A late February ‘wild camp in the garden’ microadventure

This is one of a series of wild camp microadventures I’ll be posting this year as my contribution to Alastair Humphreys’ ‘Year of Microadventure’ challenge.

It was a last minute thing for the last day of the month.

A back-garden microadventure wild camp in my new Polish army lavvu tippi thing, with the boy (13) and dog (2).  The boy greeted the idea with enthusiasm, the dog didn’t look so keen, the weather looked threatening.

By 6pm I had the lavvu set up in the garden.

The afternoon Lavvu set-up
Smithy dog and I in the afternoon lavvu

By 9.30 the rain was pouring down and I started thinking about cancelling the whole thing.

The boy said no.  The boy said he’d go and sleep in the tent on his own if he had to.

The boy was right and of course I quickly backed down, what else could I do?

Just before 10:30, boy, dog and dad climbed into the lavvu and made nice and comfy.  I finished off some JD while the boy read his book, the dog made a half-hearted attempt at escaping back into the warmth.

Evening lavvu
The boy and I in the night-time  lavvu

We woke at 7:30 with that usual excited ‘we slept outside!’ feeling, I love that feeling, I bet you do as well.

The morning lavvu
The morning lavvu

(Yes, I know the lavvu looks like it’s about to collapse, if you’ve ever slept in a tent with a teenager and a dog you’ll understand why).

We yawned and stretched and made our way back into the house.

From the kitchen came the smell of freshly brewed coffee, bacon and eggs, a feast fit for heroes after a night camping out in the wet fenland winter.

6 thoughts on “A late February ‘wild camp in the garden’ microadventure

  1. Such a great little wild camp!
    I’m hoping to do the same with my niece and nephew later this year. I think the hardest thing will be to convince the parents that it’s a very good thing to do.

    1. It was a fine camp : )

      I’m sure the parents will be up for it, anything that gets kids away from digital devices is a appreciated by most parents.

  2. Hi Martin, love the website and the idea of micro adventures, just wondering why it stopped at April. Are you still wild camping?

    1. Hi Steve, thanks for the comment. I fell ill at the start of the summer and wasn’t able to get out for any microadventures/wild camps, which was very frustrating. Happily I’ve recovered now and have plans for the autumn and winter. Cheers!

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