Would you spend the night in a tent alone?

[Bilzo]

For some reason throughout lockdown I’ve had to fight an urge to go as far away as possible, to a big mountain type space, put up a tent, get inside, zip it up and lie there until morning.

I don’t even have a tent.

But if I got a tent and all the bits, and did some research on where to camp (I don’t mean a campsite, I mean middle of nowhere) would I be completely mad to do this?

Since duke of Edinburgh days at school I’ve had a sort of low level longing to “bivouac” as it’s seems such a simple, “earthy” thing to do. As I child I liked to find a shelter from the rain and make myself as cosy as I could with my jacket and watch/listen to the wild weather while staying dry in my little corner of a tree or something,

It feels romantic and natural and yes I’m aware I am coming across as barking mad now.

Is it safe for a lone female to camp out?

Does any one else do this?

I feel it will be a therapeutic escape for me. Of course it might also be awful and I won’t sleep a wink but I can look forward to a nice hot bath once home.

I would but I'd take dog with me who acts as an instant alert system when necessary. Although he'd probably instigate a scrap with a badger or fox in the dead of night, so maybe not.

I dream of doing this too. Has anyone else read Robert MacFarlane's nature books? He often goes off into the wilderness and just sleeps in a thick sleeping bag. I am definitely going to do the same when the kids are older and it's easier to escape on my own. We've given up on family camping we just end up with no sleep and we have to pick a crowded school holiday site with playgrounds and showers and things. I want to find somewhere remote after hiking all day and fall asleep looking at stars. Even if you don't sleep the night spent alone in nature would be lovely. Definitely do it if you have the opportunity.

No way, I would be too scared of ghosts/monsters/dinosaurs

(As a kid we slept in someones back garden in a tent around the same time the first Jurassic Park movie came out, I now worry about t-rexes stamping on tents!)

bilzo I normally stay midweek (one of the benefits of shift work) and book small sites that allow fires. These are generally not marked pitches and people visit them because they want space so you're unlikely to find a tent on top of you when you get back.

I also find this easier as I'm able to pitch up, leave the car and hike for a while then when I get back my tent is all ready.

JacobReesMogadishu

That video

I could feel her terror through my screen. Imagine having to sit up all night with a mountain lion outside your tent. No wonder she was crying.

But wasn't she worried about bears? All my Canadian friends have a too-close-for-comfort bear stories - one was nudged by a bear though the tent wall, another's Dad chased one off by banging pots and pans together as it was coming in the tent....

I hiked alone in Canada, and always had an edge of fear / alertness about bears. Stayed in lodges at night. Wouldn't have camped alone in Canada. Did camp with friends, but felt on edge then, too!

And she was in California. Suppose a rattlesnake seeking warmth tucks itself under your tent?

gosh, I've done this loads, when travelling in foreign places, back when no one had mobiles. Read too many Josie Dew & Dervla Murphy books when young, maybe. No biggie. Josie Dew can't be more than about 5' nothing. I would do it again if seemed suitable.... except I don't like Camping. I like hard 4 walls, but I wouldn't be afraid of anything happening just coz I'm lone female. I am big and bad tempered, which helps I suppose.

I love Dervla!

I'd say go for it. Take a weapon of some sort and tuck it under your pillow. Firewood. Firefighters. Preferavly a loyal dog.... I've camped alone in England, Italy, Spain, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro; at festivals, allsorts. Never once felt endangered.

Another Dervla Murphy fan, @lijkk! I met her once in Galway and was star struck.

Even though she’s out of my league for nerveless cool — like the bit she describes in Full Tilt where she’s in a lorry that crashes at night in the mountains (not even sure what continent) and is attacked by wolves she has to shoot on her way through the forest to get help — I’ve certainly solo wild camped.

Yes Ihave about 3 times the past two weeks. It hardly gets dark this time of year. I pick places accessible by foot only. Bring brandy and a battery bank. Love it. Have never felt fear or had reason too. Its statistically very safe. Far safer than being at home, or a hotel or a camp site.

Read up on it first. It's one of the beat things I've done.

I read The Salt Path, (great book), then camped in the garden. It is lovely, but I think you need to keep it up for more than one night, because the first night you never sleep much, then you’re exhausted so you do. And you get used to sleeping on the ground.

Might sound weird but are you in your late 40s. It's very peri menopausal to want to go away and live in a cave

@user12699422578

There is risk everywhere, but it is far greater in towns and cities than in tents in remote fields. The higher the density of people, the greater the risk. Humans are dangerous.

OP, Dartmoor is lovely, I wild camp there alone often. Once I unzipped my tent and there was a Dartmoor pony and her tiny foal looking in!

Ooh, maybe we could start a Dervla Murphy fan-club thread. I've got her Palestine book and it was really interesting all the wandering around she does on her own. By then she's in her 70s (or older?) so physically cautious but basically reckons that as an old lady she doesn't threaten anyone which makes her far safer than if she was actually a physically imposing person.

I got annoyed with DM in Ethiopia book coz she was obviously eating some of what very little food households had. That's the trip where she got robbed 3 or 4 times but wasn't put off another 40 yrs of travel writing (& nor should she). Later I read Mark Beaumont's account of cycling thru Ethiopia which was super depressing, sadly. He rated border countries highly, though, and did rely on security escorts in places. All of these names are long distance solo travellers.

Nope

I will be there if you do @lijkk. She’s in her late eighties now!

I’m not an uncritical fan of hers either — I find her a bit colonial in the earlier ones where she moans about ‘progress’ and the people she’s travelling among using plastic containers rather than traditional pottery, and seems completely blind to the fact that this is a very privileged view. I mean, it’s fine for her to rough it temporarily, but these people, for whom it isn’t temporary, aren’t unreasonable to want easier lives, roads and a source of income other than subsistence farming.

But I’m very fond of lots of her books, and her good humour, unflappability and sense of beauty.

No! I wouldn't even sleep on top of a duvet alone.

No I would never spend the night in a tent alone or otherwise. I am lucky enough to have a house to live and don't see the point of roughing it in a tent.

No I wouldn't but only because I dislike camping immensely. I don't think I'd be scared. I used to do all sorts of stuff when I was a lot younger - wander around in the middle of the night on my own etc and I used to go running round the streets at midnight as I just liked being out at that time.

I'm just trying to picture my husbands face if I announced I was off for a run now. Nothing surprises him about me though

Might sound weird but are you in your late 40s. It's very peri menopausal to want to go away and live in a cave
Really? Maybe this is why I am drawn to it. I read The Salt path and joined a fb camping group too. I am a bit scared but determined to do it. Worried about wildlife too, and physical aches and pains!

I sort in a tent in the garden with DD the other week and it has given me a taste for it.

It poured down with rain and the sounds of nature were amazing. I loved being cold and snuggling up to keep warm.