Rain, a backwards tent and a memorable weekend with friends

The weather looked promising

When we booked our first camping trip, Northern Ireland was in the middle of a heatwave. It had been warm and sunny all week, and the forecast only showed a little rain in the morning, so we thought the weather would be manageable. We packed everything we could think of into three cars and set off for the campsite.

It was our first camping trip as a group, and two of our friends had bought huge secondhand tents from Facebook Marketplace for us to try. We stayed at Flesk Water Camping, which felt like a good choice for beginners because it had clean toilets, a shared kitchen and plenty of space for our tents and gazebo.

Setting up the tent

We arrived at around 4:30 PM and started setting up straight away. The tent we were sleeping in belonged to our friend Denise. It was a massive three-bedroom tent that she had never fully opened or assembled before, so none of us knew exactly what it was supposed to look like.

It was basically the blind leading the blind.

After a few mishaps, we finally got the tent standing, only to realise that we had put it up backwards. Since we were only staying for one night and would be packing it away the next morning, we decided to leave it as it was.

Dinner in the rain

Once everything was ready, we started preparing and grilling our food. That was when the rain began. At first, it was only a light drizzle, so we carried on cooking and assumed it would pass, but it gradually became heavier and did not stop.

Our gazebo had been set up in another part of the campsite, so several of us lifted it together and carried it towards the picnic area. It was funny because it looked like a part of a small parade, almost like carrying one of the decorated arches during Flores de Mayo in the Philippines.

The gazebo saved our dinner, and we were able to sit underneath it, eat together and stay reasonably dry. We had also planned to roast marshmallows around the fire pit, but the rain ended those plans.

A long, wet night

The rain and wind continued all night. The other secondhand tent started letting water inside because its waterproofing had worn away, although our friends managed to deal with it well enough for the adults and children to sleep. Our tent seemed fine during the night, and we did not notice any major water coming inside.

Going to the toilet was another challenge. The toilet block was only a short walk away, but getting there meant leaving the tent and walking through the wind, rain, cold and darkness. Almost everyone in our tent ended up taking a turn making the journey during the night.

Packing up

By morning, the rain had finally stopped, although the sky was still grey. We had a full breakfast and started packing everything away. That was when we realised how wet parts of our tent had become.

The mat underneath my mum’s airbed was completely soaked, while parts of our sleeping area were also damp and a few of our belongings had gotten wet. Thankfully, the airbed kept my mum away from the wet floor.

It was a good reminder that an old tent can look fine even when its waterproof coating has already worn out. Secondhand tents should really be tested and reproofed before being used in Northern Ireland weather.

Lunch and the Dark Hedges

After packing the wet tents and loading the cars, we were tired and hungry, so we stopped at the nearby Woven Mill Café. It was convenient after camping, although the food was pricier than we expected.

Before driving back to Belfast, we made one final stop at the Dark Hedges. Naturally, it started raining again just as we got out of the cars, but by then the rain had simply become part of the trip.

We still had a great time walking around, resting and taking photos together. The Dark Hedges ended up being one of the highlights of the weekend and gave us a nice ending before the journey home.

Still a successful first trip

Our first camping trip did not go exactly as planned. We forgot some cooking supplies, underestimated the weather, put the tent up backwards and discovered that both secondhand tents were no longer fully waterproof.

But we still ate well, laughed a lot and had fun with friends. For a first camping trip, I think that still counts as a success.