Great Camping Hunt

pinkkaz

jamtart6 wrote: »

why do people think thin thermarest type things are better than airbeds? I'm intrigued?? I found in our smaller tents, the bedroom would stay nice and warm (with airbed) as it only fitted one double airbed in..our new tent fits 2 double airbeds in, has a vent in he bedroom, and i was flipping freezing last time....so any ideas to keep warm much appreciated!

Airbeds are heavy, take ages to pump up, take up a lot of space and (in my experience) get freezing overnight! They seem to dissipate heat at an extreme rate (poss cos of large surface area?) And if you get a double one I wake up every time partner rolls over. And you have to take a pump with you.

My self inflating mat is light, rolls or folds up extremely small. Chuck it on the floor and it has inflated in a few minutes, kept me cosy all night long, and it's much more comfortable imho. Cheap too.

pinkkaz

jamtart6 wrote: »

...so any ideas to keep warm much appreciated!

And if you really want to keep warm... get a down sleeping bag. More expensive but should last a lifetime if you get a really good one and look after it properly.

pinkkaz

Ooo I've thought of another tip which I found on another forum, although not tested it myself...

If you are camping somewhere hot, put one of those space blankets between the two layers of your tent to keep it nice and cool.

Gurgeh

I've just bought a tent from 'tentastic' - an ebay seller. half price brand new.

I'll be doing camping trips with my two toddlers while my wife is at work so need to be able to put it up on my own. to this end, ridge tents were out of the question.

I've got a tunnel tent, with a massive lounge space and two seperate bedrooms.

I thought it important to get a tent where the flysheet goes up first - somewhere to contain the kids while I sort everything else out!

I've got a portapotty and a trailer, Gerry cans for fresh and grey water, a leisure battery and a portable DVD player.

I'm definitely going down the disposable BBQ & paper plates route!

farrowpeas

We have recently been making the most of the great outdoors and found an excellent website that lists campsites that allow real fires -

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/articles/view.asp?id=4

We have tried a few campsites on the list and having a real fire really makes a diffference to the camping experience.. we even managed to turn a campingphobic into a fan of canvas after a night round a campfire! If you haven't sat around a campfire since scouts it is definately worth trying it again!

My BIG tip is to try to take your own wood or at least kindling. Unless you have a forest in your back garden you might not be able to lay your hands on any decent firewood!! But if you are traveling to a more rural campsite you may find it cheaper to buy fire wood from a petrol station on the way as they often have special offers. We did this once before and compared to the price the campsite was charging for a bag of logs it was much cheaper!

You should be able to sort out your own kindling though ...Collect some twigs, bits of bark and small branches from your garden or the local park before you go and keep them in a sealed plastic bag. It might sound stupid but you would be surprised how much some campsites charge for wood and kindling .. you can easily get through a couple of bags of logs a night. In our expereince most campsites charge £5 + for logs and another £4 - £5 for a bag of kindling so if you are staying for 3 - 4 nights that could make a difference to the cost of your trip.

Also .... if you want to toast marshmallows on the fire you need a LONG stick .... normal kebab skewers will burn your hands as the fire throws off a lot of heat ... it might look silly but find some big stick (1 metre +) slice the end to a point with a sharpe knife and you can comfortably sit back and toast away!!!

Check out with the campsite before you go so you don't have any surprises when you get there! .. ask about the pitches, check out the local area, find out about prices and if there is a shop on site for milk etc.

Happy Camping!

BillScarab

The_Ubiquitous_Mrs_Smith wrote: »

We're planning some "proper" camping trips this year!

It'll be my husband and I, sensible shoes, our bicycles to get us where we need to be and whatever we can fit in our rucksacks! No portable fridges or cars here!

I'm in the process of checking the mentioned sites but can anyone suggest a light and small 3 man or large 2 man tent? It has to fit in a rucksack and be light enough for wimpy me to carry! Similarly can anyone suggest some good sleeping bags that fit this criteria?

I never thought of the space bags under sleeping bags ideas but I like it and I will definately make surewe keep a roll of gaffa tape with us even if I have to wear it as a bangle becasue it won't fit in our rucksacks!

If you're going to be cycle touring you need panniers rather than rucksacks, a much better way of carrying stuff on a bike. You also need to look at getting the lightest kit you can. I'd recommend having a look at https://www.outdoorsmagic.com and ask on there about tents. However I would recommend Robert Saunders tents, they're not that well lnown nowadays but Bob pretty much invented lightweight tents. I've had a spacepacker plus for the best part of twenty years and it's still going strong. Other than that have a look at some of the lightweight tents from Vango or Terra Nova.

Good sites for ulta lightweight kit/advice are http://www.backpackinglight.co.uk/default.asp and http://www.hike-lite.co.uk/

BillScarab

Another good site which sells good value kit is https://www.alpkit.com their mats have been mentioned before I think but their sleeping bags are excellent (although they only seem to do down ones at the moment) and their down jackets are superb for the money.

bearbit

Most of the advice and tips on here are sound for those camping in the UK. But unless you drive, It is not possible to take all the gear if travelling to continental Europe.
I travelled to Sitges in September last year - had booked my flight in January but was then unable to get a place in hotel. Was also travelling alone so single person supplements were astronomical anyway. Decided to take a tent - which can be taken free on-board providing able to fit in overhead lockers, a very light sleeping bag which opens up into a quilt and then bought
a double airbed for 20 euro's when I got there.

Managed to get that holiday for £120 including flight and camp fees as opposed to the, usual £500 I would spend. Def doing the same this year. One tip - if you like to read - take a lamp you can put on your head (like the old miners lamps. Much easier to focus the light where you want it at night.

headcoat

ducatimark wrote: »

We find that when camping with 2 kiddies and 2 adults that u quickly run out of space in the car.
My car has no roof bars and as it is a rover, roof bars from halfords etc. seem to be expensive. Also dont have tow ball so trailer at moment is a none starter.
Saw mentioned earlier about roof bags but these seem to rely on your car having roof bars. I may be wrong so am willing to be corrected.
Found a product called the xrack. Has anyone tried one of these??? Appear to just lie on roof and is fixed to door and boot hinges.
Also a lot cheaper than the conventional roof rack/bars.
Any comments greatly appreciated

I mentioned them briefly earlier. The one I got cost around £90, and is desiigned to go on the roof or with roof bars, it was Kanga Hurricane and its well worth the money.http://www.touring-gear.com/eshop.php/product/department-id/36/product-id/1064/kanga-hurricane.html
I got the larger one and it fits on my Rover 400 without roof bars. The straps simply go through the car doors...you need 4 doors. You can get them for £15 from ebay but I wasn't too keen on them and people said they weren't as good.

Hope this helps

headcoat

Just looked at the Xrack, not too keen on the look of them, and although the Kanga is twice the price, it is a bag, so you don't have the worry of a suitcase falling of etc.

Drawback of the Kanga is, that ideally it need packing out, I would suggest putting all your stuff in it and then packing the sides with coats, towels etc.