First Night
- Thread starter Pandabean
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Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.
Cheap and cheerful and a good size for a shelter to sit and eat under. Get hold of a few of those mini carabiners for clipping onto a taut line and you can throw one up in minutes flat.
First night under the stars was a night fishing trip aged 7 with elder brother, umbrella to sleep under cut into nettles for windbreak and old army greatcoat to keep warm, was cold hungry and tired and catched no fish and it was the most magical experience of my life, i became hooked and 41 years later still love to be out at night looking up at the stars or watching the white cloud on the wind sometimes just using a bivvy alone, any problems or worries just drift away and only the ''moment'' seems relevant, almost seems a shame to put it into words, let the experience speak for itself and be honest to yourself, and of course enjoy.
Hi Pandabean,
Sad to say, but my first night out wasn,t really the best although it was very nice, as we left friday evening and arrived at the campsite late, so no time for a nice sit around the campfire. For me the best night was the second, the day after. This is the night that has changed to ideal in my mind. It has become the night that no other night has been able to live upto.
Being in the woods all day, making the camp more comfortable, going for a walk, collecting water, gathering tinder and firewood. After a nice evening by the firewood. I just slept much better. off course in time I learned to get this sorted quicker and not to arrive in the woods to late.
If you want a tip from me, if you are going to the sleep out for the first time make sure you start to set up camp at 4 pm at the latest, eat out in the woods, build a fire and make sure you get in to the sleeping bag warm (if you get in cold you will stay cold for most of the night).
If you do this I'm sure you will have one of the best nights of your live and one you will remember for the rest of your live.
Regards,
Niels
Sad to say, but my first night out wasn,t really the best although it was very nice, as we left friday evening and arrived at the campsite late, so no time for a nice sit around the campfire. For me the best night was the second, the day after. This is the night that has changed to ideal in my mind. It has become the night that no other night has been able to live upto.
Being in the woods all day, making the camp more comfortable, going for a walk, collecting water, gathering tinder and firewood. After a nice evening by the firewood. I just slept much better. off course in time I learned to get this sorted quicker and not to arrive in the woods to late.
If you want a tip from me, if you are going to the sleep out for the first time make sure you start to set up camp at 4 pm at the latest, eat out in the woods, build a fire and make sure you get in to the sleeping bag warm (if you get in cold you will stay cold for most of the night).
If you do this I'm sure you will have one of the best nights of your live and one you will remember for the rest of your live.
Regards,
Niels
30th July 2007 was my first night out, not that long ago really, blogged it here Took the wee fella out on his first tarp night too at loch chon and he's a total convert, was wanting to hammock up in Gairloch this summer, the midgies would have stripped the flesh from his bones!!
Your worst night in the woods is better than your best day at work
more than sums it up!
Cheers,
Alan
Your worst night in the woods is better than your best day at work
more than sums it up!
Cheers,
Alan
I was out again with kids this weekend.
My first in a hammock ! Not uncomfortable but did feel strange.
2 main highlights were waking up at some point to owls then noticing a badger was snuffling round about 20 feet away ! Later it realy tipped it down and I lay there realising I was all snugged up and cosy as I watched the water pouring off the tarp edge
Pandabean , if your first is anything like mine or most others who've posted you'l soon be wondering when you can get out next ! I certainly am !!
( Also this weekend my 19yo nephew was down visiting, havn't been able to spend much time with him for several years. Sitting round a fire with a couple of beers, youngsters asleep, dogs curled at our feet, .... priceless ! )
My first in a hammock ! Not uncomfortable but did feel strange.
2 main highlights were waking up at some point to owls then noticing a badger was snuffling round about 20 feet away ! Later it realy tipped it down and I lay there realising I was all snugged up and cosy as I watched the water pouring off the tarp edge
Pandabean , if your first is anything like mine or most others who've posted you'l soon be wondering when you can get out next ! I certainly am !!
( Also this weekend my 19yo nephew was down visiting, havn't been able to spend much time with him for several years. Sitting round a fire with a couple of beers, youngsters asleep, dogs curled at our feet, .... priceless ! )
Ah yes! That was my first night too. Many moons ago - and yes it was tipping it down.
First night out - cheap poncho from an army surplus store, cheap plastic bivy bag (semi-breathable but green not orange). I was maybe 10 at the time and had just read Lofty Wiseman's survival book, 'sounds amazing' thought I 
Middle of a wood half a mile from home in the middle of winter, I got there after dark, set up camp... oh yeah I didn't mention that the sleeping bag was one of those rectangular car camping types that had also seen better days. Got a small fire going and was almost comfortable, a bit cold but I don't remember it being too bad. I do remember waking up in the early hours of the morning though, feet absolutely frozen, the forest sounding really quiet. Torch on to find snow covering everything, including the end of my bivi bag which was sticking out the end of the poncho...
Thankfully I'd bought paper and firelighting stuff with me and stored some wood under the poncho too so it wasn't long 'til I got the fire going again. Made it through to the morning with no lasting damage but a newfound love for winter camping. Oh and good kit!
Yeah bivying's great go for it! There'll prob be uncomfortable nights occasionally but you live with them and they do make trips more memorable - for good reasons in retrospect!
Ioan
Middle of a wood half a mile from home in the middle of winter, I got there after dark, set up camp... oh yeah I didn't mention that the sleeping bag was one of those rectangular car camping types that had also seen better days. Got a small fire going and was almost comfortable, a bit cold but I don't remember it being too bad. I do remember waking up in the early hours of the morning though, feet absolutely frozen, the forest sounding really quiet. Torch on to find snow covering everything, including the end of my bivi bag which was sticking out the end of the poncho...Thankfully I'd bought paper and firelighting stuff with me and stored some wood under the poncho too so it wasn't long 'til I got the fire going again. Made it through to the morning with no lasting damage but a newfound love for winter camping. Oh and good kit!
Yeah bivying's great
go for it! There'll prob be uncomfortable nights occasionally but you live with them and they do make trips more memorable - for good reasons in retrospect!Ioan
Sounds nice!First night out - cheap poncho from an army surplus store, cheap plastic bivy bag (semi-breathable but green not orange). I was maybe 10 at the time and had just read Lofty Wiseman's survival book, 'sounds amazing' thought I
Thankfully I'd bought paper and firelighting stuff with me and stored some wood under the poncho too so it wasn't long 'til I got the fire going again. Made it through to the morning with no lasting damage but a newfound love for winter camping. Oh and good kit!
Yeah bivying's great
Ioan
Hopefully we get a real harsh (and white!) winter in the Netherlands this time (although I don't count on it). I never camped in the winter/snow, but it sounds amazing when it snows. Especially when you are lying in the nature, under a tarp or self-made-shelter, and don't notice that it's snowing until you wake up in the morning.
Sounds nice!First night out - cheap poncho from an army surplus store, cheap plastic bivy bag (semi-breathable but green not orange). I was maybe 10 at the time and had just read Lofty Wiseman's survival book, 'sounds amazing' thought I
Thankfully I'd bought paper and firelighting stuff with me and stored some wood under the poncho too so it wasn't long 'til I got the fire going again. Made it through to the morning with no lasting damage but a newfound love for winter camping. Oh and good kit!
Yeah bivying's great
Ioan
Hopefully we get a real harsh (and white!) winter in the Netherlands this time (although I don't count on it). I never camped in the winter/snow, but it sounds amazing when it snows. Especially when you are lying in the nature, under a tarp or self-made-shelter, and don't notice that it's snowing until you wake up in the morning.
That's quite a large breakfast...
My first night under a tarp was a grumpy one and it was entirely my fault. Earlier this summer on the Fundamental course with Woodlore I left my lovely Hilleberg behind and climbed into by bivi bag. My Bivi is really a waterproof sleeping bag cover and nothing more. Its not really suitable for cramming a thermarest in. It was a warm evening and I was sweaty (mmm nice) so I spent the first few hours soaked with sweat wishing I'd brought my wife's bivi bag! After this I gave up and climbed on top of the bivi. Sweet relief!
Until it rained and now the outside of my sleeping bag was soaked!
Aarrgghh!!
Back into the bivi bag and now there was just rain on my face. Out of the bag, lower the tarp and back to bed.
Not much sleep that night.
For all subsequent nights I borrowed an army surplus bivi and pitched the tarp a bit lower. These nights were terrific, the bag was spacious, the views were wonderful and the fresh air around me helped me sleep soundly.
I've just bought a tarp and I can't wait to use it, with the wife's 'proper' bivi bag underneath...
Jay
Pretty much echoing what's already been said here. First night I spent in a Bivi/Under a tarp is unforgettable, i haven't looked back since, in fact in the last 8 years since i started using a tarp I've hardly ever used a tent, just so much more versitility offered by a tarp.
Case in Point i was on Anglessy a couple of years ago in september, big event, lots of people pitched tents and me and my friends pitched bivis and tarps, we were the subject of a few giggles and laughs while the weather was fine....then the worst storms in 20 years hit, tents were being decimated, ripped out of the ground, thrown into the next field..in short a disaster. Up near the fence line, 6 tarps and bivis sat, holding there own, I could have been sat under it perfectly dry and warm with a nice brew on, if we weren't being so nice and helping pin down tents and rescuing folks gear!!
Besides the fact that a well rigged tarp will keep you warm and dry in the harshest weather, you do feel so much closer to nature and to me there is nothing like waking up with snow all around you, admiring the view, then making a morning brew without even having to leave your bag
Case in Point i was on Anglessy a couple of years ago in september, big event, lots of people pitched tents and me and my friends pitched bivis and tarps, we were the subject of a few giggles and laughs while the weather was fine....then the worst storms in 20 years hit, tents were being decimated, ripped out of the ground, thrown into the next field..in short a disaster. Up near the fence line, 6 tarps and bivis sat, holding there own, I could have been sat under it perfectly dry and warm with a nice brew on, if we weren't being so nice and helping pin down tents and rescuing folks gear!!
Besides the fact that a well rigged tarp will keep you warm and dry in the harshest weather, you do feel so much closer to nature and to me there is nothing like waking up with snow all around you, admiring the view, then making a morning brew without even having to leave your bag
My first night out was on the Howgills in Westmorland about 35 years ago.
I had a good blanket, my penknife, a knapsack and a packet of sandwiches.
I slept on a pile of bracken next to a dry stone wall with that blanket wrapped around me, looking up at the stars.
Never really been the same since. Can't stand hotels and guest-houses, much rather be out there somewhere.
The gears a bit more sophisticated now but the principle is the same.
I had a good blanket, my penknife, a knapsack and a packet of sandwiches.
I slept on a pile of bracken next to a dry stone wall with that blanket wrapped around me, looking up at the stars.
Never really been the same since. Can't stand hotels and guest-houses, much rather be out there somewhere.
The gears a bit more sophisticated now but the principle is the same.
I remember my first night out in the Canadian wilds, 5 or 6 hours or treading along with no one in sight.
I started out thinking I was the luckiest man in the world, 2 hours later I was wondering if I should turn back when I could. 2 hours later I wondered if I should just curl up where I was. An hour or two later I thought I had gone to heaven when I found the perfect, quiet lovely spot for the tarp.
Got sorted out, had some dinner, fiddled with fire curled up into my bag and again wondered if it was too late to go back.
The morning was brilliant and all I wanted from then on was to back time and time again, particularly alone and with the smallest amount of kit I can manage.
In short, you'll love it, hate it and then be obsessed by it.
Best thing you could ever do.
I started out thinking I was the luckiest man in the world, 2 hours later I was wondering if I should turn back when I could. 2 hours later I wondered if I should just curl up where I was. An hour or two later I thought I had gone to heaven when I found the perfect, quiet lovely spot for the tarp.
Got sorted out, had some dinner, fiddled with fire curled up into my bag and again wondered if it was too late to go back.
The morning was brilliant and all I wanted from then on was to back time and time again, particularly alone and with the smallest amount of kit I can manage.
In short, you'll love it, hate it and then be obsessed by it.
Best thing you could ever do.
Summed it up perfectly
Pantalaimon - fingers crossed for a white winter for you then! Professionally I'm half dreading the white stuff. And in terms of what I'm gonna do when I'm off work because of it... bring it on
my first night was with army cadets and we were on a training area called castlemartin. our enemy for the exesize was the gurkas. the two nights i spent there were very memerable. the first night we had to 'basha up' in a feild full of bracken, which was supriseingly comfy to lay on. there were no trees to set up a tarp (we called them bashas) so we had to make our army issue 58 ponchos into makeshift bivi bags by poping the sides together. i remember worrying about if it rained because 58 ponchos are tiny! and barely covered me and i was very short being only 12 at the time! castlemartin was a tank training area and i must have got an hours sleep when i was awoken by them on the ranges at night. it was almost like lightning, first you see the flash from the musle blast then you here the boom. i layed there for about half an hour trying to sleep over the tank fireing in the distance. i almost made it back to sleep when the gurkas came to say hello, lots of gunfire followed by 'stand to stand to!' i riggled out of my sleeping bag, boots, jacket, webbing and grabbed by rifle while being shouted at for being too slow. by the time we were ready to fire they were gone and we eventuly cralled back to sleep. i awoke at 6 to my section comander shaking me and it took me a moment to remembered where i was. we didnt even have time to get breakfast befor we moved out.
the seccond night wasnt so eventfull it was about 7 o clock and we were told to grab some sleep it was still light and there was a posability that we were going out again so i didnt get in my sleeping bag or set up a basha. next thing i wake up freezing cold staring throught the blackthorn into the star filled sky. it was 1 in the morning! i had no idear where my sleeping bag was so i just roled up in the poncho i was laying on and fell back to sleep. we woke up at 5 and it was still dark and packed away our kit and we walked too miles and got our own back on the gurkas
i lernt two thing from that, the importance of organiseing your kit and dont mess with the gurkas lol - there awsome
pete
by the time we were ready to fire they were gone and we eventuly cralled back to sleep. i awoke at 6 to my section comander shaking me and it took me a moment to remembered where i was. we didnt even have time to get breakfast befor we moved out.the seccond night wasnt so eventfull it was about 7 o clock and we were told to grab some sleep it was still light and there was a posability that we were going out again so i didnt get in my sleeping bag or set up a basha. next thing i wake up freezing cold staring throught the blackthorn into the star filled sky. it was 1 in the morning!
i had no idear where my sleeping bag was so i just roled up in the poncho i was laying on and fell back to sleep. we woke up at 5 and it was still dark and packed away our kit and we walked too miles and got our own back on the gurkas i lernt two thing from that, the importance of organiseing your kit and dont mess with the gurkas lol - there awsome
pete
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