Will take place next weekend, and sadly, I won’t be on it.
It’s Tudor Michaelmas at Kentwell Hall. Tim is going to chop wood. Big will be in the Still room, and Small will revise his role as a page. I decided that it was too late in the season to risk with the very littles – it’s not so much the camping, as you can generally chuck an extra blanket or two on overnight, it’s the possibility of them getting wet and muddy during the day. Fine when you can wear waterproofs, or have a complete change of clothing ready, but not so easy on replacing tudor kit. And let’s not even go there on what a small boy can do to a pair of leather shoes in a puddle.
So, just the older ones. They’re going in the Vango Icarus (which I would link to if I could find, but appears to have been discontinued, replaced with an inflatable version?), which is our short visit tent of choice, last used at High Summer. So yesterday I spent some time threading shock cord through the replacement pole, which sadly arrived with fragmented cord. Can’t fault the customer service response though – money refunded, and shock cord sent out free of charge.
There are some things to be aware of when you’re threading shock cord.
1) the little bit of metal that was sent with the cord is very springy and very sharp. Ouch.
2) did I mention *very* sharp?
3) it’s important to keep the poles in the right order. Where the poles are not in any particular order, because they’ve come off the broken cord already, your best bet is to lay them out to make a pole to check you’ve got it right. The two end bits are different to each other. Then you just need all the inner bits the right way around.
4) *very* sharp.
5) elasticated shock cord has a habit of springing places. Tie it off tightly. Clamps are useful too.
Other than that, it’s all very straightforward. Tie a knot in one end. Thread it through the pieces of pole one by one. Job done.
So that’s the tent all ready for one more outing. I’ll send double the blankets they usually take, and a couple of hot water bottles. I’m wishing that I had fleece pjs to send for Small, but I guess he’ll cope. And I’ve got the wool to make him a cloak for daytime, so I need to focus on that.
Along with everything else I’m packing up the Equip+ waterless wash stuff we were sent. It’s ideal stuff for camping – kind of like supercharged wet wipes for cleaning yourself, and a shower cap style waterless shampoo cap. I tried it out myself, because that’s how dedicated I am (if I were really brave, I’d share the pics. Maybe if I get enough comments 😉 ) and it’s effective, although my top tip is definitely brush your hair out well afterwards. Oh, and it might say waterless – it’s surprisingly wet. Towel round your shoulders is a good plan.
If you’d like to win your own pack of waterless Equip+ products, ideal for your next camping trip you can enter here.
(Giveaway organised and run by the company, widget hosted on this blog.)
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