British Wet Weather Camping Tips!

[Samon]

This thread is dedicated to collecting tips, advice and information for camping in our wet months.

Very often our weather is quite unforgiving, wet, cold, muggy and a bit miserable but alot of people still get out there and have a good time! I would like for all of you who get out here when it is like that to bundle your valued advice here for the rest of us!

It would also be pretty useful for each person adding information to state what region of Britain there are in so all the tips can be used accordingly. I'm from the south west where there are alot of trees and hills.

So for the sake of keeping a positive attitude in these often unpleasant conditions, stick anything useful right here for us all to learn from!

My advice is: Enjoy the sounds of the rain, in my opinion it's one of its most appealing aspects.

Thanks in advance for all the input guys!

 

[AndyJDickson]

My location in Northern Ireland. The best advice I can give about rainy day camping is make sure you have a place were you can cook and dry when needed. eg when buying a tent ensure there is a area which you can cook in (extended porch etc) or when sheltering/swinging set up a covered area for a fire/cooking station. I know from experience there is nothing better than dry clothes (feet in particular) and hot food at the end of a wet day.

 

[gabrielsdad]

Not everyones cup off tea. But ive been breaking my son in, and out tentipi and frontier stove. Weve had pretty much every weather going the last few weeks. The tent is always bone dry and theres no condensation at all with the stove. And all the gear dries inside during the night aswell as cooking indoors. This is yhe route ive gone down to make it comfortable for my lad. But hes only 16 months. With regards to hammocking the best advice i can give is krabs on you hammock. That worked fantastic for me

 

[shaggystu]

if you're on a multi-day trip make sure that your rucksack has spare space in it when you leave home, wet tents and tarps take up a lot more space in your bag than dry ones do

 

[ged]

Shelter, obviously.

If you're using a tent, a modest tarp gives you a huge increase in the sheltered area for little weight. It makes tent living much more pleasant. If there's likely to be a lot of wind it needs to be strong. It needs to have a lot of tie points, not just for the overall force holding it down, but also for the shapes that you can make with it and things you can hang from it (e.g. water collection). A good big tarp can go over a respectable camp fire without being destroyed, a cheap scrap parachute can make a sheltered space for a large group.

A twig kettle e.g. Kelly or Ghillie can consume hours of your wet weather time making lots of drinks, pot noodles (if you can stand them) and hot water bottles. Try to collect wood for the fire and the kettle before it gets soaking wet, but small twigs dry quickly and even large branches can be dried surprisingly quickly by the fire.

Oh, and Stu's right. Dry bags. I mostly use them for putting wet things in to keep everything else dry.

 

[Hammock Hamster]

Dry sacks, lots and lots of dry sacks.... they keep the dry stuff away from the wet stuff and the wet stuff contained if you need to pack it away again.

Spare socks as there is nothing, IMO, worse than wet feet - oddly i dont care if the rest of me is drenched.

A few bits of paracord to tie onto your hammock lines to stop drips running into the hammock.

Dont leave your snakeskins (or equivalent) outside your tarp :togo: it kind of defeats the object! uppy_dog

Always carry a tarp (big enough to sit under and be protected) even if the weather is meant to be good. The amount of times this has given me a place to hunker down or on longer trips a way of preparing and starting a fire.

Carry some form of emergency/wet weather firelighting gear, hexi/bbq blocks, alcohol gel, potassium permanganate and glycerin etc... you may know every fire lighting technique going but is pretty useless when everything is soaked.

Double if not triple the amount of tinder and kindling you would usually use to start a fire and be very patient getting it to burn before adding anything bigger than a pencils thickness.

 

[mountainm]

Don't use the same routes across your pitch and if in a tent with more than one entrance vary where you go in and out. This stops you quickly developing a quagmire outside your tent.

Put old newspaper down at the entrance to put your muddy boots on.

Crocs and no socks make good summer shoes in wet weather. Just rinse 'em when you're done.

If car camping and you have to pack a wet tent away (but the day is dry) then towel dry it first. Towels can be wrung out - tents can't. It'll speed up the drying time by about 2 hours as you take it down.

Strict no shoes in the tent rule

Keep a towel by the tent entrance

If hammocking make sure your tarp covers your rain protection (drip rings, drip strips etc.)


Designate a wet area, and a dry area. Keep them organised.

 

[ged]

...Carry some form of emergency/wet weather firelighting gear, hexi/bbq blocks, alcohol gel, potassium permanganate and glycerin etc. ...

That's a good tip, I wish I'd said that.

I usually carry two or three little bottles full of meths. for starting fires, especially for the Ghilie which can burn really quite wet wood once it gets going. The bottles I use are the ones which originally had contact lens solutions in, I don't let the wife throw them away.

 

[Samon]

great advice coming up so far guys! what about sourcing dry tinder/fuel for your fire? and maximising your warmth while wet/with little protection?

what about morale?

 

[mountainm]

Rub matches in your hair to dry em off (if your hair is also dry)

 

[udamiano]

Use the weather to your advantage

 

[vizsla]

People get far too down about the weather as long as your prepared which in a seasonal country we should be just get out there and do what you would normally do with a few alterations. Larger tarp spare clothes etc. I walked straight in from work just over an hour ago put on my wellies waterproof coat cowboy hat and away i went with the dog over the fields for an hour, it was chucking it down but i stayed perfectly dry and i enjoyed it same as usual if not more so as i didnt see another soul.
So my advise is as long as your dressed right once your out there alow alittle extra time for tasks like firewood collecting and you will have a great time. Oh a little flanel in your coat pocket to dry your hands before using your knife etc is handy.

 

[udamiano]

To use the old adage.


No such thing as bad weather...only Bad clothes, and lack of forward thought

 

[carabao]

Use Jungle drills wet and dry gear, as soon as you basha up and admin done, wet kit off dry kit on, in the morning the reverse before breaking camp dry off wet on, really horrible I know but you will soon warm up. Then in the evening wether you have been walking from A to B or doing stuff localy, the prospect of a warm brew and dry clothes is something to look forward to.

 

[mrcharly]

I would say:

Assume you will get wet. Choose clothes accordingly (cotton = bad idea for base and mid-layers, polyprop not so bad, wool = best). Buffalo clothing (and sleeping bags) works really really well.

In many parts of the country (peak district, lakes, yorkshire dales) there isn't any tree cover on the tops, no firewood. Carry appropriate shelter and fuel to make a warm drink.

Beware windchill. Temperatures might be above zero, but rain+25mph winds + 10miles to shelter from wind = hypothermia unless very well dressed.

Fog or cloud cover on whale-back fells can make navigation difficult. Always know where you are, the direction of shelter (villages, roads) and carry a compass.

 

[udamiano]

Use Jungle drills wet and dry gear, as soon as you basha up and admin done, wet kit off dry kit on, in the morning the reverse before breaking camp dry off wet on, really horrible I know but you will soon warm up. Then in the evening wether you have been walking from A to B or doing stuff localy, the prospect of a warm brew and dry clothes is something to look forward to.

The problem with this, is that with the usual wind chill factor and the cooing effect that wet clothes is going to have, plus the ambient temperature in UK winters. you would be inviting Hypothermia in a short time. Better to dry out kit or make sure to change into appropriate waterproof kit as early as possible.

 

[rik_uk3]

Plan your equipment based on NOT having a fire, if you have good shelter, food and clothing a fire is a bonus but not essential.

 

[Bigfoot]

The worst part about wet weather camping (especially if it is also cold) is putting your wet gear back on in the morning - the sensation is just horrible and can really stall your start to the day. So as I have got older I confess to having taken a complete change of clothes and simply stick the soggy stuff in a dry bag. This system is only good for an overnighter, though

 

[rik_uk3]

I thought the idea was not to get wet? Goretex jacket and trousers should see you through.

 

[treadlightly]

1. It always feels colder in the rain. Expect that.

2. Wet weather is a big part of life in the UK so enjoy being out in it.