 You are a big tree, you are a wee, I am a smough. Hello, and good morning to you all. It's another stormy day in the UK. We've been ravaged by storms. I don't know what the name of this stormy norm, and don't know what the name of it is, but it's thwarted all me outdoor plans. A lot of you know that a workout does, so thwarted. Nevermind getting a video together. Can't even make a living. Can't even graft, so we're back. We're back in the fungarium, hence the... I'm here to talk about camping for beginners. There's probably, I know, there's loads of information online, on YouTube, and Facebook forums and everything. It's all out there if you search for it, but I know a lot of people who watch my videos don't, some of them don't watch other videos of other campers or don't go on the forums they're just here for the waffle. So this is for you. And for people who've just searched it out, who are just starting out in wild camping and bushcraft, this is just my opinions. This is just my, what I've gained over the years of doing what I do. I've been running this YouTube channel for about eight years now. And before that, I was an avid wild camper, hiker, just into bushcraft, and just being outdoorsy, basically everything that you see on the channel is what I was up to before the channel existed. So I've put some years in and I've learned some stuff along the way. So this is just a video giving you a little bit of what I've learned and maybe making it a little bit easier for you to deal with your first wild camp. So the first section is when and where. Shall I put some graphics on? Should we do this properly though, right? When and where? No, yeah. When, hold on. So when and where? I've hope I've done that. If I haven't done that, you're lazy. You're lazy, hazy. Do it, do that. So what time of year do you wanna be going wild camping? So you've got the itch. You've maybe been in lockdown too long and you're like, I can't get abroad. I wanna get out. I wanna just a bit of freedom. I wanna get out. Or you've maybe just watched my videos and thought I wanna slice of that action. I wanna get out there. And I'm here to hold your hand. Come on, mate. I can't go with you, but I can certainly give you some top tips so that you have a better experience. I'd say for my first wild camp, I'd wanna be going in summer. The overriding thing that I'm gonna put across is I want you to enjoy yourself. That's the main thing. I want you to have a good time so that you go back and you do it again. Obviously, I want you to leave no trace and be a respectful camper and all that, but I want you to have a good time. That's the main thing. If you don't enjoy it, what's the point? What's the actual point? There's no point. I wouldn't go in winter because you're more likely to put yourself off if you go in winter. So I would go in summer and I would maybe even better would go late spring, early autumn, so that you're not having to deal with bugs. And there's certain things that, you know, that time of year brings, which is, you know, in summer it's dry ground. So if you're an amateur and you're going out starting fires in summer, it's not the one. So you've picked your time. So let's just say you've chosen September. Good time of year for camping that. September, early September, great time. You've got your time. Where'd you go? I've mentioned on a few podcasts and Q&As and stuff like that. And on the subject of the podcast, I do do a podcast and I've started doing video podcasts like this on video and audio over on Patreon, which you can check out there. And that's a great way to support the channel and thank you if you do and thank you. And hello, if you already do, shout out all the patrons. So what I've said on questions before is that if you're starting out with camping, just starting a campsite, I would just go to, because you can get some lovely campsites that you can see trees and there's mountains and you get the feel of it, don't you? You get that feel that you're actually out there doing a bit. And if you've come from never camping to that, that'll feel like you're out back mate. So I would do that. And also some campsites offer nearly wild experiences so that you can have a fire and maybe string a hammock up, practice a little bit of bushcraft. And that's definitely the way I would go to begin with. There's a website that shows all the campsites that allow fires and that allow this nearly wild experience. And I'll put that website down below. And that's got all different sort of campsites all around the UK. After that, you'd wanna be trying Scotland, places like Scotland. If you're lucky enough, this is geared mainly around people in the UK. So if you can get to Scotland, then I would do that because it's legal to wild camp. You can even have a fire, obviously leave no trace, but you don't have that paranoia because a lot of people are like, I'd love to go camping, but I'm paranoid. I'll get moved on or I'll get seen or whatever it is. In Scotland, you don't have to worry about that. You can just park up at the side of the road, get out and you can just camp legally. So as long as you're mindful and respectful, then that's a good way to go. Any of the national parks in the UK, it's harder to camp in woodland. If you are gonna camp in woodland, then I would try and get permission first, ask the landowners and see if you can do that. There are also woodlands, as I say about this nearly camping stuff, there are woodlands about that offer the experience, so maybe try that first. Google Earth is a good place to start, mate. I'd always just go on Google Earth, have a look around, see if you can see any roads next to big woodlands and farms and stuff, and see if you can find out who owns it and just be polite and respectful and maybe they'll let you camp there. Offer to tidy the wood a little bit, maybe do a litter pick or something like that. I'll look for somewhere that I wanna camp and I'll look for a pub or something nearby because you can park your car in a pub and then hike out to your destination camp and back to your car because people will just think now he's left his car because he's had a few too many sherbet's, he's done the right thing, he's left his car in car park and that's fine. The thing about wild camping is a lot of people don't wanna give away their locations. People like myself or people with a big following, I don't think it's right that you let you give your locations away because it just puts too much pressure on that particular spot, so you can always go onto Facebook forums where people are giving away their locations and just work from there or just go on to Reddit and ask questions there as well. You're gonna be leaving your car by the side of the road. In the past, I've just put a little note in the car just saying I'm doing a sponsored walk or I'm out taking night shots, star lapses, just a little note so that when they find your car, they're not gonna report it to the police because I've multiple times I've had my vehicle reported to the police. Right, so just open my van and got this. Damage days, your wallet drawn a notebook at Whitby police station for safe keeping. Well, there you go, I must have left the van open. Like I've left the van unlocked with my drug. Mate, that is so lucky. I'm so lucky, ain't it, that the police found it and not some scallywag. I shouldn't keep this in though because people worry about me. I'm all right, it's fine. The drugs at Whitby police station. It's all right. Thanks for watching, see you back. Not for trespassing or anything, but because people were just worried. Well, they didn't know where I was or what I was doing so they were just trying to find me. So I've had phone calls from the police a few times. So that note would just mitigate that. It would stop that from happening. Just saying I'm out taking photos of owls or whatever, just something so that they know that you haven't just disappeared. You've got your time of year. You've got your location. Check the weather forecast. Check multiple weather forecasts. If you're off into the mountains, check the mountain forecast. But be prepared for it to be wrong because it's been wrong for me multiple times. So just be prepared for everything. Another tip would be to put your bike in your car or your van or take your bike on a train so that you can drive to a pub or a little village and then you can get on your bike and then cycle even further so you can just get away from everyone. I've done that quite a few times. I would suggest you go on your own for your first wild camp or just with one other person because although it can be fun to go in groups, it can be, if you don't know what you're doing and you're just a bit loud and a bit boozy, it doesn't shine a good light on us wild campers and if a landowner does find you and you're in a big group and you've got your music on, it doesn't look good and you're more likely to get moved on. You're more likely to leave a mess and things just get carried away. So I would keep it small at first, just maybe one or two people. Just so that as well you can be stealthy and with Woodland, if you are gonna camp in Woodland without permission, get in there late, leave early, leave no trace, be respectful and just give us a good name so we know when we're going, we know where we're going, what we're taking with us. I have done a full video on kit. You can get a full camping bushcraft kit for, I think I did a video, it was around 250, 260 quid. I'll leave a link to that video here. I just researched, did a lot of research and got together a kit that wasn't rubbish. You don't wanna put together a kit that's rubbish and then not enjoy yourself, but also at the same time, you don't wanna spend a fortune for something that you're just gonna do once and not be into. Your top three, your main three items are your backpack, your sleeping bag and your shelter. So spend a little bit of time on them, get something that suits you and fits you, go and try on a few bags. Go outdoors or something like that. And they're the things that'll weigh the most as well. So I've been camping with a lot of people and it's been their first time and one thing that they always get found out with is packing too heavy, especially if you're going up into the mountains and into the fells. So them three things away, you'll save the most weight. And then work back from there, you've got your, so you've got your backpack. People often make this mistake when they first go camping. They end up getting like a hundred litre backpack and just fitting it with everything. Because they think, oh, every eventuality, but what about this? What if I wanna do that? Don't worry about it. Strip it back, mate. It's wild camping. Strip it back. So get your bag. Don't get too big of a bag. Check places like military mart. X military stuff is good. You can pick up some good deals on eBay. Have a little bit of a shop around, mate. Because that's half of the fun is getting your kit together and having a little shop about for what you wanna customizing your kit to work for you. Look at a few reviews on YouTube. Read a few Reddit threads and get your bag, your sleeping bag and your shelter. And practice putting it up in your garden. Or if you don't have a garden, just go to a park or a bit of land and just practice putting your tent up, getting your sleeping bag and walking around with your backpack on. Because you don't want your first time to be out in the mountains or whatever it is. And this is the first time you've put your tent up or carried your backpack or worn your shoes because you get blisters. Get used to wearing your kit. Even if you're just wearing it around house and sleeping your sleeping bag and all that sort of stuff. Just get used to it. And then once you've got your top three things sorted, you can work your way from that. You can get your cook kit sorted. You won't need water purification at first and things. They're the sort of stuff you can pick up later down the line, just take some water with you. Because this is just to see if you like it. You might hate it. So you don't need to get all the water filters and different fire lighting kits and stuff. You're okay with a big lighter and a bottle of water. Just a bottle of Evian, you're fine. And don't play the keeping up game. Don't keep up with the Joneses. It doesn't matter what your kit is. You don't need to be coming out there with a Hillyburg tent and all the bells and whistles and a Patagonia onesie and everything. You don't need it all at first. It doesn't matter. It just needs to be functional and cheap. Cheap and functional is what you want. Yeah, I won't spend too much time on the things that you need to take with you because I have done videos in the past. And I'll put videos to the kit reviews and stuff that I've done below this video so you can check them out. You don't need all these big axes and big knives and stuff, you just need some to cut a little bit with. That's it. If you're prepping wood, just check a cheap saw. Even just get a panel saw from B&Q or from B&M, whatever it is, just a five quid you can get a panel saw. They're flat. They'll slide down back of your bag. Another thing is knowledge, mate. You want to be scrubbing up on your knowledge because you don't want to just be going out there where you saw and all your gear and just chopping off limbs or trees that are living and not knowing what you're doing. So either do a little course or just scrub upon your knowledge as far as, which this is, you know, it's really important actually. This is one of the most important things is to scrub upon your knowledge. You can't buy it. You just got to study because you need to know, you know, if you're in the mountains, you need to know certain weather patterns. You need to know how to, you know, things just like self arrest. Like just if you're sliding down a mountain, how to stop yourself sliding down a mountain, how to navigate without a compass in case it just, the fog comes in. Just all these little things. And if you're in a woodland even more, you need to know which trees are prone to dropping limbs. If you're going to be foraging which plants not to eat, how to safely start, maintain and dispose of a fire is one of the most important things. There's a lot of factors. So scrub upon your knowledge. Yeah, and always tell people where you're going. If you're going on your own, or even if there's just two of you, mate, tell someone, just give them your location or give them a rough idea of where you're going so that when, if you don't come back, at least they've got a starting point to look for you. Mainly mate, enjoy yourself. Enjoy yourself. Be respectful of other people's land. Be respectful of the land. Learn good drills as far as fire safety, leaving no trace, going for a shit. All these things you need to learn. It's knowledge mate. Knowledge is power. And you can spread that knowledge and teach people because you might be just starting out now, but then one day you'll be, you could be telling someone else how to do it. And it's all about good drills. Like passing on respectful and good knowledge. So that we, because in this country, I feel like it's hard to be a wild camper because there's not a lot of open free land to go wild camping and adventuring in. So we really do need to be respectful to give a good account of ourselves and this hobby that I love so much and that I'm sure a lot of you do as well. We need to, each and every one of us needs to be an ambassador for it, ambassador, ambassador for it. So that the younger generations coming through, they can learn because a lot of it can be ignorance. So people just need to learn and so that's it man. Just carry the torch, fly the flag, do whatever you need to do, but don't ruin my hobby. Look after yourselves, take care and I'll see you soon. Au revoir.