Camping seems pretty much screwed at the moment unless you have a caravan or camper van...
It seemed like an apt time to rekindle enthusiasm in the recommended campsite thread but the flow has been somewhat interrupted by the slow uptake on campsite openings.
Campsites have been allowed to be open from yesterday - 4th July in England. Scotland will have to wait until 15th July. There are some campsites in England now taking bookings for tent pitches with shared toilet facilities. I have family with a pitch booked for the 12th. At this site shared spaces like rec-rooms will remain closed but the shared toilet facilities are open with measures to allow social distancing.
So there seems to be some variance in how campsites are operating right now, maybe due to the owners' personal concerns about the use of facilities. Perhaps this week's review will clarify the rules on shared toilets again but perhaps not. Maybe it is now just down to us and owners to work out how to use the toilet blocks (?).
I don't mean to overtly encourage people to travel and mix. I am fairly concerned about catching it as well as spreading it. But there are plenty of families who have been stuck together with little decent outside space and I have absolutely no problem with them getting a small break at some point this year, in what is probably the most Covid safe way possible.
I have little doubt that most sites will do what they reasonably can to help us keep each other safe, i.e. a bottle of sanitiser on the outside of the block and a sign to remind us to socially distance. But whatever steps they take it's also down to us choosing to use those facilities to be super diligent in how we use them and accept that even with our efforts we are taking a risk. Maybe take an extra stuff sack for clothes and towels to avoid using hooks on doors, and allow plenty of time for ventilation between cubical uses.
If possible to ask without just getting bogged down in the ethics of travel at the moment, is there anything we can do to help reassure campsite owners that they are allowed to operate, and any bright ideas on how they can cost-effectively improve the safety on-site? We want them to survive as businesses right?