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Great Camping Hunt
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Please be very very careful. Anything gas could kill you. Best not to bother but simply make sure you have decent sleeping bag and thermal underwear and insulation UNDER your sleeping bag, a good rule is two layers under for every layer above. Woolly socks too! I swear by a silk sleeping bag liner. Makes your sleeping bag a nice place to be...
Or get EHU and use a fan heater.
DRY: Reasonable tent. as big as you can afford or carry.
WARM: A decent sleeping bag will probably cost £60 upwards. Cheap ones leave you shivering at 4 am.
A silk liner.
A foam sleeping mat at the very least to insulate you from the ground.
Thermal underwear as pyjamas. Keep a fleece handy in case you wake up cold in the night.
A blanket over the sleeping bag if you are car camping and have the space to carry it.
Those foil survival blankets can go under the tent, they weigh nothing too and are about £2.
COOKING:
A Coleman stove uses petrol you can siphon out of your car/bike and is cheap to run. An MSR Pocket Rocket stove if you are travelling as light as possible.
Zip lock bags.
A small board to cut up food on.
QUIET:
Foam earplugs shut out the noise of neighbours/kids/birds/cows/chickens "LaserLite" ones can be bought in boxes of 200 pairs. Re-using your used ear plugs is not nice... please dont do it.
LIGHT:
A headtorch is essential.
A little candle lantern adds a comforting glow outside the tent.
COMFORT:
Little fold up stools.
A small plastic sheet to put out side the tent as a doormat to stop you treading grass and dirt inside.
Single Malt Whisky.
All this does add up but will last for years. Apart from the Single Malt...:beer:
we are 2 adults + 1 13year old son, Our 20 year old plans to fly out for a week so a site with Bar, shop, Pool (not an necessity) would be good. Hoping for some recommendations.
Thanks Savvyshe
Barclaycard £3840.00
If you are looking for a campsite try www.ukcampsite.co.uk
There is a campsite search facility and this website with reviews from campers that have stayed there.
Thats where I find most of my campsites
Jen
The forums are good too,aswell as the site search
Take one of those plastic trugs - great for kids having a bath in
Lost kids always go down hill......
Joining the Camping and Caravanning club is a good idea, cheap, and they have lots of basic sites - often just fields but with facilities in the farmhouse. These sites are very cheap and great for kids to be staying on a real farm.
We have a 3-way fridge, this is combined with a leisure battery and solar panel. This still needs charging up after a week or so but saves throwing food away in hot climes.
12v portable DVD player (and long extension lead into tent) means kids fall asleep when adults feel like a drink.
Oh and my list has a brush and dustpan on it
I have two old z-bed matresses (they're going in the car anyway).
You don't need new pots and pans - a pot you can do a "chuck everything in" dish and a frying pan. Yes, everything put in one box - if you can't keep "special" camping stuff, make a list of what you need and keep that in the box when you're not camping.
If you're taking a tent you need help to put up I suggest you take someone who is actually able to help in that task!
If you have to sit on the floor, Poundland or some other cheap shops are doing tarpaulins (6'x4') for £1 - I only bought 3 so there should be plenty left or you could always use bin bags under a rug.
Kids love camping and it's wonderful to wake up with the sun streaming into the tent
Good luck with your camping and at least give it three goes before you make a decision not to do it again.