By: Blonde Two

If wild camping isn’t everybody’s cup of tea then you can bet that there are only a few people out there who have thought about trying wild camping in the winter but this chilly season has lots of offer… (not least the snow predicted for my birthday today)! Here are our top ten reasons you might want to try your hand at a winter wild camp.

  1. Less bugs – if you have ever woken up with a pattern of midge bites across your face, you will know what I am talking about here.
  2. A greater sense of adventure – wild camping in summer is pretty impressive, but doing it in the winter will really stimulate your inner pioneer.
  3. The perfect excuse to buy that 4-season sleeping bag in the January sales (but hurry up, it is nearly February!)
  4. Hot chocolate – if you think hot chocolate tastes good on a summer’s evening, you wait until you try it with chilly fingers on a frosty winter morning!
  5. Camaraderie – go winter wild camping with friends and you will learn all about looking after each other and find out that shared tents are warmer ones.
  6. The landscape – wild camping is a great way to experience the landscape at unusual hours of the day but nothing can really beat a frosty sunrise (or a misty dawn).
  7. Those birds! – we campers may occasionally get irritated by them but hearing a dawn chorus in the depths of winter can be a great way of remembering that spring is on the way.
  8. A story to tell – hopefully not any tales of lost fingertips but a few, ‘I woke up to frozen boots’ stories always go down well.
  9. New skills – believe it or not, keeping warm and safe in cold weather involves a number of skills and learning is always good for us.
  10. Wellbeing – this is absolutely the most important of our ten reasons to try winter wild camping. Even if it rains, even if you don’t sleep, even if your nose turns red, we can guarantee that you will feel pleased with yourself after a winter wild camp!

 

If any of the above have left you feeling brave enough to try winter wild camping, we still have a couple of places available on our February 16th and 17th workshop. Wild camping is becoming more and more popular in the UK but how do you do it safely, in a responsible manner and without breaking any bylaws? We are lucky on Dartmoor to have the only legal wild camping area in England but this doesn’t mean that you can camp anywhere you like. Find out more on this popular wild camping workshop including safety skills, packing advice, food advice and then enjoy a short walk out to a stunning (if a tad chilly) wild camping location. Email Lucy (Blonde One) for more details or check out our outdoor courses page (summer wild camping workshops also available!)