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Anyone ever do this? We’ve found a tent that we bought a couple of years ago and never used, thinking of taking the kids for a night or 2 somewhere. 

Initial thoughts have been up to Loch Ness of Aviemore. 

Any recommendations at all? 

Preferably with somewhere that a 14 & 10 year old will stay amused and a bar :lol:

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Did it in the late 70s early 80s when i was in the Cubs then Scouts which gets it out of your system

Those were the days when your tent was Army style with no groundsheet. Only the well off kids had individual groundsheets which i think were brought out around then - absolutely nothing like the tents of today

You woke up to all sorts of insects in the morning but i cant recall really caring. When you are that age washing and keeping yourself clean and non smelly wasnt an issue - i dont think you start smelling/needing deodorant till you are in your late teens

Enjoyed sneaking out at night and attacking/raiding other Scout troops also in the area along with Hot Chocolate round the campfire

But as i said no desire to do it any more - like my comforts too much now

 

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My recommendation would be to put the tent right back in the cupboard. 

Havent camped since I was about 9 when we camped in the back garden. The tent consisted of an old blanket draped over the washing line , with the edges held down by bricks . Was fantastic fun, but no at 54. 

Good luck 👍

Edited by TDYER63
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Used to do a fair bit of camping scooter rallies, music festivals etc. Even from about the age of 12 I would go to arran with my pals and camp at glenrosa. The worst thing about camping is definitely the midges they get everywhere. 

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Scotty covers a couple of very valid points. Air beds/mattresses make a huge difference and don’t underestimate the night time cold. I’ve went from sleeping in normal bed wear to long sleeved top, trackie bottoms and socks...all inside a sleeping bag. Also, depending on where you are, birds (feathered!) make a HELL of a racket from about 4-4.30am. Earplugs are an essential. 

Camped up at Pitlochry a couple of times with my 3 boys, good fun if the weather is good. Also did one of the glamping/hobbit house wooden things once as well outside Perth. More “homely” in that has solid walls/roof and electricity. We did it one night when was very warm though, heats up a lot. Had to sleep with skylight open.

 

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I spent a lot of my teenage years walking and camping.

Without a doubt the key to it being enjoyable is knowing what you’re doing and having the correct gear.

No offence dandydunn but your approach to this is recipe for disaster. You’ll probably have one crap night cold and wet in a tent and that will put everybody off for life. I’ve seen a colleague of mine make this exact mistake with his family.

And, yeah the midgies are terrible. We used to walk and camp mainly sept to may to avoid them.

If you have never been camping before I would suggest trying glamping as a half way step first. See how well the family react to the great outdoors.

Whatever you do - have fun!

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On ‎5‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 3:24 PM, Ally Bongo said:

Did it in the late 70s early 80s when i was in the Cubs then Scouts which gets it out of your system

Those were the days when your tent was Army style with no groundsheet. Only the well off kids had individual groundsheets which i think were brought out around then - absolutely nothing like the tents of today

You woke up to all sorts of insects in the morning but i cant recall really caring. When you are that age washing and keeping yourself clean and non smelly wasnt an issue - i dont think you start smelling/needing deodorant till you are in your late teens

Enjoyed sneaking out at night and attacking/raiding other Scout troops also in the area along with Hot Chocolate round the campfire

But as i said no desire to do it any more - like my comforts too much now

 

I had a very similar story to yours Ally Bongo  - was in the Cubs and Scouts from 1975 through to 1982. We used to have a few 6 man canvas tents made by Blacks of Greenock with thick wooden tent poles and proper guy ropes. Two poles joined together for each end of the tent and three joined to form the central spar - was quite a skill to put them up but it was something we got good at after a few goes over the years.

The groundsheets were green tarpaulin style and you had to make sure the sacking at the edges of the tent was tucked underneath the groundsheet to keep the water out - get it wrong once and you learn quickly.  They would get aired every day by rolling up the sides  but somehow would always have the same smell. :lol:

We never seemed to camp anywhere with even the most basic facilities (other than when we went on weekend camps to Templars park) - was always in a field without any running water or toilets, so showers and the like were a non-starter. I also seem to recall that one time we took to burning dried up cow pats on the fire rather than wood :barf:

Happy days, but no desire to relive my youth... 

 

    

Edited by neilser
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4 hours ago, neilser said:

I had a very similar story to yours Ally Bongo  - was in the Cubs and Scouts from 1975 through to 1982. We used to have a few 6 man canvas tents made by Blacks of Greenock with thick wooden tent poles and proper guy ropes. Two poles joined together for each end of the tent and three joined to form the central spar - was quite a skill to put them up but it was something we got good at after a few goes over the years.

The groundsheets were green tarpaulin style and you had to make sure the sacking at the edges of the tent was tucked underneath the groundsheet to keep the water out - get it wrong once and you learn quickly.  They would get aired every day by rolling up the sides  but somehow would always have the same smell. :lol:

We never seemed to camp anywhere with even the most basic facilities (other than when we went on weekend camps to Templars park) - was always in a field without any running water or toilets, so showers and the like were a non-starter. I also seem to recall that one time we took to burning dried up cow pats on the fire rather than wood :barf:

Happy days, but no desire to relive my youth... 

 

    

The funny thing is i really cannot remember being concerned about washing or needing a jobby or anyone else smelling after a weekend away

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13 hours ago, Ally Bongo said:

The funny thing is i really cannot remember being concerned about washing or needing a jobby or anyone else smelling after a weekend away

We used to have chemical toilets for the summer camps (9 days long)  which were basically a galvanised steel bucket with a seat which was filled with a blue liquid - I'm shuddering now just thinking about them. There was a massive incentive to wait until we had a trip into a town or village rather than 'take the plunge'. The only thing worse than using them was emptying them...

On the topic of washing, after a while (especially on the week long camps) everyone and everything smelled of smoke from the campfires which I think  limited the extent to which you'd notice any other smell.

 

 

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3 hours ago, neilser said:

We used to have chemical toilets 

 

 

As I mentioned earlier I did a lot of walking and camping in my younger days due to being in the cubs and then the scouts.

We never bothered with the chemical toilets unless we went to one of the more proper organized camps.

One such event was a weekend camp somewhere in southern Ayrshire. Lots of scout troops from all over Ayrshire were in attendance. A chemical toilet was mandatory, much to our annoyance.

We drew straws to see who got the job of setting it up. The wee tent for privacy and then the plastic bucket and the chemical stuff.

There was a running joke with who would have to use it first to “drop the kids off at the pool”. Fortunately it wasn’t me, probably do the anti-diarrhoea tablets I was taking. I came prepared.

Finally a fellow scout had to take the plunge. Lets call him Billy. Billy returned rather quickly ranting and raving at the guy who had set up the toilet.

Turns out he had filled the toilet to the brim with the undiluted chemical stuff. You were supposed to dilute it. Billy had squatted down hoping to execute a quick dispatch. Unfortunately it splashed back covering his nads in the blue chemical.

Billy’s now running about concerned he’s going to be dyed blue for life or that the chemical would burn him.

Of course we’re all killing ourselves laughing.

On the last day I lost the drawing of straws to empty the bucket. I remember vividly as I emptied out the bucket into a farmers muck spreader ours was bright blue compared to the browny green sludge of everybody elses.
 

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On ‎5‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 2:31 PM, dandydunn said:

Anyone ever do this? We’ve found a tent that we bought a couple of years ago and never used, thinking of taking the kids for a night or 2 somewhere. 

Initial thoughts have been up to Loch Ness of Aviemore. 

Any recommendations at all? 

Preferably with somewhere that a 14 & 10 year old will stay amused and a bar :lol:

Glenmore Campsite in Aviemore is a cracker. beautiful spot by loch morlich. does get busy but you'll want the barbecue fires to keep the midges down.

Edited by ShedTA
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Edit to say - decent wee log cabin bar next to the site, and Glenmore centre for meals/drinks about 15 mins walk. great beach by the loch with a watersports centre  - if you get nice weather it can be magic. loads of cycle paths around the loch too.

 

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1 hour ago, ShedTA said:

Glenmore Campsite in Aviemore is a cracker. beautiful spot by loch morlich. does get busy but you'll want the barbecue fires to keep the midges down.

 Best camp site I’ve ever been to. If you’re very lucky and get good weather you’ll never be off the beach which is beautiful. Full of kids running about having great fun just bring wild wee kids. And lots of red squirrels. 

 

Midgies are bastards though. 

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On 5/23/2018 at 5:01 PM, G-Man said:

 Best camp site I’ve ever been to. If you’re very lucky and get good weather you’ll never be off the beach which is beautiful. Full of kids running about having great fun just bring wild wee kids. And lots of red squirrels. 

 

Midgies are bastards though. 

Agreed!

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