The need for a cheap break away to celebrate Martin's birthday and get some quality time away from our psychotic insommniac cats saw us camping this week in Padstow, Cornwall. Now interestingly, when I told a friend I was going camping for a few days she wrinkled her nose and said: "God how primitive. I do nothing less than 4* when I go away."
Now don't get me wrong I'm all for a bit of creature comfort and let's face it camping has had it's fair share of horror stories about the conditions some unfortunate holiday makers have endured. Thankfully these are few and far between nowadays as many campsites have had to pull their socks up or face health and safety enquiries. But I'm also not for trusting claims over the number number of stars hotels and B&Bs boasts. I've lost count of number of times I've stayed in an establishment that claimed to be of a certain standard and been woefully lacking and not worth the money paid.
Am I the only one to notice this? And all the rules and regulations???? You have to check in at a certain time, check out by a certain time, listen to people running around the corridors drunk and yelling at 2am, take your meals when they tell you to and - this is especially true of B&Bs - follow complicated orders about using the hot water at certain times and not messing up the counterpane (yes...I have experienced counterpane hell just as Bill Bryson wrote about in Notes from Small Country - see my booklist). Excuse me but I've paid a lot of money for this room and if I want to sleep in until 10am and then eat why can't I? If I want to mosey on back to my room after 11pm why do I have to have a key to get in the building? Or worse be locked out because the place has been shut up for the night???
Camping on the other hand offers much more freedom, flexibility and, off course, is much cheaper. You get up when you want (no last minute hurtling to the breakfast room before it shuts at 8:30am), go to bed when you want (no locked doors at 10pm), eat when you choose to and go about as you please without worrying about getting back within a very small window of time to guarantee hot water for a shower (yep...had that one too at a B&B and as Bill correctly observed it usually coincides with the times the Proprietor wants you out of the place!).
But most importantly, camping teaches you that your holiday is what you make of it. You get the chance to plan your time the way you want and set your own agenda without a mass of rules and regulations to take into consideration. That's not to say there aren't any rules and regulations, there are. But most of the existing rules on campsites are there so you don't negatively impact on other campers enjoyment and they don't annoy you in return. Not revving your car engine or running around drunk and screaming after 10pm is an obvious one bearing in mind the only thing separating you from a campsite full of irate campers is a thin piece of nylon material. In those circumstances it's actually for your own protection otherwise you might be lynched. Likewise disposing of your rubbish thoughtfully and not having a raging campfire is common sense when you consider that thin piece of nylon material isn't fire retardant. A stray spark, a light breeze and some unhappy camper is going to be irretrievably melted to their tent.
And of course the big one for me - Camping is Cheap. Peanuts compared to hotels and B&Bs. As long as you do your homework, pick a good site and are organised and capable of planning, you'll probably pay between £10-20 a night (depending on location) including electrical hook-up. If you're a money-saving kind of guy or gal and can cook on a barby or primus you're laughing.
So, if you're looking to get started in camping head down to Cornwall, especially Padstow if you're a cooking fan. We like to call it Padstein due to the ever present Mr Rick Stein and his unfeasibly large number of businesses in this seaside town. We counted a takeaway fish and chip shop, a sit down fish and chip cafe next door to it, a delicatessen next to that, a cooking school above the three, his famous Seafood Restaurant and Hotel nearby, a patisserie and another general cafe in the back streets. I also think there was a cook shop nearby selling cooking equipment, but such was the sheer number of Stein businesses surrounding me I've gone a bit hazy.
Clever businessman that he is, he sited his takeaway fish and chip shop directly next to the town's coach park which disgorged huge amounts of hungry tourists every day around lunchtime. I'm afraid to say that Martin and I did succumb to buying a pack of chips for a snack, only because we wanted to crow about how we'd had a £1.35 box of chips and they were lacking. Except they weren't. They were genuinely bloody gorgeous - large, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside - and I had to be dragged away by Martin as I wanted to buy a second lot with a big piece of fish and trough the lot despite having had lunch. So hats off to you Mr Stein - despite our skepticism your made us part with our hard earned cash and actually enjoy doing so!
Our campite of choice was Dennis Cove Campsite and I have to say it's one of the cleanest and quietist sites we've ever been to. Only for families and couples so if you're in a group or play Stairway to Heaven half the night on your electric guitar to help relax you forget about it. The proprietor Simon is lovely, especially when we ran the car battery flat pumping up the airbed. Ok, actually we ran the battery flat using the aforementioned wonderful car kettle after we pumped up the airbed, so technically it wasn't the kettle's fault but we still didn't think it was so wonderful after that. Simon cheerfully produced jump leads and dispensed the vital juice we needed to hare around the countryside like crazed weasels on heat visiting The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Trevarno Gardens and the Newquay Marine Aquarium. All in all a fabulous time was had culminating on our last day with a pasty for lunch in a secluded beach cove in Padstow.
As the tide was in the miles and miles of golden sandy beach aren't visible on this side, only on the other.
Martin contemplates the long drive home
Practising his Prince Charles pose
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