Casual Camping Podcast
The best camping discussion both in and out of the field. Light-hearted chat with two brothers (Ade and Tim) who love all things camping-related. Camping is their happy place.
We started this podcast because we both found that we had very busy lives and we weren't speaking to each other enough. When we did talk, it was always about camping. By putting a podcast episode out every week we make sure we keep in touch. It's as simple as that.
We aren't sponsored and we don't need paid partnerships. This isn't our day job, it's simply a way to keep two brothers connected. We hope you enjoy listening as much as we love making it.
Casual Camping Podcast
We Are BACK !!!
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Send us your Mediocre 5 Star Review
Tim and Ade are back from their forced mid-season break.
Thank you to everyone who reached out to us during this break. The support you have shown has been amazing, and even brought Ade to tears (or was that emotional booze).
This week Ade and Tim give you lots of advice for what to do if Autumn spells the end of your camping season. It's time to check over all of your camping equipment, clean it, repair it and pack it away correctly so that it's ready and waiting to be taken back out into the field next year.
They go on to try and persuade you into not packing anything away just yet and give you lots of top tips for getting out camping in the colder months.
DISCLAIMER: Casual Camping Podcast accepts no liability and does not officially recommend any products or endorse any techniques discussed in an individual podcast episode or shown on Casual Camping Podcast social media accounts. Individuals should make their own informed decision and risk assessment of any products or advice prior to any purchase or use
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Welcome to the Casual Camping Podcast, your home for the best camping discussion within and out of the field. Here are your hosts, Tim and Aid.
SPEAKER_04Hello, you filthy beasts. This is Tim and Aide, and it's the casual camping podcast.
SPEAKER_03I'm Aide.
SPEAKER_04Tim's joining us from the other side.
SPEAKER_03Where to go tell everyone where I live.
SPEAKER_02What's that postcode again, Tim? At least I'm not Deed. Thank God.
SPEAKER_04Thank the Lord.
SPEAKER_03Heaven's droid. Yes, we are we are back. Thank you, listeners, for being ever so patient with us in letting us take a bit of an extended leave in season two. But our regular listeners will know we've needed to do that for our own reasons. I've been a bit poorly. And uh and 80's just a workship op.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, there's hardly uh comeback to that. I'm just gonna go, well, yeah. Actually, nailed to cross there, Tim. I am a work shy fop.
SPEAKER_03You are not at all.
SPEAKER_04While I'm still working for a living for somebody else, we'll pretend uh that I'm I work hard. I work hard and play hard.
SPEAKER_03I was just gonna say, no, no, no, you are you are a hardworking person. You are still employed by that company, aren't you? There is 11 days to go. Oh, you've gotta you've gotta be completely switched off at 11 days to go.
SPEAKER_04Oh I'm I'm not quite, I'm not quite. There's still some things, but there there is a few emails that are not getting responded to at this point. I wouldn't even be reading emails anymore unless it's like, oh Aid, I've got you this gift a pint after work for you leaving, you know, anything other than that, and even looking at it, it's uh well can I can I just say that I don't think any of my work uh colleagues uh uh know this alter ego of me. I mean they know that I uh go camping and talk about burning things quite a lot, but in uh spending 19 years in one place, um, they went and bought me a bloody Yeti cooler Yeti Roadie 15, uh filled it with booze and got me a bottle of brandy and did uh they know you see you alive, they know you uh yeah. I mean, I might have given dropped some big hints.
SPEAKER_03It's an outdoor handbag, just uh did you do an email all and just send a picture of a Yeti?
SPEAKER_04They heard about my biggest snatch. Uh um no, that's the wrong word you want to say.
SPEAKER_02That's the wrong word.
SPEAKER_03You've had a big deadliest You heard it here first, Ed's I had a really big snatch.
SPEAKER_04No, deadliest catch, yeti. Oh my god. Tim, can we stop recording, please? Oh no, no, this is just going out loud.
SPEAKER_02Oh shit. That's funny, that's funny.
SPEAKER_04Oh, Pride and Slip.
SPEAKER_02Yes, yes, oh my god.
SPEAKER_04So, yes, I I got my yeah really well. They did, they did. They um yeah, it's uh end of an era. I'm irreplaceable are some of the quotes that I've said about myself.
SPEAKER_03Now you're leaving, do we're in Glasgow? Do you need to apologize to the people of Glasgow?
SPEAKER_04I might have done. Apparently, I was walking around going, Glasgow, Glasgow at people. So, you know, like my parroting, uh trying to sort of speak like somebody else. Apart from when we met uh Bella and a fella and who like say Harrogate, and I went, Harrogate, and I went, You don't drop your H's, you're not from Leeds I got it right, I got it right.
SPEAKER_03I got it right, varrogat. So, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Lived in uh down south too long. Down South.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So what's what's the northern equivalent of a of a of a mock knee? Of a of a false cockney. What's the what are you you're like a mock northerner now? Oh god plastic, I don't know, some I don't know.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Right, right in listeners, on a uh on a stuck down envelope. We'll uh we'll read it out when we you know.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you know, maybe don't maybe maybe we could go back to those mediocre five-star reviews, you know, we'll give you a shout out for one of those.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. But speaking, speaking of which, we um, you know, I think I think um while we while we've paused and things, we've had some amazing messages off people, off some of our listeners. Some people, you know, who message all the time and we we love you to bits, and it's great. Um you comment on posts and you're you're active in the group. But actually, we've had a load of messages off people who've never messaged anything, who've never sent anything, never liked anything or anything at all. And and we've had some really great messages and and literally, I'm not just saying this, too many to actually read out in a in an episode. So, so you know, if you messaged us and and gave us some nice comments while we've been off, can I just say a proper heartfelt thank you? Every single one of those has been brilliant to read, and and it's going through his transition into into self-employment.
SPEAKER_02I didn't say you're transitioning.
SPEAKER_04It's like, do it do I do I need to complain about no just let it go like the other thing. People are gonna put two and two together and go snatch and transition. What?
SPEAKER_03Quote of the series.
SPEAKER_04I'm comfortable in my uh uh manliness. Is that a spider?
SPEAKER_03I was gonna say it sounds like a big snatch. Sounds like you'd be really comfy in there, lots of room. But anyway, thank you to everyone who's messaged and uh and said nice stuff to us. Uh I uh I've been a bit poorly, uh, and uh I'm still getting there, but um, it's really nice to read all those really nice stuff. There is one guy in particular though that did an absolute fantastic five-star mediocre review, and that's um that's J Dog, uh Jason Long, who's out in America. Hope you're safe. You're getting battered by your second hurricane in in just a number of small number of days. So I hope I hope our North America listeners are staying safe out there. But Jason sent us uh a private message and a and a video which he um I asked him if I could share, which I did share on on our socials, and a lot of you will have seen it. And um, and I have to say, in direct response of Jason's message, we are sitting back down in front of microphones again. So uh thank you, Jason, for being absolutely a superstar listener.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and I I would uh like to say that um uh it was kind of like the kick up the pants that uh I think both of us needed. I was out drinking uh last week when you sent that to me. And I'm I'm not gonna lie, I mean, I might have been emotional because I'd been I was you know three sheets into uh a good drinking session with old friends, but it it did get me emotional, it really did. So thank you so much, Jason. Uh and just really centered us both, I think, around why we started in the first place. Was just uh it wasn't for free stuff, it wasn't for this, it wasn't for that, it was having a laugh with my mother with my brother, not my mother.
SPEAKER_03Ain't your mother, my brother from the oh yeah, same mother. Same mother. She's not listening. Hi mom. No, and we we did really, because we'd we'd paused because of the reasons we talked about, but we'd never actually set a time scale for pausing. And life is really busy, and your stuff's really busy, what you got going on, my stuff's really busy, what I've got going on. And um, and it was like actually that message really made us sit down and and talk about well, are we are we pausing, you know, are we ending season two? Are we ending the podcast? Are we are we starting again? Are we what what are we doing? And and and it just reminded us really, as Jason said, it's really hard to find a good camping podcast because actually so many of them are incredibly boring where they talk about the flow rate of this stove and how long a gas bottle is going to last you and and the time it will take in milliseconds to boil this water. And I don't want to listen to that crap because it bores the bores the hell out of me.
SPEAKER_04So so so while while we we uh uh you know aspire to be less boring than that, I guess some days we may. This is as good as it gets, listeners, okay? Yeah, yeah. Lock in, giggle along if you want, criticize us and swear at your uh podcast radio speaker type thing, uh, if we're getting it wrong, but you know, we're having a laugh while we do it, so we are well. Thank you so much for reminding us of that. Uh we knew it anyway, but it was just having the headspace to be able to do it. And I think for you, um you you made a really good point, Tim, that actually you're not at work at the minute. And actually, how can you be, you know, I think too.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I can't my my camping, you know. I'll be I'll be honest with people, my camping season is over for the year. I won't be going camping again this year. Um I know, I know, I know, but it's sensible. Um I uh just stay off the heroin, Tim.
SPEAKER_01I'm not on the heroin, Eddie. I do have people who work with me who listen to this. I am not, and I've never been on the heroin.
SPEAKER_03The crack cocaine, mind you, is awesome. Don't do drugs, people. Don't do drugs. Don't I've never done drugs, I don't do drugs. It's um real ale is my only drug. And I'm I'm not really drinking a lot of that either, because I've got to be a bit sensible at the moment. So uh so life's life's a bit vanilla right right now. It's a bit rubbish, but um anyway I had lots of time, so actually let's let's get back into this and um and and see how it goes. I mean that said, this is a one-off one because I am actually managing to get away for a couple of weeks to just recuperate somewhere else. So we're we're we're uh we're not gonna be able to put an episode out for another couple of weeks, but we thought, what the hell, we're not gonna make you wait those two more weeks. We're just gonna slam you with an episode this week and throw it at you. Slam dunk in your face.
SPEAKER_04In your face. Um, so Tim. Yes, go on then. Regale us with what we are talking about today that is in the camping theme.
SPEAKER_03I feel like I should I should have some some kind of loot or something at a renaissance fair. Forsooth, Lord Adrienne. Oh, sorry, you haven't transitioned yet. It's um well, it's autumn. I can hear Richard going, Princess is ever more. Oh, actually, we gotta say a big thank you to Richard and Chaz who've picked up a lot of slack for us on uh some on the Facebook socials on the group. Um serious thank you to to both Richard and Chaz for um for doing all the work that they've been doing, superstars as they are. Uh we owe you a beer when we can finally get out in the field and and see you.
SPEAKER_04Oh Tim, you you've just offered up me because like if you're not going camping, uh they're gonna see me before they.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, you better be your beers.
SPEAKER_04Well, I've got some calling in the fridge.
SPEAKER_01Ouch.
SPEAKER_03I know. I'll offer them out. I wasn't washing that in lockdown.
SPEAKER_04Uh well, you know, I mean uh it's winking at me. It's winking at me. Yeah, it's like, oh, you know, it's like emergency beers. I'll eat I'll drink everything else before I get to that.
SPEAKER_03No, what you want to do is you want to get four deep in your nice stuff, and then it doesn't, you know, you're not gonna taste anything then, so then switch on to that. Drink your nice, drink your nice stuff first. There you go.
SPEAKER_04Oh yeah. Is that is that how you drink champagne over in here as a win? You get the good stuff out, uh, first of all, and then by the by the end of the second bottle, you can open the pomane.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03And by the by the fifth bottle, you have the baby sham. Um we did actually have a topic, we did actually have a topic this week. It's um it's autumn, um, and actually I'm sitting here at the moment, and there is a lovely blue sky, and it is the sun is shining, and in the sun, it's actually quite warm. Um, but it's it's it's that time of year that ends most people's camping seasons. So a lot of a lot of people who who are you know family campers, summer campers, you know, nothing wrong with that. Um they get to this point, the weather turns, it gets cold, it gets a lot wetter, and um, and people start to think, well, that's I've probably had my last camping trip, September, October's my last camping trip till probably next March or April. Um sometimes it's May that people push it to, and they're putting their kit away. So we were going to talk about for those people who don't go winter camping and don't don't um step into the deepest, darkest uh months of December and January. Um what should you be doing with your equipment now so that uh it's in good nick when you come to unpack it from whatever orifice you've stuffed it into when you want to go camping next year?
SPEAKER_04So yeah, I um I was just thinking when uh you were saying all that of uh Jason's excellent video, J Dog, um, out in the sticks, and he's not he's not putting stuff away. He had uh I guess uh heater on in his tent. Yeah, high clock. One Tigris, lovely uh tent there, just what a lovely setup. And that, if anybody's not seen it, go find our socials, go find uh Jason's video. That I think is the br the the bit that I'm longing for over this next season that has made me go. I don't want to put my stuff away, I don't want to, and you know, now I've got winter camping stuff. I'm off camping uh with my mate critical weeks' time. Looking forward to it so much. Um but uh yeah, what do you do with all your stuff to make sure that it's um you know, fit, healthy, whatever. Um so uh yeah, tents, Tim. Let's start with tents, eh?
SPEAKER_03So um what I what I do, I mean, I've got I've got tents I use in summer, tents I use in winter. I I am a man of many tents. I um I bought some of some of you know I I bought a cheap vaud for 30 quid. Um I've actually spent uh a little bit of my time off work um putting that back together and getting it getting it sorted, um, which is pretty much what you should do if you're packing stuff away. So um so first and foremost is make sure it's clean. You know, it's and I know we're you know we're all packing up on a on a campsite and it might be chucking it down and everything else, and you've got to pack it all away and and that. And yes, you you should get it out and and sort it out when you get home, but you don't always unpack it, make sure it's nice and clean, get the mud off the bottom. You know, there was some discussion this morning about whether or not you should use a footprint on um on the um on the have you frozen or have you had a stroke? I think I think I think he's frozen, but he's not had a stroke. Oh no, he's definitely not had a stroke, he's back. There we go. You definitely froze for a bit there, but it's alright. Um so I was just saying, um there was some discussion this morning on the on the um the group chat about whether or not you should use a footprint, and most of my tents do actually have a footprint.
SPEAKER_04Um I bloody love a footprint.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I love a it just stops your tent from getting properly recked. I mean it protect adds an extra layer of protection under your tent in case you haven't got all the rocks out of the way from where you're putting your tent down, but it saves it from all that mud, and it's so much easier to clean a footprint than it is to clean the bottom of your tent.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um top tip, get a footprint. If you can't get a footprint, get a tarp and shape it. Oh, you need it. But a footprint is so is so important. But clean all the mud off, get inside the tent, give it a good sweep out, a good clean out, because there's always bits of grass and dust and turn it inside out and stuff. Yeah. I literally put the inner of that of that void in the washing machine because you know, clearly nobody had slept in that for a while. It's stank, I have to say, and it wasn't very clean. I turned it inside out, I shoved it in the washing machine, and uh and and it was and it was and it was great. I then actually waterproofed it, even though it's the inner, because I thought, why not? So I put it in again and waterproofed it and then properly dried it out. And uh there's a there's a there's a bit of maintenance to do on it as well that I've still still not quite done. So go around, go around your seams, go around your zips. Is there anything that needs a little bit of needlework, a bit of sewing on, um just a bit of simple maintenance? Because if you do it now, you won't be kicking yourself in May. When you get that tent out, you want to go camping, you're all excited just to go, and um you won't remember to do any of it. It's um and if it's caked in mud, it'll just be rank.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, well, I I mean, over the years I've had mates that uh just you know they go camping and they get the tent out the next time, you know, they've not dried it out properly and things like that, um, which are you know it's so wrecks tents, you know, it breaks down the fabric, you get the plasticized sort of non-rip stuff that starts to come away from it. So it just gives your your tent a better life. The other thing that you should also do um is all of the stuff sacks that they go into, if you can, if you've got the space that they should be taken out of the uh compression uh stuff, and just let you know if you can put them on a shelf or whatever without those bags in it, the fabric will last a bit longer, you know.
SPEAKER_03It's allowed to that's a really good top tip, just to let it rather than have it under compression all the time. It's like your um uh it's like your self-inflating mats, isn't it? If you've got the space, you shouldn't store them rolled up. Um, you should store them flat all the time, you know. And uh that's not just for for you know long-term storage. Who who's got who's got the space, Tim, for that?
SPEAKER_01I do.
SPEAKER_03Oh I've got space for the single ones. I haven't got space for the um the Zempire monster mat. That's that's just too damn big. It's uh so that's staying compressed, sadly. But the single ones, they uh as soon as I get home, they're they're unrolled and left with a valve open and uh they're just lay there. I'm lucky I've got a garage and I've put a gear, uh, uh mezzanine floor in as a gear loft, so or most of my camping gear all goes up on this floor and uh and there's enough floor space then to kind of lay stuff out. I don't do that with the tents, though. That's a really good point. I um I I don't do that with my tents.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and I th I think it you know, I think for the more modern man made fabrics and stuff, I I think it's less important for the the cotton ones, but you will see where the creases are and stuff. Those those are tension bits and those plasticized man made stuff that'll make it where it's uh uh a bit more fragile maybe over time if that's constantly creasing and creasing increasing you know uh but yeah somebody told me years ago that you should also do that um you know uh sleeping bags or they although they come in compression stuff you want to get the best out of them you actually don't compress them um you know if you can leave them open but if you can't uh uh that they should be in a like a a a wider bag which a lot of the um good sleeping bags come with now don't they?
SPEAKER_03I was I was literally just gonna say that a good a good quality sleeping bag that you might have spent a decent bit of money on it they normally come with two bags a storage bag that's quite big and open it's normally like a net um and then two hey hey she got a wide snatch I must apologize to our female listeners of which there is many Tim I know there is I know I know with your misogynistic language all right we can start talking about Todgers if you like oh god no so most of them do come with a big larger sack and a compression sack you're not still talking about a Todg sack what we're gonna read the word sack a compression scrotum I think we've just lost whatever listeners decided to stay with us this week you have no downloads oh god oh I do apologize I do apologize oh god but yeah if you can do that with your sleeping bags moving on moving on if you can do that with your sleeping bags then yeah I um again I'm lucky I have the space um uh my my Northways cats meow always goes back into its uh larger sack and so here's another thing then uh let me ask you about your garage mezzanine is that tem is that temperature controlled because I don't put my tents outside because they'll get damp over the like just uh getting warm and cold warm and cold below zero kind of things so my tents will stay in the house um it's not but it's it's better than a shed so it's a yeah yeah yeah proper you know brick builds proper roof um you know full electrics and everything like that it's not heated um although if I am in there in the colder months I I put a fan heater on um but it doesn't get cold because we kind of store some plants in there over winter like we've got a road pan and stuff like that that um that go in there so it it doesn't ever drop down below zero doesn't even get close to it so it's um so it's it's it's reasonably stable uh temperature and um but yeah no it's uh I hadn't really thought about that but there ain't anywhere else to go for it because there's nowhere in the house I can put all this stuff.
SPEAKER_04Well you see uh myself and Chaz are going to have the problem uh this year that we've both got swags which are quite large things uh generally to uh to wonder about uh mine's in the shed at the minute which I need to bring in the house and uh yeah I uh I don't want it to spend uh so it would get cold and below zero and we'd get sort of uh black spots on the uh fabric um mildew kind of things can I just point out to you that actually it's our swag not your swag and that if you wanted it to like have a place on the mezzanine floor it could do but you'd have to you'd have to like you know let go of it okay yeah and I know you've you're very you're very fond of the swag I'm I'm quite attached to it yes uh I've not yet actually had a go on it oh it's excellent check out Birk and Will swags I believe uh our discount might still work who knows I think it does yeah yeah cc p15 I'll give you 15% off at Birk and Wills UK tell you what swagging it in oh I might take the swag when I go in there um a few weeks time and no are you swagging in the van you bought a van now haven't you are you gonna camp in the back of the van no I'm not gonna camp in the back of the van it's it's quite claustrophobic it's a small van Tim I don't know I don't know you're shorter than me I tell you I I'm I'm I think I'm losing this sort of giggle whattle uh at the minute this back and forth is more a bit of a force and force sorry am I picking on you yeah it feels like it all right um uh yeah I I was gonna say so the van uh would look excellent with a roof tent on it being influenced by Bella and her fella uh yeah it would look very nice uh on there and I'm quite liking the Thule uh single kind of uh one but when I checked out uh can my vehicle have one it said no so I I'm gonna disregard that to be honest I think that's yeah I think that's a bit ridiculous.
SPEAKER_03I mean the the half one by Thule is is it's lighter and it's a van it's designed to take like loads of stuff on the roof and yeah yeah so there's not yeah yeah I mean not not that I'm in any way shape or form able to go and buy a roof tent but Thule if you're listening and you want like uh somebody to go will this go on a uh little van yeah um anyway but anyway I digress so back to back to your tents uh the other thing I always do as well is I go around and I have a look at all my guy lines and make sure are any of those in need of replacing and I do have coils of uh different guy lines in my garage for that purpose it's um uh so I do go around and uh and just make sure are they are they all alright? Can they just have a little bit taken off them or actually you know what are you laughing at me now?
SPEAKER_04What are you laughing at? You got lines of guy in you go on get it out your sister no I'm sorry you've just sent me off with the giggles you sent me off with a giggles um yeah no you're perfectly right um the I and it's always worth um you know when you're drying a tent out if uh if you've been out and and whatever because I always like to neatly tie up my guy lines uh always but remembering if they've been wet they'll take longer to dry out if they're all uh knotted so leave them unknotted. Uh and similarly the strong uh tent poles um it tends to be overwinter that you lose some of that elasticity in uh in those because they're not being used and stuff so I've thought about that hadn't thought about that it's um but yeah anything else that you would do with your tents uh no not really the so so I I think what we've said before about where where are they being stored you know actually if if you've got the only place that they're going is in the shed try and get them in a sealed container and try and get some of those silica gels in there that'll stop the uh the mildew uh getting to them get them in a plastic tub if you've got nowhere else and they can't stay in their house you know if space is a a kind of premium and they are going to be in somewhere that'll get to minus figures that'll just stop the mildew happening. Top tip I think yeah I think that's a good idea I think that's a good idea.
SPEAKER_03You get those silica gels in everything and I used to throw them away but now I just put them in a little pot so that when I need them I just like throw a load in I'm also using uh things like Mieti coolers to store uh things that I'm a bit nervous of go it getting sort of hot and cold like you know where mildew and and stuff uh so yeah some of the stuff goes in there um and also sorry I was just gonna say on cool boxes I um I I had all all my sort of cool some my Stanley cool box my soft cool box and then I've got um I've now got two Stanley water butts all of those things uh that are kind of will absolutely have got wet because I've had ice and everything else in them I always store them with the lids open and stuff propped in and actually I kind of sit ones inside others so that it it saves on storage but helps to keep all the all the lids open and everything else just so that air circulates and it and it keeps it nice and clean and ready for for next year because the last thing you want in anything like that is um is bugs grown in them and and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_04Certainly the the kind of water tanks and stuff make sure that they're as dry as dry as possible um and I used to um so I've got a little keg that I use for water sometimes. I used to like you know leave it upside down so all the water would drip out and stuff. But I learned in this uh this summer that actually um upside down condensation uh or wetness that's within there that won't drip out has nowhere to evaporate to so you've got to get most of it out and then leave it open uh with the lid off to then let it dry and yeah certainly for water containers and stuff like that you you don't want you know it's always iffy when you've got like uh like a camel back with a straw that you can't get all the water out of the straw can yeah yeah you've you've got to get some Milton on that and some some proper stuff to to clean it out just to make sure you're safe it's um yeah I don't always do that I have to admit but you know there's the there's the advice for you make sure you sterilize it and make sure stuff like that is nice and clean.
SPEAKER_03Yeah certainly for for water and stuff uh you know who who the hell wants le Legionellas you know yeah no coli or anything like that it's um I um I then always go through my storage boxes and just you know because uh throughout you know the start first camping trip of the year I'll um I'll kind of fill up particularly my food one there'll be snacks and all sorts of bits in there and then each time I don't eat everything when I come back and I don't tend to take stuff out I tend to just top up each time I go throughout the year it's it's good this time of year to actually get that stuff out and go actually what stuff has expired because some of it will have done what stuff actually is just like gone to mush because it's maybe got too hot at one point and you know stuff that needs chucking stuff that actually it's dry it's okay it's on its wrapper it's in a really good date I can store that somewhere else and and and it'll do good for next year. So just go through your your food stuff and and make sure that that you know everything that needs chucking is chucked and give it a really good clean because you know your food storage boxes always get you know a bit sticky and a bit and a bit mucky and I don't always clean clean that box after each camping trip. As I say I tend to just top it up with extra stuff. I've noticed today it's a bit sticky so I've given it a good clean.
SPEAKER_04I um yeah I think uh it's a a very good top tip is that um and then I was gonna say so there's something that I've started to realise um as uh as we've all got batteries for things you know rechargeable stuff anything that's got a rechargeable battery needs to be insulated if it's somewhere that goes below zero so apparently it really reduces cold weather really reduces the uh lifespan of your battery packs if they go below freezing so yeah if you've got some rechargeable lights you've got some battery packs or your you know whatever those things are um get them in your cool boxes just get them insulated so that they're not gonna feel the coldest things wrap them up put something around them whatever that is it'll uh just give you another couple of uh well lifespan of them yeah that's a really really really good tip because um it's not something I always think about and I realise I've got I've got an electronics bag that's got all my my stuff in it that again I don't take all of it but it it's where it lives in the garage.
SPEAKER_03I um I could probably do with going through that and just making sure and actually some of the some of those things actually take like double A batteries I need to go through those and make sure I take the double A's out because otherwise they'll go all sticky and horrible by next year. Yeah yeah and actually putting it in your cool box that's a that's a really good idea because it's utilising extra storage. In insulating and um you know um but yeah you know I uh there might you know I don't I don't think do they need to breathe batteries I've got a I've got a I'm I'm really boring here but I um I've got a thing of new batteries and then I've got a box of partly used batteries and then old batteries obviously go but it's like batteries that you've used like once on one thing and you've taken them out but it's like I don't want them to mix up with the new batteries but I know that they'll if I need a battery for like something just really short I know those batteries will probably be alright for one thing and then need smacking so I kind of keep them in there so um I take I take those out and stick them in in the part used battery box.
SPEAKER_04Yeah you can see how uh how analy retentive my garage is it's not actually it's carnage it's complete it's a complete mess but it's uh it gets my mess yeah and and that's the thing I've got some really good storage in my sheds but it's a bit hammer time at the minute it's a bit all over the place so I need to uh re as I've grabbed things and gone camping and then shoved them back you know it gets out of order stuff. Yeah yeah um this is the other thing to just reorganise your organisation isn't it and just know where stuff is yeah get it all out put it all back away properly you uh you mentioned earlier I think before we uh came on uh um recording about the fact that you uh to organise your gas bottles yeah yeah so I um I had an incident uh a couple of weekends ago I was at a uh um uh nephew's birthday party and I had taken some camping stuff we were going to do a bit of outdoor kind of stuff make some schmores and things um and um I'd taken three canisters that were I thought they were okay but like wouldn't boil a uh individually wouldn't boil a pan of water uh because they were all like dog ends of them and I was just like why am I like we're also really scared of throwing away these things because they've got gas in them but not bloody useful gas if it won't boil a uh can of water. No can.
SPEAKER_03Can yeah well you might be boiling in a can you might be bushcrafting. It's um you know go I go through my gas and um and I'm a bit brutal. I have bought one of those one of those things where you can transfer over I've had really poor success with that. I um I need to have another go with it at some point see if I can see if there's a technique to it but I really don't think there is I think it's a case of you you make the the canister the receiving canister as cold as you can by keeping it in the freezer for ages and you warm up the uh uh giving canister so the the pressure in that is higher and you put that in the sun so it's nice and warm and um and then you open the you connect them together via the device and open the valve up and it's allegedly meant to take the gas from the warm one into the cold one so that you can then top it up. I don't think it really works. It's it's a bit hit and miss. I um I and I'm I'm a little bit brutal really that I don't ever want that situation where you've gone somewhere and you realize oh I thought there was more in that and um so actually I I do puncture them and then I I flatten them with a um a lump hammer and I chuck them.
SPEAKER_04It's um but have you have you noticed when you puncture them it's like there's millions of gas in there. Yeah it hangs around like it was like somebody left a like three days later it was like oh god I'm still stinking gas um and that you know it's it's ridiculous because so I always that I think that's why I I keep a hold of them because I was like oh there must have been more in there than uh I thought there was um I'm still not invested in those little gas light tea light kind of things that you just put on and get them going I need to do yeah they're gonna go on a Christmas list. Yeah I uh I'd like one of those as well because actually then they're perfect for that little bit of gas that's of no use to do anything else with but actually it'll make a really nice little lantern um yeah it's um did you did you see um saw something uh I've been doing a lot of um internet trawling while I've been off work but um did you see the um that snow peak had brought out um power banks that are shaped like um gas canisters no have you not seen those no I have to say they're really cool and then they've also obviously brought their own light that then sits and clips on top so it it looks like a gas canister with a with a gas burner light on top but it's not it's all battery powered and you can then obviously plug other things into them but they do the two different size gas canisters for it and um and it just they look really cool they look really cool something really really different that you're not going to see anywhere else I think at the moment they're only in Japan but you know yeah they'll come over eventually well they they released something uh the other day um and you could already get it on Amazon Japan so if you didn't mind uh paying for the shipping and uh things it was it was a similar price um I think that's what I love about companies like Snow Peak BioLite uh they push the boundaries they change what people uh uh have been doing or you know come up with a different idea I think that's that's the thing that I really love about them and you know other people copy imitate you know it's a good form of flattery isn't it they say uh but you know I do like the fact that they think outside the box a little bit and uh change things up quite a lot so yeah um yeah I'm I'm they were gonna get off uh recording this and uh go and have a little look yeah they were they were really really really nice bits of kit I thought they were they were quite cool I'm surprised I didn't send you the link but I you know who knows who knows who knows you know I've been all over the shop Tim I literally have the main the main thing though going back to gas is you know disconnect it from your stoves you know if it depends what your system is but if if it's a little burner on top of a gas stove if you're leaving that on there you can guarantee even though you've tightened everything off it'll leak um take it disconnect it all take it all off you should have kept the little plastic caps for your gas canisters if you know the butane propane um stick that back on so you don't get any dust uh in the um in the actual valve if you're using a a different gas system where you're you're using a regulator and hoses check your hose because they don't last forever um and don't be tempted to try and do maintenance and stuff like that just smack it out smack it out and get get it new because um it's just not worth the risk with gas it's really not worth the risk you know for for a bit of rubber hose pipe and a and a new regulator it ain't a lot and um you want to you want to just throw that stuff out if you bought something like that secondhand you really should be smacking those bits away so that you you can trust the bit of equipment that you're using and it's not gonna it's not gonna cause you um any harm when you're actually using it or or hurt somebody else for that matter.
SPEAKER_03It's um but just go through go through your gas stuff. Those um those little gas um gas burners that live in like a briefcase that's uh like a like an aerosol canister yeah in the side I personally never kept one of those longer than 12 months because they never really lasted and I never trusted it after it had gone through a winter of being stored. So and they're only like fifteen dollars fifteen pounds I um I'd smack 'em away and just buy a new one next year. I I like you smack 'em away.
SPEAKER_04Uh
SPEAKER_03Can't recycle that, can you? What are you gonna do? This is knackered, but I'm gonna give it to you.
SPEAKER_04You'd be surprised at how many of those things get given into charity shops.
SPEAKER_03I bet, I bet, and you can't I bet you can't do anything with them, can you? No, no, no, not at all. Recycle people, there's a lot of metal in there. The recycle people will absolutely take that stuff. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And yeah, we've got friends that have had theirs for years. We even got a double burner one.
SPEAKER_03See, I've double I made the mistake of buying a double burner one, and um, and within the first year, one of the burners stops working. It's like, well, now I just look like an ass. Bring in, I look like I brought out a keyboard.
SPEAKER_04Get a second burner on, Tim. Stop being cheap. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_03You get it out of the car, you look like you brought a keyboard with you. It's like well, hey up, sniper.
SPEAKER_04No, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_03I'm just boiling water.
SPEAKER_04No, just boiling water, but only on one ring. One ring only.
SPEAKER_03Sniper. See, this is the difference between us. I go, oh, you brought a keyboard. You go, sniper rifle. Sniper rifle.
SPEAKER_05Oh dear.
SPEAKER_04Well, I uh I think um oh man, that's funny. We've talked and giggled long enough. I hope um yeah, uh that everybody's enjoyed this episode.
SPEAKER_03Uh well I before you before you before you close the doors on the episode, before you close the doors on the episode, I was gonna say let's have a let's have a little chat to see if we can twist some people's arms to do what we like like in the actually get out winter camping. So you don't have to put all your stuff away now if you don't want to. You don't have to clean it all, pack it all away, put it all away, wave goodbye to it for five, six months.
SPEAKER_01You could actually it do it doesn't want to go, it doesn't want to go, it doesn't, it wants to go camping next weekend, it wants to go the weekend after that, yeah.
SPEAKER_03You need to facilitate your camping gear getting out in the field. So if you've only got summer stuff, have a little think about what you know, you don't have to go with a whole hog and get and get a tent stove and start cutting holes in your tent. You don't even have to go and buy other equipment necessarily. You don't have to go and buy another tent, you know. You don't not everybody has to be Aid and Tim and have you know ridiculous numbers of tents each. Yeah, it's agreed. You can, but you know, we uh we had a really good message off somebody on on um on one of our socials this week that um thanked us for getting them into camping and um and that we'd given some really good advice about borrowing stuff. And uh and I was like gobsmacked that somebody had actually thought we'd given good advice, but actually it turned out I do remember us giving that advice. I remember it. It's um and they had actually followed it and they'd gone and found someone who had a load of camping stuff and they'd borrowed it and they'd gone out camping for the first time, they'd had a fantastic time, and they're they're gonna go to the expense of buying their own stuff now, which is absolutely brilliant. Good way to test it, eh? Good way to test it. Do the same for winter camping. So if you know someone who does go winter camping, have a chat to them and just say, I'd really like to do winter camping. What you know, have you got anything that I could borrow? Or, you know, if you've got multiples of stuff and I could come with you and I could kind of learn how to do it.
SPEAKER_04Can I come with you? Have you got space in your tent? You'll forever sort of uh having people in your tent. Who are I just let that drop?
SPEAKER_01I'm a special kind of guy.
SPEAKER_02You are, you are. Um, but yeah, definitely. Just join me in my tent, just you know, put your name on a stamped down and stuck down envelope. Again, we haven't given you an address, just an area.
SPEAKER_01Oh, damn it.
SPEAKER_04It's um um, yeah, I think I think that's that's the thing, you know. If you are packing stuff away, pack it away well, but actually you don't need to. And uh this uh January we went camping and you decided that you actually just wanted to be in your um normal tent without a tent stove uh uh or anything. And and you kind of forget that actually, you know, if it's gonna be minus 10, you you know, you've got to be quite sensible. It wasn't gonna be minus 10, it was gonna be about zero. You've got a good sleeping bag, you know you're gonna be okay when you stop moving around or be near a fire. Um and that's it, and it really sort of I'd got a little bit comfortable in my oh, I need a tent stove and I need this and I need that. And then I thought, actually, no, I don't. Yeah, you just reminded me of that. Just make sure you're warming a night, you've got enough that'll uh do that. There's even, you know, get a hot water bottle, keep uh keep yourself warm with uh with that.
SPEAKER_03But you know, just and just remember that you you lose the vast majority of your heat to the ground. So even if you've got like lots of blankets and stuff on top of you, make sure you've got those layers underneath you as well. And and when I did do that camping trip in January um with my north phase tent, I um I had uh two self-inflating sleeping mats, um, one of which is has got a high R rating, so its thermal properties are really good. And um and actually I was I was absolutely fine. I um I didn't feel cold at all. I had a really good night's sleep. It's um it's you know, it was good to do. It was good to kind of remind myself that you know I haven't had a a tent stove for that long and would quite happily not necessarily do the January, you know, camping trips, but but I would I would do the shoulder seasons of of spring and spring and autumn stroke four. And um, and it it it's it's fine to do that. I mean it was good to go out to take that equipment out in January and actually see what it was like. And it was good. I did take a decent tarp because actually, if you're taking a smaller tent, the weather might not be great. You do need that that little bit of area to sit out in that you know is going to be dry, that you can cook in, that you can do all of those bits. So I did I did take a decent tarp. And um, and you can you can pick up a you know, not a decent tarp, but you can pick up a tarp that's actually quite cheap. Yeah, you know, yeah, get yourself to an army surplus store or something like that, and they'll um they'll do you something that's really really cheap. It's um so yeah, it's just you know, think about extra layers. You don't necessarily need to go and invest in a in a really expensive sleeping bag that'll take you down to minus 10. Take an extra quilt from home, take some extra blankets from home, you know, just just take some more stuff, wear a few more layers so that you can you can take some off when you get warm, you can add them back on. It's um invest one thing I do, even with the hot tent is I um I take proper base layers to proper thermal base layers that um that I've had for donkeys years from my skiing days, and um, but they're they're great to wear on a night um in the sleeping bag because actually you've just got that that proper layer around you that's keeping you nice and warm. It's it's just about thinking about you know those little bits that make it more comfortable. You don't have to go to the expense of getting a a massive tent and a tent stove and all this other stuff, and um although you know a gas heater. I mean, that was pretty impressive to see on um on Jason's uh yeah, I thought that was pretty cool. I liked what he'd done with the fire actually as well. He got a proper fire ring and he'd brushed, it'd gone to the the trouble, thankfully, it'd been really sensible of brushing away all the leaves and the debris from the from the forest floor, you know, a good sort of six feet away all the way around, so that if any sparks came out, there was no risk of setting fire to anything. It's um that was it was a really, really good little camping setup. He's got it's uh if you haven't seen the clip, go and find it on our socials because it's um it's well worth a look. Yeah, and he might make you cry too, like you did, Aide.
SPEAKER_04I might have been over emotional on beer. That's all I'm saying, okay.
SPEAKER_03Well, let's um let's jump away to a minute mindfulness to see if we can twist your arm into getting out this autumn and doing a bit of camping, and uh, or at least you can listen to it while you're putting stuff away.
SPEAKER_00Welcome to the casual camping one minute mindfulness. Let the sounds of the outdoors take you back to the camping field.
SPEAKER_03Fantastic. I'm going, I'm going. I wish I was going. I really wish I was going, but it's uh it's uh it's it's the end of my camping season this year, so hopefully hopefully next year I'll uh I'll get all my stuff and uh I'll be joining you in a field somewhere. But um but yeah, so in the meantime, you have to go on my behalf, take loads of pictures. I mean you went a few weeks ago, didn't you? And you you put some of the pictures on on um you made a leg of lamb again.
SPEAKER_04Oh my god, leg of lamb so nice. Once again, it was a bit uh you know, chopping up everything, getting the fire sorted, went to the pub, came back. Oh, let's get that. And you know what I've realized is um when you cut up meat on a chopping board, it goes really cold quickly. Whereas I think I need to put it back in the pan and just keep it on the uh kind of simmer so that it's all just still nice and warm, or get one of those like little tea light warmer things just to keep it going.
SPEAKER_03You could do with a um like a tripod thing with one of those chains where you can actually lift it a bit higher so it's not gonna cook anymore, but it's just it's still sat in the heat of the fire.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so something like that. Something like that. Something like something magic.
SPEAKER_03Hmm. No, good luck. Well cool. Well, thank you very much for letting us have our pause. Um, we are gonna pause for another couple of weeks after this because I am managing to get away. Um, not camping, but I am managing to get away and get some relaxation, which is nice, and then we'll uh we'll come back in another sort of two, three weeks with another episode.
SPEAKER_04We will indeed. Thanks for the loan of your ears. And uh remember, we're on socials, we would love to see videos of your next camping setup, how you've put stuff out, and uh yeah.
unknownCool, cool.
SPEAKER_03Take care, everybody. Bye bye. Bye.
