Advice needed - camping mattresses!

[educatingarti]

OK -I am going camping this summer having not camped for 8 years. For sleeping I used to use my 5cm deep Thermorest SIM with an old roll of egg box foam on top as I found the Thermorest too hard on its own. I've just got all of these out and the foam roll has deteriorated a lot and lost most of its springiness so will be going in the bin.

Money is tight but I have tesco clubcard points to use so could get one of these at no extra cost to put on top of my current mat

or - if I was convinced it would be really comfy, I might be able to stretch to something like this - again I could combine it with my current mat.

or I could probably borrow an air-bed from a friend. I gave up on using an air-bed before as my tent is a small tunnel style one and the air bed raised me nearer the ceiling of it and it felt a bit cramped/claustrophobic

I am now much nearer 50 than when I last camped, have problems with a painful hip and have fibromyalgia. (Gulp - I sound like a right old crock don't I!). I am a side sleeper and need a fair amount of softness to be comfy and to allow for large hips!

What would you recommend?

I'm also a side sleeper with joint pain (Takayasus Arteritis) So a comfy bed is important to me also. I have a 10cms sim from Gelart but it feels hard even if I leave some air out. Ok for a weekend camp but if we are away longer I take the memory foam topper off my bed at home. It is excellent. It depends how much room you have to pack it though.
Sorry can't help with the mats you mentioned, haven't tried either.

I bought something very like this from Lidl for £29 for DS's room and for when friends come to stay the night. I slept on it recently and it is very comfy - it occurred to me that if I had room in the car I would use it as a camping mattress.

Sounds like you need some decent memory foam to top your SIM.
I'm getting the Thermarest Dreamtime which has memory foam topper and is very comfy. You could look on amazon for a cheap memory foam topper?

Thank you for all your replies. From what station said I think it is unlikely that a thicker SIM will solve the problem. Blu, your post gave me an idea! I have quite a good quality z bed and the mattress isn't too bad on that. I'm going to take the mattress off and see what that is like on the floor!
I'm taking the car and travelling alone. The only pain is transporting all the stuff from my first floor flat out to the car and back afterwards. Otherwise I can take loads --and probably will - need to learn to be a minimalist camper but there seem to be lots of "just in case" items!

MM I have memory foam topper on my normal (double bed). I notice you can buy the dreamtime topper to add to normal thermarest and I would be very tempted by this if I was certain it would be soft enough!

I noticed that they sell the toppers separately too.
I always make sure that I under - inflate my Thermarest otherwise it is too hard for me.
I have tried one before Educating (waves) and it was very soft. I had to return it though (this was two years ago) as DH flipped at the size of the mat and the memory foam topper. After two years struggling I told DH I have to buy one before this summer as I'm so grumpy if I don't get a great nights sleep. I'm a side sleeper you see. I just need to decide where to buy the Dreamtime with the slightly thicker mat and the topper combined or whether just to buy the topper for my Basecamp. I know I would effectively double the price by buying the whole thing but I am that desperate to get sleeping sorted for camping as we will be doing it for al least the next ten years every summer!

But please don't buy it on my say so and then hate me if its not soft enough, but I did find it really soft when I tested it!