Now that we are car campers we have a Vango Brecon 450 airbeam (National Trust partner) which I bagged for half price when nobody wanted them. It appears to be similar in features and size to the old Stargrove and new Lismore 450 models.
Admittedly this was the first time out of the bag and only the second time that I have put up an air tent but the overly optimistic erection time of ten minutes turned into around 1 hour. I noted that one guy rope was missing and the assortment of cheap and nasty pegs was a huge disappointment. I had remembered to take the Hilleberg Y pegs from our ageing Nammatj 3GT and glad I was that I did. Those Vango pegs are good nor absolutely nothing.
With the tent up and carpets laid in the parlour and the bedroom I set about establishing the kitchen in the porch area with a table and a Camping Gaz double burner and grill. There followed a Vango Family Shelter (misshaped tarp) over the long side and high back Helinox chairs with a second table for general use. And finally the super large Exped air mattress, pillows and sleeping bags with some rechargeable lights hung from convenient hanging points around the inside of the tent with one under the tarp by the side door.
Camp established.
And just when I settled down a ridiculous crimped bungee peg loop at the back of the tent just let go requiring some fettling with a short loop of spare guy line.
We finally settled down to a comfy weekend of camping where stooping and crawling was not necessary and generally all was well.
And then came the wind and the rain with mighty force.
The weird tarpaulin came down of it's own volition and the guy lines slackened off. The cause of the latter was ridiculous knots which were effectively slip knots thus they simply "slipped" when the wind buffered the walls of Castell Brecon.
Still, the tent remained waterproof and a cloudy but mildly warm and dry morning enabled me to pack it away dry. We'll, I say pack it away but no matter what I did, it simply would not fit into it's bag. A larger bag is required.
Vango seem to have a habit of providing their tents in bags which just fit a tightly factory packed new tent but take no account of a tent once released into the wild. I eventually persuaded the tent into the bag but one seam of the bag has started to complain just like the waistband of my trousers does.
The less-than-perfect quality of Vango necessitates a full set of Y pegs, a guy line to fill the gap where a guy line should already be, a bungee and a larger bag of approximately 180 litres of capacity to hold said tent when not in use.
As for Twitey's: Mike Twite was very pleasant and helpful, the site is quite fabulous although the showers leave much to be desired. We had a fire in the fire pit on pitch on Sunday evening and enjoyed the company of three friends. The Garden Shed cyclist friendly cafe in Wellesbourne is superb and we also enjoyed a visit to Hill Close Gardens in Warwick. A very enjoyable two night break.
Recommendations for a suitable 180 litre bag for the tent would be helpful, please.
