Tales from the tent

Before the VW T5 we had a T4, and before that we had a tent.

I love camping. As explained in one of my earlier posts it's in the blood. After all, I've been brought up on it from trailer tenting right through to caravanning.

In fact rather than swan off to some swish Caribbean lurve island for our honeymoon we decided to stay in the UK and tent our way along the North Cornwall and Devon coast.

I would like to say this was for environmental reasons and we wanted to keep our carbon footprint down, but I would be lying wouldn't I? I now drive a T5 as my daily commute after all.

No, we decided to camp coz we both love being under canvas. And it also meant our baby - our mad Springer Spaniel called Marley - could join us.

Now this would have been fine if it hadn't been one of the most tempestuous Septembers in years. The tent was soaked and two of our tent poles got snapped by all the violent shaking of the tent...(ahem!)

One particular stormy night in Padstow we were joined by some new neighbours in our quagmired section of the campsite. A nice, professional looking couple in a hired baby blue bay VW campervan.

Lucky buggers, we thought. Bet they will be nice and cosy in their van tonight.

After salivating over the coolness of the camper, pushing our wet faces up against the damp glass and fogging up the pane to try and get a glimpse of the interior, we donned our waterproofs to go into town for a Doom Bar (him) and a Cornish Rattler or two (me).

On our return it was plain to see the campers next to us were not happy.

Through lots of thuds, thumps and exasperated sighs came...'Oigh, get on your side! Your on my side of the bed!' Thud..thump...thud 'Seriously! How do you take up so much room!' Thud...thump...thump 'Oh my god. Will you stop moving and stay still so I can get some sleep?!'

Trying to hold in fits of giggles and guffaws of laughter (ok, we may have been a tad tipsy) we crashed out into our damp, soggy tent.

Through the howl of the wind and the slashing sound of rain on canvas we were woken up by the odd argument throughout the night about who had the most bed.

The next morning the sun made an appearance, and we were greeted by two very tired and unhappy looking campers.

'Want to swap?' We said cheerfully on the way to the showers.

Unfortunately not everyone is cut out to be a camper...whether under canvas or in a dream van.

We're not sure what happened to the couple in the cool camper. On our return from the shower blocks all that was left were tyre tracks in the mud. And our tent still standing (well, just).