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Camp Events Diary November 2006.
Man camping: Tony, Stacey and Carpet John.
Quick 1 nighter to Edale. Only limited kit was taken, Vango Hydra, 2 bags, 1 cooker, money for pub, plenty beer. Had a fall out with some folks from Sheffield, they got bared from the pub/b&b they were staying in so walked to the other pub, when I added casually “yes, I would have barred you too if it was my pub”, one of the ‘ladies’ said “who do you think y ou are you fat bastard,,,??” and it went down hill from there!
Other high points were the noisy cows, no not the group from Sheffield but moo cows! Which had just been put in barn for the winter and they were bloody noisy all night! I would have had a word with them to but thought enough confrontation for one night and let them be.
Technical data : 3 man camp, lowest -5, heavy frost, bare essentials only
Carpet John’s equipment list:
1. sleeping bag
2. carpet underlay 9 mtr
3. borrowed 2 second tent. And that’s it!!
Febraury 2007
Man camp (man camp is not like a Yorkie bar, girls are aloud but they got to be tuff, normally cold and wet): Tony, Stacey, Jon, John, George & Jayne.
Quick 2 nighter to Langdale. More kit for cooking breakfast, chairs, table, down jackets, money for the pub again. I think we were quite loud and even a rugby team asked us to be quiet! Two of our party were so engrossed on not eating too early so we didn’t get bloated, hence we missed dinner and had crisps, great idea! Back to camp and cooked at midnight; bacon sangas and a fine port.
This was also the weekend that spawned test beer. Simply put all in the party take a beer that you don’t normally drink (difficult in my case!!) and also a shot glass each. Owner of the bottle read educational material off the label and fills glass then passes around with a small party. You get about 4 shots each and a bottle lasts about, let me work it out , mmm, stall for time…..erm, 2 minutes !!! 5 bottles = 10 minutes. That’s why we only take 1 bottle each. At this point it’s worth mentioning that two of our party did not actually sleep in a tent at all. I don’t think it is fair to chastise these two fellow comrades on this web site but Tony, Stacey, Jon and John spent a cold night at -6 whilst the other two slept with the radiator on and the window open for effect. N.b. full attendance list at top of page.
Technical data : 4+2 man camp, -6 to -8, heavy frost, bare essentials plus breakfast kit and a canoe(not used).
John’s equipment list
1. sleeping bag although forgotten!!
2. carpet underlay
3. borrowed 4 man dome tent
4. torch
New purchases on this outing; £25 sleeping bag due to unforeseen forgetfulness, new Vango Hydra+, thermarest and inflatable pillow. All by John! March 2007
Test Camp: Tony, Stacey, Jon, James, Jayne, George, Dave, Linda, Chris (mum), Baz & Carpet John
Test camp was created for testing new kit for future expeditions and also to train ‘camp virgins’ (CV’s). Intended to be a quick camp of only one night, but if you’d caught sight of me mums Meriva you may have though war of the worlds had started early. Jesus that poor bloody car, if people realised what shit you can fit in a Meriva then Eddy Stobbart would have been in Big Brother because he’d have f**k all else to do!! Sorry mum! Anyway, 5 cars, enough kit to stay self contained for 6 years (!) and more water carriers than you can shake a stick at but we had a fine time and Carpet John (the CV!) was awarded his certificate. Food was eaten at the Monsal Head Hotel and it was great! Beer tasting was also a great success and kept us out of the pub for about an hour. Beers tasted included Banana Beer, Beer To Dine For (GK), Guinness (CV’s contribution) and 9 others??? I was going to write reviews but memory let me down (MLD) and I forgot the names of most so the review would be a bit crap! Must try harder (MTH)!!
Technical data : 6 tents, low of 8+, dry, clean toilets, pretty nice site, canoe again unused.
Carpet John’s equipment list
1. New tent
2. Sleeping bag x2
3. New sleepmat
4. New inflatable pillow
5. Torch
6. One bottle of Guinness although no cooking facilities, chair or food (MLD) June 2007
Quick camp (if weather OK): Chris, Baz, Dave & Linbo
One Nighter in Birchover. Two four man tents and enough kit to……enough said!
Initial reports sketchy, but campsite noisy at night with people driving to the toilets and talking shit till the early hours.
Will update when full field report arrive at Camp Marque™ HQ June 2007
Two night camp, Tallington  Weather - despite dire predictions of torrential rain - it only threw it down on the way there and on the way back to Stamford. While there it was blue skies and sun - great camp weather.
The site - good pitches, very well drained (good job really) and the whole of the field to ourselves ( 8 tents). Bar & restaurant on site with 24 hour toilet block by reception (only toilets though). The big down side was the price of activities £6 to use the pool on site and drinks in the bar were a bit pricey but, for the whole site there was only one shower block and it was a long, long way from the camp field to get to it. When there facilities were security coded so if you forgot your swipe card you had to come back. Clean and spacious with plenty of hot water but washing pots was a bit of a mystery....!
Sue
August 2007 Quick, one night, light-weight camp to Hope, Derbyshire: Tony & Stacey 
Equipment; Stacey’s new 2secondXL tent, 2 chairs, small stove, 2 bicycles.
Originally heading for Ashbourne, we ended up pitching in Hope on Laneside campsite. After setting up, it was a cycle to Castleton (starting at about 4:30) for a sandwich, followed by a pub crawl through Hope (all four pubs!!) back to camp (getting back at about 1am!).
September 2007 Summer Camp: Tony, Stacey, Chris, Baz, Dave, Linbo, Jon, Sue & James
A four day main camp with luxuries included, well cool box, chairs and extra quilts! Tony and Stacey did the extra night rekki and walked to a couple of pubs, so felt worse for wear when the rest arrived. Weather was soso but to be honest a bit of a letdown. Site was ok, however……..the combination lock on the toilets was a pain and it took me four days to remember it and I can still remember it now, so the answer to every question is C25789Y. My other gripe is only 2 showers and water pressure was very drought ridden Africa. And on two of the mornings, toilets were shut for 40 minutes cleaning and a note on the door said ‘use disabled’, which was fine but toilet and shower were in one little room so if shower was being used no pooh-pooh for you! Trips to the sea; not very good and can’t even remember where it was! But a trip to Boughton-on-the-water was lovely and a great place to visit. Also, while there I consulted another website called wetroads.co.uk, which is ace if you like driving through big puddles. Made two detours on way home to find some Irish bridges. As a point of interest, there are over 1300 fords and flooded highways in the UK, and in my opinion well worth a splash. Another day was spent in Cheltenham, which again was ok but just full of the usual shops selling tat and phones. Test beer was performed again but no notes where taken…..must try harder! I, again, won the cool coolbox competition and managed to still have beers very cold for the full four days!! Thanks to every one who attended and next camp will be a man camp in November so expect fewer numbers on that one TTFN… TJ |
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