Campsite observations, part one

After almost 3 weeks on the road I reckon that I’m now a bit of an expert on campsites, and am starting to appreciate the subtle differences between them.

We’re in Lisbon now having travelled down from Porto on Monday. We only had a choice of two campsites here, one of which was part of the same chain as Porto – the one with the scalding showers and the communal toilet rolls – so we decide to try the other one, a municipal site which had been recommended by one of our fellow travellers during our first week over here.

It is a pretty impressive site on the face of it, but as with the one in Porto, in need of quite a bit of TLC. However it does have one advantage over all the other sites we’ve been on to date. It’s sort of taken for granted that when you are on a caravanning holiday you will have to fetch and carry the water that you use – filling up vast 40 litre barrels with fresh water at a communal tap, whilst emptying the waste water ‘hog’ at another distant communal drain. In fact we’ve got two 40 litre barrels, as we found that one always ran out just as you were cleaning your teeth at night, so having a second meant you didn’t have to try and fill one whilst dressed in PJs, and in the dark.

These barrels have to be rolled on their sides because they weigh an absolute ton, but it’s something that has to be done if you want to wash, drink tea etc. However, you do get quite mean with the amount you use – re-using washing up water, measuring out the exact amount you need for two cups of tea, sharing a washbasin of water, and cleaning your teeth with a half tumbler of water, instead of running the tap. So, image the luxury of arriving at a campsite where you have your own personal water tap, and, wait for it, a waste water drain all to yourselves! It’s bliss.

We have this clever little float that works like a toilet cistern, which you pop into the barrel, and connect to the tap with a hose pipe. When you draw off water, the barrel fills itself up again without you having to do anything! And having waste water run down the drain without the need to have an intermediate container is a real treat! We’re like a couple of kids in a sweet shop, or lottery winners with so much cash they don’t know what to do with it. We’re happily using whole bowlfuls of washing up water one after another, and pouring it all down the drain; showering in our own shower (which normally means we have to fill up and empty immediately as it uses most of a day’s supply at once) and filling the kettle by guesswork, not having to worry about maybe using a bit too much water.

I know it may sound a little thing to you, but believe me, it makes us almost giddy with excitement to realise that we can be so profligate. I’m realistic enough to accept that the next site – indeed the next however many sites, will probably not have such facilities available to us, so I plan to make the most of it whilst it lasts. However, it does make you appreciate how much water we all use without thinking about it too much, and how lucky we are to have indoor plumbing without the need to fetch and carry. I for one am now much more aware of the plight of those who have to walk miles every day just to collect the water that they need.