Why?
I like camping, and have somehow my family to either love it or at least tolerate it. The main annoyances we have when camping are noise from other people, packing a huge amount of kit which needs to be unpacked and re-packed, and the possibility of being in an uninspiring place next to your car. Wild camping solves all these issues, since there’s usually no-one else around, you can’t carry much stuff, and you go wherever you want. We were staying down in Devon, and took the opportunity to go to the only place in England where you can legally wild camp (still!): Dartmoor.
Logistics
We were coming into Dartmoor from the south-east, and while wild camping is allowed on Dartmoor, it is not allowed everywhere and coverage is quite spotty on the eastern side of the park. The main point of the outing was to sleep out on Dartmoor, we didn’t need to add in as well a big expedition, especially since we would be starting after work.
I found a likely looking spot near Haytor, which was close to car parks and promised some rocks for the kids to run around on and explore. The weather forecast was promising with only a low percentage chance of rain in the morning, so we were set.
We would take breakfast with us and pick up fish and chips in Bovey Tracey for dinner, making setting up the camp super easy.
Kit
The main star of the trip was the Alpkit Tarpstar 4 tent. I had used this before with the kids for a more traditional two night camping trip, and had been blown away by the amount of space you get from a small package. It’s 3m x 3m, with great headroom, but still a very small lightweight piece of kit. The only real downside is that there’s no porch for removing dirty kit, or cooking in bad weather, but we could cope with that for a night.
I dug out my Osprey Aether 70L bag that I used in Scotland 11 years ago now, and a variety of rollmats from Thermarest, Alpkit and Decathlon. The other great addition I made was an Exped pump bag, with an adaptor to fit the Thermarests. This made inflating the roll-mats so quick and easy. It also fit the Alpkit Cloudbase without an adaptor and the Decathlon mat came with its own pump bag.
I had been given a new stove that I was keen to try: Featherlight 700. It’s not really suitable for providing for four people, but it was good to test it out and it worked well for heating water for breakfast. I need to practice lighting putting it together and lighting it in the wind though. It’s great once it’s going but the shape of it makes it difficult to get a lighter in, or throw a spark from a flint and steel. Or at least I found it difficult.
The Reality
This was a massive success on the whole. The weather in the evening was incredible, the kids absolutely loved being out on Dartmoor and running around on the rocks, firing sheep poo with catapults and other wholesome activities.
I carried most of the kit, and the kids had small bags which they mostly carried without complaining, but we only walked for about 20 minutes anyway.
We found a great spot very easily, and while we could see some people over on Haytor, they were a long way off.
Sarah and I didn’t sleep that well, a bit out of practice with those roll mats and I had sacrificed my super comfortable pillow. The children slept like logs though. It was a bit more misty in the morning, but not overly wet, so we had some warm porridge for breakfast, packed up and headed home.
Even though we we were only out for about 15 hours, I still had to dig a hole for a child poo. The ground was incredibly hard and dry so this was not easy and something I could have done without, but I was glad I packed the trowel and the paper.
Lessons Learned
The main lesson is that we should do this again, it was awesome. We were lucky with the weather, but the tent was great in the wind and the little bit of dampness we did have. I wish I hadn’t forgotten my hip flask, but I survived, and I need to practice more with the stove or come up with another solution to cook for four people. If I can train the rest of the family up to carry more equipment then we’ll be laughing!