Anyone else love camping and traveling?

Post Reply New Topic

Hello. Does anyone else here love camping too? Usually at least twice a year I organize camping trips for myself and 3 friends across the country, driving up to 10 hours to the highlands of Scotland and all over devon in England where we wild camp in the hills and mountains and woods, visit historic monuments and swim in rivers and waterfalls while looking for the best scenery and views.

I am obsessed with beautiful landscapes, scenery and find it a peaceful relief to get away from the hustle and bustle of work, life and just go and chill out by a river. I have always been independent and love exploring, finding old hidden ruins and beauty spots, out in the wild where no one can bother me, not a care in the world. And there's nothing like sitting on a mountain watching the sunset and cooking on a fire. Living in Suffolk UK, a very flat landscape with nothing but trees and fields it means I have to drive for hours to find a place but it's always worth it. Can't wait for this summers Scotland road trip.

I usually spend a week at a time camping and notice when I'm back home that it helps relieved my stress and anxiety for a while. The pictures attached aren't mine but my favourite places to camp in Scotland and Dartmoor UK.

I am an adventurous spirit. I have a long list of places I’d like to go, things I’d like to do. I love camping and traveling, although my current age and situation prevents me from doing so as often as I’d like.

I don't think I've ever been camping in a way that can actually count as camping, but I suppose it would be nice to try it out some time... with someone who actually knows what they're doing, for I get lost easily and sometimes panic if I mess something up too badly.

As for traveling, I love it, but can't do it often because of a limited budget (and sometimes health issues.) I can pretty much handle traveling in my home country, mainly because I can use my own language to ask for advice when I need it... but traveling abroad? No, just no, not alone. So far I've always had someone who's good at these things with me and they've handled all the practical stuff (booking hotels, flights etc.) Of course I want to learn to do it myself, but for now it's safer for me to not go alone.

I haven't been camping before but have always been intrigued by it. Problem was no friends or family have expressed any liking to it so I've never experienced it myself.

Despite that I love to travel, and there's places I'd love to just explore (especially areas that have hills or mountains, they always look amazing). One time I stayed at a hotel near Glencoe as part of a 3 day excursion trip with my Dad and I didn't want to leave. My biggest obstacle is health reasons so I can't do it alone, even though sometimes I just want to throw caution to the wind and not even care, as there's places I've visited with beautiful landscapes that I'd love to return to, both in the UK and not.

My AS mother car-camped for half the year for decades. I have done a 2-month bicycle tour, and then lived in a tourist destination, so little travel was needed for the sights. I found relief from the overcrowded parks by using a small boat to camp on islands. On my last road trip, I could barely talk to people, but had to, so it was no fun. Now I'm outfitting a car as a micro-camper, somewhat inspired by a 19' world-circling yacht I inspected. I know a hermit in the woods I sometimes stay with when town life gets too much.

Oooh, oooh, me!! !! I love traveling and camping and once I even went camping in the snowy winter with my boyfriend for the weekend. Though we spent most of our time around a raging campfire (listening to the sounds of nature rather than the radio), I returned to work more deeply relaxed than I can remember ever being in my life. The feeling stayed with me for a few days. I think this effect is switched on when we return to our true natural habitat. Reminds me of how on "The Dog Whisperer" the worst behaved dogs can only be rehabilitated by running free for a while in an actual dog pack.

Oh, yeah. One time, I was working 14 hour days at my special interest, which barely paid subsistence, when my friends pulled up in a van and told me to lock the store. Then, we spent the night watching the glow of the sun cross Lake Winnipeg on the solstice. After the sun had gone around once, we got off the sand and went home, feeling very re-created.
There's another way to find nature, though. In the summer, I sunbathe on a mat on a gravelled area. Every stone is different, having been gathered by a glacier. If I turn one over, tiny bugs and plants are exposed.
I also discovered that if I drove half an hour to a park, it took me about two hours to really settle down and "be there." If I rode my bicycle, I was in nature all the way, "arriving" just as soon and with a much better appetite.

I've been camping, bivouacking, walking and sea kayaking in the Scottish Highlands for over thirty years, mostly by myself. All of my trips have been memorable although sometimes for different reasons; a solo sea kayaking trip out to the Treshnish Isles was fantastic; a backpacking trip across the mountains of the Flowerdale Forest and Torridon was memorable for being truly awful as it rained relentlessly every single day; a winter backpacking trip around the mountains of the Fisherfield Forest was memorable for not seeing anyone for five days. I love the feeling of being by myself in remote challenging country, where I am entirely reliant on the skills I have learned over thirty years, and where if I get it badly wrong I may well end up dead.

Doing this sort of thing is what has stopped me from going mad. I can't really describe the feelings I get from it when a trip goes really well. I used to live on the south coast of England but about twenty five years ago I took the decision that I needed to be nearer the mountains permanently and moved to Cumbria. I've never regretted it. I can see the mountains from the end of my road every day and the journey to the Highlands is so much shorter, which is good as I don't really like travelling long distances much.

@ Roo95, I can certainly relate to the experiences you describe. They sound great.

There was a developer who wanted to work over a large desert area. To help get his permit, he offered free flights over the property, to show how empty it was. The opposition offered walking tours with a naturalist, to see all the life that was there. The walkers won.

I love nature and wilderness activities. I like to go sightseeing in towns and cities too.

I love wildcamping but haven't done it for a while. I've been to dartmoor and the cairngnorms and enjoy being outside in nature away from society. I've been to Norway a few times and am thinking of staying in the woods during this summer. However, there is a big hurdle that prevents me from going to these beautiful, peaceful and remote locations. I will often have to visit a stressful and busy enviorment first e.g london underground/victoria in order to travel there.

Ooh, this is making me very nostalgic; I just haven't done it for too long - not the way I'd like anyway. I used to do a few days alone in the middle of nowhere a few times a year and little expeditions with the pot-holing club I used to be in (spelunking to our US readers.) Sadly, I just don't have the fitness any more for carrying packs like I used to, and I don't really enjoy stopping on official campsites (I want away from people noise, not to be able to hear it better!)

I still get out to my beloved limestone country in the Yorkshire Dales a few times a year though, as it's only an hour's train ride from here, and I couldn't ever imagine living somewhere without some wilderness and hilltop views again (I'm originally from a relatively flat arable area with hardly any footpaths.) The gritstone crags and moorlands closer to home keep me sane between times; I consider myself very lucky that there's plenty of countryside close by that is easy to access (so many footpaths that taking a map makes thing more confusing than just pointing your nose in roughly the right direction!)

sadly i just camped once because i don't have anyone to do it with me, then i had this boyfriend which used to camp and i asked him a lot for us to do it because i dreamed of doing it!! it was very good!! !