Tents and Tent Stability: A Month-Long Camping Adventure in Germany - In a Rather Dodgy Tent!

As he heads rapidly towards his fifties and realises that the most exciting event in his life is the arrival of a new range of men’s winter pullovers at Marks & Spencer, Chris Lown embarks on an adventure that he hopes will quell his growing feeling of middle-age restiveness. With his backpack, his walking boots and the cheapest, most unreliable tent that money can buy, Lown sets off on an ill-fated camping expedition around the national parks and nature reserves of Germany. His mission: to explore Germany’s rustic countryside and historical towns, meet the local people, eat their cheese and drink their beer. Whether riding a draisine in the Uckermark National Park, witnessing the spectacle of rabbit showjumping in Jena or bathtub racing on the Edersee, Lown takes in the sights and dissects the culture as he zigzags his way around all sixteen of Germany’s states. But his tent doesn’t fare quite so well. After it survived an act of wanton vandalism, battled against inclement weather and was torn to shreds by a fox with a rapacious appetite and a penchant for Knackwurst, Lown is finally forced to concede that buying a cheap tent wasn’t the wisest of decisions.