Equipment Outfitters

Once you have decided that you would like to try an outdoor holiday, you may be tempted to plunge in at the deep end. You may want to go back to nature, enjoy all the extremes of freedom, explore the wilds of Alaska or, at the very least, witness the first rays of the sunrise from the summit of the Matterhorn. These things can of course be done, but it is essential to gain some experience first, otherwise you might end up like Captain Scott!

The ‘deep end‘ of outdoor holidaying is lightweight camping — when everything you need is carried either on your back or in cycle panniers and you learn how to perform ingenious feats with two sticks and a sheet of tinfoil. Lightweight camping provides the sort of holiday which is more like an expedition and the pleasure and sense of achievement that this gives are enormous. But it is something to be worked towards rather than started with and it should be tackled only by fit individuals who are seeking adventure rather than comfort.

It is in fact very common for young people suddenly to be bitten by the lightweight camping bug in their late teens, so one of the most helpful things that parents can do for their children is to take them on less strenuous forms of outdoor holiday at an early age. In this way they learn to stay warm and dry and well fed under the sort of improvised conditions that they have never had to deal with in a centrally-heated house. When they try backpacking later on they are then more able to cope with its rigours and special techniques.

Another kind of ‘deep end‘ is the financial one. There are some very large and luxurious caravans on the market equipped with refrigerators, cookers, strip lighting, soft beds, toilets and almost more modern conveniences than are found in the average permanent home. But these cost several thousands of pounds and it is clearly not wise to invest in one before you have had some experience of towing and staying in a caravan and are sure of your requirements.

If you feel that soon you might want to buy a caravan, you should try to take an outdoor holiday in one that is owned by somebody else, in order to find out how much you like it. Or it might even be a good idea for you to try out a large tent or a trailer tent beforehand as these can be both cheaper and more spacious than a solid-walled caravan. There would be no sense in paying the extra money for a caravan if you found that, say, a cottage-style tent gave you everything you required.

Finally, there is that ultimate go-anywhere vehicle, the multi-purpose motorhome — usually a standard commercial van which has been ‘converted’ for cooking and sleeping in. Most of these vehicles represent some sort of compromise between what is an acceptable size of snail-house to trundle along the highway and what is a large enough space for comfortable living. If you feel that eventually you would like to own a motorhome of your own, spending a holiday in a tent is not going to simplify your choice, but you should try to visit a camping and caravanning exhibition or a dealer with a large stock. You could also try staying at a large campsite close to a trunk road. It might give you the opportunity to inspect a number of motorhomes while they are actually being used and to have a friendly talk with the people who are living in them.

On the other hand, it may be more helpful for you to hire a motorhome and see what it is actually like to live in; and you should try to judge how convenient it is to drive and maintain all the year round, not just in the summer.

For a first-time camping holiday it is not absolutely essential to own a tent of your own. The initial large outlay can be avoided — or postponed — by either borrowing or hiring one, or by taking a package holiday based on camping accommodation.

Borrowing a tent from friends has the drawback that however careful you are it is likely to suffer from a small amount of wear and tear while you are living in it. A zip may break, the seagulls may use it as a target or quite simply the sun is liable to make the canvas fade slightly. If your friends’ tent is virtually brand new, it might be better to decline their kind offer to lend it to you for the sake of not losing their friendship afterwards ! At most you could perhaps practise putting it up in the garden and sleep in it for a night or two, simply to get the feel of living under canvas.

For the actual holiday, probably the most trouble- free way to go camping is to purchase a package which provides accommodation in a ready-pitched tent containing all the beds and cooking equipment for a party of up to six people. Several tour operators offer this type of package and for car-owners in Britain there are bargain holidays on the Continent which include the ferry across the Channel in their price. A typical one would be at a carefully-selected campsite in the Chateaux country of the Loire, with a basic seven nights’ stay in a large frame tent. The illustration opposite depicts the type of equipment which this deal provides — and incidentally serves as a guide to some of the main items that a family should take along on a camping trip when travelling independently.

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