By: Blonde Two
Camping in the sunshine is a wonderful experience and one that outdoor lovers in the UK tend to appreciate all the more for its rarity. Whether you choose to camp in a tent, a van or under a tarp, we give you our ten top tips for keeping cool when you are camping (we are sure that you will need them at least once every three years!)
1. Choose a campsite with trees or tall hedgerows, or pay a bit more for a shady spot.
2. Use a compass (we told you they were useful) to position your tent or van so that it will provide shade throughout the day. (Hint, round these parts, the sun travels across the southern sky).
3. Take twice as many ice packs as you need. That way you can have some in the freezer (many campsites provide one) and maintain a fairly constant cool box temperature.
4. Make use of rivers and streams. If your cool box doesn’t leak, stand it in running water. If it does, fill a bucket with water and stand your milk in it to achieve the same effect. Don’t leave food etc around at night… you never know who will be watching!
5. Wear less clothes. People expect slightly odd clothing at camp (if they don’t you won’t know) so remove the bra, wear bikini bottoms to the loo or live in your flip-flops, whatever suits (or doesn’t suit) you is fine.
6. If you are leaving your camping abode on a hot day, make use of the curtains to keep things shaded.
7. Invest in a mosquito net. Many tents have net-only options on the door, but if yours doesn’t or if you are in a van, a mosquito net hung from a washing line can help you keep the air in and the bugs out.
8. Make hay while the sun doesn’t shine. If it is hot, you will probably be in the midst of the longer days of summer. Do any physical camp jobs early in the morning (not the noisy ones) and enjoy a siesta in the afternoon.
9. Keep hydrated. Carrying a bottle of water around with you soon becomes second nature once you start and is good practice for when you are out exercising. This one is a double whammy because, the more you drink, the more exercise you will get walking across the field to the loo.
10. Hot drinks are more cooling than you imagine. Get used to black tea and coffee and you won’t have to worry about the milk going off. Herbal teas can be very refreshing as taste just as good when they are cold.
We hope that helps you to keep your cool when you are next camping. If nothing else, just my writing this blog post will almost certainly mean rain…
Good points! Here are a few extra ones:
4a. Stream-cooling is not just for food and drink: don’t forget to immerse yourself as well, then dry out naturally.
5a. Wear no clothes at all, except when in full sun. This will require one of the following:
(1) a naturist campsite.
(2) shrubs (or your tent) behind which to hide from passing prudes.
(3) supreme confidence!
5b.Wear loose white clothes in the full sun, preferably soaked in water.
7a. Remove the flysheet from the tent (if its design allows it) when there is no chance of appreciable rain.
Some great additions there Peter. B2 did sit in the River Exe last week, as did the milk!