Into the Unknown

So, following on from the last but one post, I have an update.

The five man tent we bought at the weekend went back and was replaced by this beast! A six man tent with loadsa space and three bedrooms. It's a little like a tardis. You walk through the porch into 'the dome'. You could host a small wedding in there. Think St Pauls!

It was on special offer and we decided that if we were going camping we would do it in style - and it has a carpet too! We are now thinking of not just the UK, but France!

Tonight we took it over the road to practice erecting it seeing as last time we tried to put up an awning for the first time we ended up being the evenings entertainment for the rest of the caravan park!

The neighbours are away still and their lovely grassy lawn was just big enough to pitch the beast. According to the reviews, about an hour was a rough guide for first timers. Armed with instructions about coloured rods and a big hammer we got started.

First the footprint ( a bloody big one at that). Lemon squeezy.
Then the tent itself including a selection of rods and pegs and a few other 'bits' that we were certain would explain themselves once we got the that bit.

All was going well - and then we hit a brick wall 40 mins in. We had to follow the 'ring and pin' system that is common to tents of the flexible rod type. Ah, yes, ring and pin. What the hell does that mean?? We had a look on the internet, every camper in the whole world knew about this, except us.

Now both being qualified aircraft engineers, we usually feel competent with 'technical' stuff. Could we work it out? One rod, one ring one pin - seemples?

At this point, camping began to wear thin. We both imagined being the laughing stock of a whole campsite again, stumped by a couple of bits of metal.

By this time we were well over an hour and I was more interested in what to have for tea than the bloody tent. Finally, I had a eurika moment. I worked it out all by myself. It was seeemples. Once we established what to do we finished off assembling the exterior, and then packed it all away again ready for the weekend. At least once the outside is up we can hide away inside and work out how to do the bedroom bits without being so obviously 'the newbies'.

Hoping to book up tomorrow, somewhere in North Yorkshire, we fancy a trip to Eden Camp.

Watch this space.