Camping and sailing..

vyv_cox said:
Bala lake in North Wales is hard to beat. Llangower campsite on the water's edge, beautiful surroundings, no motorboats on the lake, plenty of walks in the area and castles not too far away.
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This would have been my suggestion also as did this two years ago with my son who would have been 10 at the time. Fab location with access close by to the narrow gauge railway.

http://www.balacamping.co.uk/gallery
 
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Lake Garda - Italy
There are lots of campsites.
Sailing is predominantly at the Northern end of the lake....... as are the mountains..............and a castle.
 
SWMBO and I did this for nearly 10 years in our GP14 before we drifted into bigger boats. It's great fun.

Lots of good suggestions so far, we mainly sailed/camped in the Lake District esp. Ullswater (Glenridding end which was superb, went back there for many years). We'd go up for two weeks and alternate walking the fells one day and sailing the next, varying a bit depending on the weather. Every day ended at the pub though :)

We camped/sailed at:

- Ullswater
- Bassenthwaite
- Tamar river (at Weir Quay SC, with the GP14's mostly)
- Falmouth (Restronguet, again with the GP14's)

We'd planned to head off to Bala in North Wales and a few other places in Scotland but babies came along etc etc and when we started sailing again we had moved to Suffolk and decided to go for a small cruiser rather than a dinghy.

Now that I know more about the East Coast I'd certainly suggest Essex and Suffolk. The Walton Backwaters, the Blackwater and the Deben are all brilliant places to explore and less congested than the West Country or the Lakes (although Ullswater was always a delight).

Had always planned to take the kids out and do this but they've been too spoilt with big boat sailing now.

Neil
 
As a kid we always camped and sailed at pentewan sands Cornwall. Just between Falmouth and fowey

Also lake annecy france
 
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LadyInBed said:
Landrover towing - think of the fuel!
How about Hamworthy and Arne peninsula?
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A Lark dinghy a with a couple of bikes behind a landrover is going to make no difference, in fact if I keep to the towing limits it will probably improve fuel consumption :encouragement:.

Present thoughts are to plan 3 or 4 places at various places in every direction and see how it works. Sadly being school holidays I may have to book in advance and cannot wait to see how the weather is....

Landy towed 1.8t of caravan to John O Groats a couple of years back. As long as we stuck to the limits it made little difference, get it up to 80 and yes the fuel gauge does move visibly :disgust:.

Still good if thoughts if the weather is unsettled close to home so easy if weather turns, keep the ideas coming...
 
I grew up in Stithians (Cornwall) and learnt to sail at Stithians sailing club which was based on Stithians reservoir.

It is now known as Stithians Watersports Centre and is based on what they now call Stithians Lake.

Advantage to sailing here is that it is fresh water (yes, we drink it!), sandy shore, slipway, pontoon, rescue boat and either equipment hire or launch your own craft and you can't get blown too far away from shore.

The pub at the entrance to the Watersports Centre is the Golden Lion Inn.. Camping facilities in their back garden overlooking the lake.

http://www.swlakestrust.org.uk/leisure-activities/watersports/stithians-lake

http://www.golden-lion-inn.co.uk/camping/4569732581

Some good photos on the Watersports Centre Facebook link..

Aerial photo here shows the top left red dot covering the Golden Lion.. and the Watersports Centre just on the shoreline below.
http://www.cbwps.org.uk/cbwpsword/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Stithians-Reservoir-1-.jpg
 
I once took a caravan to Milaricky (sp) bay Loch Lomond without toys, everyone else had them, was gutted.

Took a Mirror to Isle de Oleron and Isle de Re on Eurocamp holidays, they were good. It's a fair drive once in France but not too bad with a cabin on the StMalo ferry. The sites are top notch and usually right on the beach to the point where dropping the mast was optional before returning to the site.
 
VicS said:
The Camping and Caravaning Club Boating group might be of interest to you. For the future if perhaps too late for this year.

We were members for a good few years and had numerous good holidays, camping and sailing, as well as weekends, with them. Usually not on big commercial campsites.

http://boatinggroup.weebly.com/

:)
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Fully agree with that one. Camped with them several times at Thorney Island, Milford Haven and at Parrog, West Wales. Many advantages for families, i.e. Many other children, family activities other than boating, campsites not available except to the group.
 
If you didn't want to travel far then Cobnor in Chi Harbour with a day trip to Porchester/Southsea Castles would fit three of the four requirements - can't do mountains, but there's always Butser Hill.. :D
 
Fantasie19. Thanks for that agree with lack of mountains might be an issue... Although good poor weather option, she can be a bit of a fair weather girl...

Although she has just added climbing to the list :nonchalance:..

Is going to be one hell of a holiday to fit all that in!
 
If climbing is on the list then Calshot activities centre becomes a possibility. Sailing in the Solent or more sheltered waters behind Calshot Spit, climbing wall (huge) and ski slope in the activities centre. Probably able to get tuition in kite surfing. Hurst and Portchester castles in close driving distance, not to mention Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Camping on site.
 
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alahol2 said:
If climbing is on the list then Calshot activities centre becomes a possibility. Sailing in the Solent or more sheltered waters behind Calshot Spit, climbing wall (huge) and ski slope in the activities centre. Probably able to get tuition in kite surfing. Hurst and Portchester castles in close driving distance, not to mention Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Camping on site.
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Good thinking... if thinking Calshot, then Lymington might be a good spot.. for camping (new Forest) and Hurst Castle (also Yarmouth Castle)..
 
onesea said:
My daughter has announced her wishes for her summer holidays...
We will have 7 maybe 10 days...

She wants to camp (under canvas on dry land). Then sail our dinghy (lark) and paddle (inflatable) the canoe on the water adjacent.

Oh and castles and mountains would be nice...

Not a big demand but help where.. We are Solent based but no objection to travel.

Lake district? Scotland? Norfolk broads? Cornwall? France? Switzerland? Belgium? Holland?

Landover Towing Lark would be the set up...

All suggestions welcome.
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For Ullswater I recommend http://www.watersidefarm-campsite.co.uk/ as suitable.

This is right on the lakeside with boat launching.

It is relatively safe as you are never more than a short distance from the shore, and with 7 miles to sail there is plenty of variety.

Also about 30 minutes walk at most from Pooley Bridge for food etc.
 
Last week I visited Nodes Point near Bembridge. There's a big caravan and tenting site there, in beautiful rolling terrain close beside the mouth of the well-protected harbour.

View attachment 42916

My main interest in the place came from looking at Googlemaps - which appears to show a short path direct from the beach, a very short distance to the camping field...so I'd thought a dinghy could be pulled out safely and securely using inflatable rollers, and the tent could be set up beside it. There are boats visible in the satellite view of the place...

...but disappointingly, the Googlemaps photo appears to be many years out of date, because there's now no path possible through thick hedge, from the beach to the field. The result is that moving the boat to a place of safety would be an ordeal requiring several sturdy adults.

It's surprising to me that few sailing clubs offer tenting areas adjacent. Lots of dinghy trailer-sailors come for a weekend race series, so I wonder where they stay and what they pay to do so. My dinghy-cruising ambitions would be much more easily realised if nights could be spent in a tent ashore, close enough to the boat to be entirely secure.
 
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