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Well done, Eimear, impressed as always. Like you, I have now increased my food intake to take into account the exercise I am doing.

That tent is a beauty, plenty of room for you all,as for sleeping maybe camp cots/beds with a foam mattress on top,or maybe get a memory foam topper to go on top of your air mattress, you want the firmness to be close to your mattress at home as that might help you getting a good night's rest,as for spud he was the king of the castle, always try and go somewhere quiet, maybe your dad knows of a few places 🤔, I'm glad you got out and enjoyed yourselves, just bring your own pillow if you have the space.

Aaaah the great camping gear journey begins.......... With sleeping gear you have plenty of options and it really comes down to how much room you have to carry it and how much you want to spend. I now use a self inflating mattress, which I have used for years now, but have added a camp stretcher as well as I was finding that sleeping on the ground for more than a couple of nights was getting more difficult as I got older. It's an awesome setup and very comfortable, imo, but it takes up a fair bit of room in the vehicle as well. There are way more compact options but they tend to be expensive when you buy quality gear, which I always do for the important stuff. You have a channel over there called Kent Survival who does a lot of bushcraft/camping and he often uses compact gear that he talks about and he has a gear channel as well. One thing I would recommend to save you having to wash/dry your sleeping bags as much is a cotton liner that you put in your sleeping bag and you get in it like a whole body sock. They aren't expensive or take up much room and they're much easier to wash/dry. I don't think that washing sleeping bags often is much good for them from memory. You could probably make a liner quite easily. Only a few weeks away from my next trip. Likely about a week away in the Desert but unfortunately we have to go during the school holidays due to work commitments for one of the group. Hopefully it won't be too crowded or noisy. Might even have a go at driving up the biggest sandhill in the state if I put my big Girl panties on and want to give my vehicle a bit of a thrashing. Either way there will be plenty of alcohol, food and lots of bs so a perfect trip with a bit of luck. Better grab some leg protection as the snakes will be starting to wake ups as well. Keep practising as you will get better each time and don't forget to make and follow lists so that nothing is forgotten. Cheers.

In my opinion the most comfortable night sleeping outside is not on an air mattress of any kind. It's in a hammock. Not super practical where you were camping, but if you are in a place with trees, it's far superior if you buy an appropriate hammock and not a short and narrow one.

Those air tents are great - till they leak 😞 - get a cordless air pump, will save you lots of hard work 🙂 Bed wise, it is going to be a trial and error thing, I use either a 10mm foam bed mat or a thermorest self inflating bed mat (but they are quite expensive now) and you can also now get double bed sizes ones now Maybe a double sleeping bag to share the warmth and also if you are used to sleeping next to your partner (as in a normal bed) might make the sleep situation a bit better A pillowcase will take up no space, stuff it with spare clothes or a jacket for a pillow. Did you say that you wore leather boots to bed ? 🤣🤣Get a pair of thick hiking socks, they will be much better to sleep in, maybe not so much fun though 😎 Spud will soon settle into it, just needs some more practice to get used to it. Glad that you had a better experience 👍🏼👍🏼

That tent is Palacial Eimear. Spud is obviously the King of the tent! I can understand why you chose it. My only concern is that if you were in a SHTF you may be without a vehicle. This is one of the reasons I mentioned the two-tent setup: you could both share the load in the event of a disaster. You would find it impoosible to carry such a large tent. That being said, it's not a SHTF it's a camp, one that I hope you enjoyed. 👍👍👍

The tent looks great.

SPUDD ON TOUR!!!

That is quite a crop you have their Eimear, next job with be trying to preserve it all :-)

Wish I had that much land 😢😮. Good for you 😊

Your potato harvest looked really good,yes keeping on top of everything with a big garden is a lot of work,get yourself some battery or petrol tools and it will soon make the job easier,as for other places just run a lawnmower over the top of it and throw it on the compost pile and it will break down nicely as long as you get the right mixture of greens and browns, your tomatoes look like triffids they've grown well, looks like you made a day of it and i bet you will sleep well.

No, No, No, socks are never to be worn with sandals 😭😭 Glad (or surprised 🙂) to see that the home made tarp cover was still up - that stands you in good stead for a prepper bug out 🤣🤣

It's amazing how much work you have to put in sometimes, even on a relatively small plot. These spuds make it worth it, though. And Spud the pup had fun with the barrow, lol.

Success I've seen people growing spuds in newspaper lined laundry baskets to cardboard boxes. Congratulations so rewarding

P.s yes I did forget something 🤦

I'm glad you enjoyed yourselves and didn't kill eachother 😆,you can pick up picnic sets cheap in the charity shops all the cups and plates etc are plastic or tin and easy to clean and lightweight and there's usually room for a stove,as for keeping warm try and get two windscreen reflectors the bubble wrap style,as for sleeping bags check the rating on them to see what season they are for and remember that you are squashing the insulation as your laying on it,as for cleaning you can get collapsible wash basons, you can also get compact lanterns with a hook or use a small carabineer like others have mentioned,its all a new experience for you both, definitely get another tent but take measurements so you both end up being comfortable, and don't forget hot chocolate at night,i camped and fished last night and it was good, well the camping part was, I caught a little bass on the way home but it weren't a keeper, definitely store all your kit in a tub/really useful box or if you want something heavy duty go for a strata storage tub from Argos, and always write a list when you're packing as it helps a lot 👍

At least you both didn't hate the experience, which is a real positive 🙂 I would camp away from the toilets as they are normally in use all night with people swinging torch's around as they navigate to them. Buy a set of camping cook ware, it will be lighter as thinner, so the food will cook quicker, you can get small stacking units with the lids acting as lids or frying pans. Also buy a couple of sets of plastic / melamine eating sets (big plate, bowl, and mug) and 2 KFS (knife / fork / spoon) and a couple of tea spoons. A couple of 5lt collapsible water containers will sort out the water situation and also fold flat for storage. A small kettle will boil the water quicker than a pan Get a plastic container to store all of the camping kitchen stuff in, so that you don't leave either the house or the campsite with something missing A small carabiner to hang the LED lamp will make removal a lot easier. A tarp or groundsheet laid under the mattress will stop some of the chill coming up through the ground (or even one of your emergency blankets) Think flip flops instead of wellies, less space to pack and the morning dew will wash your feet on the way to the toilet block 🙂 (and easier to put on than wellies) If you get to take Spud, you can get a giant corkscrew ground peg, that will let you tie him up, up still let him have some run around space without disappearing into a neighbours tent 🙂 Glad that you both are going to have another go - but sit down and write a list of what you need or learned from this trip and obtain the items, it will make the experience a whole lot better - as we need more campers, it is a dying art 🙂

Short but sweet. I am glad you enjoyed it enough to try it again. Halfords are not the greatest, but they will do at a campsite. Be kind to yourselves when you buy a new tent. To avoid squatting on top of one another, either get a 6-person tent, or better yet, this is just my suggestion. Purchase two two-person tents that are orientated so that their respective entrances face one another, then place a tarp in the centre. You can all have more living space outside while being protected from the sun and rain with an inexpensive tarp. All experience is valuable and I know you will take something away from this that will help you in your future adventures. I am happy the head torch proved useful. I am excited to follow your next journey! 😆👍👍👍

With an airbed just be careful that the cold isn't coming up from underneath so something underneath may help. I have a Rubber backed picnic rug. Air beds are evil as they will likely get a hole in them at the worst possible time. Head Torches are an extremely useful camping item. I now only use a tent that I can stand up in and have one that pops up with an folding frame and Fly. Take up more room and a bit heavier but easier to set up and use imo. I have dedicated boxes for various things that I keep a list of. Even one with your Kitchen/Cooking items would be good and there are plenty of lightweight things like Cutlery, Plates/Bowls etc etc. It will cost more and need to be stored but will also be available to quickly chuck in your vehicle if you need to get out of the house.

So rewarding having your own spuds.

wow that is a really interesting job. Breaking everything down into manageable bits is always a great way to go. you are absolutely right it can be overwhelming so doing things in your own way that works best for you is so important. Great start hun :)

Eimear, have you seen "Thebowlerhatfarmer" ? He's a farmer type named Mark and is trying to get up a scheme where they help people learn to grow their own food and create community that can swap advice or get help (similar to the prepper MAG) Might be a useful channel for you ?

Fyi the hexamine stove you showed are now illegal. Governent have banned them as hexamine an explosive precursor. In saying that i still have a good supply.

No

What's the diffrence, muscle wise use to normal squats ? Never seen this one :-(