After teasing you with my camping prospects last week, this week's blog had to be inevitable. I had some other ideas for this week's post, and this came out as the best one to write. I'll drop a line or two at the end of this piece about next week's post.
We are having a reasonable period of sunny weather in this country. The one thing spoiling it is that the high-pressure system has been high up in the Irish Sea, which has allowed winds to come in from the east, making it somewhat cooler, certainly on the East Coast.
The winds didn't deter us, and last Friday afternoon, we set off to the campsite with the car laden to the gunnels with gear. With our family guests delayed by traffic on the way down from Hampshire, this would give us the time to put up our newly acquired tent without too much attention.
I had spent many hours pouring over several YouTube posts on how to pitch the Kampa Hayling 4 Air tent and felt quietly confident that I could have assembled it by the time anybody arrived. That confidence took a bit of a knock when we opened up the footprint to find two pieces. I pegged one down with all the bravado of a seasoned camper. However, my wife wasn't so sure. She wasn't convinced even when I explained my thoughts.
We got the tent out for the first time and pegged it down on top of the footprint, still needing to be convinced we were doing the right thing. We then started to pump the tent up after a couple of aborted attempts because we had the valve the wrong way around (can you see how this is going?), we pumped the tent up successfully and managed to guy it out reasonably quickly despite the rocky ground underneath the surface. Most of all, our guests were impressed when they eventually arrived.
All was going well until bedtime. It was starting to get chilly, as it does this time of year, something that we weren't prepared for. Also, some bright spark had suggested that we shouldn't pump the bed up so far, which would stop us from bouncing around when either of us turned over. Both accounts lead to an uncomfortable night, and for me to have an exceptionally aching back. A trip down into Sidmouth, purchasing a mattress topper, and blowing up said mattress fully gave us a much better night's sleep on Saturday.
All in all, we had an enjoyable first outing with our new camping gear. So much so we have booked to return in a couple of weeks; we should then be fully up to speed before our ten days in Cornwall next month.
That's this week's piece. I hope you have enjoyed it. It might be a bit mundane for some, but it certainly was an adventure for us.
This week Apple's WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) took place. It is a much anticipated annual occurrence, and there was much speculation about what Apple would announce and launch later this year.
You may have seen a few things about WWDC online and in the press. Next week, I plan to have a blog about my view of this year's announcements for you to read.
Have a great week. Whatever you do, try to read more and write more. It's great for the well-being. Go on and give it a go.
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