Good idea camping close to home to start with - only a short hop if you forget something critical, or if something bad happens like leaking tent etc! (not that it will!)
A nice cool beer at night is another good idea - although I think I must be allergic to it as I keep waking up with a splitting headache next morning!
Good idea to cook something at home, like a stew or curry etc freeze it in acontainer and take this with you in a cooler box. You can then eat this on your first night as it should have defrosted by then.I also use vacuum bags for the bedding pillows etc. Happy camping
I'm a recent newbie and scanned the forums for tips before my first trip. These are the tips that helped me:
Take butchers hooks (can buy cheap plastic ones in Tesco) for extra hanging space in the showers. Just pop one in your toilet bag.
Take a packet of food/sandwich bags. Can't even remember what I used them for but I used lots!
Take plenty of carrier bags
Oh and if you have a simple bucket toilet ( Kampa Khazis are brilliant by the way), another tip from forum members was to forget about the expensive 'loo blue' stuff and just use water and a few drops of ZoFlora (59p from Home Bargains type stores). Worked brilliantly - no smells.
Seriously thanks for the replies so far everyone, we really do appreciate it, I have read the sticky mentioned earlier about wind and pitching correctly I've posted this on that thread but thought I would copy it here too to see if anyone has any ideas : Hi a cracking read which has helped as Im a first time newbie .. Can I ask I have a Hi Gear Mojave 5 the instructions aren't fully clear and the lad I spoke to in Go Outdoors didn't seem too confident with my question which is ...I can see the pegging points around the groundsheet but on the outer fly sheet there are sets of double elastic rings, now do I peg through both of these at once or as individual rings ? I hope that is clear enough to understand
As I mentioned in my post you cant have enough pegs. If theres a ring or loop near the ground I put a peg in it. I don't know if its right or wrong but it works for us. Geoff
Gaz, we peg through the elastic loops on their own as they need to kind of splay out around the tent so that any rain runs down and as far away from the base of the tent as possible :)
If you have a couple of flasks, fill one before you go with super chilled fresh milk. It should last 2-3 days if kept shaded. Also worth making a flask of tea or coffee to give you more comfort when putting up the tent.
We're not in a position to pack the tent last, on top, as its bulky. It sits at the bottom. So if its wet, we would have no option but to remove other things first.
The cheap tarp idea is useful for unloading onto, if its wet and muddy.
------------- MAY 2017 - Loch Ken, Scotland
JUNE 2017 - Sango Sands, Durness, Scotland
AUGUST 2017 - Balloch O Dee, Galloway and Invergarry
SEPTEMBER 2017 - three brief trips
OCTOBER 2017 - hopefully one final trip before Halloween