There’s nothing worse than getting cold when camping. It’s much better to prevent the chills than get cold and have to find ways to get warm again. Below are some tried and tested ways to keep warm when camping:
- Keep out of the wind – pitch your tent in a sheltered position, wind chill can make it feel much colder than the thermometer shows.
- Wear a number of layers to ‘capture’ and keep the heat from your body. Make sure the outer layer is waterproof if rain is likely, wet clothes are the worst for making you cold.
- Make sure you wear your clothing so each layer overlaps. Tuck your T-shirt into your trousers, pull your socks up, let the cuffs of your jacket fit over your gloves, you get the idea…
- Cover your head and neck. So much heat is lost from these parts of the body that a woolly hat and a neck warmer are essential, also a high zip jacket with hood (or both).
- Go for a ‘bimble’ – a walk to get the blood flowing and generate some body heat OR just do some light exercise outside your tent (but not too much so that you sweat). The same should be done before getting in your sleeping bag.
- Sit near the campfire – but not too close!
- Make sure you eat and drink enough. The body uses food to generate heat and being hydrated will aid good circulation. This can be a tricky one to get right as you don’t want to have to keep getting up in the night to go the toilet. Generally camping tends to use up lots of energy so forget that strict diet for a couple of nights, burn off some calories by collecting water from the tap and keeping your camp tidy!
- When going to bed don’t expect to wear some thin pyjamas like you do at home. It’s probably going to be too cold to strip off anyway. Just take off your outer layers and maybe put on an extra pair of socks. Change your underwear etc. later the next day when it’s warmer.
- When you wake up the next morning the sooner you put your coat and boots on and start moving about the sooner you warm up – don’t forget a nice cup of tea and some porridge!
