The Modern Apprentice, Two Runaway Dogs & a Fridge on the Roof

The Scottish Borders has been feeling more like the Costa del Hownam recently.

The alpacas have become creatures of the night. Sol and the herd have spent most of the daytime hiding away in the cool of the big barn before emerging as the evening temperatures begin to fall. I can't say I blame them.

Watching them reminded me of my very first camping holiday.

A Second-Hand Camping Adventure

Many years ago, when my now grown-up children were little, we spotted a second-hand tent advertised in the local yellow paper. This was long before all the online places we buy things today. Every week we'd eagerly flick through the classifieds hoping to find a bargain.

One week, we struck gold: tent; cooker; kitchen stand; sleeping bags. Pretty much everything except the campsite itself.

The only slight problem was fitting it all into the car.

A borrowed trailer soon solved that issue and off we went from Berkshire to Dorset with our friends, packed to the rafters. Looking back, we must have looked like the Clampetts heading off on tour.

Our friends, however, were seasoned campers.

So seasoned, in fact, that they travelled with an actual fridge strapped to the roof of the car.

Not a cool box...a proper fridge.

At the time I thought it was the funniest thing I'd ever seen.

Disclaimer: This is not the actual fridge. The original was even less aerodynamic.

The Great Dog Escape

Once we'd all settled in, The Modern Apprentice kindly offered to take the dogs for a walk.

He had our dog, Claire, and our neighbours' two beautifully groomed Tibetan Terriers.

Now, Claire deserves a blog all of her own.

I'd gone to the rescue centre intending to adopt a Yorkshire Terrier and somehow came home with an ex-racing greyhound instead. No surprise to those of you who know me. 

Claire, like many retired racers, had absolutely no intention of running anywhere. Once she'd discovered sofas and regular meals, athletic ambition became a distant memory. She simply ambled along beside The Modern Apprentice.

Time passed.

Eventually we noticed our neighbours' two immaculate Tibetan Terriers strolling back into the campsite...

...without him.

This was before mobile phones, so there were no discreet text messages explaining the situation.

Instead, we spotted The Modern Apprentice standing halfway up a hill, waving his arms wildly while trying to signal us to keep quiet. Every frantic gesture seemed to say exactly the same thing.

"Please don't tell them I've lost their dogs!"

Naturally...

...we left him there for a while.

Eventually our friend's husband took pity on him and wandered up the hill to break the news.

The runaway dogs had simply found their own way back to the campsite, safe and happy.

Completely unaware that they'd just taken ten years off The Modern Apprentice's life.

The Exploding Airbed

The laughter had barely died down before the next chapter unfolded.

That evening the men disappeared to inflate the airbeds.

A few moments later...

BANG!

Honestly, it sounded like someone had fired a starting pistol in the middle of the campsite.

My friend and I looked at each other.

No words were needed.

Someone was sleeping on the floor.

Thankfully Tesco wasn't too far away, another airbed was purchased and, after a suitable amount of relentless mickey-taking, everyone settled down for the night.

Why Camping Stays With You

Looking back, I don't actually remember much about that campsite.

I remember the laughter; our children spending all day outside; endless cups of tea; chatting until the sun disappeared.

Those holidays became the first of many. Eventually we even packed everything up and ventured across to France for two weeks. By then we considered ourselves seasoned campers too... although we never quite graduated to travelling with a fridge on the roof.

I often think that's where my love of camping really began.

Not because of the tents.

Not because of the destinations.

Because camping has a wonderful habit of creating stories you'll still be laughing about decades later.

The Magic of Camping at Beirhope

It's one of the reasons we love welcoming campers to Beirhope.

Families arrive with bikes, marshmallows, guitars, board games and occasionally enough equipment to survive a small expedition. A day or two later they're sitting around chatting with people they met only hours before while children invent games that don't require batteries or Wi-Fi.

That's the magic.

It's a friendly place where you can slow down, breathe a little deeper, let the children play, enjoy a quiet coffee overlooking the hills and watch alpacas grazing nearby.

And if your airbed explodes while you're blowing it up...

...we'll do our very best to help.

If you arrive with a fridge strapped to the roof...

...I'll probably laugh.

Then I'll give you a sweetie, because you'll have reminded me exactly why I fell in love with camping all those years ago.