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Let's hear them and try and make me feel better !
Currently in Holland staying on what is arguably the worst campsite I have ever stayed on in almost 40 years of camping ! We have gone from one extreme to the other as the last week we have spent in Texel in why I can only describe as the best site ever so much so we have already booked it for next summer !
At the moment the site we are in is a literally a car park of noise and people I actually feel like crying ! The said site is a mainstream one with a theme park attached (duinrell) it's not family oriented in the least.
Rant over at least the boys like it !
Totally ruined what' started out patchy into a great holiday to something like this !
So what sh1t sites have you stayed at and why ?
Sounds like a typical English campsite.
Conversely I stayed on a lovely one in the Lakes last weekend. Very clean, quiet, superb facilities. However it was a lot more than the farmer's field prices I tend to pay and it wasn't a real campsite (no spiders and moths in the bogs).
What appeared to be a cockroach in the shower at a Peak District camp site.
Adam Henson helping clear the blocked toilets at his farm park camp site.
Stayed in one when I was a student somewhere in rural France. The toilet block was basically a trench in the ground with planks with holes in for you to sit on. The stench was unbelievable. After that I didn't fancy trying the showers. Only stayed one night thankfully as we were on our way back home. Went to pay at the farmhouse and the owner, an old chap dressed a bit like steptoe, ushered me into his kitchen which was absolutely full with junk and old plates with rotten food and two even older women sitting at the large kitchen table. The stench was even worse than the toilets! Wasn't all bad though as he only charged me 5 francs for the four of us.
Back in the day the Ailefroide campsite in the Ecrin had your classic squat down french toilets. They didn't flush when you pulled a chain, they flushed in a constant rolling sequence and the flush tended to well up out the pan and over your feet carrying with it some of what was in the pan. The trick was to wait until one bog had flushed then jump in and do your business keeping an ear out for the next approaching tidal wave.
Mind you, it was close to the climbing.
My chief complaint these days are the astronomical prices some campsites think they can charge.
I once went to Glororum Campsite near Bamburgh; arriving on Thursday night before Easter weekend we were instructed to pitch next to the chemical disposal point. By Friday night we were completely surrounded by other people and unable to get our car out without asking other people to move theirs. The noise of shrieking kids until midnight was astonishing. Told them my daughter was ill and left Sat morning with a refund...
My chief complaint these days are the astronomical prices some campsites think they can charge.
agree, £25 a night seems quite normal nowadays,... although we just paid £5.50 (the 50p is for one shower) per night each, which is pretty darn cheap, and right by the mountains in snowdonia.
£25 a night seems quite normal nowadays
Been charged more than that for 2 people on a few occasions.
This year we stayed in a great one 10 mins from Calais. Two years ago it was gravelines, further away and I'm pretty sure it was a site where lots of people stayed when not tarmacing drives, that and the christian union sing along made me alternate between nervous and homicidal. Not good when your on the first train home.
One in woolacombe north Devon. 01:00 and cars open with steros going. I went in balls deep asking for the music to be turned down which after some moaning it was. Then could not sleep as I was so angary!!
Yeah Ruda campsite near Barnstaple had some pretty unsavoury types, like proper wannabe 'ardman teenagers in effect chavs.
Until they got knocked the **** out by some locals, awwww how I loved that 😆
national park one at Langdale is poor.
Rydal Hall is heaven.
Different strokes etc, Duinrell was one of the best family holidays we ever had.
Torridon at the wrong time of year. Midgiegeddon.
Brugge campsite is slammes by the brits on tripadvisor. Thats because the tight ****s booked cheaper smaller pictures on purpose then whinged that the tent only pitches were too small for their car+family tents.....
The Cauldron at Heyling Island...
Words cannot describe the horror!
Recent experience near Hereford with some long-term caravans and other campers on site all competing with bass-bins and some frankly awful music.
Also a nice curly mummifying turd in a french shower, thanks for that mystery merde-r weekend, Mr/Mrs Merde.
I decided not to unfurl my inner Keith.
Just had 2 weeks in Europe in the camper, sites ranged from 8 euro for electric hook up and free showers in France to 30 euro just outside Amsterdam. I think the last was overpriced but it was very close to the ferry back so was happy to pay it.
I've paid £26 at a site in Pooley Bridge in the Lakes for a tent and no elec and recently £28 in North Yorks.
Some places are overpriced, some are over hyped and others get away with murder.
A few years ago on getting to the shower block with only one 20p to his name for a shower my mate Steve decided to strip off lather up and then put his money in the box to get the most from his 3 mins shower.
Clothes off and neatly folded he proceeded to liberally apply his shower gel then lent out of his cubicle and dropped the money in the slot, cue the bloke in the next cubicle screaming out as the hot shower covered him as he got dressed.
Hora, is that Brugge site Memling? I was going to try and get there on the way back towards the ferry but ran out of days.
Clothes off and neatly folded he proceeded to liberally apply his shower gel then lent out of his cubicle and dropped the money in the slot, cue the bloke in the next cubicle screaming out as the hot shower covered him as he got dressed.
Brilliant! Proper lol at that one.
Just past Bridge of Orchy, a lovely place to camp in the evening with a wee pub within staggering distance, perfect. Then next morning opened the tent flap to see a solid wall of midges. Trying to walk quickly in circles while eating gritty black-flecked porridge and muttering ****off****off****off then packing up the tent as fast as possible with a thick coating of pressed midge rolled into it.
Was scratching for the rest of the week. Got bitten on the eyeballs, and the other ones too.
We stayed at a "Haven" site once. Indescribable.
White101- thatsit. Two pitch sizes; 20sq metres and 80sq metres. The former alot cheaper. A fair few of the reviews say 'we booked and arrived and had to park our car away from tent/very cramped etc'. 80sq metres is needed and gives you enough space for a 6man and car with breathing space. Its clean, busy and fine. Its also got an ace little wooded area and a supermarket full of booze nearby. (Just recked the reviews- all better). Maybe my comments on booking/chosing the right pitch size and why helped)
I stayed at a really nice campsite in Suffolk a few years back. Everything had been perfect until the final night when until my then girlfriend let out a blood curdling scream on her way to bed at midnight. It seems we parked our tent on a nest of earwigs or something, there were hundreds of the things climbing up the poles and then dropping into the inner tent (tent has seen better days). It was like something from a nightmare, earwigs everywhere. Slept in the car that night.
We went to Cornwall a few years ago. 7 hour drive with the kids fighting all the way, we left late so got there about 5pm went to set up the tent and like a nob I left the poles in the garage. Cost me 450 quid to get a new tent from the only place still open at 6pm. Got set up about 9pm. The wife and I hardly spoke all week.
Stayed in one in snowdonia a few years back, arrived on the saturday and were told "We're a bit busy near the farm, your best bet's the far field". Which was fine, it was quiet and still only a short walk to the facilities. What they didn't mention or signpost was that half the field flooded whenever it rained.
Climbing in Pembroke and we stayed at a farm site near the cliffs. Well towards midnight a bunch of idiots arrived back from the pub, started their cars, circled them with the headlights on and played a game of floodlit football. Lack of consideration like that is the reason why I don't use campsites any more; a wild camp is free, peaceful and far more satisfying, especially if there's a river or tarn nearby for a swim and fresh water.
In fact Mrs Gti and I spent our first night ever together camping by a small Lakes tarn and skinny-dipping, such a lovely place that I'm not going to tell anybody where it is!
Campsite by the alternative energy centre in machynlleth..
Massive great blue slate area for caravans with the poo disposal point right in the middle. Round the edge of campsite was stragically placed dog muck so you couldn't pitch a tent without a quick clearance.
The toilets were actually an insect and beastie hotel.. One of the cubicles didn't have a working light. That turned out to be a blessing as it didn't disturb the critters..
It was horrid... But cheap!
We went camping near Market Bosworth a couple of weekends ago with my sister & her kids. Stayed at the Bosworth Water & Leisure Park.
The site was OK at best; all the facilities seemed like they'd done the bare minimum necessary, the staff were not very friendly & there were bloody wasps everywhere.
Not wanting to sound too STW-middle class & judgemental (although aware that I will fail with my next sentence), the site seemed to be the favourite haunt of your typical British chav.
There were large groups of families with young kids who were constantly being shouted & sworn at by the parents, blokes getting up in the morning & the first thing they'd do was crack out the Makita site radio & stick some bangin' toonz on for the whole campsite to hear (shit R&B rubbish).
On the last night, one group decided to have a fire and the only source of firewood appeared to be the trees around their tents. So, up they climbed with torches & started snapping large branches off, while shouting & laughing at each other.
Next morning, one of their cars wouldn't start so they spent about an hour shouting at each other while pushing this car up & down to try & bump start it.
Not sure we'll be going back.
We camped at a farm with Llamas. One of the 'highlights' along with the blast quarry nearby was when we were in a field and one of the llamas started acting very oddly. The farmer looked quite concerned and shouted 'Quick, look aggressive or he will knock you to the ground and try and mount you' It was cheap though
Midgie hell on Skye. Horrible experience, was like a horror movie watching the futility of folk trying to escape them. Tent thrown in the car and sped out with all windows down, 10 minutes just driving with thousand yard stares....
And the young couple next to us in Keswick who were obviously 'discovering each other' at regular intervals for most the night. Tents aren't soundproof people.
The farmer looked quite concerned and shouted 'Quick, look aggressive or he will knock you to the ground and try and mount you'
He would probably have charged you extra for that!
Touring Dorset area in the camper van a couple of years ago during school holidays and looking for a site, near Weymouth IIRC. Tried one of these big holiday park places which we don't often stop at but thought it might be nice for daughter to use the pool etc. They had one pitch available, a fully serviced pitch with electric, water, and drainage, all for the princely sum of £79. Yes, £79 for just one night 😯 We didn't stay.
We've done a couple of overlanding trips to Morocco - Campsites there range from a Palm tree lined Oasis' with an Auberge serving exquisite food at the top end - to a gravel car park with 'facilities' from a horror movie at the 'budget' end.
You know the loos are bad when you wife chooses to go for a walk with a shovel, rather than use them!
Oh, and stayed at a Haven site in Great Yarmouth a few years back - and I'd rather do battle with the scorpions and camel spiders in Morocco!
£79 - jesus !
Many tales of horror, we spent a night in the van in the Top10 in Rotorua, NZ. If you've been there you'll know Rotovegas is a bit iffy. Parked up, went to get some dinner and when we came back there was a caravan literally touching our van so they could also park the two vans, car and dogs etc. Whatever, then the banshee woman started screaming and shouting until midnight. It was mental, their poor kids were traumatised little things.
Also seen someone doing shagging shadow puppets a couple of times , that always amuses me.
when we came back there was a caravan literally touching our van
What is it with folks doing this? We parked our van way down the far end of a quiet campsite in Switzerland, fully 100m away from the nearest other campers. 20 mins later this Russian guy parks directly in front of us and about 3m away and starts pitching his tent. He saw sense after a bit of gesticulating.
I camped at Rosedale. The office had a big sign saying "no groups" so I expected a quiet night. Then a huge van pulled up and disgorged a gang of chavs who'd presumably hidden in the back while their mate claimed it was just him and his missus. They went to the pub and got lashed, then returned to drink more and fire up a BBQ. By 2 in the morning singing and swearing was no longer sufficient entertainment so they started fighting each other. We left early.
Camping at the Great Yorkshire Show. Last year I saw a large window fall out of a caravan that was rocking from side to side while parked up. The next day I witnessed a large lady wedged into the doorway of her caravan, screaming whilst her man tried in vain with his shoulder up her not inconsiderable backside to move her. I wasn't sure if she had been trying to escape. It's quite an experience but at least I'm getting paid to be there but if we are back again next year I think some stealth camping might be in order.
I stayed near Alston recently and dug [url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/worst-campsite-youve-stayed-at ]this[/url] up from the last 'horror campsite' thread (they come round every couple of years).
It can't be that bad I thought after an 80 mile day and another 5 to the nice site (up an f ing big hill).
Shite it most certainly is. If you fancy camping in a scrappy with utterly dire facilities, off to the Alston garage you go young man. 🙂 I cycled the extra to avoid it despite being pooped.
I'm waiting for a post from the people who had the misfortune to camp near my perpetually screaming daughter this year. If it was you, sorry.
unfitgeezer: At least your missus will be happy that you've settled in one place for a bit.
Lolled at a lot of the above, fortunately we haven't had too many bad experiences on our Many camping trips BUT on a few occasions at the BDS's we have 'encountered' the Laughing woman! she laughs constantly and so long and hard that I want to put her out of everyone else's misery, it was funny at first but it seems like she must have some sort of issue because Nothing is that funny for sooooo long and on sooo many BDS's, we literally could hear her from half way across the campsite at Llangollen last year, not heard her on the last few tho 8)
anyone else heard her?
Oh and I simply refuse to pay Anything over £14 per night and refuse to stay anywhere that charges for dogs! whats all that about?
Most campsites are hell in summer IME!
Been to a couple of Lakes campsites in peak season which were exactly how I'd imagine a refugee camp to be.
Red Squirrel in Glencoe is carnage in summer and as others have pointed out, midges can be problematic almost everywhere in the Highlands in summer if you're a bit soft.
July and August are my least favourite months for camping. But then again, I prefer winter anyway and most sites are a completely different place at that time of year.
Being the only person on a Karrimat, with down sleeping bag, halfway up the Watkin path when we had a flash flood. Those on Thermarests floated above the water as it flooded in over the bathtub floor. 😐
Being the only tent left standing on an ML assessment at Sprinkling tarn - having spent a night with nylon in my face and waiting for the 'crack! rrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiippppp, flap-flap-flap-flap to happen....
Thankfully never had a bad experience camping.
I feel sorry for anyone camping near Debden this weekend though. One of the secretaries at work was telling me this morning that her and about 30 others are all going camping today for the weekend and they'll all be camped next to each other so they can get pissed and have a rave up. Sounds like my idea of hell. I said to her that'll be nice for the the other campers and her response "well f*ck em, if they moan I'll burn there f*cking tents down"
She's a real treat to have in the office. Vile Women.
stayed near Alston recently and dug this up from the last 'horror campsite' thread (they come round every couple of years).It can't be that bad I thought after an 80 mile day and another 5 to the nice site (up an f ing big hill).
Shite it most certainly is. If you fancy camping in a scrappy with utterly dire facilities, off to the Alston garage you go young man. I cycled the extra to avoid it despite being pooped.
I stayed there while doing the c2c with work colleagues, fortunately we were the pissed rowdy bunch that everyone seems to find offensive! 😉
However the worst 'campsite' was on the same trip, Setmabanning - a hosepipe sticking through a stone wall was their idea of a shower... fortunately there was also a nice river running along the edge, so I had a bath instead!
We got the price knocked down to £2 a tent though so not all that bad...
when we came back there was a caravan literally touching our van
What is it with folks doing this? We
At 24/12 this year, one of our group returned to our tents to find an Audi A6 parked so close that he couldn't walk around his tent. The owner apparently got huffy when asked to move it. The same group later lit a fire-put thing 10ft from my tent (well away from their tents, of course) so we spent the night with smoke blowing straight into our sleeping compartment. And to cap it all they deliberately left a bag of their rubbish in front of our tent when they left. (Needed to step over one of our bikes to place it there.) Nice people.
Is there ever a good camping experience.
The wife refuses to go, easy to see why but I take the kids as they love the change of scenery, but every trip involves being kept awake or woken up by TVs, Music, Kids, Snoring.
Just hate it really
The worst one was last time at Hesketh Farm near Bolton Abbey was when other peoples kids came and played with mine. Que a broken kite and then some smelly little **** jumping around on my sleeping bag. GET OUT
Then the next boring a bull dog just came in the tent.
Just seemed to be full of, well you know the type
Is there ever a good camping experience.
Yeah, by and large ours have all been ace - had one not-so-good one at Black Rock Sands, first time Mrs Pondo and I had ever been camping on our own, place was full of teenage Liverpudlian wideboys doing skids in theirs Saxos and arguing with their birds at four o'clock in the morning. Other than that, we do pretty well - our summer holiday will be camping in France, look for municipals for decent prices, good facilities and few noisy Brits. 🙂
Is there ever a good camping experience.
I have almost constant good camping experiences TBH. I've fallen asleep/woken up in places that 99.99% of people will never get to appreciate at their best, with not another soul for miles.
In fact, some of the [i]best[/i] experiences I've ever had involve waking up in those places!
That said, not many involve campsites.
peterfile +1
Camping is for hills and riverbanks, and few other folk around. 8)
Agreed. Camping+peasants=shite/misery.
On my bike tour in the States stayed at a few interesting camp sites. funniest story happened near Hearst Castle. 4 cyclists pull up at a state run camp site which was huge. We were the only ones there so the guy said we could camp in a RV pitch. We cooked our food, chatted about the day and at about 8 said good night. About an hour later a huge RV arrives and instead of parking in one of the 300 pitches available the park next to us. Cue manoeuvring the behemoth motor home air brakes hissing and people shouting left a bit, back up etc.
All went quite for about 10 minutes then I heard "Digger" Digger Digger" "Here Digger" Eventually Sue shouted I am going to strangle Digger, we heard whispering and then it all went quiet.
Next morning was woken up by someone loudly whispering "Digger" that was it I came storming out of my tent and was confronted by Digger the sweetest German Shepherd puppy 😆 You couldn't be angry with this little devil.
This is Sues version of the evening in her blog
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=tS&page_id=171681&v=q5
Frequently ride through the campsite at Cannock it attracts all forms of life
Closed during Winter and covered in snowfall it looks beautiful. Similarly early Spring/late Autumn with just a few enthusiastic campers not parked on top of one another it's very tranquil.
First two weeks of the school hols 🙄
When we had the camper van our holidays often used to involve 1 or maybe 2 night stay at campsites, often just seeing where we ended up at the end of the day. This was mostly pre-school and hence outside of school holidays. We stayed at a lot of sites ranging from £10 to £30, and I can't say we ever stayed and one that was really bad. They varied a lot in terms of facilities etc, usually price dependent. Although not always, and the sites I would choose not to go back to are generally those that offered poor value. Or others that just didn't have a nice 'feel'.
We stayed at one lovely site with great toilets/showers (had family bathrooms which was handy with small kids), on site petting farm for the kids, overall a nice place to stay. Recommended it to friends, who went in school holidays and it was full of rowdy 'chav' families.
Have a few sites that we like going back to. Had the first week of the school holidays at one in Cornwall. Good clean toilet/shower facilities (Mrs90's must have requirement), a play park for the kids, and that's it. No shop, no onsite bar, disco, etc. Just a cake and pasty sale on the saturday morning run by the local flower arranging society, very much in the WI vain.
We were run over by a Spanish drunk parking his car on our pitch at 23:00. He parked his car not only on our pitch but on our tent. I woke up to hear Madame screaming and a car engine, and feel something pushing my foot.
Happily installed on a German campsite a bunch of Nazi hell's angels turned up with more beer than camping gear. We upped and left only stopping at reception for a full refund.
Was at Le Mans with the olds when I was but 8. Apparently about 3am a drunken Welshman fell into the tent, collapsing the ridge pole (yes a ridge pole, it was a long time ago).
I didn't hear a word of it - woke up in our friends massive tent the next day which is where we stayed for the rest of the weekend.
I've just remembered a scary camping moment (not necessarily a bad one though!) from a few months back.
We were woken from a deep sleep at 1am at Glenbrittle by a helicopter trying to land right next to our tent.
There was a period of about 60 seconds, with such incredible noise, downdraft and bright lights that I did wonder whether I was about to be abducted. It was so surreal given the remoteness and tranquillity.
Turns out it was MRT being dropped off after a rescue in the nearby Cuillins and I'd pitched in the best spot for landing.
🙂
lerk
stayed near Alston recently and dug this up from the last 'horror campsite' thread (they come round every couple of years).
It can't be that bad I thought after an 80 mile day and another 5 to the nice site (up an f ing big hill).Shite it most certainly is. If you fancy camping in a scrappy with utterly dire facilities, off to the Alston garage you go young man. I cycled the extra to avoid it despite being pooped.
I stayed there while doing the c2c with work colleagues, fortunately we were the pissed rowdy bunch that everyone seems to find offensive!
However the worst 'campsite' was on the same trip, Setmabanning - a hosepipe sticking through a stone wall was their idea of a shower... fortunately there was also a nice river running along the edge, so I had a bath instead!
We got the price knocked down to £2 a tent though so not all that bad...
I've stayed at Alston, I had a shower there in the creepy toilets / shower block half expecting to be mugged at any time. I then camped in the camping section right next to the playing fields, about 100m from where the yoofs liked to play loud tunes in their cars. I got a bit paranoid about being the nights play piece so went off to the YHA.
My parents have a caravan at Setmabanning!
I agree the campsite is the pits, but when you're in a caravan its ok
A campsite on our Summer walk in Spain. Photo taken from our pitch. Numerous yapping dogs (one left in an overheating awning was showing signs of insanity), a family with a huge PA just for a birthday party, but at least they shut the barrier at 10:00 to stop the drunks driving in.
[img] 
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People next to us arrived late, made lots of noise then left their coolbox out for all to behold.
This was in Yosemite, and the 2AM visit from a Brown Bear left a lasting impression.
Now that reminda me- France. 10pm a French family of four arrive. Loud putting up of tent, kids laughing playing. This went on to about 2pm. 5am Im awake with a hangover from Belgian beer and they were cheerfully packing up again. Aliens, they must have been!
The Geese farm next to the campsite in the Surrey Hills (near Leith tower).
Quacking none stop but this was over rided by the sound of a huge air con sounding fan that magically switches off at 6am.
Was camping at Blair Atholl some years ago 2 families, so my mate got quite pissed and kept playing his car stereo too loud, late into the night, school holidays so the site was full. Anyway we kept turning it down and he kept turning it back up, eventually we went to bed and left him to it. My tent was a wee bit further away.
The next morning and his car won't start cause he had left the ignition on all night with the fan running, which we couldn't hear cause of the music. The only people with a set of jump leads were the people right next door. Cue a shamefaced and apologetically hungover mate getting connected up to their battery. We all sat at my tent and s****ed into our coffee.
I've usually had good camping experiences, though La Piscine at the foot of Alpe D'Huez was a bit mixed. The main problem was the noise at night. Most nights the bar staff would finish after midnight, at which point one of them would start their car engine the other side of the hedge from us, and leave it running for about half an hour before leaving. One night a group of drunk people were shrieking and laughing until 1:30 am when the red mist descended and I shouted "effing shut up!!!!" - which instantly did the trick!
PePPeR - Member
Different strokes etc, Duinrell was one of the best family holidays we ever had
+1
Well +2 actually as we have now been twice, second time with the inlaws in tow, both times where great had no problems at all
No stand out real bad experiences but did once turn up at a NT campsite in the lakes (years ago so can't remember it's name) with my wife (to be at the time), another couple and another single male friend to be told by the proprietor, in no uncertain terms, after he looked the two women up and down, that they didn't normally accept single sex groups!
Same campsite I think the kids stopped shouting and running around about midnight and started again at 5am
as per peterile and mattoutandabout ^^
mrs busydog and I have camped the past 20 years and never in a campground. We generally looked for remote forest/mountain locations where one could spend the weekend and not see another human being--a blessing of New Mexico is that such places are to be readily found with only an hour or two driving.
I did make a mistake camping once along a stream adjacent to an old abandoned mining town and we woke up about 3AM with a large herd of cattle milling about the tent, as in pushing up against it. We had a late start out on a Friday evening and I had chosen the place in the dark, but didn't realize that a rancher had placed several salt-lick blocks in the vicinity and the herd dropped in for a drink and a lick.
Cue 3 month old German Shepherd puppy and mrs busydog going ballistic.
[i]Is there ever a good camping experience.[/i]
Well this why the ADAC camping guide is your friend.