SIXTY YEARS OF WILD CAMPING

Going back to the early ‘60s, we made use of my brother-in-law’s summer camp in a sheltered nook on the Devon coast; just a tarpaulin slung over a cleared space between bramble patches. He stashed his canoe close-by. Our son and grandson still camp overnight here though the tarp. has long since been dismantled.

 

1962 Camping in brother Mick's summer camp. Our daughter aged 4 months in the carry-cot. Going up to the farm to get milk.

 

 

 

 3rd Generation. Same place, 8 or 9 years on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 4th generation, grandson number 3 , same place. 2021

 

 

 

 

 

 

Going on to the early 70’s we first camped with tent and car before moving up to a panel van which Tony converted into a camper. This encouraged us to spend summer weeks in Spain and France and introduced us to a lifetime love affair with the high mountains.

 

1971, Quantock Hills. We then went on up to the Lake District where it rained 7 days out of 8 but somehow it didn't put us off!

 

 

 1974. Pyrenees. Cloud hid the mountains for days. Then early one morning the clouds lifted off the tops and revealed a huge mountain.

We headed for it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We found the mountain, L'Arbizon. Angus aged 11, overwhelmed by the size, towering above our new camp-site. He has climbed mountains ever since!

 

 

Easter 1976 Snow in the Vosges mountains, Eastern France. We were captivated by the spring flowers in the meadows between the trees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1979 Spanish Pyrenees. We picked up a couple of American hitch-hikers and we spent a few days here together. They now live back home in the States but we have become long-time friends.

Same trip. A domestic scene, Kim drawing, Angus fishing hopefully, Tony looking something up.

 A rusting chassis in the old J4 moved us up a notch to a rather bigger. Bedford campervan, and our explorations took us further afield, from the Hebrides to the south of France.

 

2006. We  scrapped the old J4. This  camper we nick-named 'the bread-van' I forget why.

 

2006. Haut Savoie. Grit your teeth and hope you don't meet a forestry lorry!

 

Same trip. We stopped at the top of the track near a summer cheese-making shed. The cow caused hilarity and then consternation. She was so eager to lick the salt Angus was offering that she got her head stuck in the doorway and it took a bit of wriggling to extricate her.

 

 

 By the time the two kids had left home Tony and I moved on to a trailer tent. This had the advantage of being able to leave it in place while we explored in the more maneuverable car by day. However it was a bit tiresome to erect in the evenings and had a more visible presence and in time we reverted to another campervan.

The picture above  and three more below, was in about 2010 when we went to SE France with Kim and family. The forestry rangers wished us 'Bon vacance et bon appetit!'

Heavy rain one night but at least we could collect rainwater off the tarp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Making your own fun.

 

 

 

 

 Improvised BMX course.

It was here we had permission to stop. The farmer was combining barley and grandson Robbie was invited on-board. Despite the lack of a common language they got on like a house on fire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

in 2008  we replaced the camping trailer with a Peugeot 'Symbol' For us, it was the height of luxury, with a cooker, 'fridge and bijou shower/ loo compartment.

                                                   Here we are tucked away in a Polish forest.
 

 Between times we have resorted on occasions to car and two-man tent, and in Australia we either bought and re-sold campervans or hired if on a shorter visit. We have also interspersed our trips with hotel packages and yes it’s nice to sit down to a meal prepared by someone else and to go to places less easily accessible to wild camping, but at the end of the day our prime favourite is camping out in the countryside.

Tony attending to our Australian cooking arrangements. It looks too green for Australia so maybe this was somewhere nearer home.

 

The end of the day beside the Loire.

 

Waking in the morning to the subdued quack of ducks and then a nightingale, loud and clear just beside us.

 

Due to Covid, our current van has been off the road but we are now contemplating putting it back on the road for a few little optimistic UK short trips, though wild camping is not an option here, now. An increasing rusty chassis foresees a limit to this chapter of our camping life. Who knows what next?

But a preponderance of wild camping has enabled us as a family and now us in our ageing years, to travel more, further and for longer, more cheaply, but principally and for us, most importantly, to live within the natural world.

 

 APOLOGIES FOR THE PICTURE QUALITY. MANY ARE  COPIES OF OLD SLIDES AND THE YEARS HAVEN'T BEEN KIND TO THEM.