10 rookie camping mistakes and how to avoid them

A tent is just a tent, isn’t it? Well, no, actually it’s not. There are a huge variety of camping tents out there in all sorts of different sizes and styles, and it’s important to make sure you choose the type that suits your style of camping adventure. 

For a family camping holiday you’ll probably want a tent with separate bedrooms and living space, so you can settle the kids early and still have somewhere to relax and enjoy a glass of wine in the evening. And unless you particularly enjoy crawling around on all fours, a tent with headroom is a must. Buying a really cheap supermarket tent might be tempting – but you’ll regret it when everyone wakes up in a puddle of rainwater during a heavy downpour, or in the worst-case scenario, a tangle of broken poles and ripped fabric. 

A visit from the local wildlife in the middle of the night is no one’s idea of fun. To avoid it, get a model with a badger-proof, enclosed groundsheet. 

The important thing is to do your research – set a budget and make a list of what you need and see what fits the bill.

The golden rule of camping is to always practise pitching a new tent at home before you take it to the campsite. As my wife and I discovered, what you definitely shouldn’t do is try to put up a complicated new tent for the first time after a five-hour drive across Europe, especially if the temperature is in the high 20s and you’ve arranged to meet up with family in half an hour. Surprisingly, it turns out that things can get rather fraught in those circumstances, particularly if the instructions with the tent aren’t quite as clear as you’d like them to be. 

While watching befuddled campers losing it as they struggle to pitch their tent is always good fun, it’s not so enjoyable if you are one of said befuddled campers.

The best way to avoid being the campsite entertainment is to make sure you acquaint yourself with the pitching instructions in advance and have a trial run in the back garden before you take it to the campsite, so you know what you’re doing.

To avoid nasty surprises on the campsite, make sure you check your tent and test all your equipment at the start of the new camping season – well in advance of your first trip. Even if you carefully repaired and cleaned everything before winter, it’s worth checking your tent for any holes, tears, mould, mildew, seam strains or any other signs of wear you might have missed. Repair or replace dodgy pegs, guylines, poles, buckles and elastics. 

Check the stove burners are clean and undamaged and ensure all the fittings are tight. Fix the Jubilee clips on the gas hose and regulator and give everything another good clean for luck. Give pots and crockery a good scrub and check the batteries in your torches and lanterns are working.

From carpets to air-conditioning units, you can buy just about anything to make tent living easier and more comfortable. But the reality is that most car boots simply aren’t big enough to cope with the amount of kit you might want to take on a fortnight’s holiday for a family of four. 

Before you know it, you find yourself cramming kit in around the kids in the back seat (not recommended), then investing in a roof box and eventually buying a trailer. And then when you get to the campsite, most of it sits unused in the tent until the end of the holiday, when it all gets packed back into the car and taken home. Save yourself all this unnecessary hassle (and expense) by making a list of the essential kit you’ll need, and leaving the non-essentials at home (or on the shop shelves).

Much to my embarassment, I’m guilty of all of these common mistakes, and believe me, it doesn’t do your credibility as a so-called camping expert (or a parent, for that matter) much good. This is where a checklist comes into its own again… And while we’re on the subject of packing, think about which bits of kit you are going to need first at the other end and pack these last. Ideally, the tent wants to be nearest the boot entrance so you can reach it without unpacking everything else.

For convenience, you cannot beat cooking on gas but, if you have hook-up, an electric stove is a clean and safe alternative. Either way, cooking inside your tent is not a good idea – not only does it make your tent smell, but kids could knock over a hot pan and there is the risk of fire, especially when cooking with an open flame. Carbon monoxide poisoning is also a real danger, when using gas indoors. If the weather allows it, cook outdoors or in the front porch area of your tent. 

For some people, electric hook-up defeats the whole point of camping, while others want all the comforts of home, including electrical appliances. You can’t just rock up on the campsite with all your domestic appliances and expect to plug them straight in, though. They’re not designed for outdoor use and you could overload the system and cause a power cut. Likewise, don’t overload your socket box. Use only one appliance per socket and adaptors are a definite no-no.

Generally the hook-up supply on a campsite is much less than the mains supply to a house, and this will restrict the number of appliances you can use at one time. A small camping kettle, for example, can be used on most sites but domestic kettles aren’t advisable.  

You also need to consider the combination of appliances you are using. A kettle may use 8.3A and a fan heater 4.2A. Use these together and you will trip a 10A supply, making you extremely unpopular on the campsite!