Escapism

There is something relaxing about camping.  Maybe it’s leaving modern technology behind, or the fact that you wake with the dawn and the sound of birdsong or the fact that you can just chuck anything on to wear and not worry. We just got back from our annual camping trip with our niece.  One night in the tent is all that it takes.  We loaded up the car and went to the same campsite as last year, Camping Ruisseau du Treil.  It’s only a 45 minute drive away, but is far enough to feel like a holiday.  This particular campsite has a lovely swimming pool, although because of our poor summer it was freezing this year! 

A few years ago Richard and I used to wilderness camp.  We’ve stayed in some memorable places.  I remember one particular spot in the Pyrenees.  We had been walking all day, but hadn’t made as much progress as we had hoped so ended up camping high in the mountains.  It was an ominous place, surrounded by tall pinnacles and not helped by the fact that before we erected the tent I stumbled on a memorial plaque to a climber who had died there.  After a sleepless night, we awoke to sunshine and, as we climbed out of the gloomy gulley and reached the crest of a hill we were rewarded by the sight of a shepherd moving his huge flock of sheep singlehandedly by using his voice.  He was unfazed to have an audience.  We’ve also camped in some stunningly beautiful places by babbling brooks miles away from everything and everyone.  Of course the drawback to wilderness camping is the fact you have to carry everything, but I also see this as a blessing as it forces you to pack only the bare essentials and is a step closer to natural world and everything it can throw at you.  Yes there is something relaxing about camping.    

Our big hike in the Pyrenees 2005