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

Friday July 22nd 2011 - Back to Anglesey

Friday evening saw me heading back to Anglesey for yet another weekend. I don't finish work until 7pm so it had been a bit of a rush to get back home to feed the cats, collect the dogs, and be on my way at a reasonable time but I'd managed it. Without too much traffic on the road I made good time and it was exactly 10pm when I drove into the camp site. I hadn't had any phone calls from the guy who had said he would keep an eye on my tent for me so I assumed it was ok; as I drove into the field where it was pitched I could see that it was at least still standing, and when I went inside and turned on the lamp I found everything was just as I had left it. It didn't take long to transfer my few bits and pieces from the van and only twenty minutes after arriving I was sitting watching tv and enjoying a much needed coffee.

It was about an hour later when I took Sophie and Sugar for their pre-bedtime walk - there were still a few campers sitting outside chatting but the ones who had been keeping an eye on my tent had retired to theirs for the night so I would have to wait until the morning to thank them. After a good walk round the site I settled the dogs on their beds, inspected mine for any unwanted spiders or other bugs, of which there were none, and prepared to relax with my book for half an hour or so before I went to sleep. I was quite pleased with the way things had turned out - leaving the tent on site had been a good idea, and although finishing work and starting my journey had been a bit hectic it had been great to arrive and not have to start putting it up. It was certainly an idea which was worth repeating in the not-too-distant future - maybe the following weekend!

Monday July 18th 2011 - Leaving the tent behind

It was yet another glorious morning when I woke but also another work day so I had to think about packing up again later on, though I didn't need to hit the road until 2pm so I was in no rush. It was a shame really that I had to pack up at all - the long range forecast (if it was right) had given more good weather for the coming weekend so if I didn't have to go to work I would have stayed right through. It was a while later, when I was coming back from my dog walk and stopped to talk to a friendly group of campers further up the field who I had said hello to several times in passing, that I mentioned I would be returning to the site at the weekend and one of the guys suggested leaving my tent on the pitch. It's not the sort of thing that would ever have occurred to me and at first I was rather dubious as I wasn't sure if it would be safe but he said they were there all week so would be happy to keep an eye on it for me - and the more I thought about it the more I liked the idea. It would save taking it down later on and would also mean that I could return on the Friday evening after work instead of Saturday morning, giving myself an extra night on site. I had to ask the warden if it would be okay first though, so I went to reception and put the idea to her and she said it would be fine for me to leave it - apparently I wouldn't be the first camper to leave a tent on site -  and she would ask her brother to keep a check on it for me while he was doing his daily bin emptying and grass cutting rounds. She also gave me a barrier pass for the rest of the week so that when I returned on Friday, which wouldn't be till about 10pm, I could just drive straight in and pay my site fee the following morning. So that was it - sorted!

When it came to actually packing up I left my bed, table and loo in the tent and just packed up the smaller stuff - I knew I was taking a risk in leaving things but it was a decent site and all the campers in that field seemed to be decent people so I was pretty sure that everything would be okay. So with not much to put in the van and no tent to take down it didn't take long to get ready to leave, but before I did I went round and checked all the pegs and double pegged all the guy lines just in case it should get windy while I was away, then gave my mobile number to the guy I had been talking to in case anything went wrong. As I drove out of the field and looked back at my tent still on the pitch I felt rather as if I was abandoning an old friend, but it wouldn't be for long - in only four days I would be back and it would be nice to have the tent waiting for me.