About Me

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Hi! I'm Eunice and I live in Bolton, Lancashire, with my two dogs Sophie and Sugar and an assortment of cats - well it used to be Sophie and Sugar, now it's Sophie and Poppie. I first began camping back in 1997 when my then partner took me to Anglesey for my birthday weekend. We slept in the back of the car - a hatchback - using the cushions off the settee at home as a mattress, and cooked and brewed up on a single burner camping stove. The site was good, the views were great, the weather fantastic and I was completely hooked. Following that weekend we got a two-man tent and some proper accessories and returned to Anglesey two weeks later, then over time we progressed to a three-man tent followed by an old trailer tent, then a new trailer tent, a campervan and finally a caravan. When my partner decided that the grass was greener on the other side of the street - literally - in April 2009 and I suddenly found myself alone after fifteen years, I decided there was no way I was going to give up camping and caravanning if I could cope on my own. This blog is the story of my travels, trials and tribulations since becoming a solo camper - I hope you like it

Saturday February 19th 2012 - First weekend booked!

Well after a very rapid change of plan I've now booked my first weekend this year. My original intention had been to go to Derbyshire for the Easter weekend, to a site I've never been to before, but I hadn't actually got round to booking it. I realised that if I didn't book soon I was running the risk of not being able to get a pitch but if that turned out to be the case then I would just go back to Anglesey - I can always go there when all else fails. However, the UKCS 'single parents and solo campers' group - aka the 'camping for nutters' group - have decided to have another get together, this time at a site in north Wales, and when I looked at the map book to find out where it is I realised what a great alternative it would be.

Looking at the camp site's own website it looks like a lovely place, set in the grounds of a castle, not too far from a small town and only about ten minutes from the beach, so in a great location. It's probably just over half the distance from home to Anglesey so not as far to drive, and within easy reach of Llandudno, Deganwy and Rhos-on-Sea which are all places I'd thought about exploring next time I go to Anglesey. So with all that in mind I've scrapped my original plans, added my name to the group list, phoned the camp site and booked my pitch - fingers crossed the weather will be as good as it was last Easter. I feel excited just thinking about it - simple things please simple minds I suppose - and can't wait to start packing the van with all my gear. Even Sophie and Sugar wagged their tails when I told them we would be going away! So Manorafon Farm here we come!

Monday February 13th 2012 - Well, I nearly went camping....

But I chickened out! I had been intending to go to the UKCS 'can't wait any longer to camp' meet at Riverside camp site near Skipton, organised by the same member who organised the meet last October and attended by most of the same people plus a few other members, and I'd been looking forward to it for a couple of weeks. Okay, so it's winter and it's not exactly warm, but with my tent instead of the awning (less space to warm up) and a fan heater, plus thick fleece blankets and a hot water bottle for my bed, I reckoned I would be quite snug. What I hadn't reckoned on however was the quick - and inconvenient - change in the weather.

Up to about ten days before the meet it had been relatively mild - well it had where I live anyway - but then almost overnight it went bitterly cold and on the Saturday before the meet the snow came down. Now long before I ever even thought about learning to drive I'd always said I would never drive in snowy or icy conditions and up to now I haven't so I was hoping that the snow would be gone before the following weekend, especially when it started to thaw rapidly on the Monday. However it wasn't rapid enough, and after a day of drizzly rain it froze again, and although the main roads were fine many of the local streets were like ice rinks - there was no way I was driving anywhere in those conditions, not even to work. I still hoped things would be okay for the coming weekend though and my plan was to pack up the van on Friday to leave home on Saturday morning, but when the weather forecasters said there would more light snow for the area I was going to I decided abandon the whole idea.

As it happens I don't think there was any more snow, and I may have got to the camp site with no problem - as far as I know everyone else did - but if the weather had worsened while I was there I may not have been able to get back home again, so I just wasn't going to risk it. After all, the weathermen always advise people not to drive in bad conditions unless the journey is absolutely necessary and mine wasn't, so I decided to be a total wimp and stay home and stay safe. Now I may very well have given up a good weekend's camping in the company of a great bunch of people but as the saying goes, I'd rather be safe than sorry. And there'll be many more weekends to camp when the weather is much better so - roll on Spring!

Friday February 10th 2012 - My new blog

Having finally finished writing about last year's travels and wanting something else to do in the evenings I decided to start a new blog. Although I've written loads about the places I've been to while camping I've never actually written anything much about the camp sites I've stayed on, so prompted by someone at work asking me for details of a certain site I decided that's what my new venture would be - a 'camp site blog' giving details, my personal descriptions, and the good and not-so-good bits of each site I've been to. It's not in any way going to be a comprehensive list of camp sites around the country as with many other websites, nor will it contain comments made by other campers - this blog will only ever feature the sites I have personally stayed on and my own comments about them. It's still very much in its infancy and is subject to a few tweaks here and there but anyway here it is - http://campsiteinsights.blogspot.com/ - have a look, and if you'd like to post any comments about it then please do.