Hi new member here..
Not been camping for about 20 years
Me and the wife have decided to have some weekends or longer away this summer.
Bought a new Vango icarus 500 tent and other camping equipment.
The biggest change in camping since I last went is the new modern comforts.. elec hook ups camping stoves and so on.
We are not to bothered about power hook up but are looking for 2 burner gas stove..
What rules regs for campsite cooking with these gas stoves..cook inside tent or outside..is the bottle stored inside the tent or outside, can the bottle be transported full in your car.
We are looking to get away for a week in July .. thinking of Dumfries area and the Lakes any campsite suggestions welcome..preferably with short walk to pub, town or village.
Great site been lurking for a week or so..any advice welcomed...
Thanks..
We have various camping stoves and have never come across any rules and regulations on campsites. I think its just campfires that some dont like.
We have cooked in the tent when weather is bad but prefer to cook outdoors when possible, but we have a large canvas tent with specially made kitchen area, Its really up to you if you feel it is safe to do so in your choice of tent. I wont run a gas fridge in the tent though as it needs to be on all the time so use a small annex if taking this.
------------- Twinwood festival, august bank holiday
our gas bottle is transported either full or with however much gas is left in it from our last trip...no problems there...unlike some people, we choose to cook inside our tent (the gas bottle is therefore inside the tent as well)...we're just very observant when it comes down to checking the connections between stove and bottle, never leaving a lit stove unattended, making sure the stove stand is sturdy and situated on level ground and also making sure the stove and stand are a safe distance from the wall of the tent...pretty much all common sense...
as for campsites and rules regarding cooking inside or outside of tents, there are sites that insist no cooking is to take place inside your tent, but i think they're in the minority...we've only come across a couple in all our years of camping...
Hi and welcome
We have never come across any cooking regulations for gas stoves, you can cook in your tent if you dont mind the lingering smell of cooking just keep the cooker well away from the tent fabric or outside. Gas bottles are as safe as you can get just make sure they are well "wedged" in the car to stop them rolling about.
The Icarus is a nifty little tent to start back camping, light weight, easy to put up and with a range of accessories available
------------- Experience enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
Everything has been said before, but since nobody ever listens we have to keep going back and saying it all over again and again and again
Thanks for all the info...looks like common sense is the main requirement ..
As for the camping does anyone just set off in the car with a general route and stop at sites 2 or 3 nights with no real plan. I know it sounds a good idea but pitching the tent a few times may not be fun..
Like I said if I started in the Dumfries area and worked on down through the lakes stopping at about 3 or 4 sites ..anyone done a route like this, or would you advise just to find a site and stay longer.
for us it would all depend on how long the holiday was going to be in total...i wouldn't want to be spending most of my holiday pitching the tent, taking it down again and packing/unpacking the car...personally if we have a couple of weeks to spend somewhere and it's a long drive to get there, we set off very early in the morning which usually gets us to our campsite of choice somewhere between midday and 2pm after a few hours of driving...
we did spend one holiday jumping from one campsite to another (spending around 2 to 3 days in each location)...it was nice, but the almost continuous pitching and packing grew old very quickly...
Hi and welcome touring with a tent is fine once you get in to the the routeen but if you plan to do it during school holidays you will find alot of sites full especaily at weekends .
What i do is work out roughly where i want to go buy a cheep road atlas or print off google maps and write the numbers of a few sites on the map so if you do get to a site thats full or not really what your looking for. you can ring round rather than trawling from site to site
We have certainly done that on the continent, staying 2-3 days then moving. We have never had a problem finding sites with spaces (although some have turned out a bit grotty). When we camp in this country it tends to be on the spur of the moment and a couple of times I've had a problem finding a site with space in the area we want. I think I would be a bit wary about touring in this country without access to the site reviews and maps on UKCS.
We are going to Wales in the summer holidays and have booked in the first campsite for 3 nights and then we are going to move on somewhere else, not booked anywhere but we dont want EHU and we are not at all bothered by basic facilities so, like someone else suggested, we are going to take a map and a list of telephone numbers and ring around to find somewhere we fancy. Of course we might fancy staying where we are, IF they have any spaces, if not we will have to move on. I like being adventurous and dont really want to stay in the same place for a week.
As others have said, the main concern about the gas tank is the hose. Make sure you change it every two years and always couple it to the tank and stove with jubilee clips. Check every time you use it that it's not leaking. Have a sniff, and if you smell gas, try a little washing-up liquid around the connections. If it bubbles, you know you have a leak.
Leaks are very rare, though, if you take good care of the tank, the stove and the connector. I sometimes cook inside the tent, after dark or when the weather's bad. Just use a back-guard behind the double burner and keep it well away from the tent walls. And keep a bucket of water handy, and preferably an extinguisher and fire blanket. It sounds a bit over the top, but it's really just simple fire safety. In the very unlikely event of a flare-up it might just save your tent!
We always carry our gas tank inside the car, no matter how full it is. Those things are very, very tough, and if there was an accident, the main danger would be from having such a heavy object loose in the car, so always pack it in the boot.
If you're only going away for a week in July, I think two sites would be enough. Otherwise you will feel like you're doing very little relaxing or sight seeing, it will seem like a working holiday with all the packing up, travelling to the next site & pitching again.
You can carry your gas bottle in the boot, but make sure you pack it upright & pack plenty of stuff around it to prevent it from falling over.
I think the only regulation about using your gas stove on site would be that you use it on a table or kitchen stand, not on the grass. We use our cooker inside the tent, but we use canvas tents. Just make sure it's not too near the side walls.
Hi have a look on the reviews here for the Loch Ken campsite. The views are fantastic and you will see red kites flying overhead from your tent pitch. Lots of places to visits nearby (leaflets at campsite reception - I would reccommend the red kite feeding station - and walks from the campsite too). No pub within walking distance, but a beautiful site nonetheless.
Quote: Originally posted by FriendOfOwls on 23/6/2011
Hi Rocky, and welcome.
As others have said, the main concern about the gas tank is the hose. Make sure you change it every two years and always couple it to the tank and stove with jubilee clips. Check every time you use it that it's not leaking. Have a sniff, and if you smell gas, try a little washing-up liquid around the connections. If it bubbles, you know you have a leak.
...
Just another tip - if there is ANY sign of white (frost, condensation or ice) appearing near either connector - you have a leak. This is NOT 100% reliable as it depends on ambient temps etc - but can be a clue !!!
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: New to the forum....few questions
