Maybe it's my Boy Scout upbringing, maybe it's the fact that I was raised in the Pacific Northwest by family and friends who were 'active', but when I think of camping, I do NOT think of this:
I think of this:
Of my last two experienecs camping, I endured one of the former, and enjoyed one of the latter. A few years back, I had the misfortune of 'camping' on the Gower Pennisula near Swansea. When I hear 'camping' I think of a quiet, contemplative time spent with friends, nature and not much else. What I GOT (on that particular occasion) was a plot in the middle of a farmer's field with 300 other people getting hopped up on cheap booze - which, somehow, made everyone able to 'play' the guitar, throw a frisbee and/or perform fire-based circus tricks (sometime all three at once).
Contrast that, if you will, with my most recent US camping experience: Yellowstone National Park. Maybe unsurprisingly, there were more people at Yellowstone than there were at The Gower. We had to book our campsite over a year in advance, and on the second night enjoyed five-star dining at one of the park's three hotel restuarants. But we stayed in a tent. Surrounded by people, we felt completely alone. We saw moose, deer, and came close enough to a buffalo that I could smell its breath (to be fair, it could probably smell mine, too - I forgot to pack a toothbrush). That, to me, was luxurious camping... but it was far closer to camping than you can ever get here.
Camping is not convenient. Camping is not clusters of confluence, cramped together like cattle. Camping is only marginally comfortable. Camping is challenging, casual and chilled. It is uncongested countryside, campstoves and cold showers, not crowds of inconsdierate cuntwaffles consuming crates of cider before crashing into your crudely constructed canopy, sending your canned chili cascading down the front of your clothes.
It may not be cool, but I love camping. And that is good enough for me.
I love camping too. And I agree that camping on some traditional campsites is a pain. However, there are lots of smaller campsites out there that might still get your camping mojo going!!
ReplyDeleteWhen P and Bump get older, I'm hoping to get involved with the Scouts over here. That should do the trick!! You'll have to give me some details!
ReplyDeletewhere did you camp on the gower?
ReplyDeleteUmmmm.... Llangenith...? Hard to tell, what with the endless sea of tents adn whatnot.
ReplyDeleteHillend campsite is usually pretty good, just gotta get it on quiet weekends. We went the other week and there were like 20 people there in total, weather and views were great. Swimming in the sea at 9 at night. Weekends it is full of drunk idiot surfers tho so i feel your pain
ReplyDeleteThere are a few good campsites around that do not get too crowded as they only allow a few tents. We've just got back from Cornwall where we stayed at a great site. We were the only tent in a massive field and best of all was cooking dinner on the campfire everynight.... We stayed at a similar one in Pembrokeshire last year, I'll never go back to a normal campsite again!
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