Organise a camping trip

This article takes you through my experience with organising a camping trip. Detailing how the project started, my experience with it and the surprising transferable skills gained. 

Key Summary

• You don't need a lot of money to create some great memories

• Plan for the rain…

• It's the best feeling ever introducing different friendship groups together

• Air mattresses are 100% worth the investment, if you're driving to a campsite bring the comfy stuff, no need to travel light.

How the project started  

This project has been a bucket list item of mine for a while. I'd been thinking a lot about what my 'rich life' would look like and a common theme that comes up time and time again for me is bringing people together and spending really good quality time with friends. I love being outdoors and wanted to find an activity that would be a memorable experience for years to come plus financially accessible for everyone to get involved.

Camping for me was a fairly common activity growing up, as a family we would take trips down to Devon for the night for a mini holiday and as a teenager we'd quite often get a group of us together and camp in a local woods.

As I'd gotten older staying an hotels and hostel had become more of the norm but you really don't have the same uninterrupted and reflective level of freedom talking late into the night around the fire and under the stars. There's something very primal about it.

So the project was set. I would organise a large scale camping trip and invite everyone I knew + anyone who'd like to join along.

Living in Bristol, I decided that Wales would make a good destination. Close by should we need to return last minute but also very close to activities we could do during the day. I created a rough plan:

which included a hike up Pen Y Fan which is actually the highest peak in the Beacons, standing at 886 meters (2,907 feet) above sea level.

Fun fact in welsh it translates to "the head of the fan" which is in reference to the shape of the mountain's plateau.

On the Sunday we planned to head to Porthcawl a fantastic spot for beginner surfers about a 40 minute drive away from the site.

My Experience

Surprisingly the thing I was most nervous for was getting the invites out. I found out that I am both a bit of a perfectionist and also very much 'we'll see how it goes'. I wanted to invite everyone i knew and logically knew that people would likely be up for it but there was always a little bit of doubt. what happens if I invite like 50 people and only. 3 turn up, or what happens if they turn up and actually don't get along with everyone?

Taking some time to reflect on if I felt like I was the same person in each of the groups or maybe I had some characteristics that changed depending on who I was around or the stages of life I met them. I'd like to think I was authentically me with everyone I met but what happens if I had changed? Ultimately this was my ego trying to protect itself and also me wanting to control the outcome. Given how excited I was by the prospect of this idea and the love i have for my friends it surprised even me how much my overthinking was leading to my procrastination in getting the details out to everyone and essentially self sabotaging my own idea before it could really take off.

Luckily this nervousness was outweighed by my want of the trip so I decided that my success measurement needed to change. It wouldn't be on the number of people who would ultimately come camping but my goal of the trip and this project would be to roast a marshmallow (or a chocolate gnome) with at least one friend and the trip would be a success.

Lowering the bar and joking with it encouraged me to post in a lot of the sports groups I was a part of, reach out to old work colleagues and uni friends and even invite some new faces who I had met at various meet-up events in Bristol.

The plan was in motion.

Once the reason started coming in it was great, even those who couldn't make it really appreciated the invite and it was so nice to reconnect with so many people.

After this came the organising, I'd earmarked a few campsites in the area but had really hoped that Brecon wild camping would be available.I'd been there a few years before and it was great! Rustic but with fire pits, toilets and even a pizza van in the peak months of summer. Importantly there was enough space that I didn't think we'd disturb any of the neighbours.

After lots of calls, they're website had showed the wrong number and it was through a facebook review that i managed to get through. I was told that there was no need to book and even given the larger group size which was about 25 at the time they were happy with us coming down for the night. Result!

One thing you can't book however is the weather, and despite it being an absolutely beautiful day in Bristol when we left (one of the best we'd had all year) it was grey and drizzily in Wales.

The hike up Pen y Fan on the Saturday was probably the soggiest I have ever been, with gale force winds at the top of the mountain, it was a minor miracle that no one was blown off the side.

With no view at the top and a very wet group we made our way back down. Trauma bonded and absolutely soaked. At ground level the weather wasn't too bad but if was fiar to say that cooking on a campfire would not be on the agenda.

I found a pub close by and we made our way to get a change of clothes and a warm meal. Upon returning to the campsite I found that my tent hadn't survived the rain and there was a rather large puddle in the middle of it…

The car it was!

It was here we debated going back to Bristol and making the most of the night with a spontaneous night out.

However, given how much stuff we had, we decided to rough it out. I shuttled us all to the nearest bar and we had a great evening. When we got back the boys somehow managed to get a campfire going even in the light rain and a few of stayed out.

The following day the weather had cleared up and we made our way to Porthcawl and had a fab time surfing and swimming in the sea.

I'd forgotten how warm the sea is in the latter months and would thoroughly recommend going down to go for a dip.

Overall, despite all the many set backs, we all had a fantastic time and it was decided that this should be an annual occurrence.

*Since this project we had another trip to the same campsite with even more people! We switched up the walk to a more casual reservoir hike and already pre booked our dinner at the Tai'r Bull Inn and even saw some sun!