{"id":3019,"date":"2014-12-27T20:37:46","date_gmt":"2014-12-27T20:37:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/martinblack.com\/?p=3019"},"modified":"2015-01-15T16:49:47","modified_gmt":"2015-01-15T16:49:47","slug":"my-2014-wild-camping-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/2014\/12\/my-2014-wild-camping-review\/","title":{"rendered":"My 2014 Wild Camping review"},"content":{"rendered":"

In last year’s wild camping review post<\/a> I listed three wild camps and confidently predicted at least 6 for 2014. \u00a0However, I can only list two wild camps this year (and one ‘almost’ wild camp), which is a little disappointing.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Yes, I could give various reasons and excuses for this (weather, family commitments etc, etc) but still, it’s a pretty poor number. \u00a0Having said that, I did manage two very enjoyable nights out under the stars.<\/p>\n

Both nights were in woods in Hertfordshire, a hugely underrated county with much tree cover and great opportunities for \u00a0crafty wild camps.<\/p>\n

Spring wild camp in Badger Wood<\/h2>\n

In April I took half of a Polish Lavvu tent to Badger Wood<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was a cold night and a little uncomfortable with just a couple of thin mats between myself and the floor of the wood. \u00a0I’ll be investing in a decent, comfy mat for 2015, so a good lesson learnt there.<\/p>\n

\"In
In Badger Wood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I’m not sure now why I only took half of the Lavvu tent, a bit of a daft decision looking back at it now.<\/p>\n

Wild camp in Barking Fox wood<\/h2>\n

A few months later I was in another Hertfordshire wood with my hammock.<\/a> \u00a0A very comfortable and warm night this time, hammocks are just perfect for wild camping in the woods.<\/p>\n

\"In
In Barking Fox wood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sort of wild camp at Wicken Fen<\/h2>\n

Wicken Fen<\/a> is large wetland nature reserve based near the Cambridgeshire fen village of Wicken. \u00a0Run by the National Trust, the reserve includes a ‘wild camping’ site<\/a> that can be used by groups or individuals. \u00a0While not strictly wild camping (it costs \u00a335 for the night, for a whole group) it’s a wonderful place \u00a0to spend the night.<\/p>\n

In the summer, I went with twelve 12 year old boys and two other adults and a dog. \u00a0The boys had a fantastic time, as did the adults, though we could have done with more than the three hours sleep the youngsters allowed\u00a0us.<\/p>\n

\"Wild
Wild camping at Wicken Fen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The site is made up of four open huts like the one above.<\/p>\n

The no sleep blues<\/h2>\n

Not sleeping for\u00a0a full night is still my number one concern. \u00a0Even in the hammock, where I was snug and warm all night long, my mind refused to keep still and enjoy the experience. \u00a0At most I managed a couple of hours unbroken sleep which is just not enough, especially if I’m planning to hike a bit the following day.<\/p>\n

\"By
By the River Great Ouse, a wild camp for 2015?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I don’t\u00a0have a problem with sleeping when in a tent. I guess the\u00a0psychological feel of protection afforded\u00a0by the walls of the tent makes the difference. \u00a0Tents are fine but I’m a bit of a romantic and really want to sleep out in the open, so I’ll just need more\u00a0practice, more wild camps\u00a0for 2015, it’s the only way!<\/p>\n

2015<\/h2>\n

So, I won’t make any predictions for 2015. \u00a0What I will be doing is investing in some new kit, particularly a comfy mat and a larger bivvy bag. \u00a0I might even start camping out in my back garden once a month, anything to sort out the sleep issue!<\/p>\n

How about you? What was your 2014 wild camping year like? \u00a0And if you didn’t wild camp then, do you plan to in 2015?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In last year’s wild camping review post I listed three wild camps and confidently predicted at least 6 for 2014….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12,11],"tags":[40],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3019"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3019"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3132,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3019\/revisions\/3132"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}