Of course, one of the attractions of a Provincial park like Killbear is its wildlife. On entry to the park, we were greeted with the sign indicating a bear was active in the park, and after checking with the ranger, it turned out that there were actually multiple bears roaming the sites. The Visitor Center tracks confirmed wildlife sightings and during the week we were there, the tracking board included: Black Bears (multiple sightings), Deer, Pileated Woodpecker, Great Horned Owl, Porcupine and others.

Our personal sightings included a mother deer and two fawns that stopped traffic to leisurely stroll across the road while we were returning from an ice run, a large deer that wandered through our camp site, raccoons (including one that spent a considerable amount of time keeping my buddies and I company, rooting through empties while we sat around the fire at around 2am one morning) and a huge brown bird that we suspect was the owl. In addition, we heard loons and owls most nights. I never actually spotted a bear, but one of our neighbors did. The second night we were there, I woke around 4am to the sound of deep growling and snuffling around the trailer. The sound of exploration went on for the better part of an hour and I’m ninety percent sure it was a bear -it was far too deep and throaty a sound to be a raccoon, but I didn’t want to draw it’s attention by opening a window and I couldn’t find any tracks or proof the next morning.

We were careful to burn off the grill thoroughly each night and all foodstuffs and the cooler went into the truck and were covered with a blanket each night. Mind you, after reading what happened in Denver last week, nothing is entirely bear proof. I kept a nautical horn near our bunk, just in case (since we didn’t want to spook them too badly, we told the kids it was to wake them up in case they slept in). We didn’t see any snakes, despite the “Brake for Snakes” road signs, but we did talk to a camper across the road from one of our sites whose brother had been bitten by a rattler while camping at the park last year, resulting in an unplanned three day stay at the Parry Sound hospital.

One way to beat London house prices and London rents is to bypass houses and flats and their attendant extortionate costs altogether. In an article of sort-of news, The Evening Standard looks at the fairly high number of people living in caravans or campsites on the edges of London, who commute in to the centre for work.

The conclusion is: it's sensible, economical and to hell with the stigma. Council workers, current staff from the Olympic park and Gladiators off the TV programme are doing it, to keep their costs down. Lucy Boggis, aka TV Gladiator Tempest is one of approximately 40 permanent residents on the Lee Valley campsite which is considerably cheaper than a one bedroom flat and puts her close to the athletics centre where she is training for the 2012 hepthalon.

Not only is caravan living in London very affordable, it's also, according to the Carry On films, absolutely hilarious too and could lead to Barbara Windsor's bra pinging into one's face. Who, in the contemplation of that, could insist that there's anything unglamorous or unseemly in opting to rent at a campsite instead of a new residential development?

Image author's own