardly lift it out of the boot.
It didn't dry practically instantly like a polyester tent does. For some reason this shocked me.
The windows were no good because they were condensated up (although I'm told since that pitching it in cool damp air would not have helped.)

Bell Tent Chandelier

I just wanted to share with you something I made. I was inspired by Bell Tent Chandeliers which retail about £80 online and consist of a hoop (or two hoops) with little tea light glasses and you thread it up through the centre pole of a Bell Tent or Tepee as you are putting the tent up. I thought of all sorts of workarounds, including an embroidery hoop. Then I stumbled upon 'Herb Drying' racks online which are basically a hoop with three chains and hooks. I considered hanging little glass jars and putting tealights inside the glass jars. The only thing is, I'm not crazy about having to light lots of little tealights that only last four hours. Even then, naked flames and tents are not that compatible.

Walking around Poundstretcher in town I found plant hangers. My mind started ticking over. I could see that what I have here (for 99p) are three chains, and a hoop if I cut the rest of it off with tin snips.

I bought two (for 99p why not) because I thought it would also make a great fruit basket hanging from my tarp or from underneath the kitchen stand or at least somewhere to keep my phone, book etc. So once I got home I started playing about with them and realised if they joined together they'd make a wire ball. Maybe I could feed the pole through the centre of this ball! Pinterest showed me that I wasn't the first to think of this idea. Damn Pinterest for not letting me have an original idea!

I got black cable ties (100 pack) for another 99p. Battery operated lights, warm coloured came in at just under £7. I took a notion to attach some beads from my jewellery making kit. They are red crackled glass and blue faceted beads, with some blue solid coloured beads as well.

An hour of my time, this really is an easy make. I used all 100 cable ties. I could have done with a few more but in hindsight I used too many at the beginning of the process.

Ultimately there is a reason I am looking at Bell Tent Chandeliers and guess why.

Yes I bought a Bell Tent. I have not put it up yet, it's a Polycotton rather than Canvas and it's a 4m. I have no idea if this is 'the one' but I can't wait to find out. I have bought blankets and storage boxes and a new coolbox, and a new stove and a new kettle, and a red spotty table cloth and crazily enough, an MSR Camping Kitchen Tool Set - as if I needed more stuff. Oh I forgot I bought two cream coloured camping chairs to match the tent and two grey sleeping bags that fold in to their own cushion. I am going for a grey and cream with splashes of red theme. I have these colours in my bedroom at home and there is a coastal vibe about the colours. I have a red painted wooden directors chair in the shed as well.

I've never glamped before, and I just can't wait to try it out.