Friendly campers or not!
Recently my husband and I stayed on the Dunnet Bay site which was a nice site apart from the flies. The morning we were due to leave the wind had got up through the night and was blowing well. Hubby and I struggled to get our awning down, I even got rope
burns from hanging onto the guy ropes. The awning was trying to take off with me trying to keep it down. i had heard a lot about the friendly, helpful nature of fellow campers but was disappointed to find they were nowhere in sight. We know folks were in their
'vans/motor homes but not a single one came out until we had finished then our nearest neighbour came out with a bag of rubbish and passed us with a cheery good morning.
I just hope that if we see someone in need of help we won't be so slow in offering our assistance.
Comments
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By nature I am the sort of person who would offer to help in such circumstances. Margaret however always cautions me reminding me firstly of my age and the fact that I have various joint issues which could be made worse if my head rules my heart. I often
ignore that sensible advice but I can perfectly understand her point. Likewise help is often dismissed in such circumstances so people may be reluctant to offer as they fear being made to look silly if the offer of help is refused.David
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There are several reasons why this may have occurred, LJQ, as well as the obvious one and I'm not defending behaviour here. Some people don't have the physical ability to help; some may have thought you'd be offended if help was offered (it happens); you may have looked as if you were coping admirably alone do no one thought it necessary to offer help.
It's often a good idea to take your awning down the day before you leave when you have more time and can choose which time of day you do it. It's also useful to be aware of the weather forecast. Better luck next time.
Edit: Crossed with your post, David. We made similar points.
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By nature I am the sort of person who would offer to help in such circumstances. Margaret however always cautions me reminding me firstly of my age and the fact that I have various joint issues which could be made worse if my head rules my heart. I often
ignore that sensible advice but I can perfectly understand her point. Likewise help is often dismissed in such circumstances so people may be reluctant to offer as they fear being made to look silly if the offer of help is refused.David
Its not only ill health, in today's society offers can be misinterpreted or if damage ends up being caused to the van because the helper lets go of the rope, for example, this could be difficult.
I would offer help but OH would probably tell me not to interfere.
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Totally agree with David's last point, although I would certainly have offered you help - as others have helped us in the past. I had a strong rebuff, earlier this year when we were staying on a C&CC site (N.B. "The Friendly Club) - which was the most unfriendly
site we have ever experienced.We were sitting in our van reading - because of the atrociously windy weather - when a couple arrived next to us and started to erect their tent. It was fairly obvious that, from all the headscratching and referring to the instructions, that they were new
to, at least, this particular tent. Since it was a similar tent to one we had owned a few years ago - out I went and offered to help - only to be told in no uncertain terms that - no - they didn't want any help - and yes - they were perfectly capable of managing
it on their own. I felt quite stupid, as I am sure they thought I was questioning their competence, albeit that this was never the intention.It won't stop me offering to help anyone in the future - but it has made me wary of the reaction I might get.
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We were pitched at the Ilframcombe club site last June. A storm came in and we almost lost our awning in the gales.
I had to drop it in the middle of the high winds on my own, but the people pitched opposite us came out of the comfort of their van ....................
and set up their chairs, sat down and enjoyed watching me struggle for a half hour.
Gits.
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I will always offer help, but will never be offended if someone refuses that help.
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We have often sat and watched people spending/wasting the first half or whole day of their holdiay putting up the awning then the last one taking it down and it served us as a reminder as to why we did not have one.
If you decide to put an awning up then surely you must be prepared to take it down especially if bad weather/high winds are forecast why should everyone else on the site do it for you?
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Hi Jayne. Sorry to hear your story. It's one of the reasons we dumped our awning several years ago. Beastly cumbersome things, aren't they.
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If my experience of Club sites is anything to go by, your neighbours were probably all in their vans watching TV, especially as it is Olympics week.
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Hi Jayne, people were sitting their vans or motorhomes watching you struggle with your awning in high winds and nobody offered to help?
Terrible.
In the camping community I would say that is very unusual.
Alex.
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You need a weather app! Advises of weather to come in locality, saves having to do things in a howling gale or a downpour. We have often helped others, but we usually stay on super friendly CLs. Even helped move a van complete with awning attached, that
was team work!
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....If you decide to put an awning up then surely you must be prepared to take it down especially if bad weather/high winds are forecast why should everyone else on the site do it for you?
Miserable bu66er! (and to whoever else liked the post). If you ever found yourself stuck on a field I'd hope you could get it free on your lonesome ...... I'll watch from the safety of my 4x4
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By nature I am the sort of person who would offer to help in such circumstances. Margaret however always cautions me reminding me firstly of my age and the fact that I have various joint issues which could be made worse if my head rules my heart. I often ignore that sensible advice but I can perfectly understand her point. Likewise help is often dismissed in such circumstances so people may be reluctant to offer as they fear being made to look silly if the offer of help is refused.
David
I think that many CC folk are happy to help. At least once a year I have. Thiws tear a guy in his eightes went down. People from 4 outfits went to help, Me and another helpes him up whilst somebody provided a chair. I later brought the car around and took him back to his van. Others and myself called on him to make sure that he was OK. The next day he sent a bottle of wine to me and I called to thank him
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We have often offered help to others on site if they are struggling. Just last weekend couple in the van next to us hsd no water, even though pump was working, OH and CL owner took system apart helped to fix the problem. Saved them having to call out an engineer.
We also had help from fellow campers on site when we got in a mess putting our awning up for the first time!
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....If you decide to put an awning up then surely you must be prepared to take it down especially if bad weather/high winds are forecast why should everyone else on the site do it for you?
Miserable bu66er! (and to whoever else liked the post). If you ever found yourself stuck on a field I'd hope you could get it free on your lonesome ...... I'll watch from the safety of my 4x4
Write your comments here...what has 4x4 and muddy fields got to do with it we are talking about awnings? Of course if people have genuine issues that I may be able to help with it do /will as hopefully everyone else would also.
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We have often sat and watched people spending/wasting the first half or whole day of their holdiay putting up the awning then the last one taking it down and it served us as a reminder as to why we did not have one.
If you decide to put an awning up then surely you must be prepared to take it down especially if bad weather/high winds are forecast why should everyone else on the site do it for you?
We no longer use an awning. We had one mainly for dining in. With a side dinnete it is not needed and I was finding it difficult with my arthritis to erect.
It is easy to get caught out wth weather and high winds or by the ground conditions to some extent. A few years back the neighbour across the way from us had gone out with friends when it became really windy, Many people were out for the day but OH had injured
her knee and so we were in. Where his van was pitched the ground beneath the hard standing was quite sandy and had become wet. When I saw a peg come out I went out and double pegged his awning as I had plenty of longer pegs. After half an hour or so the winds
increased and even that would not hold it. It was too windy to take the awning down on my own and risk damage but if left it would cause damage. I asked the warden to help. We bundled the awning and contents onto his trailer and it was laid out and stored
in wardens garage until the next day.0 -
Perhaps it's a history of fifty odd years coping with up to 50 sq metres of sails but the phrase 'mountains and molehills' come to mind. I must confess to being a little puzzled by the comments on handling awnings in strong winds and 'divorce in a bag' statements.
It just needs a bit of thinking about how to approach the issue and devising a plan of action.0 -
Since the Dunnet site must be in one of the most exposed places of the UK with only the Orkneys to buffer the northern winds it's probably going to cause problems with awning use. Although it's good if people do offer help you've really got to be able to tackle these things without help or consider where awning use is ok or not. I think we only used an awning once at Dunnet.
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My thoughts as well brue. At Troutbeck a couple of years ago we rolled our pull out one up, as gale force winds were forecast for the morning. When we awoke the next day we noticed another van had left theirs out and it was starting to buckle under the strain. The centre rafter popped out and they came out of the van to try and rescue it. I went to help, and just as well as I don't think his wife would have held onto it. Eventually we managed to safely roll it away. What surprised me was that they expressed surprise about the conditions. A gale that had been forecast for a couple of days.
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Recently on a site in Cornwall, the couple and their two children were preparing to leave but had lost their caravan and car keys. Twice I offered to help search round the outside area of their car and caravan. Twice my offer of help was rejected (politlely).
Bearing in mind that they had a journey to undertake, I was surprised that they did not want a further set of eyes to help. They eventually found the keys under the caravan. If I had have been in their situation, I would have been happy to accept help.0 -
....If you decide to put an awning up then surely you must be prepared to take it down especially if bad weather/high winds are forecast why should everyone else on the site do it for you?
Miserable bu66er! (and to whoever else liked the post). If you ever found yourself stuck on a field I'd hope you could get it free on your lonesome ...... I'll watch from the safety of my 4x4
Write your comments here...what has 4x4 and muddy fields got to do with it we are talking about awnings? Of course if people have genuine issues that I may be able to help with it do /will as hopefully everyone else would also.
..obviously my comment was regarding giving help if needed
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