Anyone got any experience and advice on camping they can give me? I have never done it, wouldn't have the first idea about it. But i am thinking of doing some travelling around the uk this summer and if i do it will be on a serious budget so can't see me being able to afford to stay at numerous hotels or hostels, even cheap ones can add up. Any advice on the best stuff to get? Are tents easy to put up? How do i go about locating campsites? i don't fancy just putting a tent up in the middle of nowhere and risking encountering some nutter in the middle of the night! i would feel happy being on a campsite knowing i am surrounded by many others campers. Gee realy i haven't got a clue about camping but i want to learn so i can travel and not spend a fortune:D
Camping isn't as cheap as it used to be. Most sites will charge £25 a night for a tent and this should include electric hook up. Some places you have to buy tokens to use the showers as well.
You can meet some exceptionally nice people when you're camping. If you're having trouble pitching your tent, plenty will step in to help you and if you run out of anything, need advice on your equipment, fellow campers will be only too happy to help you out.
My husband does out door camping a lot. With his bushcraft friends. I am sensible stop at home and book our holidays in the Sun.
Will you be doing it alone or with family?
Any advice I can give I will. ! X
Camping is for people who can't afford a proper holiday ... don't bother!
No, it's for people who like the outdoors, like (or need) self-catering, need space for kids to run around, or just like the informality and the fresh air.
It needn't be one or other either: in the US I used a motel some nights, and camped in national parks on others (eg. Death Valley).
However I don't fancy it in the UK as the OP is planning, because the weather isn't that reliable (and the sites aren't that great). But then some people might think a 'proper' holiday has to be overseas anyway.
I love camping. It can be as simple or as elaborate as you make it. I always feel very overpacked when I head off, but then I get to campsites and realise I'm one of the very light travellers.
OP, you can do the whole electric hook up, £30 a night sites, or you can do basic £5 a night fields with a toilet block and a tap sites. It depends what you're after, and both have their advantages. One of the nicest holidays I had was staying in a very very basic field at a fiver a night with very basic amenities, but no caravans, no cars, no noisy groups, and about 50 yards from the sea. It was wonderful.
I'd say, get a decent tent, but don't waste money on a fancy one until you know you like it. Don't get a bargain basic popup tent from the supermarket, but you also don't need to spend a fortune on a super fancy one with all the bells and whistles. Get a small ish basic one, try it out, and if you enjoy it, upgrade later to a nicer one.
I can afford hotel holidays (and I enjoy them too) but camping allows you to go places you wouldn't be able to with hotels, and it allows you to do different things. When I'm camping I love being totally away from the internet and hordes of people. I like sitting on the grass next to my tent with a beaker of wine and a book as it slowly gets darker, listening to birds or the sea, or the wind in the trees. I like waking up very early in the morning when the light starts making your tent glow, and the amazing smell of damp grass in the early dawn. I like the sound of rain on a tent while you're cosy inside your sleeping bag....
I camp to be as far away as possible from those horrible types
As I said before I used to camp a lot when I was a child and when I say camp I really mean basic camping. I used to go to Ashbourne a lot and we would camp in a farmer's field with no facilities so that meant digging a hole to use as a toilet and having a wash in a stream or river. People who camp these days are not really camping imho Yes I used to enjoy camping but I have now moved on to better things. I want someone else to cook my breakfast and to be able to relax in a hot tub and drink champagne is my idea of a real holiday away from my demanding job.
I was not trying to knock anyone who wants to pitch a tent and try to sleep when people in the next tent are bonking and keeping you awake all night. Each to their own ....
As I said before I used to camp a lot when I was a child and when I say camp I really mean basic camping. I used to go to Ashbourne a lot and we would camp in a farmer's field with no facilities so that meant digging a hole to use as a toilet and having a wash in a stream or river. People who camp these days are not really camping imho Yes I used to enjoy camping but I have now moved on to better things. I want someone else to cook my breakfast and to be able to relax in a hot tub and drink champagne is my idea of a real holiday away from my demanding job.
I was not trying to knock anyone who wants to pitch a tent and try to sleep when people in the next tent are bonking and keeping you awake all night. Each to their own ....
That is a massive generalisation though. Not all camping is like that. Not even most camping is like that. People do it for all sorts of reasons, not just because they can't afford a different type of holiday. Some people like both. Some people can afford 5 star hotels but don't enjoy that sort of thing.
^^ Pandora9 is a trolling WUM and most definitely a previously banned user. Don't feed it.
I have already said I joined last year and posted just on the music section. I am not a troll just someone who used to camp and no longer likes it. The world would be a boring place if we all liked the same thing wouldn't it?
There's a massive spectrum on camping, doesn't have to be roughing it. I 've been to an idyllic caravan site right on a beach in a village on the Moray Firth and watched dolphins. The campsites in Croatia are very luxurious and the permanent units that the Germans and Austrians have in them are really something. And you are right on the beach and they're beautifully landscaped. I find them much more fun and relaxing, not to say prettier, than a stuffy five star hotel, you could be anywhere if you stay in one I think.
There's a massive spectrum on camping, doesn't have to be roughing it. I 've been to an idyllic caravan site right on a beach in a village on the Moray Firth and watched dolphins. The campsites in Croatia are very luxurious and the permanent units that the Germans and Austrians have in them are really something. And you are right on the beach and they're beautifully landscaped. I find them much more fun and relaxing, not to say prettier, than a stuffy five star hotel, you could be anywhere if you stay in one I think.
They are are not stuffy at all, our room had air conditioning
Camping isn't as cheap as it used to be. Most sites will charge £25 a night for a tent and this should include electric hook up. Some places you have to buy tokens to use the showers as well.
It's not quite as much as that. On a trip by myself last year, I paid between €4 a night in France (in the Moselle valley), and £16 in the UK (on a site next to the M25).
The €4 was particularly cheap, but usually it's less than £16 and certainly nowhere near £25 (which is probably for a pitch intended for a huge frame tent, caravan or motorhome).
In any case, unless the weather is terrible, the cost is of little importance to me because I prefer to camp, when touring outside cities (in cities and without a car, I use hostels).
Camping World listed today a used for less than an hour Concorde L (the new Outwell Inflatable) which is polycotton (great for overseas!!) It's a starting price of 99p so if someone is on the look out might be worth watching
Dont forget to check out camp sites using google earth and zoom in to check what the surroundings are like.
If its next to a sewage arm for instance give it a miss.
Be wary of being close to beautiful streams that can turn into flooded torrent.
Also look for obvious signs at camp sites when you arrive and before you pitch your tent.. I pitched our tent only to notice after that there was a flag pole where the flag was almost being ripped off the pole!
We had a week of gales of 50mph which eventually broke the carbon fibre pole and almost took the tent away. (in the middle of a torrential rain storm as well!)
It was Cornwall though which can be a tad touchy for weather.
I went camping in France and Belgium last summer for a few days. It was great. We got good weather and just took along a campsite guidebook for Europe and stopped off at whatever one we were closest to at the end of the day. We didn't go in the high season, so there was always space. I imagine most campsites set aside a field for tents, rather than individual plots, so finding space for a small 2 man tent isn't too hard.
I'm going camping again this year, only this time I'm driving through Europe, down to Slovenia and back!
Comments
Camping isn't as cheap as it used to be. Most sites will charge £25 a night for a tent and this should include electric hook up. Some places you have to buy tokens to use the showers as well.
You can meet some exceptionally nice people when you're camping. If you're having trouble pitching your tent, plenty will step in to help you and if you run out of anything, need advice on your equipment, fellow campers will be only too happy to help you out.
I'm thinking "Statenisland" might be one of them.....;)
try searching for free camping, or wild camping
eg
http://www.ukhillwalking.com/articles/page.php?id=4731
That shouldn't be anything new to you, given your time spent on DS.
I rather not say just in case some nutter reads this and turns up at my hotel
I camp to be as far away as possible from those horrible types
go round saying "cooeee hello ducky?
Depending upon where you are going, you could always try and ask the landowner/farmer etc.
Will you be doing it alone or with family?
Any advice I can give I will. ! X
No, it's for people who like the outdoors, like (or need) self-catering, need space for kids to run around, or just like the informality and the fresh air.
It needn't be one or other either: in the US I used a motel some nights, and camped in national parks on others (eg. Death Valley).
However I don't fancy it in the UK as the OP is planning, because the weather isn't that reliable (and the sites aren't that great). But then some people might think a 'proper' holiday has to be overseas anyway.
OP, you can do the whole electric hook up, £30 a night sites, or you can do basic £5 a night fields with a toilet block and a tap sites. It depends what you're after, and both have their advantages. One of the nicest holidays I had was staying in a very very basic field at a fiver a night with very basic amenities, but no caravans, no cars, no noisy groups, and about 50 yards from the sea. It was wonderful.
I'd say, get a decent tent, but don't waste money on a fancy one until you know you like it. Don't get a bargain basic popup tent from the supermarket, but you also don't need to spend a fortune on a super fancy one with all the bells and whistles. Get a small ish basic one, try it out, and if you enjoy it, upgrade later to a nicer one.
I can afford hotel holidays (and I enjoy them too) but camping allows you to go places you wouldn't be able to with hotels, and it allows you to do different things. When I'm camping I love being totally away from the internet and hordes of people. I like sitting on the grass next to my tent with a beaker of wine and a book as it slowly gets darker, listening to birds or the sea, or the wind in the trees. I like waking up very early in the morning when the light starts making your tent glow, and the amazing smell of damp grass in the early dawn. I like the sound of rain on a tent while you're cosy inside your sleeping bag....
I've got a lovely Outwell Concorde L coming
As I said before I used to camp a lot when I was a child and when I say camp I really mean basic camping. I used to go to Ashbourne a lot and we would camp in a farmer's field with no facilities so that meant digging a hole to use as a toilet and having a wash in a stream or river. People who camp these days are not really camping imho Yes I used to enjoy camping but I have now moved on to better things. I want someone else to cook my breakfast and to be able to relax in a hot tub and drink champagne is my idea of a real holiday away from my demanding job.
I was not trying to knock anyone who wants to pitch a tent and try to sleep when people in the next tent are bonking and keeping you awake all night. Each to their own ....
That is a massive generalisation though. Not all camping is like that. Not even most camping is like that. People do it for all sorts of reasons, not just because they can't afford a different type of holiday. Some people like both. Some people can afford 5 star hotels but don't enjoy that sort of thing.
I have already said I joined last year and posted just on the music section. I am not a troll just someone who used to camp and no longer likes it. The world would be a boring place if we all liked the same thing wouldn't it?
They are are not stuffy at all, our room had air conditioning
It's not quite as much as that. On a trip by myself last year, I paid between €4 a night in France (in the Moselle valley), and £16 in the UK (on a site next to the M25).
The €4 was particularly cheap, but usually it's less than £16 and certainly nowhere near £25 (which is probably for a pitch intended for a huge frame tent, caravan or motorhome).
In any case, unless the weather is terrible, the cost is of little importance to me because I prefer to camp, when touring outside cities (in cities and without a car, I use hostels).
Outwell Concorde L
If its next to a sewage arm for instance give it a miss.
Be wary of being close to beautiful streams that can turn into flooded torrent.
Also look for obvious signs at camp sites when you arrive and before you pitch your tent.. I pitched our tent only to notice after that there was a flag pole where the flag was almost being ripped off the pole!
We had a week of gales of 50mph which eventually broke the carbon fibre pole and almost took the tent away. (in the middle of a torrential rain storm as well!)
It was Cornwall though which can be a tad touchy for weather.
Bullis##t
I'm going camping again this year, only this time I'm driving through Europe, down to Slovenia and back!