Camping it up

When my sister asked me to join her and a group of friends for a camping trip in Hastings, I hesitated slightly before accepting the offer. You see, I've only ever been camping once before and that was way back in secondary school when I was 'forced' to do so by my teacher.

Ah, memories...

It should have been fun, hanging out with friends and being away from home for a few days but all I remember from the school trip was feeling dirty and miserable for the most part. While it may be the whole purpose of camping, it really didn't help that I had to share a tent with a girl (the name has long been forgotten) who was obsessed with waking up at the crack of dawn to take pictures of me looking my absolute worst...

So, not such sweet memories from past experience but I was determined to give camping another go and see if I could survive without the luxuries of life. Make-up and 'proper' food included...

The weather decided to be civilised on the day we headed out to Hastings. Traffic wasn't bad and it didn't take us long to reach our destination. The camp site was almost full when we arrived but we managed to find a spot near the edge of the woods to set up our tent. My sister and I were designated the task of pumping up the airbeds as the guys went to work setting up the six-man tent (the fun part). Still, the beds didn't take long to inflate as a fellow camper kindly lent us his impressive rechargeable pump.

For those with dirty minds - shame on you!

I guess that's the whole thing about camping in a secluded area; almost everyone is about ten times friendlier than they probably would be in reality. Fellow campers would share a smile as they walked by or even paused to chat as we - or the guys, rather - set up our temporary home.

As my sister and I kicked back on the airbed and soaked up the glorious British weather, I watched without a care in the world at the sight in front of me. To my left, my friends were laughing and joking around as they tried to fix our 'lopsided' tent while children ran around with glee chasing each other with water guns. To my right, teenagers sprawled out on blankets reading books or chatting and the smell of breakfast filled the air as sausages and eggs sizzled on mini stoves across the campsite... this was a whole new experience and total contrast to that school trip.

After our tent was (finally) set up, we explored the woods and took some stunning photos before heading back for a mini BBQ. Sitting around in a circle, nattering away with plastic cups and munching on delicious food, I realised that the stress from everyday life seemed to fade into the air like the smoke from the BBQ.
I could have easily been lounging on a Seychelles beach, cocktail in hand - the contentment I felt was that good!

Night times were especially fun when we used our lamps to get around and giggled as we bumped into sign posts and tripped over random lumps and bumps in the ground. Onsite showers meant that 'roughing it' didn't end up being so bad after all, and the whole thing about being quiet and respecting fellow campers after midnight made us feel like school kids all over again as we tried to keep the volume down to a minimum while whispering ghost stories around the bright lamps.

We woke as we desired each day and although food (which mainly consisted of cup noodles) weren't great, energy levels were always high as the sun made an appearance every day during our two-night stay. Fishing was our main activity throughout, and although the camp owner showered us with leaflets of the wonders and joy of Hastings, we were quite happy to stay on-site.

The lake was close by so dragging our chairs and fishing rods to the location was no problem. It was my first time fishing and I managed to catch a total of four fish - patience really is a virtue! Ok, I admit - it's really nothing to write home about (compared to my friends who caught up to 40 fish during the three days), but I found the whole fishing thing to be rather therapeutic. It's one of those things where you switch off from reality for a bit because it's just you, the fishing rod and the fish... but there's no use in me trying to explain it because you really must experience it for yourselves!