Why do we love camping?

Camping is a brilliant activity that really brings us back to basics allowing us to appreciate the great outdoors in all its glory. I personally love camping, particularly the air of appreciation that seems to stem from its very participation. I often find myself drifting off in states of positive reflection thanking the world for everything in my life, including that moment when I’m sat by a camp fire with a hot drink looking over some spectacular scenery.

But for others camping is an entirely different pursuit, often one of social networking. Pitching a tent at a camp site is a great way to meet new people and make new friends. For me though it’s about finding solitude, breathing the fresh air and enjoying some good food which always seems to taste so much better outdoors. Maybe it’s that primitive nature in us which our ancestors instilled, but there is nothing quite like the feeling of achievement when you have successfully pitched a tent and created a shelter or started a fire, cooked food with minimal tools or simple woken up with the birds on a fresh summers morning. Bliss!

I recall a camping trip in the Lake District one summer. We set up camp by a beautiful lake and began to unpack our stuff in our new home. If this home was up for sale it would have gone into the millions for the view alone but on that day it was available to anyone for the cost of a tent. There was something quite surreal about looking over that Lake from our new waterside home; it was almost as if we were the first people to see it. Of course we weren’t it was lake bloody Windermere, but it was so quiet and peaceful to say the least.

Then it was time to start the exciting part for me, creating fire. Like a caveman on a mission I stormed into the forest to collect wood for the camp fire. For a second I felt like Ray Mears as I scurried about amongst the undergrowth in search of the perfect burner. The fact is it was summer and most of the wood was so dry that it could have self ignited but I was certain there was reason to my method of selection. Finally I headed back to base feeling like I had done my job successfully.

Back at camp it was time to start the fire, probably the pinnacle of any camping trip. The provider of warmth, light and hot food – though equally brilliant at keeping away the flying unwanted. A roaring fire it was not but amply sufficient to warm my soup and brown my bread roll. Now, this was a dish I had sampled many times before at home but for some reason it was a taste sensation, a real delight. But eating food outdoors fresh from a camp fire does that.

So, there I was enjoying something as wonderfully simple as tin of tomato soup staring out over the lake and you know what, I wouldn’t have traded places with anyone. And that is exactly what camping can do for you, a chance to escape the constant barrage of information we are asked to deal with in our daily life. Adverts, reports at work, newspapers, thousands of noises all acting simultaneously around us and then the constant chatter of our own minds. Camping gives us a chance to de-westernise for a few days and appreciate what we already in our lives. “To live in the moment” as Nigel Risner states in his book; at least just for a second anyway.

After eating it was time to lay down for the night and get a good night’s rest. This is the moment where most non-campers draw a line between a tent and a hotel. But if a tent is pitched in a carefully selected location half the battle is won. Simply avoid uneven surfaces, areas of potential flooding, places open to the elements and lose ground. Then get a good ground sheet, roll mat/inflatable mattress and a warm sleeping bag and decent tent. Apart from feeling like you are wrapped in a large sock you will hardly notice the difference between that and some hotels I have stayed in. Then instead of getting woken up by a maid knocking on the door, you can rise to the peaceful soundtrack of the birds that always seem to be playing your favourite song.

And that is camping in a nutshell. Not for everyone but certainly for me.