camping at it’s best?
(Source: ketchingupwithketchmark)
Hello there!
We hope that like ourselves you are enjoying the lovely weather, it’s set to continue over the weekend so we can all get out hiking and camping!
Anyway as the name of this blog post would suggest we’ve got some great news.
@CampingLinks is now sponsored by the @CheapTents blog!
This is great news for us and means we can keep posting links and talking to everyone we love so much! Nothing will really change, other than you will see a link to the Cheap Tents Blog in our twitter profile and the profile of this blog.
We hope you have a nice day, now lets get back to tweeting :)
Hiking Time!
(Source: btlam)
The looks like an amazing place to go camping this summer
The time of year when I begin dreaming of the West. With everything going on this summer, I hope I have a chance to make it out there for a few days.
A work trip to Denver is coming up in August. A quick trip to the mesas might be possible.
Bunnies Plot Their World Domination
Thanks, Marcello & Anais!
At Campinglinks we’re always interested in new developments and tent technology.
Recently we were asked if we wanted to test out a new design in tent pegs. They’re made by a German company are are called Wurmi. Basically they are plastic pegs that screw into the ground, instead of being hammered in with a mallet like normal tent pegs. You can use an ordinary spanner or the specially designed lightweight Wurmi spanner. If you like your power tools, you can screw them in with an electric/battery operated drill.
There are several sizes of Wurmi, we tried out a small one that is 11 cm long and a medium sized one that is 18 cm long. There are also massive marquee sizes available too.
To make sure that we gave the pegs the full treatment, we went camping on an exposed hill top when there was quite a strong wind. The ground was quite muddy, but firm.
To be honest, we we’re really impressed with the small pegs. They slid straight into soil and were easily pulled out again.
The medium pegs were a different story altogether. They have a much deeper screw thread and screwed into the ground very tightly. Despite the tent being blown for over 6 hours by strong North Westerly winds the pegs didn’t budge. The plastic that they are made of flexes a little in the wind, they are no brittle and did not snap.
Being a bit forgetful, we didn’t remember the spanner and had to screw the pegs in with our fingers. This was not a problem in soft ground, but in hard, dry ground you would be in trouble without the spanner. This is a disadvantage of the Wurmi system, the spanner is lighter than a mallet, but if you don’t have a mallet you can use a rock to hammer in a non-screw thread stake.
Another tip, when extracting the pegs make sure you unscrew them, otherwise the thread stays full of soil.
For you weight conscious backpackers, at 7 g the small peg is very light. At 19.5 g the medium peg is not as light as some tent pegs made of lightweight alloys. The Wurmies are not as heavy as the MSR Cyclone stakes, which at 35 g and 25 cm are seriously heavy duty backpacking kit!
In conclusion, we were impressed with the 18 cm Wurmi peg and would recommend them for pegging out your guy lines - they’ll keep your tent secure even in strong winds. If you’re a lightweight backpacker, consider the Wurmi but take a look at alloy pegs too.
Looks like Homebase has opened a caravan park!
A handy place to stay and convenient if you want to kit your mobile home our with items for “Living”. Not sure about the view though, I prefer mountains, valleys, fields, forests and rivers as opposed to tarmac and bricks. Still takes all sorts ;-)
Are you thinking of buying a caravan? The Caravan Club have some great advice about where to look.
Hint: Buy from a reputable dealer and not from a bloke in a pub car park!
If you buy from a private individual, check that the caravan is not stolen:
The National Caravan Council (representing the UK caravan industry) and HPI (a leading provider of vehicle checks for more than 70 years) teamed up in 1992 to provide a similar service for caravans. CRiS, the Caravan Registration and Identification Scheme, aims to help prevent and detect caravan crime.
Every caravan built by an NCC member (or registered by its owner individually) since 1992 should have a Touring Caravan Registration Document, which is kept by the caravan’s registered keeper. The Document includes the caravan’s unique 17-digit Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) and the caravan description. All the information is also held on the central CRiS database. If you’re looking to buy a caravan you can carry out a CRiS check on it by calling 01722 411430.
Before buying, don’t forget to thoroughly check the caravan for damage, rust and other deficiencies. Also make sure that you have somewhere to keep it and something with which to tow it.
wolf spotted whilst out camping! … I ran away from him… here is a pic
(via indiehunk-deactivated20120109)
Awesome for a Picnic! … just hope the birds don’t want to eat it
(Source: coeurromantique)