With the prospect of storms later in the day, we opted for a do nothing, stay inside day. When I went for my shower at seven, the sun was just peeping up over the trees and the skies were deep blue, but there were some big fluffy clouds forming out to the south west so I guessed that today the forecasters may just be right.
The first task of the day, though, was to dismantle and stow the bug tent, the Pleasure Dome. It's waterproof, but I really didn't want to be packing it up wet, so down that came. The pegs I'd used to secure it in Monday's wind were a right bugger to extract from the rock-hard ground, but my camping skills and experience came to fore and I utilised another peg to add some leverage to the extraction process. The bug tent was an expensive piece of kit, and in most respects is excellent. The manufacturer, though, has skimped something rotten on the securing pegs, supplying only twelve, the minimum number required, and they are the cheapest mild-steel items on the market, which means they will bend and they'll get rusty. Given how much the tent cost, you'd have thought some pressed alloy pegs with a point on the end could have been supplied. Ah well, I shall have to raid Amazon and get some proper pegs, I think.
The rain didn't show until well into the afternoon. We watched other people breaking camp before the rain started, and as the skies darkened we stayed huddled inside, tending to books, or blogs, of family trees, just stuff to allow us to decompress. We did at least get to test the automatic closing function of Towed Haul's roof vents for the first time this year, and as the rain hit the sensors, down came the hatches, which was comforting.
It was quite the deluge during the afternoon and early evening, and there was a little thunder to liven things up. I'd expected to see lots of people arriving for the upcoming long weekend, but I think the rain kept quite a few away. As the rain petered out, trailers did start arriving, but it was getting quite dark by then, and setting up in the dark is never fun.
We revelled in the peace and quiet of the trailer. When you live at home with a five-year-old, the opportunity to get away and decompress should always be taken and enjoyed, We love the little shaver, of course we do, but as you get older your tolerance wanes, and after he's been at home for two months, this break has been seriously welcome.
We're heading home tomorrow, and if we get away before noon then we should avoid the rain. Everything outside bar the patio mat and the water hose is packed, so it should be a swift camp break down. We'll have to dump the four days accumulation in the waste water tanks of course, but that necessary evil has to be performed and I'll factor it in to our leaving time. Let's hope the run home is uneventful.
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