Is camping in November a possibility? Well it turns out if you have a van it is!

I’m not sure this week was typical for November, but I’m still claiming it!! I wasn’t too sure what I thought of camping when the evenings are dark and chilly, so I thought I’d play it safe and try out a campsite that had been recommended to me by the River Thames in Chertsey. It wasn’t that far from home, but it seemed to take longer than I expected to get there, so I didn’t manage to arrive in daylight as I’d hoped. I had to wait until the morning to see where I was and discover the views of the river.

I had a cosy evening with Nessie. I had the stove burning a lot of the time as I made risotto for dinner and then a stove top sponge for pudding and then water for a cuppa and for washing up and for my hot water bottles. The stove kept the van reasonably warm – but what I hadn’t thought of was that with all the doors & windows shut, it also got quite humid with all the steam from the cooking. I took my laptop, but it wouldn’t work in the chilly damp environment (it’s fine again now I’m home, I’m typing on it now!). Even the matches I left out got damp and wouldn’t work!

The facilities at Chertsey are superior – but then you pay a lot for the site, so I’d have been disappointed if they hadn’t been! And I wasn’t the only one camping – there were lots of motorhomes, quite a few campervans and a couple of tents. Busy for a Thursday in November!! I think some people use it as a stop over if they are travelling via the M3 or the M25, but others seemed quite settled and were obviously planning to be there for some time.

After I’d had my breakfast I did my camp chores – the main one being dealing with the condensation in the van. We’ve had several days of still, misty weather. Even at home I’ve noticed my washing has been taking a long time to dry so just opening the doors wasn’t going to acheive anything much. Previously I’d used a microfibre cloth, but I hadn’t been that impressed, so I’d upgraded to one of those cellulose kitchen sponges. That worked pretty well – it was absorbant and I could easily wring it out.

Chores completed, I walked along the river a short way and then into Chertsey. There weren’t that many shops to browse, but I did find a delightful coffee shop called Revive where I treated myself to elevenses.

The camping and caravanning club sites are well run, but they like their rules – one of which is vacate your pitch by 12noon. But then, a brisk walk back to the campsite was probably no bad thing after the large slice of cake I’d had! The deadline also made me efficient with packing away the last bits – and I was home again in time for lunch!

L