[ti:] [ar:] [al:] [00:18.31]Economy is one powerful motive for camping, [00:22.83]since after the initial outlay upon equipment, [00:27.08]or through hiring it, the total expense can be [00:32.90]far less than the cost of hotels. But, [00:35.63]contrary to a popular assumption, [00:39.63]it is far from being the only one, [00:42.63]or even the greatest. The man who manoeuvres [00:46.63]carelessly into his five shillings worth of [00:50.63]space at one of Europe's myriad permanent [00:52.63]sites may find himself bumping a Bentley. [00:55.63]More likely, Ford Consul will be hub to hub [00:59.63]with Renault or Mercedes, [01:01.66]but rarely with bicycles made for two. [01:02.66]That the equipment of modern camping [01:04.66]becomes yearly more sophisticated is [01:05.66]an entertaining paradox for the [01:07.66]cynic, a brighter promise for the hopeful [01:11.45]traveler who has sworn to get away from it all. [01:13.36]It also provides--and some student sociologist [01:18.04]might care to base his thesis upon [01:21.50]the phenomenon--an escape of another kind. The [01:23.89]modern traveller is often a man who dislikes [01:27.44]the Splendide and the Bellavista, [01:30.15]not because he cannot afford, or [01:34.47]shuns, their meterial comforts, [01:36.67]but because he is afraid of them. [01:40.80]Affluent he may be, but he is by no means sure [01:43.61]what, to tip the doorman or the chambermaid. [01:47.83]Master in his own house, he has little idea of [01:50.05]when to say boo to a maitre d'hotel.* [01:53.86]From all such fears camping releases him. [01:57.93]Granted, a snobbery of camping itself, [02:00.02]based upon equipment and [02:03.75]techniques, already exists, but it is of a kind that, [02:07.23]if he meets it, he can readily [02:10.41]understand and deal with. There [02:14.10]is no superior 'they' in the shape [02:14.95]of managements and hotel hierarchies [02:16.07]to darken his holiday days. [02:20.10]To such motives, yet another must be added. [02:24.17]The contemporary phenomenon of motor-car worship is to be [02:27.87]explained not least by the sense of [02:29.82]independence and freedom that ownership entails. [02:31.99]To this pleasure camping [02:34.61]gives an exquisite refinement. [02:38.07]From one's own front door to home or [02:40.46]foreign hills or sands and back again, [02:42.38]everything is to hand. Not only [02:45.67]are the means of arriving at the holiday paradise [02:47.33]entirely within one's own command and keeping, but the [02:49.72]means of escape from holiday hell [02:52.21](if the beach proves too crowded, [02:53.75]the local weather too inclement) are there, [02:56.62]outside--or, as likely, part of--the tent. [03:00.45]Idealists have objected to the practice of camping, [03:04.85]as to the packaged tour, [03:07.64]that the traveller abroad thereby [03:09.52]denies himself the opportunity of getting [03:12.33]to know the people of the country visited. [03:15.61]Insularity and [03:18.07]self-containment, it is argued, [03:19.08]go hand in hand. The opinion does not survive [03:22.82]experience of a popular [03:24.40]Continental camping place. [03:27.41]Holiday hotels tend to cater [03:29.43]for one nationality of visitors especially, [03:32.15]sometimes exclusively. Camping sites, [03:35.94]by contrast, are highly cosmopolitan. [03:39.24]Granted, a preponderance of Germans is a [03:42.11]characteristic that. seems common to most [03:44.91]Mediterranean sites; but as yet there [03:47.80]is no overwhelmingly specialized patronage. [03:51.60]Notices forbidding the open-air drying of clothes, [03:54.83]or the use of water points for car [03:57.76]washing, or those inviting 'our camping [04:00.76]friends' to a dance or a boat trip are [04:03.75]printed not only in French or [04:06.93]Italian or Spanish, but also in [04:07.95]English, German and Dutch. At meal times [04:11.87]the odour of sauerkraut vies with that [04:15.54]of garlic. The Frenchman's breakfast [04:18.24]coffee competes with the Englishman's bacon and eggs. [04:21.71]Whether the remarkable growth of organized [04:25.67]camping means the eventual death of the more independent kind [04:29.50]is hard to say. Municipalities naturally [04:32.54]want to secure the campers' site fees and [04:35.23]other custom. Police are wary [04:38.51]of itinerants who cannot be traced to [04:40.45]a recognized camp boundary or to four walls. [04:44.71]But most probably it will all [04:46.68]depend upon campers themselves: [04:49.14]how many heath fires they cause, [04:52.00]how much litter they leave, in short, [04:54.96]whether or not they wholly alienate [04:58.27]landowners and those who live in the countryside. [05:01.66]Only good scouting is [05:04.45]likely to preserve the freedoms so dear to the [05:05.83]heart of the eternal Boy Scout. [05:08.38]