So the last weekend of the Scottish summer holidays saw me fulfilling my promise to my 8 year old son to go wild camping. Ever since He saw the guys in the wood at Bushcraft 2014 he has been desperate to go wild camping. We camp a lot as a family and have evolved to a trailer tent now "which isn't real camping". I have access to some hill farm and tree plantations in East Ayrshire which used to be my grandfathers place, so I knew roughly where we could go. As we were wild camping he insisted on using the Polish Lavuu tepee tent rather than the 2 man dome tent I was intending to use. This had actually been bought for a back garden play thing not actual sleeping out! To add to the experience we had polish bed rolls as recommended to me from my brother in law who swears by them for his loch side fishing trips.
We packed up, and headed out. Driving the 30 miles to the old farm steading for the hike up the moor. It rained all the way but he was undeterred. I on the other hand could quite easily have been persuaded to go home! I have 3 kids, 4 6 and 8. My wife followed in her car with the other 2 who were going to join us for the day and head off after dinner to allow them to be included.
To supplement the tepee I had a 2.4 x 2.4 tarp. Once up the tarp and tent was a good set up. I used the tarp and as a porch to the tent. Using the teepee pole as the centre point of the tarp and biased to one side to protect against the prevailing wind and rain. I was also surprised to how much room there was in the tent. We managed to get 3 polish bed rolls laid out all be it 2 of them were used for kids. My 6 year old insisted on staying the night as well. I suspected he would so had a bedroll for him as well.
With it being wet, very wet and having been wet for a week before hand all the available wood was sodden. I struggled to get a fire going using conventional techniques. I relented and got out the emergency fire lighter blocks I had with me. Once the fire was established I got all the wood I could find and stacked it beside the burning fire to dry it. I have since noticed a good fire design on the Bushmoot pics for wet logs which would have served me well if I had know or thought about it.
As this was our first wild camping experience we had forgotten a few things to help us get by. I had a trangia stove which only has 2 pans with it. I had ment to bring my gillie kettle with pans but left it at home. As there was 3 of us we were one pan or plate short. Something to remember next time, also, we had forgotten to take cups. Again I rememebred just as we arrived at site. Luckily we had a massive tin of beans and sausage with us which we used as a bowl and billy can. We also used this as our one and only cup!
It stayed dry until we beded down for the night but I was surprised at how well the tent and tarp set up handled the rain and wind. There was enough room for us all and their rucksacks at their feet and the polish bedrolls were warm and comfy. I had my rucksack buckled up and left under the tarp. Its a swiss army leather and ruberised canvas type so stood up to the wetaher outside but the tarp protected most of it. I used a couple of 1x2 plastic ground sheets as our ground sheets, we had foam mats and the polish bedrolls have a waterproof outer cover so we were well off the cold and wet ground. The only uncomfortable thing I experienced was a cold and what I thought was a drip on my head in the middle of the night. When I ran my hand over my head it turned out to be a massive black slug! Good job the kids didnt find it.
The kids had a ball the Polish lavuu remaind dry and comfortable for us, the tarp gave us extra dry space for equipment and the bedrolls were comfortable, dry and warm. The only things I'd take next time would be cups and maybe plates if I didn't have enough pans in my cook set.
The equipment although heavy and bulky did exactly what it was designed to do and I was suprised how comfortable the swiss army rucksack was and how much space it gave me. The bedrolls weren't too heavy as the kids both managed to carry their own in their packs. I'm looking forward to an other weekend honing our skills. Hopefully the weather will be better and we can practice fire lighting maybe even get a rabbit or 2 for the pot. The weather was terrible and my sons .177 air rifle pellets weren't able to zero so there was no point in trying to hunt dinner on this trip.
So in summary I would recomend both the teepee and the bedrolls if you don't have far to hike with them.
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/il6t463lygwxj0s/AACad-i9M6-ZmDKhME1ymp9Ea
Setting off
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/njs94cnwf2ono7x/AAAbEToqEm-FLKiYGSpPkfFxa
Teepee and tarp set up.
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/nmfka08a1lwxv4w/AACZAdeuaitRwKY_wKep5oPYa
Drying socks
We packed up, and headed out. Driving the 30 miles to the old farm steading for the hike up the moor. It rained all the way but he was undeterred. I on the other hand could quite easily have been persuaded to go home! I have 3 kids, 4 6 and 8. My wife followed in her car with the other 2 who were going to join us for the day and head off after dinner to allow them to be included.
To supplement the tepee I had a 2.4 x 2.4 tarp. Once up the tarp and tent was a good set up. I used the tarp and as a porch to the tent. Using the teepee pole as the centre point of the tarp and biased to one side to protect against the prevailing wind and rain. I was also surprised to how much room there was in the tent. We managed to get 3 polish bed rolls laid out all be it 2 of them were used for kids. My 6 year old insisted on staying the night as well. I suspected he would so had a bedroll for him as well.
With it being wet, very wet and having been wet for a week before hand all the available wood was sodden. I struggled to get a fire going using conventional techniques. I relented and got out the emergency fire lighter blocks I had with me. Once the fire was established I got all the wood I could find and stacked it beside the burning fire to dry it. I have since noticed a good fire design on the Bushmoot pics for wet logs which would have served me well if I had know or thought about it.
As this was our first wild camping experience we had forgotten a few things to help us get by. I had a trangia stove which only has 2 pans with it. I had ment to bring my gillie kettle with pans but left it at home. As there was 3 of us we were one pan or plate short. Something to remember next time, also, we had forgotten to take cups. Again I rememebred just as we arrived at site. Luckily we had a massive tin of beans and sausage with us which we used as a bowl and billy can. We also used this as our one and only cup!
It stayed dry until we beded down for the night but I was surprised at how well the tent and tarp set up handled the rain and wind. There was enough room for us all and their rucksacks at their feet and the polish bedrolls were warm and comfy. I had my rucksack buckled up and left under the tarp. Its a swiss army leather and ruberised canvas type so stood up to the wetaher outside but the tarp protected most of it. I used a couple of 1x2 plastic ground sheets as our ground sheets, we had foam mats and the polish bedrolls have a waterproof outer cover so we were well off the cold and wet ground. The only uncomfortable thing I experienced was a cold and what I thought was a drip on my head in the middle of the night. When I ran my hand over my head it turned out to be a massive black slug! Good job the kids didnt find it.
The kids had a ball the Polish lavuu remaind dry and comfortable for us, the tarp gave us extra dry space for equipment and the bedrolls were comfortable, dry and warm. The only things I'd take next time would be cups and maybe plates if I didn't have enough pans in my cook set.
The equipment although heavy and bulky did exactly what it was designed to do and I was suprised how comfortable the swiss army rucksack was and how much space it gave me. The bedrolls weren't too heavy as the kids both managed to carry their own in their packs. I'm looking forward to an other weekend honing our skills. Hopefully the weather will be better and we can practice fire lighting maybe even get a rabbit or 2 for the pot. The weather was terrible and my sons .177 air rifle pellets weren't able to zero so there was no point in trying to hunt dinner on this trip.
So in summary I would recomend both the teepee and the bedrolls if you don't have far to hike with them.
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/il6t463lygwxj0s/AACad-i9M6-ZmDKhME1ymp9Ea
Setting off
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/njs94cnwf2ono7x/AAAbEToqEm-FLKiYGSpPkfFxa
Teepee and tarp set up.
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/nmfka08a1lwxv4w/AACZAdeuaitRwKY_wKep5oPYa
Drying socks
