Camping in the rain

Festival camping is so different from normal camping. For a start you have to park about three miles away from the entrance to the site so everything must be lightweight. From there you have to find somewhere to pitch your tent which is no mean feat. The hardcore party animals will have been there for hours in order to get the best pitch and it is therefore of utmost importance that you haven’t brought the biggest and most complicated tent to pitch. In the time taken to read the instructions someone else will have snuck in and used part of your space – leading to saggy tent syndrome. Which never ends well - even when the rain stays away.

In an ideal world I would take a tent with a bedroom and living quarters (for entertaining friends over a civilised meal and wine) however due to the time and space constraints a pop up tent would be ideal. Many others have the same idea so you might find yourself pitched in a field of the same tent (albeit some green others blue). Therefore some kind of patterned tent or customised tent is definitely a requirement. Unless you want to return to a drunken smelly oaf sound asleep in your tent (believe me it has happened!).

Other essentials are a wee cooking stove (so I can have a wee cuppa in the morning to wake me up) and something for boiling water in. This could double up to make porridge, beans, sausages etc. Some festivals don’t allow stoves due to the particular fire risk caused by inebriated individuals and naked flame. In this instance unless you’re prepared to lose the stove – leave it at home.

I’m not sure about essential, but I always enjoy the weekend more when I have a comfy seat. Being one of the people that always manage to sit on a huge rock or the only damp blade of grass I find that a folding chair can make all the difference. However these chairs are incredibly heavy for their size. Arriving late one year I had agreed to take an extra chair in return for a friend pitching my tent. Never again! Struggling the three miles in the blazing sunshine with two folding chairs (that got heavier every hundred yards or so) I contemplated selling the chairs to the highest bidder. Unfortunately it seems everyone had these heavy chairs & everybody was regretting it! Next time I think I’ll take a cushion!

Eating and entertaining has so far been covered but what of sleeping? Well camping usually involves a ground sheet or airbed, sleeping bag, sleeping bag liner, warm Berghaus jackets, warm socks, thermals and plenty of fleece layers. At a festival you should only take these if you do indeed intend to sleep. Plenty of money is wasted on these items every year by people who know that they will not see the inside of their tent from Friday evening until Monday morning.

Taking all these factors into consideration I would recommend researching the festival camping guidelines and rules before you buy any equipment and certainly before you pack up the car ready to go. I, along with many others, buy cheap and cheerful equipment and leave it behind on site. This seems like a disgusting waste of money however my local festival collects the tents, sleeping bags and other equipment and then puts them to good use. These items get distributed to those who actually need them, which makes a huge impact on others lives. Taking the equipment home would be more frugal on my part but I’d much rather replace it in a year and allow others to benefit.