| "Our evenings entertainment involved all six of us taking refuge in a three-man tent, which actually turned out to be great fun!" | | Becca Bryers |
Firstly I have something to admit鈥 I've never actually camped before. That's presuming that sleeping in my friends back garden doesn't really count. It was possible to sleep Thursday through to Sunday night but we (that's my friend Nadia and I) wimped out and did the minimum! Friday The first task was setting up the tent. This went surprisingly well 鈥 or at least we thought so until the two lovely chaps in the next tent later informed us that they'd had to rescue it from uprooting itself whilst we were off exploring. We were very proud of our flowery tent especially on the frequent occasions we heard passing camper admiring it. It was nice to spot a familiar face just a couple of tents down from us in the guise of a primary school acquaintance. Chris and his friends quickly became our festival buddies. After a quick trip into Leicester centre we returned to our tent for lunch 鈥 jam on bread.
 | | Potatoes not boiling |
Our first night quickly drew near and, as Nadia and I had agreed on a healthy festival approach, we started to cook potatoes for dinner. It was about 30 minutes later when the water still hadn't even boiled that we gave up and cooked the beans; with a side order of bread. After chilling with our new friends and listening to the singing delights emerging from a rather large nearby tent we all headed off for a surprisingly comfortable sleep. Saturday Saturday began very early due to our parking ticket running out at 06:00. Nadia kindly agreed to join me on the short (but cold!) walk in pyjamas to top up our time. We forfeited our culinary skills for the welcoming smells of Victoria Campsite breakfast tent. Four rounds of jam on toast and two glasses of orange juice later we felt ready to start the day. Using a bowl of cold water I had a quick refreshing wash before pulling on jeans and a vest top, and clipping back my still relatively fresh hair. This camping lark wasn't that bad! The weather kept changing throughout the day 鈥 sometimes warm and sunny, sometimes cold and cloudy. Then the rain started, and continued throughout the night. So our evenings entertainment involved all six of us taking refuge in a three-man tent, which actually turned out to be great fun!
 | | The amazing flower tent! |
This was in the main due to a group of campers who brought it upon themselves to stand outside the tent in the pouring rain whilst serenading us. The Pussycat Dolls and Justin Timberlake sound very different on acoustic guitar and are especially entertaining when the final lines end something like听 鈥 鈥淎nd soon we鈥檙e going to have to stop/ 'Cos the security guards are walking quickly towards us鈥 So thanks guys whoever you were 鈥 you genuinely made our night! So feeling glad that there would be no 06:00 dash this night we made our way back to our pretty tent for a restful few hours of sleep. Sunday I wasn't such a happy bunny when I woke up. For some reason the inside of the tent has become damp making everything uncomfortable and sticky. The weather was cold and wet meaning that despite assurance that the onsite showers were very warm, I couldn't face having to get soaked. In the end I washed my hair over a sink in the De Montfort Hall toilets and bought a warm Summer Sundae hoodie, and the smile was back on my face.
 | | Most of the festival buddies |
We barely returned to the tent all day, what with all the amazing music that took place on Sunday, and finally went to take the tents down at about 23:00. With out energy fast dwindling we simply shoved sleeping bags, roll mats and tent into bin bags (where they still are), took them to the car 鈥 then went for pizza! To summarise All the campsite staff were really friendly 鈥 our midnight singers were only given a gentle suggestion that they should shut up at 23:45 and we heard a harmonica and singing long after this. At no point did I feel worried about my safety or that of the tents contents. All in all I had a great camping experience that was made even better by the organisation of the site and the very friendly campers who called it home for those few days. 听Oh 鈥 and the loos were very much bearable! Lessons learnt - Make sure you secure the tent
- Bring food that will cook quickly and is filling
- Find parking that doesn't involve an early morning alarm
- Bring more than one jumper and a coat
- Don't be afraid to chat to random festival goers
- It's possible to survive on main meals consisting of jam sandwiches!
Bring on 2007! | 
