Thanks for letting us know! Sounds like the start of more camping trips to come! We go for the first time this year on bank holiday weekend. After a frozen car windshield and hail yesterday I am slightly nervous!
Sounds like you had a good time! Main thing for me is insulating from the ground, only ever spent one night camping on an air bed and it was the coldest camp experience I ever had! We use campbeds and SIMs now with 3/4 season bags and I actually get a better nights sleep than at home!
The wearing as many layers as possible seems to be a bit of a personal thing, I've tried both and personally I am in the layering up camp. I used to do a lot of mountaineering in my twenties, the coldest I camped was about minus 5 at night, on consecutive nights I tried the minimal approach and then the layering up approach, definitely warmer layering up! The extra layers add to the overall thickness of insulation. You need to keep a thin layer of air next to your body so your body doesn't waste energy losing heat to a larger volume of air.
------------- May 2015 - Arrow Bank 4 nights
July 2015 - Manorafon 4 nights
August 2015 - Piccadilly Caravan park 3 nights
August 2015 - Wheal Rodney 11 nights
We got hailed on too Marietot, at the top of a very big hill we'd just climbed up to see Blea Tarn! (lake district near Eskdale) The same day we got sun burnt actually, my American husband and stepson got to see first hand what I meant by the whole "4 seasons in one day thing" 😄
Looking for our next trip already, top of the list is a roof box, then then an EHU, and better sleeping bags (borrowed from my 4'9" friend, not so ideal at 5'10"). Plan is to go again May Bank holiday - and see if we can tick off all National Parks by end of the year :)
As for layers, we were definitely warmer the second night - with 3 layers instead of 2 along with the thick insulated socks - and hats were a must.
Quote: Looking for our next trip already, top of the list is a roof box, then then an EHU, and better sleeping bags (borrowed from my 4'9" friend, not so ideal at 5'10"). Plan is to go again May Bank holiday - and see if we can tick off all National Parks by end of the year :)
That's ambitious! There are 15 of them, and the Cairngorms and the Broads are miles from any of the others.
I'm very intrigued as to what order you'll do them in, and which ones you'll combine into one trip. Do let us know how it goes!
Just back from camping at Kelling Heath with my niece and nephew. I have to say that if anything, it was the adults who noticed the cold whilst the kids were oblivious. I'd bought them Vango bags for Christmas and they were very snug with just their thermals on inside them.
Like others above, we experienced every kind of weather in a single day. Saturday started with heavy rain, then bright sunshine and ended with 10 minutes of sleet and some more rain. I'd just finished BBQing the last burger when the sleet hit. April really is the strangest month weather-wise.
The times when I was coldest were making breakfast in the morning and packing away on the final day. In the evenings, we had a heat log in our Weber Go Anywhere followed by a blast of fan heater in the tent so were fine.
------------- 2019 trips booked so far:
Easter - Red Shoot, New Forest
May - Secret Campsite, Sussex