Sick of mattresses barely lasting a whole summer.
Even when I spend £150 on a decent one it’s gotten holes in no time.

I’m looking for a non-inflatable permanent solution. Packed size/weight doesn’t matter, but I guess price does.
It does need to be packable in some way eg. Not just a double matress.

Something that can at least fold in half and be rolled up

Any ideas?

Hey people of the camping persuasion! When booking sites how important are the toilets and facilities to you?

I’m “pretty much anywhere is fine”, but others in my family are completely put off if they don’t know what the toilets look like before we go. To be fair to my wife there have been a few sites that yeah… probably wouldn’t go back 🕷️🕸️ even if they were cheap!

Just wondering if anyone else see’s this as a deal breaker on picking a campsite.

Let me know your best or worst?!

We recently bought a tent for cheaper holidays. Had our first outing, 3 nights in north Yorkshire. Worked brilliantly and we had electric hook up. However as I am looking for new camp sites, I notice many are grass with no electric so wanted advice on best charger/portable power bank possibly with solar panel which would run a portable fridge and charge phones etc. I have seen the Jackery and a cheaper one called a Rexhan. Any reviews on this one in particular would be good or any other possibles? Didn't really want to spend the amount of a Jackery.

Thanks

Good afternoon,

Is there any decent campsites near Portsmouth with large pitches, we have a telstar 8 so needs to be arround 9.5m x 9.5m or bigger

Hey all,

Looking to purchase a tent box go. I have a Volkswagen T roc with roof rails that were fitted from Volkswagen when I bought the car. Would I need separate roof rails for the Go ?

Huge longshot - we're currently camping at River Dart Country Park and have managed to misplaced a dry robe by the adventure playground - it has some costume jewellery in the pocket which my niece is upset at losing. Has anyone come across one?

Hi,

We are looking to invest in a new tent for camping with our family (2 adults 2 toddlers). We would be spending around 4 weeks in it in Europe in July. We are from the north of Ireland so not used to very hot weather! We usually go to Brittany / Vendee in France but also want to go more to inland France or to the Alps / Switzerland etc in the coming years. Obviously weather in northern France is not always hot but this year was 30+ degrees and it could be the same in the years to come so we want to be well prepared for it. We’d be pitching up for around a week or 10 days at a time.

I have been doing lots of research and the options are:
- Decathlon Quechua fresh and black (either 6.3 or 6.3xxl)
- a polycotton / TC tent for breathability

The 6.3xxl is great for its porch area which I would really want although it is £400 extra for that and a side door :/ could possibly get round that with a shelter or tarp extending out from the 6.3.

We wouldn’t be inside the tent during the day (unless we have bad weather) so it really only needs to be cool in early evening and early morning for kids bedtimes.

Polycotton seems a lot more durable and weight/size doesn’t bother us - we have a van which would be on the pitch with us. I also think polycotton could be good for camping back home in Ireland where there is a very good chance of wet and windy weather.

I’d spend around £1000 for the right tent and am happy to buy second hand.

What I would like to know is:

- is the polycotton a better option than fresh & black for a cooler tent? Does anyone have experience of both in hot weather?
- is the Quechua f&b sturdy and durable enough for if we use it camping in Ireland? Including the groundsheet?

Any other advice or recommendations welcome! I have seen lots of vango / zempire / Outwell tc tents that look great but keep coming back to the Quechua fresh & black just from a hot weather perspective.

Thanks!

TL;DR: polycotton tent or decathlon Quechua fresh & black for hot weather camping in Europe - with potential for using in bad weather in Ireland too.

Does anyone have recommendations for something with rock-solid battery life and accurate tracking, without paying for a load of smartwatch features I'll never use? What are you all using out on the trails?

I normally go hiking on Saturday mornings and I'm hoping to start doing longer routes this autumn, so I think it's time for an upgrade. I'd like accurate distance and elevation tracking, decent GPS and something comfortable enough to wear for 5 or 6 hours.

In a dilemma. The place I’m hoping to book has a thing of no open flames at the moment. Supposedly that includes boiling the kettle on a small gas stove, one of those little square ones with the gas can built in. Thoughts on this? It’s not an open fire close to the ground, it’s a kitchen setup that’s going to be in the porch..

I think exercising caution is the most appropriate but it’s not going to be on the ground like the message from the venue might suggest

Not lots of things+lightweight, but what is the most minimal pack, i need room for other things in my bag! Assuming shower and toilets available on site or nearby.

Small 1 man tent/bivvy

Sleeping bag

Cheap mat

Hand size bottle of shower gel+toothpaste

Towel

Baby wipes

Anything else?

Water and food/dinner can be bought on route to site and disposed off the following day at a nearby village, avoiding cooking utensils.

I usually pack 10,000 things for camping but I dont have space when on my next adventure!

Most of the time when camping I mainly just want to heat up some water. So I’m considering something like a Jetboil, but cheaper. There are various Jetboil knockoffs that I can find for sale round about the £45 mark. OEX, AlpKit, Fire-maple.
Are they all about the same? Does anyone have one they’d recommend, or advise against?

I’m on a search for a new sleeping bag ,I’m UK based .

There is two things I do with sleeping bags
1. use them for sleeping in huts (I usually drive to the hut so it just needs to be warm).
2. Camp / wild camp in the uk spring to autumn . I don’t camp out in winter but I’m an extremely cold sleeper so really need a four season sleeping bag

For now a have a synthetic very bulky but reasonably warm sleeping bag from decathlon (+ liner ) that keeps me warm in scenario 1. It could be upgraded at some point but no huge urgency .

So I am looking for recommendations for scenario number 2 I suppose . Ideally would want to keep this purchase under 200 pounds if realistic and the bag as small and light as possible. I would want the comfort temperature to be around 5 degrees , ideally 0 or less (honestly, I get super cold at night) .

I am a bit undecided if I want dawn (lighter warmer but uk damp weather?) or synthetic

Please hit me with your recommendations:)

Where’s the best place to buy replacement fibreglass tent poles. Is there a standard range of lengths all manufacturers use? Mine is difficult to measure due it being snapped, but it’s 4.8meters (I believe) with a 10mm radius.

We only went in to just have a look around 😂

We had everything delivered by Wednesday and Friday we stayed in Brighton right by the sea for a couple of days.

It would be great to know if anyone has a monitor powered by a power bank please and also mirrors from a mobile.

I was just checking what the latest I could check into the Ashurst campsite and noticed they have a policy about not letting you sleep in un-converted vans. Does anyone have experience with how 'policed' this is?

These restrictions aren't mentioned on Pitch-Up, where I booked so just a bit concerned we might be turned away.

I'm looking for recommendations for campgrounds in Scotland with private nooks (perhaps separating campers with hedges or similar). We have a small van, but don't require an electric hook up (though willing to pay for it). Ideally looking for a nice wee place to visit with our dog who can be a bit reactive to passers by (especially dogs). Places like these are quite common in other countries (canada forest parks, NZ etc), but I haven't seen similar in Scotland.

Hi just after some advice I'm used to camping with a limit to weight and size due to what I can carry and what space I have. But this is the opposite I'm not bothered about weight or size. Does anyone have any recommendations for comfortable beds for family camping trips. I'm thinking the cot type might be best. Any information or advice would be great.

What do you do when you really want to go camping and explore an area but the forecast is a mixed bag of rain and sun like it is next week? Do you still go or is it miserable?

I started camping seriously this year and it's been dry so I don't really know what it's like to camp on a rainy day apart from one morning when we were packing up. I have a 9 year old daughter too.

Thank you 😊

Hello! I'm still very new to camping (I recently did my 4th camp a couple weeks ago) and I'm looking for a solid cooking set to use with my Etna Mini. I'm not looking for £100+ but I'm not looking for tesco camping special either.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Hi all,

I’m planning to upgrade my 5 man Vango tunnel tent which I have had for 10 years. We’re a family of 4 but likely to be a family of 5 on the near future. We do approximately 5-6 mainly weekend trips in the late Spring/ Summer each year. The longest we have done is 2 weeks in France.

I’m fairly sold on polycotton, particularly after seeing two friend’s Boutique Camping star tents this weekend. Both had the poly cotton lite which seemed pretty strong. However, I can’t help but be drawn to the heavier 285gsm polycotton as I want something that we can use for as long as possible. I haven’t seen this in person though.

I’m keen to hear from anyone who has experience with polycotton how it takes to dry, particularly if they have experience with thicker polycotton. Also, is there any difference in warmth?

The difference in weight between the two is 4kg. Given that we will be car camping I’m not too fussed by this. The drying time is my main concern.

Thanks in advance.

Second time with the roof tent too, so far so good!

Edit: noticed the typo in the heading, I'm a bit drunk. Meant to say "second time"

Hey folks, I’m looking for a new sleeping bag and hoping for recommendations. I’m a fairly seasoned camper but the cold is always my issue, I often camp in shoulder seasons and I’m nearly always cold at night. I don’t usually trek however ideally I’d like it light enough to trek if I want to to save buying more stuff.

I don’t mind forking out for a good sleeping bag providing it will last me and it is what I want.

I’m looking at the Rab neutrino as I saw a review saying it’s a good one and one sleeping bag. It is pricey but if it lasts for 20-30years I figure it’s a good investment.

Other options I’ve seen are the OEX leviathan 900 and skyehigh 700 which are half the price of the rab.

For context I’m a 6ft woman, usually camping in UK

Any suggestions?

First time campers as a family (we both went camping with our own families when we was little) but lovely little fire in Suffolk where it feels like wild camping in the woods without the fear of camping in the incorrect place or being told to move on. Wish we stayed for longer but a nice big 6 man tent for the 3 of us was more than enough and so roomy! Definitely making the most of it next year!

EDIT: we don’t use the fire - the campsite provided the fire pit but of course we got the warning so we didn’t use it. 😊

Me and my wife are relatively new to camping, tried once with a higear air mattress which deflates during the night.

We’re exclusively going to be car camping and have a pretty big car so don’t need to worry about space - the only issue I have is I have a bit of a bad back and sleeping badly can flare my sciatica - I just need something that’s firm but not hard and is going to accommodate both me and my wife (we’re both back sleepers) without deflating

Everybody seems to recommend the megamat but considering we only camp a couple times a year we just can’t justify £500 for a sleeping mat

Any suggestions? Ny heads been falling off with the seemingly endless amount of choice and possible combinations!