So you fancy giving camping a go….?
That’s amazing welcome to the very helpful and lovely community of campers!
Here are a few tips to help get you started on your camping Journey
Plan your trip well
Now this may seems like an obvious one, but bear with me. If this is your first trip camping planning a trip to Cornwall over a bank holiday weekend with a tent you have never put up may seem like a great idea… but you would be wrong.
Travelling anywhere on a bank holiday weekend is not easy, and the South West gets particularly busy, so that 4 hour drive you were expecting actually takes 6. You arrive tired from a long travel day and now you have to set up a new tent.
You don’t have to go far to enjoy camping, we quite often camp within minutes of our home if we are going only for a night or two. The adventure is the camping and getting out into nature, not necessarily driving for 4/5 hours to get to the seaside.
Don’t over buy – Borrow what you can
Often when people start out camping, they want to buy every little gizmo and gadget that will enhance their camping experience. Whilst there are some amazing camping gadgets now available, you honestly don’t need as many items as you may be lead to believe when starting out. You can always add to your kit over time – see our post on our basic camping kit to pack HERE.
Camping can be expensive, by the time you have purchased a tent, a good sleep system and cooking set up, that cheap weekend break is now not as cheap as you were imagining. To try and keep the costs down you can often pick up items in supermarkets such as Aldi or Lidl, or at the end of season sales, you can also borrow a lot of items from friends or family. There are also now camping equipment websites set up to match equipment with borrowers and lenders such as Tent share or direct hire websites.
Prepare for all Weather
Camping is not just a good weather trip, please don’t check the weather and cancel if you see a bit of rain on the forecast, (this is the UK, there is always a bit of rain on the forecast). You just need to plan accordingly. As the famous quote goes;
“There is no such thing as bad weather, just unsuitable clothing”
We always pack Welly boots and Raincoats; as well as layers for the evening time. It can get chilly in the evening when camping, especially early or late in the season.
Relax and Enjoy!!
So it may take you longer than the other campers to get your tent set up, there may have been some strained words exchanged and your pitch may be in chaos. But just don’t worry about it. We all have been there, we all start our camping journeys at different stages in life, our first tent was a 2 man pop up tent, which was wonderful until the little one came along.
If you are not new to camping and find yourself here, firstly welcome, Feel free to share any other tips in the comments below
Camping and the Kid 