Camping - 10 reasons why it's good for you

Some of my friends and family look at me as if I am mad when I tell them I am taking the family camping. They just don't get it. And I get that. It isn't always easy to explain why camping is so good for all the family so after returning from two (possibly three, if you count putting the tent up in the garden - see below) camping trips this summer (latest trip to Tyn Y Mur Touring and Camping Park, Abersoch, Wales review here)  I thought I would try to make sense of it all. Obviously, the way to do that is by making a list. So here is my list of all the goodness that a camping trip provides:

Health 
1. You do more physical stuff. The kids are out from dawn to dusk in a safe environment, got to be good for them - and you!
2. You sleep better if you are knackered after a day doing the physical stuff.

Knackered, after a day doing the physical stuff!

3. Good old fashioned fresh air - well, its better than the toxic smog 86% of UK kids are usually inhaling everyday right?
4. Sunshine is a good thing, vitamin D and all that. I am a classic fair weather camper, no doubt about it, so I definitely see a lot more sun than rain when I go!

Less stress
5. Ditch the tech for a few days and you will feel better - you can live without email, Facebook, Instagram, You Tube, Twitter and the rest. At least for a few days. Obviously making sure the kids have plenty of it in the car though for those long journeys!
6. Getting the tent up before a storm blows in will definitely take your mind of your day-to-day tasks. Which reduces stress. But not at the time you are putting the tent up as fast as you can and the kids want to jump on the tent. And you. That is very stressful. But after it is up, the kids are off playing with new friends, you can relax with a cold one. That helps all the life crap float away for sure.

Build Relationships
7. Family Bonding  - Doing stuff together helps families bond, and that's a good thing. Family bonds help kids to develop healthy behaviours and better self-esteem. Camping naturally brings families together to do stuff together, embrace it.

Sometimes you can do the simple things together that you don't usually have time for

 8. Create Memories - All the things you share on a good camping trip will create memories for a lifetime. From seeing a 6 year old's expression when her donut was stolen out of her hand by a seagull to finding the showers are all full so you all have a family shower together, these silly, daft things will be the funny family memories to share for a lifetime.

8. Nurture them with nature - cooking outdoors as the sun sets, watching the stars come out, pretending you know the constellations and their names to impress the kids. Being with the kids as they see their first shooting star. Watching them trying to catch the rabbits or feeding the sheep. Making bow and arrows and dens in the woods, finding new flowers all helps to get them interested in nature. And its fun for everyone.
9. Do new things, learn new things - this summer's new skills learnt include tent putting up, foraging for seafood, crabbing, cooking, body boarding, rounders and how not to kill each other on a 7 hour car journey thank you A30!

Fun. Pure and simple fun.

10. It's FUN! Most of all camping is just fun - watching the kids making new friends and playing outside all day long, making your own adventures and memories, trying and seeing new things as a family, laughing, sharing, playing and, yes, squabbles too that are soon forgotten as the next adventures start.


PS After two camping trips this summer, what do the kids do? Put up the tent in the garden and go camping again!

The kids putting the tent up in the garden

Where we went camping in 2019:

Tyn Y Mur Campsite, Abersoch, Wales
See my review here

Reasons to be Hopeful for Joe Root and England cricket fans

As England prepare for the second test at Lords following the drubbing in Birmingham it is easy for the naturally pessimistic England cricket fan to fear the Ashes are lost already. To bolster the optimism here are 5 reasons for Joe Root and England to be hopeful:

1. England lost the first test because they batted second. The Aussie top order is as dodgy as England's and would have equally struggled batting last at Edgbaston.

2. Joffra Archer is going to play in the 2nd test at Lords and the lad is fast. No doubt England will miss Jimmy Anderson but the new fast bowling sensation has that ability to get wickets that only fast bowling sensations ever have.

3. Chris Woakes loves Lords. He is one of only five men to have taken five wickets in an innings and 10 in a match  at Lord's, and scored a ton.

4. England didn't panic with the squad selection, wholesale changes would have played into the Aussies hands.

5. Smith is due a failure (possibly wishful thinking here!).

Crabbing, punching and general thievery - a traditional day out at the British seaside

School holidays, kids are bored, bit of sun forecast - obviously lets head off to the seaside for a bit of traditional British wholesome family fun.
North Wales is easiest for us to get to so head off on a two-stop strategy - Conwy for crabbing combined with Llandudno for the pier and kids fun.
Crabbing at Conwy was hopeless, apparently if you go there at low tide there is no sea and consequently no crabs to catch. Didn't stop us trying though. And it didn't stop the gulls trying to nick the bait. We won this battle against the gulls but it wouldn't be long before they got their revenge!

Incoming!

Smallest house in Great Britain: where do they poo dad?

Onto Llandudno and time to show the kids how to have fun without PS4s and tablets. First stop, good old Punch and Judy and get the kids properly grounded in the Victorian values of beating anybody you like repeatedly over the head with a truncheon.

 Suitably pumped up we moved onto the pier and found a modern day battery powered inflatable donut version of the old dodgem cars. At 3 tokens for 3 minutes or as you might say £3 for 3 minutes, or £60 per hour, they were comfortably more expensive than renting a Mercedes for £29 a day  They did look fun though and if there wasn't a big sign saying "No Adults" I would have had a go myself! The kids thought they were free as they were only using tokens and they weren't even too upset at dropping the odd token onto the rocks through the gaps in the pier. Until I made them walk all the way back off the pier, along the beach onto the slippery, jagged rocks and look for the tokens for two hours until the tide came in (not really, but I did think about it!).

"Can I have another go dad?"
"Not until you've got a job son"

By now the tide had really come in and MBW went back to the car to get the crabbing kit whilst I took the kids into the amusements for a proper lesson in finances. Armed with a tenner each they set about losing it with gusto. The good old tipping point games were the main focus mixed in with a bit of air hockey and it wasn't too long before they were back looking very pleased with themselves but asking for more cash. Rebuffed on the cash front they were keen to show me how much they had won with a handful of red tickets, about 40 each.

So we headed of to cash them in and immediately they were eyeing up all the big stuff on the top shelves. I pointed out that a small teddy bear was about 1,000 tickets and they would need to look on lower shelves. As their eyes went down shelf by shelf looking at how many tickets they would need they eventually arrived at the lowest shelf in the display counter in front of us and saw the smallest packets of sweets that Haribo make. I know from making goody bags for their birthday parties these are about 10p each from the discount shops. They counted their tickets (again) and realised they could have 2 packets each.
To say they were crestfallen is to understate it more than a tad. And to rub it in, er... I mean help them understand the value of money I asked how much they had spent to get those tickets and what they could have got with that money instead. Slowly, the er... penny dropped and they realised, momentarily at least, that they could have got many more teeth rotting goodies for their money elsewhere. To cheer them up and show them adults are rubbish with money too I bought 4 donuts with no filling for £3. You can get 10 custard filled donuts at our Coop for £1, you know.
Smiles were slowly returning as the admittedly yummy, warm and fresh donuts were gobbled up. Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones who appreciate a warm, fresh donut and a one-legged seagull swooped to snatch half of Emily's clean out of her hand. To say she was shocked and upset, not to mention hurt where the gull had nipped her finger, is to put it mildly. However, finishing her mother's half eaten donut seemed to take her mind off it.

10 CUSTARD donuts for £1 in our local Coop

A devious one-legged donut fan

 Judging by the considerable crowds and difficulty in parking at both Llandudno and Conwy the British seaside resorts aren't completely dead just yet. All in all a fun day was had by all, possible less so for the crabs that MBW finally caught after the errant tide came in  .....