It's Good To Get Out

Do you have ever look outside from your office, place of work, or even home and think to yourself, ‘I need to be out there!’ It doesn’t matter if it’s raining, snowing or blowing a gale, you just want to get out and feel alive.

It had been a torrid few weeks both with magazine deadlines and school matters, and my inner outdoorsman was screaming, so I cashed in a few brownie points with Muddy Madam to bugger off for an evening. It was almost 3pm, so I figured I’d better get my skates on.

Fortunately a lot of my camping gear is packed into one huge Peli 1650 Protector case so there wasn’t any rummaging around the house searching for lost kit. The only extra bits I needed to find was the RidgeMonkey Grilla BBQ, a sleeping bag, my Lifesaver Jerry Can and some food.

I heaved the Peli case in the back of the SEAT Tarraco, along with the new 3-second tent from Reactive Outdoors, and headed to a secret location in Yorkshire for a night under the stars.

The spot I had in mind was beside a babbling brook, and after I’d cleared a few of the nettles away the tent was up in a jiffy, well 3 seconds, as advertised.

Then I set out my old Helinox Savannah chair and red Helinox Table One, the Grilla and Madog Outdoors Kitchen Pan set. All was left to do was start a fire and grab my pre-prepared homemade chilli and heat it up, oh, and grab the tripod to take a few photos to show you lot.

I want to say that the refreshing breeze carried with it the fragrance of wildflowers and pine, but there were quite a few cows in the next field, and it smelt like they had had curry for dinner, so not so pleasant.

As the sun began its descent, the neatly contained fire in the Grilla kept the chills, and the bugs away, and I spent the rest of the evening lost in my own thoughts. With the constant, yet gentle sounds of the water passing by, I’d like to say that my inner ramblings were constructive and meaningful, but they weren’t.

I know a lot of people, including Muddy Madam, can’t simply switch off, but I can. I can literally sit there and think about absolutely nothing (is that an oxymoron?), and that’s just what I did until the coals died down and I felt the chill in the air. It was bedtime.

I’d like to say I had a lovely nights sleep, but I didn’t. It wasn’t that my sleeping bag, or mat were uncomfortable, it was just the thought of being disturbed and having to pack everything up in a rush was on my mind.

I’ve slept in cars and camper vans before now, and the ability to simply jump in the driver's seat and drive off has always been appealing, but I want this to be something I do more often, so I guess the old adage needs to come true - the more you do something the better you become at it.

Anyway, any chance of a lie in was scuppered by the 4.30am morning chorus - jeez those birds were loud!

Being early June the sun was already up and casting long shadows, the grass was damp and there was a coolness in the air.

Packing up the tent took a matter of minutes, quicker in fact than rolling up my sleeping bag and forcing it into its stuff bag. Instead of starting a fire to make my first coffee of the day, I figured it would be quicker to use my Jetboil, and within 60 seconds the water had boiled, and that’s when I realised I’d left my coffee at home - why is it that I always forget something? If I was more of a naturalist I would have wandered around foraging for nettles to make nettle tea, but nah.

Disappointed with myself I packed everything back into the Tarraco and moved it a tad to check that I hadn’t left anything lying around, and, as it should be, the only evidence that I had been there was the flattened grass.

Apart from coffee, the next time I spend the night away, especially next to a brook, I’ll pack the Wolf Mozzi-Zapper and some bug repellent as they were quite relentless after the fire had died down. I must be tastier than those cows next door!

Overall, despite the lack of sleep, I had a nice, refreshing evening away that recharged my batteries, and Muddy Madam was more than happy to get rid of me for a bit, so it was win-win!