We've just been camping for a few days with our Grandchildren in Appletreewick in the Yorkshire Dales. You know, tents, pegs, guy [or is it guide?] ropes, camping gaz and a small kettle. Oh what fun we had.
We did have a few mod cons this time round; fridge, electric hook-up, double cooker and kitchenette and a fire pit for BBQ'ing.
The mod cons didn't stop us doing staff we did camping with our daughter in the 80's: cooking tinned potatoes, loving outdoor breakfasts and lounging on picnic blankets.
Camping again brought back a flood of memories of when I used to go camping as a young teenager in the Lakes too, most often in Langdale. It was a lot more basic back then over 40 years ago. The groundsheet wasn't attached to the tent and anything could wander in between the gaps!
Later I used to take my acoustic guitar and write a few tunes. Sometimes there'd be jams outside the Langdale pub, where a few acoustic guitarists gathered.
My mates were young climbers. They did Poor Man's Putery, where I joined them and learnt the basics of climbing too, but I was never going to get far with my fear of heights! Bouldering was OK and I did try to overcome my fear a few years later in North Wales when I stayed at Plas Y Brenin in Capel Curig, the National Centre for Mountain Activity as part of my HND in Conservation. Despite the leaders' best efforts to make a climber of me on the Glydyrs, on Tryfan and Cadair Idris I still very much prefer to gaze at the distant magic of the peaks from the valley floor!
Camping this summer made me recall my old camping knife from the early late Sixties. It was a sort of curved blade with a knobbed handle, like a small scimitar in a leather holster. It came in handy with firewood, cutting string and slicing apples. I doubt it would be acceptable nowadays to wander round a camp site wearing a knife. We did have a Swiss Army knife with us this time round but it was in with the cutlery and out of the way of our kids.
We had fun with torches back in the day and this time round too. Great fun at night avoiding the tent ropes - if that's possible - and exploring the river beaches in the dark.
I never mastered the compass though. I owned compasses as a kid - even having one in my shoes at one point - but despite loving OS Maps I never really got to grips with this bit of kit.
Talking about all these things brings back a memory of a wonderful adventure/ camping kit I had as a kid by Thomas Salter toys. It had everything you could need for an expedition into the back garden or the local beauty spot. Owning that set was the closest I got to being a Scout.
Do you have fond memories of camping? of climbing? of compasses? of Adventure Kits readers?
Alas, I was never much of a camper. I was "encouraged" to join the Boy Scouts in the mid-1960s, and went on many camping trips, but while the other boys were out in the woods doing outdoorsy stuff, I could always be found in the tent, reading the latest issue of the TV guide, and looking over the instruction sheets for the models I was building back at home! No, I don't think you could say i was ever a real camper...
ReplyDeleteI can relate to that Zigg. I was always described as what they thought was a bit wierd. I suppose now I would be geeky maybe.
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