So, the BBC Weather App can't always predict precipitation with a 100% accuracy or maybe it's a case of operator error in not reading the small print of probability weighed against wishful thinking! The campers amongst you will appreciate the desirability of a dry strike even when moving onto another campsite on the same day, the non-campers will think I'm bonkers - just chuck the tent in the back of the car and drive on!! We did. Rain overnight and a still morning with little sight of sunshine = very wet tent. By 9.30 it was drying off ok, I was even contemplating that really nerdy thing of turning the tent round to dry the other side when ..... the heaven's opened! Tent was chucked in the back of the car dripping wet.
Still talking about tents, if you followed 'a summer to remember' last year you may recall that I bought a new tent for the trip, a Gelert Nebula 4 which we named 'Bertha', sadly Bertha sustained irreparable damage to a couple of poles and despite extensive use of duct tape, finally gave up the fight after 8 days of use. Other than the dodgy poles and no replacement pole - why don't tent manufacturers see the virtue of including a spare?? - the tent suited our needs well. 4 berths can usually be interpreted as 3 with comfort or 2 with luxury which meant that we had plenty of room, a bonus when we were pitching every day. The 3 pole tunnel with bathtub construction meant we could pitch in 10 minutes as long as we didn't stop to stare in awe and wonder at the world around us. The jury is still out on the merits of bathtub groundsheets though, I tend to favour the grass as my floor covering of choice in the living area of a tent, it means you can happily wander in with full wet weather gear on and not be worried about muddy wellies and dripping cags. I have a very different attitude if there's a groundsheet in place! Judicious placement of a car boot liner for stepping into and divesting oneself of footgear is fine, but then you also have to take into consideration the wobble factor which is really only aided by the use of a strategical placed chair ....... I ramble on but you get my gist!
The aforementioned Bertha was sent back to Amazon for a full refund as apparently the tent was no longer available and we continued our trip last year with the 3 (but actually only 2) person tent that we're using this year. The Outwell Arizona is a perfect full height dome for sleeping in but as the nights draw in and the dew turns heavy we're looking to sit inside out of preference and our little tent is not ideal. So, imagine my delight when I spotted an Outwell Covington 4 from their Privileged range sitting next to the Vango equivalent at our last campsite - the perfect opportunity to compare the two. We have Vango tents aplenty for our Guide unit - their 500 range is great for a patrol (although from experience it's always worth paying for the top of the range tents in terms of size and tunnel to dome construction) - but personally I'm committed to Outwell, you get what you pay for with camping equipment. The owner of the Covington only bought it last week and paid £250 in John's Camping International, cheaper than Amazon! Shall I, shan't I? We were set to pass a store in Brighton according to a quick Internet search ..... but they're closed on Sundays! post 'post' note - I rang them on Monday to be told that they sell Vango's but not Outwells!!
The 'possible showers' stayed with us for most of the morning so beach visiting on our coastal drive was swift! Newhaven, Peacehaven, Saltdean, Rottingdean ... the sun finally began to peep out as we approached Brighton and our farewell to East Sussex. We enjoyed warm sunshine on the little beach at Shoreham where we stopped for lunch and to visit the Lifeboat Station, we didn't stop for the planned launch in the afternoon deciding instead to press onto our campsite in Angemering to pitch the dripping tent so that we could be assured of a dry, aired tent for the night.
Our new campsite is not unlike Kingsdown in that the ablution block is basic but functional and clean and the camping is across vast fields as opposed to neatly mown and delineated pitches. Fabulous. Except for the late afternoon/early evening wind. We need a big deep biscuit tin or equivalent to put our gas burner in, it doesn't like wind and lightweight tents are not safe to cook in. Even with Big Daddy the hench beach windbreak we can't get enough shelter from the wind. Hmmm. So, we chose to pitch at the bottom of the field where the long grass appeared to be barely whispering compared to the almost horizontal grass in the middle of the field. Perhaps that helped, who knows, we went out for dinner!
If you're familiar with the lower site at our Girlguiding LaSER campsite at Cudham Shaws then you'll have an idea when I describe our walk to the toilets as the equivalent of walking from 'Lambeth' or 'Battersea' to the shower block. One needs to plan one's loo trips way in advance!
Sunday was visitors day; Tracey joined us as we pitched our tent and then came down to Littlehampton with us where we met Angela for our evening paddle and sandcastle building! I doubt that we're going to beat the 118 record set by Molly and Goddington Brownies at Greatstone. Angela stayed with us for the evening, narrowly winning the game crazy golf despite some ace shots from Nick! The delicious smells emanating from the pub as we'd parked in the early evening lured us back for a feast before a very dark return to our beds for the night.
Spot the beaches!
Peacehaven in the rain?
Ummm could this be Hove?
Shoreham - by the lifeboat house
Angela, Nick and Tracey celebrate building 6 sandcastles at Littlehampton
First photo of my awesome parascend at WS2013 - thank you Lauren!
