Old timer kit

[rik_uk3]

I'm 54 on the 15th October, and reading through various forums got me thinking about the kit I used when I first started camping/hill walking back in 1966

From memory my first kit ran along the lines of

Army sleeping bag, down, WW2 (and used for years after)
Enamel mug
Army mess tins
Torch (ex army from @ WW2)
Army rucksack of some sort
Couple of candles
Spare jumper and shirt
Spare socks and pants
Anorak of some kind, in the early days often an ex forces job
Soap, toothbrush, towel, toothpaste
Compass
Map of Snowdonia
Matches
Primus stove

Tent, fuel and food was given out by the teachers as needed, most food revolved around corned beef, cheese, dried spud, oats, dried milk, chocolate, nuts and raisins, cocoa, sweetened condensed milk, Spam, bread, jam and butter.

So what are your early memories? Please give an idea of the dates you used the kit

 

[malcolmc]

I’m a similar vintage. I’m very impressed by how much better modern kit is, particularly rucksacks and boots.

My earliest camping was with the Scouts, memories of baked beans followed by burn, bash and bury the tins . Doubt that’s done these days!

 

[rik_uk3]

I’m a similar vintage. I’m very impressed by how much better modern kit is, particularly rucksacks and boots.

My earliest camping was with the Scouts, memories of baked beans followed by burn, bash and bury the tins . Doubt that’s done these days!

The problem these days is that the cans are often not buried

Agreed, modern gear is a vast improvement on most of the gear you and I used, the quality of some kit though remains much the same

 

[John Fenna]

My first hikes (early 70s - I was a late starter as for age 12 I lived in Belgium with no english speaking Scouts or similar and non outdoor parents) were with a steel framed canvas and leather rucksack weearing some ww2 wool issue trousers or Derby tweed britches, cotton jacket, cooking on an american messtin over hexi. boots were industrial - not steelies though! - Scottish bunnet, wool shirts, merino undies, ragwool socks, Dachstien mitts, shetland wool balaclava, Blacks sleeping bag, single skin cotton pup tent, poncho/groundsheet. No self inflating mats or foam ones for that matter - you slept on your spare clothing as insulation!
The good old days!

 

[squantrill]

I’m a similar vintage. I’m very impressed by how much better modern kit is, particularly rucksacks and boots.

My earliest camping was with the Scouts, memories of baked beans followed by burn, bash and bury the tins . Doubt that’s done these days!

Our scout leader would never let us get away with that.. I remember every camp we went to Jack (the leader) would scout the camp after every meal/wash up. If there was even the smallest piece of porrige left on a blade of grass he would find it. And he would get us all to do some wierd clean up the toilet thing!!..

Still remeber it though many years later, every camp I have I spend the last 15 mins looking around picking up small bits of paper food that may have got dropped!!

 

[DKW]

Our scout leader would never let us get away with that.. I remember every camp we went to Jack (the leader) would scout the camp after every meal/wash up. If there was even the smallest piece of porrige left on a blade of grass he would find it. And he would get us all to do some wierd clean up the toilet thing!!..

Still remeber it though many years later, every camp I have I spend the last 15 mins looking around picking up small bits of paper food that may have got dropped!!

I do that same thing to my scouts... good ole days are nevertheless not all bad then i guess.

nice thread.

Well for the most part of my kit and ways of doing things, i have gone from good ole days, to brand new ultra light weight, and now going back again. Probably end up somewhere in between.

 

[Sniper]

First started in the 60s with army blanket as a sleeping bag, canvas tarp from a truck, cut and shaped like a baker style tent but much smaller, enamel mug and enamel billy for making tea and boiling water, army mess tin for cooking food, carried in an old Swedish army canvas and leather rucsack. Knife was a sheath knife which had a wooden replacement handle fitted by my grandad, I wore a canvas hiker smock and moleskin trousers with army DMS boots with canvas gaiters, not forgetting the ubiquitous bobble hat. Compass came from a pair of "Wayfinder" shoes(anybody remember them?) and carried newspaper for starting the fire. My other bit of equipment never left behind when camping in those days was a 410 folding shotgun known as a poachers design. Couple of tins of beans, some flour, salt, tinned milk, sugar, tea leaves, and fork and spoon. Always had a few spuds, and turnips from farmer's fields and if you could find a friendly cow a spot of fresh from the udder milk. Ah the good old days, kit weighed a ton, continued need to refresh the fire through the night to stop you freezing, soaking wet when it rained all the fun of the fair. Loved every miserable minute of it.

 

[SimonM]

As a Scout in the early 80's our Troop was one of the first to stop using the old canvas "Nijer" style tent.

We caused outrage among the more traditional local leaders.

Only 3 years ago tho, I underwent expedition training and one of the team building exercises was to put one of these beasts up. 2 of us on the course were / had been Scouts and so were made to sit out the challenge, because we would have an unfair advantage. I kept really quiet, cos I'd never put one up and they looked very cumbersome to my modern way of thinking.

We had to sleep in the beast that night - 6 complete strangers, one of whom, ground his teeth in his sleep constantly. Thankfully I had my modern kit with me, and slept a few yards away in my MOD bivvy bag.

I now assist the teeth grinder at Scouts, but always make sure that my tent is no where near his!

My personal gear is a mix of modern and traditional now:-

• I have reindeer hides and modern sleeping bags to choose from.
• Hobo, Trangia and multi fuel pressure stoves amongst others to choose from.
• Waterproofs are a mix of Goretex and Ventile.
• Tarps are a mix of Cotton and sil nylon.
• Fire lighting again has choices from flint and steel to ferro rod to windproof lighter.

Each has its place and its uses, but I find myself choosing to use the more traditional items in my inventory these days. Just more satisfying to use I suppose... if a little heavier!

Simon

 

[DKW]

Ah the good old days, kit weighed a ton, continued need to refresh the fire through the night to stop you freezing, soaking wet when it rained all the fun of the fair. Loved every miserable minute of it.

Might aswell join this.
Wouldn't have done without it.

 

[malcolmc]

Our scout leader... would get us all to do some wierd clean up the toilet thing!!..

...

Our leaders always found some reason for giving us the same duty; it was supposed to be good for our souls. Don't remember being all that convinced of that at the time.

 

[rik_uk3]

A friend of mine and his wife still use two Nijer/Icelandic type heavy cotton tents, both of them are nearer 60 than 50 (friend and wife that is, although the tents can't be far off) and put them up plus fly sheets unaided without a problem. I'll ask his permission to post some pictures of his xmas camps up in the lake district His photo's, complete with his series 1 Landrover are fantastic

New disigns can be wonderful, but I never had problems (other than weight) with cotton tents, I never had them blow down on me, or get wet from condensation, or leak etc

 

[BorderReiver]

Early '60s with a mate. An Egyptian cotton tent with wooden poles; single skin; no groundsheet. Old blanket and extra clothes for sleeping. Mum's old frying pan and a fire for cooking.

Happy as a pig in an oak wood.

 

[Rothley Bill]

He He Nijers featured heavily in my first camping trips in the 70's, as does being lifted onto the back of a flat bed truck sitting on the kit all the way to camp.
Now find myself still extolling the virtues of the nijers et al. If pegged correctly they stay up in all weathers. Just a bit heavy to cart about if doing a multi stop trip. We cooked on open fires or as a treat we used primus parrafin stoves, or a dodgy petrol 2 burner could have been a coleman?
Kit was what ever we could find I dont remember buying anything special, perhaps an enamel plate. I still use the stainless steel mug my uncle made for me all those years ago, its seen better days but its an old friend.

 

[squantrill]

Our leaders always found some reason for giving us the same duty; it was supposed to be good for our souls. Don't remember being all that convinced of that at the time.

hahahaha it wasnt just our 'chief', then hahaha.. I found some old photos of a camp in dorset many years ago with the old troup brought back many found memories

 

[DKW]

guess an "oldschool" camp, would look something like this:

Or at least this is how it looks when i'm out and about on Scouting-Trials here in Denmark.

 

[mortalmerlin]

I started in the Cubs in the UK, Oh the memories The old canvas tents, the freezing cold nights and the porridge in the morning. Then I had a break until I joined the cadets, scouts in our area seemed a bit naff.

But I was digging around in some of my old kit and got my old 58 webbing out last week. I was supprised to find how well all of my kit fits into it and how comfortable it still was to wear (allowing for some readjustment of the straps as the webbing seemed to have shrunk several sizes over the last decade of storeage). I think I will be trying it out on my next venture and see how it compairs to a modern rucksack.

 

[Wayland]

guess an "oldschool" camp, would look something like this:

Or at least this is how it looks when i'm out and about on Scouting-Trials here in Denmark.

Looks like one of our living history camps.

 

[DKW]

Looks like one of our living history camps.

It actually does. I've spent quite some time on one of the danish living history workshops/museums, and the picture you showed is pretty much the same. Fascinating

 

[Toddy]

First ones I slept on the boat my dad built. We had a tarp over the boom to create a kind of tent. Primus for heat and cooking, down sleeping bags that stuffed into kit bags. Grey army framed rucsacks and a willow picnic basket to hold the crockery and food stuffs.
All along the Gareloch, the Holy Loch, Loch Fyne and Loch Long.
I still remember the smell of the seagrass that my moses basket was made from and I recall my little brother sleeping in it too while I slept on top of the bags on the burden boards.

Scouts were definitely Black's nijers In fact I think there may still be one up our loft from when they were finally thrown out in favour of nylon ones.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[galew]

I was never in the scouts, grew up on a farm, parents did not go to church, when tried to join the scouts, said couldn't because didn't go to church.
Got my early camping a few years latter, bought a canvas pup tent, rained all night, but didn't get wet. Did not know enough to not pack the tent wet so when latter tried to use it, was molded and rotten. That limited my camping for several more years. Now I wonder why I thought I needed a tent at all.