On 04/05/2021 12:45, R D S wrote:
On 04/05/2021 12:37, T i m wrote:

We have woken up several times to that sort of damage on campsites but
luckily (so far anyway) it's not happened to us. Part of that may be
down to reasonable quality kit (even as simple as decent tent pegs)
and good 'prep' if there is a storm on it's way (additional guy lines
and even guying the motorcycles upright etc).


You've just made me recall a camping trip in Wales (Shell Island), our
tent pulling shapes with poles snapping and having to unravel the mother
in law from her completely flattened one!
Moving cars around in the dark trying to use them as windbreaks.
Maybe i've got PTSD.

In 1999, not far from Salzburg, two evenings before the total eclipse of
the sun, we were camping and in the midst of barbecuing our evening
meal. The end of the valley darkened, it suddenly got cold and gusty.
Clouds formed a horseshoe around the end of the valley and lightning
swept almost continuously across them. Our food was just ready as the
storm reached us and we retreated into the tent.

All four of us had to hold the tent down to stop it being blown away -
suffering painful bruising as golfball sized hailstones were hitting our
hands through the canvas. Water was being driven straight through,
despite the tent having just been re-proofed.

At one point I shouted that if the tent really started to go, we'd all
have to let go or be taken with it!

After a few minutes, calm descended and we could look around.

We and everything in our tent were soaked through. A number of tents
were flattened and the one next to ours was ripped open. The tree in the
next field was down and the roof of the house over the river was ripped
part off. Caravans and motorhomes were badly dented and some had broken
windows.

The site was without electricity for the next 8 hours - but we could at
least gather the hailstones ... we'd been wondering where to buy ice for
our coolbox to cool our beers.

We slept in the car and the next morning drove to pick up another friend
from the airport - drying what we could in the footwells, with the
heater on full and the windows open on both legs of the journey.

The next night, the same clouds and lightning formed as we were
barbecuing again, so we stuck everything and ourselves in the car, after
tying the tent to the towball and just sat it out!