Campervan Cookout goes Wild Camping

Hello, it is I, Cookout Klaws head of the website, this week Campervan Cookout goes wild camping.

This week I took time out from tasting food to take my mascots humans on an amazing adventure, wild camping on Dartmoor. Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love the outdoors. We also a few other like minded folks coming along for the journey Roddie and Rachel.

The day begins

We met up with Fi and Lucy from Two Blondes Walking in Princetown, Devon. They are experts in the great outdoors and write wonderful blogs on getting the most with the least impact. They were kind enough to coach my two novice humans on how to go about ‘wild camping’. It may seem obvious to bears, but there were many aspects that hadn’t been considered and seemed glad of the advice. It’s important that people don’t get it wrong and spoil things for others.

 

V with her wild camping gear all packed in her rucksack

V ready to start our trek

Wild Camping Guide

We were told straight away that wild camping meant carrying everything you need in just one rucksack, fully self sufficient for your time away. It is also important to ensure you are at least 100m away from roads and towns, so pitching your tent next to the carpark is not allowed. It’s also not good if you can be seen from peoples dwellings, best not  annoy the locals after all. Of course ensuring you take only what you need and leave nothing behind is also crucial, us bears get really mad when thoughtless folks leave their rubbish around to spoil the beautiful countryside for all who visit and live there.

The talk was very informative and covered all aspects from what to pack, tents, rucksacks, how to make sure you have permission to camp on the land, food/water, bedding, as well as a discussion on what us bears ‘do in the woods’. We talked through what to do in the case of an emergency too, very useful tips and tricks, many that the attendees hadn’t even thought of.

 

The Hike Begins

After a comfortable 90 minute walk (well I was being carried after all) we got to know our new friends and my humans seemed to slowly forget how heavy their bags were. Well almost, maybe their knees creaked a little and they made the odd grumbling noise.  We rested on a beautiful spot where we had permission to camp, sheltered somewhat from the wind, with a stunning view over the Dartmoor Countryside.

view over Devon from our wild camping spot

Wild Camp Spot

Setting Up Camp

The humans all set about finding a suitable spot and pitched their tents, I suggest Matt move his tent away somewhat as we didn’t want any snoring disturbing our fellow camping. He found this Glorious spot, sheltered by some rocks.

After setting up, we all gathered together to enjoy making dinner together and to enjoy the beautiful views and good company. The food was basic dehydrated fair and it’s safe to say we will be working on something a bit more special for next time, as is our goal.

Voices from Space

A little later on, Matt retrieved his handheld radio , and told us the International Space Station would be going over and may be transmitting down to earth.  This didn’t seem likely to me but sure enough to everyone’s surprise we could hear the Astronaut as clear as day, answering questions for a group of scouts. We caught a minute or two of it on video too.

Finally we watched the sunset as the sky cleared, and I could see from everyone’s faces that they were most contented. We slept well that night. Campervan’s are nice but this was an incredibly special experience that I wouldn’t swap for anything. I don’t think anyone who was there would either.

I took a few photos to share the day with you, hopefully V will write a more detailed post about her experiences soon. Wild camping gets a claws up from me. We are certain that Campervan Cookout goes Wild Camping won’t be a one off event.

Until next time!

Image result for bear paw print creative commons
Cookout Klaws

You can find more details on Two Blondes Walking on their website here: https://www.twoblondeswalking.com/

Or their twitter here: https://twitter.com/BlondesTwo

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Posted on July 30, 2019 in Fun, Road trips, Travel

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About the Author

Matt loves campervans, the outdoors and photography. Combining the 3 is a recipe for happiness.

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