One of my loves which developed from scouts is getting home from camping.  There really is no finer feeling of how good your life actually is after you get home from a week in the great outdoors and hit the shower/bath.  Hot water on tap? You people don’t know how good you’ve got it.

But the actual camping itself is quite good too.  I have several different tents and setups.

Hammocks

My pride is my Hennessy Asym Delux hammock.  Purchased from Blacks in 2010 for approximately £75 (a suprise find, they don’t stock them anymore) it’s the most comfy way to camp.  “Hanging” is the term reserved to Hammockers as opposed to “Swingers” which has apparently already been taken.  It’s not my only hammock, I also own a DD Hammock, though I’ve not yet tried this as I like inbuilt fly net that comes with the Hennessy.

This is a 2008 model with velcro underneath entry only.  The only downside with hammocks is the inability to store gear well in them.  I usually end up hanging the gear off the webbing (black stuff that fixes it to the tree) in waterproof sacks.

Tents

Jack Wolfskin Tunnel Tent (Hiking & medium length camps)

Unfortunately it seems that they don’t make these anymore, which is a real shame as they’re pretty lovely tents for hiking.  It’s a two person tunnel tent which makes it very roomy for a 6ft 5ins person + pack, but weighs in at about 2.3kg.  I can sit up and read in it which is very handy.

My last trip during heavy rain I did discover it needed waterproofing, but since it’s about 12-14 years old now, that’s not suprising.  It came standard with titanium alloy pegs which try as  I might I’ve never yet bent.  Similarly it has titanium alloy poles which did bend once – but seeing as none of the other tents around it survived, it must have been quite a gust.

Aldi Tent – Long stay

Bought for me by my ex girlfriend oh-so-many-years-ago is my large Aldi tent.  I use this mainly for long camps as it’s a lot of hassle to put up for less than a weekend.  It’s 7ft” high at its apex, has enough room for about 8 people and a large communal space for relaxing in during the evening.