I love camping, but I feel very lost and alone when I visit the camping topic, so are there any other minimalist campers out there?

[OverMyDeadBody]

I would like to start a minimalist camping thread, as I'm sure there are other MNers out there and it would be really great to share tips and experiences and stories.

Just to know that I am not alone and not a fraek for only having a tiny two person tent and taking everything we need to go camping in one rucksack on my back.

How can you carry it all though? [wimp]

I'm attracted to the idea but can't get my head around it tbh!

the problem is, one thing leads to another. If you take a stove, you then need pan, plates, t-bags, milk, cups, cutlery etc. Well, that would fill a rucksack!
And if you don't take a blow up bed, you then need extra clothes for warmth (I can cope with anything except being cold.)
And in this blardy country, you need sunscreen, waterproofs and thermals - all in one day!

DH's mum raised three boys on her own and she used to take them camping on public transport to Wales. They all carried back packs. They're all gorgeous, strapping, capable fellers now. I think it does you good. They dug holes for, ahem, waste and washed in streams and the like.

They swung from the bus stop to the stream on Ivy trails and crafted willow bows and deadly arrows, which they sharpened with flint, to transform the local wildlife into dinner.

Actually, not really the second paragraph.

omg zippi get yourself a thermarest at the v. least.

i have some tiny sleeping bag from tesco for this trip which i am rather dubious about

i am not sure what level of yomping we are going to be doing during the day

he has some sort of headachey fluey virus at the mo which isnt looking good

tho i seem to have managed to be immune to it

My friend's mum always scoffs at us having loads of stuff when camping, the same story comes out about how they used to go camping on the bus with the baby's steriliser and everything.

what's a thermarest?

I have always just slept in a sleeping bag in the tent, I thought that was what camping was all about?

What's this talk of blow up mattresses and duvets?! oh the luxury

thanks for asking omdb

i dont know what one is either

i have used those camping mats tho

that's a good idea riven. I just end up looking like a broken mule, laden down with all our goods. It is not a good look. I always feel like a tramp walking to the train station, but once we're out in the countryside I don't mind!

riven, one buggy to transport everything? You are hardcore!

Have googled zippi, seems it is a luxury bed

Oooh...so nice to see this thread...people who do real camping. We take two tiny two man tents - that is my dh's original 2 man and the better one we got to replace it when we were off on our adventures pre-dd. These days the three of us don't fit in one tent anymore as dd is too big at 8 to squeeze in the middle. We also camp at odd times of year - we did January the 5th/6th this year...in England...and in the snow in March.

i am impressed at minimalist camping with children

tho still the same implies i find it weird people take duvets

and pink i dont think pink would be allowed in the tent lol

i have already been accused of having a barbie suitcase

I feel the same about people who go to campsites with pools etc

Spidermama sound like your DH had some great childhood experiences!

As a child I was subjected to hardcore minimalist camping. My parents would bung four kids in the car, throw a tent and some clothes in the boot, and drive off to another ocuntry where we'd spend weeks, never staying in a campsite, just bumbing on beaches and near rivers, making friends with the locals in rural villages, breaking down on mountain roads,getting stuck in desert sand...those where the days!

(I do think my parents where a bit mad though, I oculdn't cope with what they did with four little kids in towe!)

hey silverbirch! A fellow minimalist camper! yay.

I'm impressed with january camping! I couldn't hack it in the winter I don't think.

On our last camping trip we took one towel, for both of us, for ten days . Luckily it was warm so I did plenty of handwashing and could dry our stuff out overnight.

yes i think we can only take one towel each to protugal

i havent decided which one im taking

ah im not sharing

ok, so is anyone an expert of thermarests

Are they worth the money???

What sizes d we need?

next time I won't be sharing either zippi, even if DS is only little

I have no idea about thermarests! Although I might find out a bit more and invest in one, they don't seem to be very heavy.

I do always take a hammock with me tohugh, a very compact one made out of parachute material, it is nice to have somewhere to lie or sit that isn't the ground (yep, we don't take chairs with us either )

well a small boys towel might be preferable to a big mans one