Clarity

I caught myself a real bargain with this one. One of the worthies on ACF decided that he had one tent too many and put this little beauty on the For Sale section with a paltry requirement of GBP90. It's been used, there's no doubt about that, but it is not damaged at all and soon lost it's musty smell after being pitched at the front of the house and having the cool air flow through it all day. It's amazing how warm it got inside whilst the sun was shining on it. It's a Spacepacker Plus MK1 from Robert Saunders and weighs a daftly light 2.2 kilos. What would I want with so light a tent you say? Weeeeeeeel, I like cycling, I also like the Isle Of Wight. I also used to like camping. I intend to combine all of these things in the Summer.

The item came with no instructions as such, so it took me a little while to figure it out. Once I had a look at it on the Robert Saunders website things made a little more sense!





(Those of you with tenty experience will see that I've not put it up quite correctly, but this was only to air it and for me to see what it's like inside.) It's just tall enough in the inner tent for me to sit up in, which is great. I never was a fan of old ridge tents in which you could only lie down, after having wriggled in first. As it has two "ends", there is a lot of potential storage space. Only the inner tent area has a groundsheet, but I guess unless I'm camping in wet weather (which I don't plan to do) storing items on the ground, contained in plastic bags if need be, should be fine.

It really is the perfect size for me. It's big enough for one large person, and would be snug for two small people. It would not suit my Beloved at all however - just far too small. He would not be able to lie down straight or sit up in it, which would not do at all.

I think a Testing Phase in the New Forest is on the cards! I now need to visit Peglers to see what's been going on with modern fabrics in terms of ground mats and sleeping bags. What fun!