Economy is one powerful motive for camping, since after the initial outlay
upon equipment, or through hiring it, the total expense can be far less than
the cost of hotels. But, contrary to a popular assumption, it is far from
being the only one, or even the greatest. The man who manoeuvres carelessly
into his 20 pounds' worth of space at one of Europe's myriad permanent sites
may find himself bumping a Bentley. More likely, Ford Escort will be hub to
hub with Renault or Mercedes, but rarely with bicycles made for two.#
That the equipment of modern camping becomes yearly more sophisticated is an
entertaining paradox for the cynic, a brighter promise for the hopeful
traveler who has sworn to get away from it all. It also provides and some
student sociologist might care to base his thesis upon the phenomenon - an
escape of another kind. The modern traveller is often a man who dislikes the
Splendide and the Bellavista, not because he cannot afford, or shuns their
material comforts. but because he is afraid of them. Affluent he may be, but
he is by no means sure what to tip the doorman or the chambermaid. Master in
his own house, he has little idea of when to say boo to a maitre d'hotel.#
From all such fears camping releases him. Granted, a snobbery of camping
itself, based upon equipment and techniques, already exists; but it is of a
kind that, if he meets it, he can readily understand and deal with. There is
no superior 'they' in the shape of managements and hotel hierarchies to darken
his holiday days.#
To such motives, yet another must be added. The contemporary phenomenon of car
worship is to be explained not least by the sense of independence and freedom
that ownership entails. To this pleasure camping gives an exquisite refinement.#
From one's own front door to home or foreign hills or sands and back again,
everything is to hand. Not only are the means of arriving at the holiday
paradise entirely within one's own command and keeping, but the means of
escape from holiday hell (if the beach proves too crowded, the local weather
too inclement) are there, outside - or, as likely, part of - the tent.#
Idealists have objected to the practice of camping, as to the package tour,
that the traveller abroad thereby denies himself the opportunity of getting to
know the people of the country visited. Insularity and self-containment, it is
argued, go hand in hand. The opinion does not survive experience of a popular
Continental camping place. Holiday hotels tend to cater for one nationality of
visitors especially, sometimes exclusively. Camping sites, by contrast, are
highly cosmopolitan. Granted, a preponderance of Germans is a characteristic
that seems common to most Mediterranean sites; but as yet there is no
overwhelmingly specialized patronage. Notices forbidding the open-air drying
of clothes, or the use of water points for car washing, or those inviting 'our
camping friends' to a dance or a boat trip are printed not only in French or
Italian or Spanish, but also in English, German and Dutch. At meal times the
odour of sauerkraut vies with that of garlic. The Frenchman's breakfast coffee
competes with the Englishman's bacon and eggs.#
Whether the remarkable growth of organized camping means the eventual death of
the more independent kind is hard to say. Municipalities naturally want to
secure the campers' site fees and other custom. Police are wary of itinerants
who cannot be traced to a recognized camp boundary or to four walls. But most
probably it will all depend upon campers themselves: how many heath fires they
cause; how much litter they leave; in short, whether or not they wholly
alienate landowners and those who live in the countryside. Only good scouting
is likely to preserve the freedoms so dear to the heart of the eternal Boy
Scout.&