The 'NEVER NO MORE' camping list

This is a pared down list of camping gear which represents the minimum you can get away with whilst still having relative comfort. 

'Never No More' Camping List

Shelter

Tent 

Pegs

Mallet

Sleeping

Airbed/Self Inflating Mat
Pump if using Airbed

Bedding (sleeping bag or sheets and Duvet)

Pillow

Extra Blanket

Hot Water Bottle

Relaxing

Chair

Small Table

Book

Lantern

Eating

Mini Stove

Fuel Cannister

Lighter/Matches

Small Frying Pan

Lidded Pan

Sharp Knife

Small Chopping Board

Spork

Mug

Breakfast Bowl
Bottle Opener/Corkscrew
Tin Opener

Trug or Bowl for Washing Up

scourer and washing up liquid

Tea Bags

Coffee Granules

Cool box or cool bag

Flask

Personal

 Soft Holdall/Bag

Spare Clothing

A Big Jumper

PJ's

First Aid Kit

Bug Repellent

If the camping trip is short, you can cut out most of the kitchen equipment, as long as you have the makings of a cuppa.

Maddybenny Campsite, Portrush, NI

I got an early start for a weekends trip to Maddybenny, due to an understanding boss who could see I was itching to get away (and not much work on), so I was off like a shot!

I arrived at 2pm and chose a nice spot amongst these trees. I found level places to pitch my tents, yes I had more than one tent on this occasion. Actually I had three. I'll explain later. 

This weekend away was not a solo trip, it was arranged some time ago and there were a few people scheduled to attend this 'meet' with their families in various caravans and tents. Then as is often the case, life gets in the way and people bow out for legitimate reasons I'll not go into here - and so it was that there were three lots of us going, which is actually quite a nice number. The first night it was only two lots, with a third joining us for an overnighter on the Saturday. This family borrowed a tent from me, which I put up before their arrival as they were on site quite late. So one tent for me and one tent for them, that's two tents. 

This is the third tent. I brought a Decathlon Base Seconds pop up and this was our shared kitchen for the weekend. In hindsight I still brought too much. I should have just brought a stove, a kettle and a bunch of mugs because we literally lived on coffee. And takeaways. The pre-made and frozen Irish Stew I brought ended up in the bin. The most complicated thing I made was porridge for breakfast. 

For myself I brought the Lichfield Challenger 5, dates from the eighties and is a tent I used from being a teenager to now, and it's sort of on it's way out. The flysheet is getting very tired and delaminated and every time I use it I think it'll be the last time. I am very fond of this tent, lots of great memories were had in and around it and this weekend is another one to add to the list. For the borrowing tent I brought my Vango Icarus 500. No photo of it though. This was my tent....

Night one was incredibly cold. This is actually the latest in the season I've ever camped but it has been an exceptionally mild September. The stars were out on the first night and that means a big temperature drop. I'd remembered to bring my hot water bottle and plenty of blankets, but at 3.30am I woke up colder than I could ever have imagined being and struggled out of my tent into the other tent to stick the kettle on. Hot water bottle replenished I was warm but at approximately 4am the site cockerels started. Which brings me on smoothly to the amazing birdlife on Maddybenny site. There are lots of these things just wandering around, begging to be made in to a roast dinner. Only joking of course. 

But not joking was the  noise they made. This site is fantastic and the birds are an integral and lovely part of it. Earplugs are required for decent sleep though, not a big deal but the ducks go quack and the peacocks make a funny hoot, and the chickens cluck and the guineafowl make a horrible irritating noise. And worse, the cockerels go Cock - a - doodle - doooo in, it seems, two phases. Phase One is at 4am. Then Phase Two kicks in around an hour later. 

The Guinea Fowl look like clowns in full makeup, with their big football bodies and their too tiny heads. Their bodies are about the same size as a beach ball, we thought they were Turkeys but we're townies, we are useless at this sort of thing. The Peacocks are a bit full of themselves, they'd nearly pull the food right out of your hand they are so cheeky! The Ducks and Chickens are just happy around your feet as long as there's bread on the go and then Peacocks bully all the other birds. Fun Fact - a group of Peacocks is called a 'Party'. A group of female Peahens is called a 'Harem'. 

The site is well tended and the toilet and shower facilities are good, and clean. All the toilets are unisex and separate to each other, so no need for male and female facilities. Two out of the three showers are large disabled access wet rooms with a loo in the opposite corner to the shower. 

The site has an outlook over fields with horses and a sliver of sea in the distance. It's one and a half miles in to Portrush and this site is on a hill overlooking Portrush. The campsite is part of a large working Riding School with sixty horses. Thirty of those are owned by other individuals and stabled there, and the other thirty are used for the Riding School for lessons. So as a working 'Farm' you have to be flexible about there being activity, all the birds wandering about, farm cats and a couple of dogs too. 

Maddybenny also has Holiday cottages on the Farm and there is a brilliant games room with a table tennis table and a football table for the use of the Campsite and the Holiday Cottages. 

I didn't really go looking for the play area, but I believe there is one and there are also landscaped gardens to explore too. 

I met some of the other campers using the site, and Night Two of our stay was spent with them and a small campfire, I'd brought a guitar and then it emerged that one of the guys was a bit of a virtuoso guitar player! It was just really nice sitting around that little fire, a bit of chit-chat, a few giggles and somebody who could play a guitar properly to entertain us. Great memories to carry with me and hopefully for everyone else as well. 

Yes I'd recommend Maddybenny, and yes I'll be back. 

Share Centre Co Fermanagh, Northern Ireland

Weather - fair but overcast. Mood - excited to see Elan my son who was living at the Share Centre and working as a volunteer for a whole month. The Dog - also excited to see Elan but then she's excited to see anyone especially one of her own Hoomans. Tent used - Vango Icarus, 2010 model. No extension. 

The Share Centre is one of those love it but hate it places. The ethos and the atmostphere of the centre is brilliant, creative, inclusive and welcoming. Here's the thing. The Campsite isn't great. It's ok, in as far as you have a bit of grass and access to Electric Hook Ups and to a loo and shower. 

Now this next bit contains a bit of a rant about how things are at the campsite and what I think should be done about them. You are welcome to skip this bit if you want and it is all in italics so you can easily do so. 

The first big issue is that there is no access with a car. This lot (see pic) took me an hour to carry back and forth to the chosen area. I tried to go as far in to the campsite as I had the energy to do in order to get a bit of privacy as the areas around the entrance to the campsite are often densely used and if you pitch up there you could end up with someone elses guy ropes right past your front door. 

Issue two. The showers for the ladies are a row of shower heads along a wall with no dividing curtains. It's a bit like being at school only in my school at least we still had curtains. There is a wall to hide your modesty from an open door but you shower in view of other people who are also showering. There's no lock on the door which is accessed through the ladies. I suppose a lock would mean you have about 8 shower heads all to yourself which could create a queue outside. Isn't it obvious that this is appalling? There's three things you can do here, insider tips if you will. First you can take a shower and just be really quick and hope nobody comes in (this causes a certain amount of stress) or you can take a shower in the disabled shower which is a separate room.Lastly (and my preferred option but you have to pay extra) is you can go for a swim at the pool which is a five minute dander away. 

Issue three (minor I suppose) is that there's no soap in the ladies. You go to the loo. You only have plain water to wash your hands with. You could bring your own soap, but I find I nip to the loo when I'm passing the amenity block and I won't always have a bottle of Carex in my jeans pocket. Even if I intentionally go to the loo, the natural assumption is that there will be soap there, either a dispenser or a bottle of handwash. In the whole weekend I was there, I forgot about there being no soap on every single occasion I was in the bathroom. In every campsite, in every shopping centre, in every public place in the land - there is soap. It's a convention. It shouldn't be a big thing, but it could have a serious impact if someone suffers from food poisoning because they've been barbecuing and preparing food. 

Under utilized - The dishwashing area. 

Now I've seen the glory of a really well appointed kitchen area at a campsite, which is the mainstay of many a campsite in this beautiful land, I think we should be making more of these dishwashing facilities. Unfortunately in the case of the Share Centre, it's distinctly scruffy. There's missing surface on the edge of the worktop, which begs a hygiene question. The sinks were clean enough and the place does get washed down, floors and surfaces. I tend to bring my own dishwashing container anyway. There's a bin, that's good. New (to me anyway) was a fridge, sitting up unnaturally high on a worktop. This is clearly a cast off fridge from somewhere else, and someone has thought 'I know, why don't we let the campers use it' which is fine and great. The fridge is pretty grotty though. It did have an icebox which was useful to put my ice packs in, and they didn't get stolen which is even better. I noticed as the weekend wore on that someone plugged in a mini fridge and kept a few beers in the main fridge. Then someone else was charging their phone up, and I realised that opposite the dishwashing sinks (2 of)  there is a couple of double sockets and actually there's enough room to put a stove and prepare food (if you've remembered your handwash) and store food (if you risk using the fridge) and you could store your items there too if you placed a bit of blind faith in the other campers. 

What a world away from Mannix Point in Kerry, The Apple in Tipperary, even Hillfoot in Dungiven, where there's a busy inviting kitchen that people walk through, rest a while in, chat in. Things don't go walkies so much when people develop a relationship with their fellow campers. When there's a place to sit, potter and prepare food. When everyone chips in and even, dare I say it, share a bit! 

Here's a campsite with so much potential. There has been no investment. The complaints I had about this place four years ago have not changed one tiny bit. The Share Centre is a charity and I understand it's a daily struggle to keep the doors open. I sympathize with that. I would be up for supporting the place. But people do not want to struggle when they go on their well earned break. They do not want to work really hard huffing and puffing carrying heavy camping equipment to a pitch. They do not want a frankly grotty amenity block. They want to wash their hands hygienically, have a shower in privacy, basic stuff here! 

My suggestion, and I don't expect to be listened to here (as I highlighted my concerns four years ago, and nothing has changed), is that a road needs to be installed through the centre of the campsite. There is a curve of land that is already in a hollow, prone to churning up mud, hence the reason why cars are not allowed on site. It starts at the car park and heads diagonally towards the rear of the site, towards the main road and the ropes activity area. It does not need to be a tarmac surface. Many campsites have a rough rubble road, what planners call a metallised surface. 

Is Planning the issue here? I don't think so, the site already would have Planning Permission to operate as a campsite. I don't know if there's any extra permission needed to install a roadway that would also improve drainage if pipes were installed too, may as well have those too if you're going to dig a hole in the ground to fill with rubble and stones! 

Righto, if you've skipped to this bit, this is the camping bit.

Below is my trusty Vango Icarus, I have had this for four years but it is getting on a bit. Still functional and no tears or pole breaks or leaks and although I fancy the new colour of green on the current ones, plus the redesigned and much bigger 'panoramic' windows on the same, I'll use this one until it is much more done than it is at the moment. I brought what I thought was fairly basic camping gear, whilst still being enough to be comfortable. I had a tea/coffee making station, a decent camping bed to sleep in and I brought the electric hook up cable in case I got cold so therefore I had a small fan heater. It proved to be unnecessary as I wasn't one bit cold. Doggins was accommodated in a 'pet pen' which is simply an alternative to a tether arrangement but I wish I'd just stuck to the tether as this is quite a heavy object to carry. She also had her own crate for night time use inside the tent. It made a handy coffee table too. 

So how did my weekend go? Well it was great to see my son, who is 17 and who I'd never been separated from for a whole two weeks before. We went in to the shops for some supplies, we went for a swim together on his day off on Saturday, and we shared a barbecue together, sitting up late with my son and his friend Damien til' all hours around the campfire. On the Sunday the tent got wet and so I had a wet pack up, which was sorted out later at home. Good weekend all in all.

Bed and Bedding is the make or break of a good camping trip. Here I used an Argos steel framed campbed. An old sleeping bag to use as a bit of padding. 5cm Decathlon 'Sleep In' bed which is a Self Inflating Mat and sleeping bag integrated. Pillows from home. I used the 'level' function on my phone to find the more level bit of the sleeping area to put my bed. I am very fussy in this regard! 

Six Mile Water Campsite, Antrim

Six Mile Water Campsite

I have been quiet this year thus far but I've now had two camping trips, only quick weekends so far but the weather has been kind to me both times. The first was at Hillfoot, where I camped alongside two other families and my nephew joined my camp. It was the first time I used the new tent I bought earlier this year. I got a Gelert Cabana 4 on sale at a price not to be refused as a very quick to pitch tent and so far it's been pretty good. It is a bit like a Tepee tent, it has a central pole but the tent is modified in that it has an inner compartment and has two poles near the front for extending the tent a bit regarding head height at the door. It is quite a funky fabric, grey and black swirly design but it does have one drawback - no windows. I haven't been bothered by this so far but I reckon a week of rain would have me going stir crazy in there - so it is a fair weather tent and really for solo camping (even though its supposed to be a four berth).

Bed set up is a Decathlon (Quechua) all in one Self Inflating Mat and sleeping bag, pillows from home and a spare green fluffy blanket just in case. I forgot to bring my camp bed, but I was more comfortable than I would have thought as this Self Inflating Mat is only about 3cm. The picnic mat is an oversized one from Lidl with a foil reflective back. 

Looking out, no windows! But there is a mesh doorway as well as the fabric one. 

Still getting great use out of my Coleman Mini Table

This was my first trip with Coco my Springer only, as a few weeks ago my other wee dog Toby was killed by a car when he got out through a hedge on to a road. Wee Toby is much missed, the whole family have been so upset. He was only two but he was a wee tinker and life is definately a bit quieter!

Lough Neagh

The campsite is close beside Lough Neagh. The campsite itself looks out onto a river which flows into the lake, and it is a nice outlook as the river is lined with boats being a natural harbour. The lake itself is a five minute dander due West from the campsite, just follow the river. In this picture you may just about see an aeroplane, which shows how close this area is to the International Airport. 

Funny quip - two little boys whizzed past me on bikes, one said to the other 'Is this called Lough Neagh' and the other little boy said 'No no...that is in Scotland!'. I think he was thinking of Lough Ness though. 

Stendhal Festival, Limavady

The great thing about the Decathlon Base Seconds 4.2 is that it folds into a circle which can be carried like a rucksack, making it ideal for a Festival situation. It is heavy, the circle is bulky too, but carrying camping gear in to a festival site is never an easy task no matter what and having a tent you can carry on your pack at least frees up both hands to carry other things. 

At Stendhal Festival only two in my family were going. Myself and eldest son aged 16. He's a big strapping lad of 6ft now and so he gets the job of carrying the tent on his back. I carry a large rucksack with all the soft things in it (clothes, blankets, sleeping bags etc). Then we have a trolley which carried our coolbox and everything else bungeed to the top. It was heavy going, festival fields are generally quite far from the car parking area, but it was doable! 

I've learnt a few little things about festivals now, although I am sure I have much more tweaking to do. I feel this was our best effort yet. I think I generally brought the right equipment. At previous festivals I've brought a whole kitchen outfit only to spend a lot of money on food from stalls anyway. This time I only brought tea/coffee making facilities, and I gave both of us a food budget of £50 each to do food and drinks for the whole weekend. A meal is averaging out about £6 - £8 with soft drinks being £1 for a can and alcoholic drinks (for me) being nearer the £4 mark. The £50 was about right. I still brought multipacks of soft drinks and crisps and also cereal bars for breakfast. There was one breakfast at another festival, when I had no milk left so went to the kiosk for coffee and something to eat. One coffee and a bun in a plastic wrapper was £5 and I had two of us to buy for. Ouch! £10 for a breakfast and still hungry! Never again, bring cereal bars and if you are even better organised, bring large home made flapjacks which will be far nicer. 

The festival had brilliant music with the highlight for me being 'The Plaintains', a local group made up of pupils from a Special Needs school. They did Status Quo's 'Rockin all over the World' and it was the most feel good band I think I've ever been to see. 

This Festival was very good value at £35 for a family. A far cry from the Sunflower Festival who put their ticket prices up this year and it would have been £140 for us both to go! 

Shepherds Rest, Draperstown

What a fantastic overnighter we had at The Shepherds Rest which is near Draperstown, Northern Ireland. When I say we, I mean my nephew and myself. Our very first Auntie and Nephew camping trip! We also had great company in the form of John, a fellow member of the Northern Ireland Campsite Forum. 

We arrived on the Saturday morning about 11am with what we thought was minimal camping equipment. I had planned this out throughout the preceding week, and it seemed to be a longer list than it should be. Especially when we were only staying one night! We brought the tent obviously, and our beds, and a chair each. I brought the coleman mini table I'm so pleased with - and another backpacker table which I could have done without. I brought coffee making things, as we were only planning on one night we planned to eat out. We brought the makings of a breakfast and that necessitated a cool box. I also needed our basic first aid kit, baby wipes, a dish washing bucket plus dish washing liquid, a plate, mug and spork each, and kitchen roll.

The site is in the back garden of the Shepherds Rest public house. The pub nestles into a pretty valley in the Sperrin mountains and as the name implies, this is sheep farming territory. I had the good fortune to be travelling from the west, so I approached it through the mountains on a lovely sunny morning. The clouds threatened us with a few drops of rain every so often, but they soon moved on. 

The site is in two sections, separated by a hedge. On the south side of the hedge are Caravan hardstandings, and some terraced grassy areas for tents. On the north side of the hedge was the true pub garden, but it is large and can hold tents as well. It has planted borders which at this time of year are bright with many flowers, the grounds are well tended, the grass freshly mown. There is a long path through the middle of this garden, with a canopied area at the back of the pub, slightly raised and with tables and chairs. This part of the building houses the function rooms, not the general bar area, so you don't feel you are under scrutiny all the time. The other end of the path brings you to a re-creation of an old Irish Cottage, complete with a small campers kitchen in one corner. There is comfy seating, a table and chair arrangement and an open fire. There are a few vintage items strewn about, interesting artifacts like a traditional butter churn and some gas lanterns. The fuel for the fire seemed to be provided by the site.

The electric kettle in the campers kitchen corner was brilliant, much quicker than faffing about with my own backpacker stove which is not that stable. We used it for coffees, hot chocolate for my nephew, and to fill two hot water bottles. 

As the summer is wearing on the night time temperatures are starting to drop. The heat wave we had in mid July is gone but we've still had quite good weather since, mostly sharp showers with sunny spells. The temperatures have remained normal (not exceptional like they were in the heat wave) but the nights are drawing in, getting progressively earlier and with it, it's cooler. We had good bedding with us, but the hot water bottles were nice to warm the beds just before getting in to it. I had to evict mine once settled as it was too warm. Then about 2am, I woke chilled to the bone. I'd taken a fleecy blanket and woke up enough to arrange that over me and an hour later I threw it off again as I was far too warm. 

A large family group with four or five tents had come during the day, and they were lovely people but there were a lot of them. They had quite a few children as well. The kids got very excited and were incredibly noisy that night. They were having a wonderful time, and I love to hear kids having a good time...just not at midnight! Thank goodness for ear plugs! 

The amenities for the campsite are housed in a room at the back of the pub. There are steps from the 'garden' into this area and they are quite steep, and I think, would benefit from a hand rail. That aside, the room that caters for the campers is really good. There is a corner for laundry (washing machine, drier and dedicated sink), another for an information area which was a table and notice board, with notices, services, brochures and a guest book. Just inside the door was a campers 3/4 sized fridge. The men and ladies bathrooms were to the rear of this room, one per gender. As the shower was situated in the same room as the toilet that meant it was essentially a wet room. The only problem with this is that when someone takes a shower they are effectively stopping others from using the loo. 

All in all, a great site and one I will definitely return to. I will leave the tables and chairs at home the next time, and use the picnic tables already there. 

Mannix Point - The experience

Right, some tent talk now. The first tent we'd used was a fairly ancient ridge tent  when we were in Tralee but we swapped that for a really big 8 man tent (an Easycamp Topeka 8) for our remaining ten days of the holiday. The tent is a borrowed one, my sister bought it a couple of years ago and has used it three or four times with her family. As my two are getting older, I wanted them to have the privacy of their own bedroom pod and you have to go to an 8 man size to get this. Now, if it had of been raining, we would have been delighted with our huge aircraft hanger of a tent! 

Although the separate bedroom issue still stands, the huge size of the living space in this tent meant that it took up a significant amount of our pitch and we couldn't be in the tent anyway during the day. It was like a sauna even though I had the doors zipped open at both ends, but there was hardly any breeze to push a through flow of air. The best tent, hindsight being a wonderful thing, would have been the canvas frame tent we took the last time. Real canvas stays cooler in hot weather, the fabric is much thicker. I discounted it because of the bulky pack size, but I should have made room for it anyway. 

In the end, we were really dependent on our tarp. I got this one from Field and Trek two years ago for a whole big £6.66 (with a discount code and free delivery) and it came with two poles. I already had two poles from another tent and so this is a really flexible shelter since I can change the configuration and move sides up and down depending on where the sun is. I've had a look and I don't think mine is available anymore, but an alternative would be the one you can get in Decathlon for £20. The one I have isn't square, it's more of a diamond with elongated sides. Hopefully the picture will reveal all. I certainly wasn't the only one to use a tarp on this heatwave! 

We quickly got into a routine, I would get up good an early because the heat built up inside my sleeping pod I had no choice. I'd get the kettle on and make a cuppa, then go and sit by the sea soaking up the beauty of the area. I'd be really disappointed if, for some reason, I wasn't the first up! I loved the stillness of the site, punctuated with the odd snore from a neighbouring tent. Then everyone else would start to stir, you could hear the zips going and the kettles whistling, the odd kid talking excitedly before a parent goes "shuuuushhhh". I'd work on getting my two up, which was actually quite difficult. Whilst doing this I would get in a few chapters of my 'whodunnit' book. Once wakefulness had been achieved, I would make more coffee and one or both kids dispatched to the local shop on foot to pick up the croissants. More coffee after and then it was time to decide on the day. On many days it was swimming, others it was just going into Caherciveen to get meat for that nights barbecue and salady stuff. Or one day we visited Ballycarbery Castle. 

One day it was a drive around the Skellig Ring, which is a penninsula off to the side of the main 'ring' of Kerry and it was there that we discovered the spooky hotel. 

We had driven around most of the Skellig Ring, stopping at the viewpoints on the top of the mountain and at the Chocolate Factory and Shop and then at a 12th Century Abbey where the monks settled after life out on the Skellig Islands became too harsh. Off in the distance we could see something that looked like a prison. Curious, we set off in that direction and brought the car to the end of a lane and left it at a farm gate. Proceeding on foot, we were a bit dumbfounded at this strange looking building which seemed totally at odds with the stunning landscape all around. Entering the building, we found a small swimming pool with the roof caved in. We found the remainders of kitchens and a reception desk and concluded that it was a hotel. 

The residential 'wing' of the hotel was blocked off from what would have been the communal areas of the hotel. A quick scout around the side revealed an access to a staircase. The stairs were dusty and had old shoes and various bits of rubble all around it. There was graffiti everywhere but it didn't look as if this staircase was often used. The staircase was precast concrete. Structurally, it was sound enough. Still we proceeded with caution. 

We went up to the middle floor. We were presented with a long corridor and the film 'The Shining' immediately came to mind. Some of the rooms had bits of furniture in it, one bathroom had funky 70's style flowery tiles, and all wallpaper had slipped off damp walls long since. We proceeded along the corridor, chatting to each other about the weirdness of the place and how much we'd brick it if a face appeared at a door. I snapped a few photos, each room had an outlook to die for. Halfway down the corridor it became obvious that apart from the odd backless wardrobe there was nothing new to see. We discussed leaving it there, as all the rooms were identical anyway. But something drove me on even though the corridor was half blocked with a single sized bed with some of the springs still intact. 

I looked through the doorway to the very last room. Something different here! A 4 ft barricade erected a little inside the door, gaps in the barricade revealed a swept floor and two mattresses indicated occupancy. A half filled bottle of coke in the window which, unlike all the others, had been blocked of with a sheet of wood. 

Suddenly, from behind the partition, a crazy wild eyed man ran at us screaming and wielding a syringe filled with some sort of red fluid. We turned tail and ran like hell, past the bed that was nearly blocking our way, past the empty rooms, the whole length of the corridor, down the dusty steps with the discarded shoes, out into the sunshine and not once did we look back to see if we were being followed.....

Not really, that didn't happen. We still got slightly freaked out by the signs of occupation and decided that no would be a really good time to leave. And we left in a sharpish manner. 

Overview of my camping year so far

Hello dear readers, I haven't posted in a while so I thought I'd do something about that. I have been camping three more times since that early trip in March and right now I have one more weekend camp coming up before our main family holiday away in County Kerry. So right now my thoughts are full of lists, and I have lists of lists, and I have two different notebooks, numerous back of envelopes and a document wallet with lists. 

First I want to share something. I went camping in the rain. This wasn't normal rain, it was relentless, heavy, constant and set my teeth on edge. We weren't short of space, (fairly big tent) and we weren't short of food or supplies. We were short of patience, and we (myself and two teens) were a bit damp and I had two dogs that were more than a bit damp and stuck in a crate for most of the time. It wasn't fair on the dogs or the kids. So when I came home I made a list. That's right, another list.

At the top of this list I wrote:

DON'T GO CAMPING IN THE RAIN

It should be said that of the two nights we stayed, the first evening was dry and the sunset was unbelievable, we had a camp fire lit and some Home Brew red wine courtesy of a fellow camping friend and life was good. Even the evening of our relentlessly rainy day was saved by a brilliant campers sitting room where we had a wood burning stove and the company and craic was great, and this one thing alone saved my sanity that day. Anyway this rule is not always going to be easy to achieve. Sometimes weekends are paid for and booked in advance. So then we either go and get wet or cancel and don't get a refund. Then there's the accuracy of our forecasts, it's virtually impossible to go by them. But by and large, if there's a wet weekend forecast I'm staying home from now on. 

The next thing I wrote was 

DON'T GO CAMPING WITH KIDS AND DOGS AT THE SAME TIME

I know this is not for everyone. This is my self imposed rule. It's probably going to be a flexible rule, the dogs do enhance our weekend when our time is planned around them and nice long walks - and the main off-putting thing about that weekend was the fact that it rained so heavily. At home (when it's raining heavily) the dogs would have the run of the house. When we're camping they are not allowed to be untethered or uncrated. They have to be restrained all the time even on walks unless we leave site and go somewhere safe. I'm a lone parent, I had two teenagers demanding my time and attention. I had two dogs also needing my time and attention. I felt guilty on both fronts. So it has been decided that for our main holiday the dogs are going into Kennels, they've been before and are used with the Avril who is the angel that runs the kennels and I know they'll be well taken care of. It'a another bill to pay, but on this occasion I'm putting the kids first. They are teenagers. They will probably not have that many more holidays with me. 

Next on my list I wrote:

Only take one cup and one plate and one spork per person AND THATS IT!

As you can probably tell I took far too much stuff including the kitchen sink. To add insult to injury I didn't even use it all which means it was a) a waste of time including it on my list, b) a waste of time looking and retrieving for the item, c) a waste of my time packing, transporting and unpacking this item when d) I shouldn't have bothered in the first place. 

Still learning!

Coleman Mini Table - Review

I have used this little table quite a lot now for over a year and feel that I could give an accurate review that reflects it's performance with actual use.

This little table won the Camping Magazine award in 2010. It is unusual because in this category there is no other brand making a table of this size and this 'folding suitcase' design. It folds up quite tiny, not much bigger than a laptop bag and so it is really handy even just to keep in the car. I have used it as a 'sitting kitchen', ie, I can relax on my camp chair and boil up the kettle and spoon in the coffee at the same time. Much better when on holiday! I also use it as a small dining table, three of us sit our camp chairs, which do tend to be quite low, and it's a better height to eat from. If you want to, you could sit on your knees on the ground. I also use it as a drinks table, plonking it right between two camp chairs it's just the perfect swing your arm from table top to mouth distance. 

Stock promotional photo

I am a big fan of this little table but it has one drawback. It is a bit wobbly on one axis. The longest dimension of the table is quite steady but along it's shortest dimension there's a bit of swing. This is fine as long as you know about it.

The pro's of this table is that it is a great height for so many functions, the adjustable legs mean it can be level on uneven ground or even gradients (although I hate pitching on a slope!) and the cargo net is utterly fantastic. Why all tables don't have this feature I don't know. Here's a scenario of why the net is so great.

Take one day, everyone sitting around and having coffee and a chat. Sometimes you reach forward to pick up a pen for that all important word finder puzzle you're working on. Sometimes you check the phone, just to see what's happening on Facebook. Once checked, you reach forward and place the phone back on the surface. Suddenly, it's lunch time. It's easy to heat up that can of Heinz Tomato Soup and it's served in big chunky bowls with a plate of roughly sliced up baguette. Oh No!!! The table is covered in pens and phones and sun cream and a pack of cards . No Problem. Just chuck it all underneath and enjoy soupy heaven and fresh french bread in a jiffy.

Coleman Mini Table 9 and a half out of 10.