Camping in hot weather

[FusionChefGeoff]

We’re off this weekend forecast is 30 degrees! I’m more accomplished with early May bank holidays with the night temp hovering around zero.

Any tips or tricks for making it enjoyable?

am taking a gazebo for shade and a baby paddling pool with squirter things to play with. DD10 and her friend so thankfully not little kids.

Electric cool box if you have a hook up if not take extra ice packs to put in the camp site freezer.

Freeze everything you can before you go e.g bottled water, milk, bacon for breakfast. All of it will stay cooler for your first night.

What are good food items to take that won’t spoilt in the heat , apart from canned food?

Be careful with elecyric coolboxes... they work by maintaining a difference of temperature. They don't do to well in extremes.

Keep the doors open but flysheets shut to encourage air flow.

You can put an emergency foil blanket over the tent (shiny side out) to reflect the sunlight and keep the inside cooler. Either that or disassemble the tent during the day so heat doesn't get trapped inside.

Shade the tent - can you put a huge dark tarpaulin over the tent?

I know this isn't really in the spirit of camping but if you have hook up a small fan really helps! Cooling towels too.

Freeze Capri suns or juice boxes in advance. I think they defrost quite slowly and are refreshing acting as reasonable ice packs too. On that note have much more drinks available than you think you need!

USB chargeable fab.

We're camping this weekend too. Would a little desk fan blow the electrics? (I've not used a hook up before)

Try not to pitch under a tree because 1 the sticky stuff will bake onto your tent and 2 of the weather breaks and you get a storm the dropping twigs will scare the life out of you in the middle of the night. Can you tell I've got that t-shirt? Also take a duvet cover to use as a sheet sleeping bag so you're not lying on the mat if it's too hot for sleeping bags.

If you’ve got hook up it definitely wouldn’t - I’ve known people to take air fryers!

Main tip is make sure you get out of the tent before it gets too hot - as soon as it starts warming up with the sun on it, it’ll become unbearable in no time, so be ready to get up and outside. And saying that, see if you can get your tent positioned so it’s in the shade in the morning. It’s quick enough to cool down in the evening if you just get the doors / etc opened up.

Any tips about how to work out where will be in shade?! I’m rubbish at that stuff. We’re arriving in the evening so if I face the setting sun, it will rise directly behind me yes? So I need to try to position something between the rising sun and us?? V

We once went to a festival and it was so hot all the crayons melted in the tent! My tip would be just not to spend much time inside the tent, the gazebo sounds good for some shade. It should cool down in the evening once the sun goes down. The tips about freezing water bottle to use as ice packs/then drink is a really good one.

This is the site - would the pitches on the right by the trees likely to be shaded in the morning??

We always have EHU and take a fan when it’s hot and an electric blanket when it’s cold.

Can you go another time? I’m imagining it will be hellish.

Fill a large thermos with ice, it will last for a day or two. Put the gin in the freezer before you go and cover the tonic in ice packs.

A couple of USB desk fans have helped us out a few times. They can be powered by those little power banks that people use to charge their phones on the move.

Yes, that looks definitely the best bet. Sun should rise up behind the trees so if you're close up to them, you should have shade in the morning for a bit at least, till it gets higher in the sky. Hopefully you won't be woken at 5am by sun on the tent anyway!

I've camped in really warm weather before and it was surprising how much the temperature dropped in the evening/overnight when you are in a field away from buildings that retain heat.

We’re not far from home so if it’s really terrible we can bug out and come back! Love the ice in the large thermos flask definitely trying that out. I have a feeling the shady pitches will be taken by the time we get there but you never know.

You could always park the gazebo just behind you to make some shade! Good luck, it’ll be great!

I usually go for waking up absolutely roasting at 7 in the morning with a bone dry mouth, stripping off all my clothes in a blind panic, and rapidly opening and getting out of oven tent as quickly as possible. Usually much cooler outside! Good luck.

Agree with jumping out the tent at 6 or 7am. It feels like an oven after that!