Wild camping… with kids

Camping is one of those activities that suffers most by comparison with Instagram ideals, those punitive spectres of perfection. Your typical camping photo is likely to feature more dampness, mizzle and mozzie-bites than starlight, Yosemite and gorgeous hipsters. But it’s worth it! And don’t worry about any compromises. Because even the disastrous wash-outs mature into treasured memories and the times when things come good will light up your soul as bright as a summer dawn. The night I first wild camped with the kids was hobbled from the start. I couldn’t get away from work in good time, and the drive to the Peak District took longer than expected. We arrived late, unfed, and faced a heavily-laden trudge up onto the Kinder Plateau, where we planned to camp at the Woolpack rocks. But the slumping sun was a rich gold, and there’s something about missing dinner, and being out late, and going against the homeward tide that keens the senses. The light was failing and a chill creeping when we eventually got to our camp spot and lit our stove. In those conditions

– the great vault of sky above you, your magicallyconjured room of safety and warmth beside you, and the closest of coconspirator feelings between you – you are apt to consider yourself lucky.

We will remember that shared pan of fresh pasta, ziploc-splat of Dolmio, and (and excuse me for getting chefy here) two packets of Fridge Raiders, as among the greatest meals ever. After, we did a bit of dimlylit frisbee, had a natter and enjoyed an early night in our snugly-packed sleeping bags, breathing cool mountain air, and dreaming of the morning’s instant hot-chocolates.

Next morning we strutted through the heather in our nightwear, ate flapjack and enjoyed a leisurely walk down, stopping to purify some water from a stream. It doesn’t sound like much, and it isn’t. But do you know what? And do you know what’s a really nice feeling wild camping is very good at giving you? That it’s enough.

“Even the disastrous wash-outs mature into treasured memories and the times when things come good will light up your soul.”

SIMPLE PLEASURES Freshly purified water in early morning sun. Below right: Three folk and a dog in a two-person tent amid Kinder’s gritstone rocks. MORNING ALL Waiting for the water to boil for a Michelin-starred hot chocolate + flapjack. Below: Making our evening way up Grinds Brook.