Not at campsite, but they were going to one, at a very wet, windy and rainy garage forecourt, a large elderly couple in oilskins, touring Scotland (very slowly) on a Honda c90 motorbike (*90cc, yes ninety with 3 speed semi automatic gearbox)), equipped with windscreen, leg shields as standard, top box and panniers, they would probably go backwards in a strong headwind. (To be fair they were both happy as Larry, it cheered me up no end)
Old French couple, huge, old Peugeot saloon, small tent, table, chairs & all the kitchen utensils from home. They had visited the same camp site near the Ventoux each summer for years and insisted on giving me a bag of apricots and some fresh coffee. They must have been in their eighties & the memory of our chat still makes me smile.
She will be coping stoically but deep down, the thought that her girlfriends were right and that she’d regret marrying Tobias is never far from the surface
😂
Recognise so many of these, not sure which one is me - possibly more than one
Edit - my favourite campsite folk were the kids with Harry Potter cloaks, head torches and light sabres having a huge play fight in the dark. I was a bit tipsy and it looked ****ing awesome.
Guy shows up. Fairly old and frail looking, small, thin with a long white beard. Starts to set up his tent. Except it isn't a tent. It is a kind of house/tent construction that he is attaching to the back of his small caddy sized van. The sides and roof are made from thin coregraged semi opaque plastic. The frame is thin plastic poles. The method of construction is to tie the sides/roof to the frame. He takes a long time to make it. It's tiny, just big enough for him to sit in at a small table, which he does most of the night: sits there in the light of a camping gas light. We can all see him through the now might as well be clear plastic thing he has made. Just sitting there, doing nothing, not reading, no phone, dead still nothing. It is windy and the panels hum with the vibration continuously. Next morning he's already packed up and gone. Sometimes I think I dreamed it.
Simon, who I last saw at school 30 years ago.
The bloke who plants a 'Yorkshire Tea' flag outside his tent.
The retired Major who sweeps his tent out every morning and drinks port before turning in.
The man with more photographic gear than Jessops, who wheels his elderly dog around in a pram.
The blind scouser.
The chap who snores so loudly that he often wakes up to find other campers have moved their tents. Once had a tent stolen whilst sleeping in it.
The woman who trips up over the tent entrance every single time she goes in or out. Often organises random 14 a side football games and farts like a RG500.
Once woke up next to a duck.
Attracts midges.
These people are some of the friends we go camping with.
One of them might be me. The other is definitely my wife.
Campsite in Finale, German guy in his 50s turns up with a battered VW van.
Ten mins later his daughter turns up in a car and her brother arrives in another VW van. The three vehicles make a corral and proceed to string a large tarpaulin between the three.
The old van was like a tardis. They brought out of it a dining table and matching chairs. A domestic fridge and freezer. A large TV and a sky satellite dish which they then mounted to the roof of the van. Last thing out was a cooker and microwave and an armchair.
At one point I thought some one was loading in from the other side.
Son and daughter were great but never heard the dad speak to them, us or anyone else.
He just sat in the armchair from morning till night watching TV and drinking beers from the fridge which had been conveniently placed at the side of the armchair so he didn't have to get up.
Most people on campsites seem to be OK
Bloke playing a trombone intermittently, and extremely badly, at Rhaeadr Nantcol.
Thankfully we were pitched the other side of the site but could still hear it
Early in the evening it was really very funny.
Late in the evening it started up again when I was on my way to the loo. I was treated to the site of irate next door neighbor camper to the trombonist smashing said trombone up and threatening to "shove this *ing trombone up your *ing arse!"
#
The 'Temporary drunken commune' comprising 3-5 family units, each with 2+ kids all pitched side-by-side. The plan clearly being the various children would just take care of themselves, while the parents get shit-faced together. There will be one falling out (shortly patched up), one lost and then found child drama, lots of sunburn and a minimum of 4 complaints by other campers when they're still talking pissed nonsense, loudly at 2:15am...
Oh yes, when we were away in July there was a guy camping on his own - apart from his tomato plants.
I'm assuming he had no one to water them while he was away from home, so he'd brought them with him, but it looked rather odd.
Campsites are wonderful, wonderful places. You see humanity at its best and everywhere else right down to the other end of the spectrum.
So many stories but I'll never forget looking around my favourite site down Cornwall one morning after a horrid storm.
Tents bent and wrecked everywhere, just torn apart and many deserted, their owners having bailed during the night.
I and the kids went looking around the abandoned ones looking for anything salvageable as I was up during the night repairing our tent, it had been a beast of a storm.
We approached the remains of one tent with its unzipped door flapping in the wind... Inside the dark, tiny living area was a cereal packet, a bowl of half eaten cereal (complete with spoon) and nothing else. It was the most tragic sight id ever seen.
Storms also brought out the best in people too, offering to help people shore up a broken tent during/after a storm etc.
Damn, I miss the yearly camping trip to Cornwall.
By the way, you aren't camping unless you are in a tent.😁
Cougar
Just me who for a moment wondered why the woman in the OP would be dragging a chocolate bar along?
Not just you Cougar.
On the subject of the people of the Netherlands it was noted by our family in the 70's that it must be an really empty place in summer as the amount of NL registered cars in any other country than their own was quite frankly staggering!
We were on a campsite in the Montafon valley (Austria) in 2014. A geriatric German couple arrived in an original VW camper from the 60s in pristine condition. Every night they sat outside and had dinner about 5pm. He then practised his accordion for about an hour whilst she did some knitting. They were so sweet and clearly enamoured with each other despite being older than Methuselah
Anyway my knee had gone pop on the way there and it and my calf were swollen to twice normal size. I needed to go to hospital but it was miles away and I was hobbling around the campsite for day or so. One evening they came over, apologised for their lack of English and gave me some arnica gel to rub into my messed up knee, "fur die knee-schmerzen". Then she gave me a huge hug and said good luck. . They really were a joy to all they encountered (made my old cynical head/heart melt too). The world needs more people like them.
Most people on campsites seem to be OK
Very much this.
I spent a season working on campsites, generally camp about a month a year. I think that when they are camping the vast majority of campers behave pretty well, as most people do most of the time in public spaces. Their differences are part of the charm of camping, people from many different social and national backgrounds in a melting pot without brick walls sharing space.
You can predict what people will be like according to the location and type of campsite. Choose one where you're likely to find like-minded people. We've met some great people and shared good times.
The people with TVs are handy, invite yourself to watch the TDF stage finish or the news. The idosynratic ones provide entertainment. Can't start the car or need a tool for your bike, someone will be able to help.
Good thread!
The parents on a definitely middle class (nice toilets and a price to match site) whose kid screams blue murder in the middle of the night until one of the parents loses their shit, and the whole campsite hears the sound of a hand smacking the child. Then there is horrified silence across the campsite, and you can hear the stares of the other parent looking at the one who gave the slap and the ‘wtaf did you just do’ moment dawning between them. The kid redoubles their bawling at a new pitch, and they all pack up early and quietly the following morning, avoiding the eyes of all the other campers.
We camp a lot. Latest belter was sat at Clachtoll recovering from a bit of water blasting in the waves. Hired landy with a roof tent rolls in, parks up across the way. Very large lady gets out and I not fattist here but she was massive, very thin pale looking man with her. Roof tent goes up, ladder goes up. She goes up. He goes up. Wife raises eyebrows at me. Landy starts seriously looking like it’s springs will be destroyed by the bouncing. I had to look away.
The families with feral kids are by far the worst
I thought half the point of camping with kids is that you can let them go feral???
And it has to be said Amsterdam last week was full of tourists, and not many Dutch people.
And it has to be said Amsterdam last week was full of tourists, and not many Dutch people.
Was the average height much lower than usual?
Was the average height much lower than usual?
Outside of the airport, yes. They really are tall, aren't they??? At 50 I'm used to the fact I'm no longer tall, but it's the first place I've been to that so many women are taller than me!
When I've been to Croatia I've always thought they're just dark, brooding Dutch in disguise. I'm 186cm so not small but they're huge.
Oddly Damian Lewis and Kate Ashfield.
And yep they were very nice to chat to 🙂
I thought half the point of camping with kids is that you can let them go feral???
Yep, we had a family forcing the kids to go to bed at 10 and asking everyone if they could keep it down,everyone’s then woke up at 6am as the kids wake up and want to do stuff 🙂
TBH it could be my upbringing but I never had a bedtime so I don’t get it.
Cycle touring in Spain we stopped in a tiny sea side campsite. We just squeezed 2 tiny tents in the last space guy ropes overlapping. We went out for beers and food. We were in bed at about 10:30. But every kid on the campsite is awake running in circles and screaming. It was so loud that we couldn’t even shout between tents. Then at 11:00 silence. Like some one flicked a switch. We were so impressed
I don't go camping. Previously i had no evidence as to why should not go camping, now i do.
I used to go camping lots as a kid but hardly any since then. This thread makes me miss it and now I'm considering using some of next year's 8 week summer sabbatical to go camping!
I don’t go camping. Previously i had no evidence as to why should not go camping, now i do.
It’s that absolute rip snorter of a fart that someone lets fly at around 1-2am that sets the whole site off giggling.
That’ll really put you off if your of a certain disposition.
Camping near Coed y Brenin we met a young couple who behaved like boyfriend and girlfriend but looked like twins...
Currently on a French campsite that's maybe 40% French, 20 UK, 20 NL and 10% RoW. People are all very friendly and no d***heads spotted after a week.
Everyone's super nice including the staff and the facilities are great. For £60 per night we have unlimited use of the two pools including a pretty awesome indoor one with many flumes, onsite shop, bar, daily kids clubs...
Campings alright by my reckoning.
I love camping. French capsites are awesome the way its noisy as anything up to 10 or 11 then silence.
I do fear im the odd person on the site tho😎🤣
The families with feral kids are by far the worst...
They’ll be the ones with drum’n’bass still going at 2am
Yep the adults are the worst.
Oh yes and I love those wonderful retro style canvas tents the Dutchies use.
Sat outside the van on a campsite in the Peak now hoping I'm not the odd one. 🤔
@whatgoesup - https://www.lez-eaux.com/. Normandy wouldnt be everyones obvious first choice but the weather has been almost perfect, the beaches just south of here (and town of Julloville) are really nice, there's a good batch of other things to do around here too. Worth a trip if you (like me) have kids that mostly want to be swimming.
Thrutching and grunting followed by titanic plopping sounds from the trap next door to me.
I left my safety netted silent ablutions and made my exit the same time as Helga the German shot putter type lady left the next door khazi.
Discussed with MrsRNP about only booking french campsites that didn't have unisex toilets in future.
Done a lot of camping, the only person I've ever had cause to have words with was a guy at Comrie last year. May bank holiday weekend, fairly busy and all families on top field except this guy.
There were clouds of acrid smoke coming from his fire fit and drifting across the place. Went on for an hour or so. Really minging smoke. So had a word - he'd just dismantled his 40 year old garden shed and brought it in his van for firewood. Green paint shiplap, wet chipboard roof - the lot.
Don't be a fire pit ****er
Discussed with MrsRNP about only booking french campsites that didn’t have unisex toilets in future.
I hear both of them get booked up early.
I was in Ballater last year and this guy drives into the campsite in his Bentley then gets in a huge motorhome starts the engine and all the sides push out. It did beg the question did his man drive the motorhome up and he took the bentley and why did he not just book a hotel as I don't really see how he was actually camping in the motorhome.
My favourites from last camping trip were the family that arrived in two vehicles.
Big family car containing wife, children, dog, tent, etc, etc.
Works van containing husband and truely epically huge gas-fired BBQ.
I was well impressed!
The family with the drone who start buzzing over the campsite from dawn onwards - worse if there’s a camera attached as it will often take hours of trying to get the best shot for instagram.
Don’t be a fire pit ****
Some campsites become proper pea soupers come early evening, especially if there’s no wind.
We stayed on Les-Eaux in a static caravan, had a fab time, our van was right on the very edge of a cow field so much so they could potter right up to the window. I’d completely forgotten about this holiday. I’ll probably book for next year as I think I’ll be bankrupt.
@benpinnick are the other 10% aliens? Come on, let’s have some accurate statistics, it’s STW!
@benpinnick are the other 10% aliens? Come on, let’s have some accurate statistics, it’s STW!
I'll send the kids out to do a numberplate survey ... Belgians, Germans, a couple of Irish off the top of my head.
Camping near Coed y Brenin we met a young couple who behaved like boyfriend and girlfriend but looked like twins…
GoT has a lot to answer for
