Roughing it on holiday, (you dont know what you are missing,.....!)

I did that too, back in the day when everything was canvass material, but if I'm right here, I think you can get away with it a little under the more modern nylon tents, (I've been doing so anyway in my "nearly new four man tent", where I've not put up the second sleeping compartment to save a bit of space on the campsite as agreed with the very friendly owners and the rain is pooling a bit because its not being used as designed).

Why do I say "nearly new", well if I haven't explained already this is only the second time I've put this tent up, (having owned it for four years!), and did I struggle the first time when putting it up in a friends garden in Wiltshire, who luckily had been a girl guide in her day, so had some idea what to do when I did all the usual tricks of failing to read the instructions properly, and got the bracing struts/poles in the wrong order, (who knew there were two sizes???? :rolleyes: ).

The lady who arrived yesterday afternoon told me her husband put the tent up quickly without her help, and asked me why I'd not chosen to use my tent very often,...., a good question and she liked my answer "It was so traumatic the first time"!, and how it all went back in the bag/box at the end goodness knows, but it did impress my friend in Wiltshire and her mum who thought I'd fail miserably. :whistle::unsure:(n):giggle:
It was a more modern tent, from about 20 years ago. It wasn't canvas. If it rains where you are, try putting your finger on the tent side when you are inside it and see if a drop of water appears.

We put a tarp under the tent, and one over the tent - tied to the trees above. This helped with rain problems. My best friend went with the kids and me. She was the one who knew how to do everything. I helped with the tent, and so did the kids, of course.

The first time I took the kids camping they were ages 2 and 3. We went on a church family camp out, tents supplied. For awhile, we went to Jellystone, a Yogi Bear themed campground. That was a lot of fun. They had family night every night, with all sorts of entertainment (live bands) and trivia games, and the like. Jellystone was where one of my sons came running to our tent. "Mommy, mommy! The people next to us have a barking cat!" It was a chihuahua. He'd never seen a little dog.

Then we graduated to the forest with the bears, and ditched tent camping. That was fun too, but in a different way. We took our rough collie, Teddy, with us. Everyone loved him. He loved the bears because we accidentally habituated him to them by going bear hunting in the SUV at night, to spot them. Once in awhile, we left Teddy to go to something like a county fair, and there was never a shortage of people who wanted to take care of Teddy. We stopped going when they wouldn't allow dogs there, although the forest rangers wanted us to fake Teddy being a service dog. I wouldn't do it, even though we could have gotten away with it. Teddy was a dog who learned how to do stuff after being told one or two times. He was super easy to train.
 

When I was still in a biking club some of the younger members wanted to go camping in the Hartz mountains in Germany.

I told him I would follow them to the top of the Eiger if necessary, but at the end of the day it was a four star dinner, a decent bottle of wine I clean cotton sheets. Roughing it would have meant just a three star dinner!

Why be uncomfortable if you don't have to?

I'm a vet and have roughed it too many times to want to do so voluntarily!
 
I had my first shower in 5 days? Does this count? I have been using outdoor toilets for the last 5 days too. Surely, this might be considered as "roughing it." LOL This is one biffy I used for 2 days. Free A/C for sure and lots of free mosquitoes too. LOL
I'd say so, certainly qualifies 100% in my book! :giggle:
 

When I was still in a biking club some of the younger members wanted to go camping in the Hartz mountains in Germany.
I told him I would follow them to the top of the Eiger if necessary, but at the end of the day it was a four star dinner, a decent bottle of wine I clean cotton sheets. Roughing it would have meant just a three star dinner! Why be uncomfortable if you don't have to?
I'm a vet and have roughed it too many times to want to do so voluntarily!
I guess that so, if you've got a tough enough job already, with plenty of shifts and going out in all weathers you've had your fair share, (I suppose I'm really having a bit of a go at all those who've never really tried it, or think it is all stupid, when I'd suggest there are almost unique experiences to be gained, and "no one is going to worry whether you've dressed for dinner", (if you know what I mean?). :)
 
Camping sounds nice but my experiences never measure up, as a kid my sister and I were terrorized in our tent by a June Bug, as a teenager it was so cold my friend and I slept in the same sleeping bag, as a young adult I woke up on a beach in the Sinai to find camels wandering around - which would have been okay except I was a little anxious about whether they would step on us.
 
As someone that is an expert at "roughing it" here on the West Coast. This morning discussed a 4 night Sierra Nevada backpacking trip, 2 of us are likely to do in about 10 days.

From the spring of 2008, car camping in the flowery Sonora Desert way way out on 4WD roads. Back when I was still young enough to lug around a 4x5 view camera.


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From a 2006 backpack, dawn in Mokelumne Wilderness, tentless, cosy sleeping beside a lichen adorned volcanic outcrop.

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Good day yesterday, and in particular went on the Settle to Carlisle railway to Kirby Stephen, meaning the train went over the very long viaduct pictured above.

No more pictures taken on the trip, as I forgot to take the camera, though at least I kept whatever life is left in the battery free to try to use today, as I'm off a folk music event I've seen advertised, that is starting just after lunchtime, starring "The Haley sisters & Brian Smith"!

You may not have heard of them before, as I have not either, but the genre of music appeals to me these days, and hopefully the other people attending will be welcoming and "not too rough a bunch"! 🤠🧔🧙‍♂️
 
This was the folk/country band this afternoon in the Trough of Bowland, Lancashire, UK, The Haley sisters with Brian Smith.

They've had good careers, like their father Tony Haley, now eighty years old who sang a Tom Jones song, (Green, green grass of home), and a Frank Ifield number with a lot of yodeling.

 
More from the band I saw live for the first time yesterday, "The Haley Sisters", (and having bought two of their CDs, I'll try to come back again with tracks where they had written the songs or at least the lyrics themselves, because I think they'll appeal to many here too):


 
Oh, and I discussed this Johnny Cash track with the brunette one of here two Haley sisters, though couldn't remember the song title yesterday unfortunately, (a special song not least because it was the played on BBC radio next morning as I awoke having watched my daughter being born the previous evening, and the lyrics seemed just right to me!):

 
I can't rough it anymore either.
Ah well I do understand there can be good enough reasons not to join the "outdoor set", "prepared to set themselves against the elements", "to test their mettle", (and whatever else I can come up with to sting you into action!)<b ut here this very morn is what you are both missing, you two dear ladies, taken just few minutes ago as you can see from the church clock, (and all the bunting no doubt left up since her majesty's platinum jubilee celebrations).

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Ah well I do understand there can be good enough reasons not to join the "outdoor set", "prepared to set themselves against the elements", "to test their mettle", (and whatever else I can come up with to sting you into action!)<b ut here this very morn is what you are both missing, you two dear ladies, taken just few minutes ago as you can see from the church clock, (and all the bunting no doubt left up since her majesty's platinum jubilee celebrations).

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Such nice pictures.
 
I love the outdoors. A lingering sinus problem created certain requirements to function. I'm getting better, but for a while I was frantic. That is the reason for some of my recent rattle.
Just the packing up and going home in immediate prospect now, (but a slight possibility of coming back next week!).

I'm told there is so much I've missed by not doing more walking, though this doesn't worry me because having had such a good and relaxing time overall, I was going to come back again quite soon anyway, and now I've this crazy idea of coming back next week in order to attend the Great Yorkshire Show, being held in Harrogate twenty or thirty miles away!
 

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