Hi, I love camping and every year I both work at festivals and get away camping when I can. Its got harder the last few years due to my arthritis and then this year, it suddenly got a lot worse and I ended up in a lot of pain. Im now on painkillers and will - eventually - get a hip replacement. Meanwhile Ive had to stop camping for now. I dont have a car/van so travel by public transport so need to carry stuff - I use a trolley. Im wondering what if anything might enable me to 'carry on camping'. The problem seems to be crawling into smallish tents and getting up and down onto airmats. A campervan would be great but very expensive to hire. Any ideas welcome!!I did think about a teepee tent but they are either poorly reviewed or not easy to transport, and I still have the sleeping issue.
a taller tent for a start then you need to get your bed up and off the floor, there are many ways to do this so the choice is yours, but what about going the glamping route? no setting things up, a proper bed, most have heating. so its only transporting your clothes and you can get your food delivered directly to the site via thelikes of tesco.com or asda etc
Not sure I have solutions as such, but can empathise with the age/condition related limitations to some degree.
Sadly 'minimalist' backpack/public transport camping gets more and more challenging as health and general old age take their toll on capabilities. I used to camp with a tent far more than I do now (last few camping trips abandoned because of companions having health issues), but with the benefit of a car to transport gear, so not limited by what I could personally carry, but even then, found airbeds giving way to fold-up camp beds to ease 'old bones' (no debilitating conditions as such, just old bones!) getting in and out of bed, tents that required 'crawling and crouching' giving way to ones I could walk around and stand up in, cookers on stands so I wasn't on hands and knees etc. etc.!
We used to go away to motor races as a crowd and camp, but numbers have dwindled in past few years, as health issues have impacted some and they no longer feel able to do the camping, one in particular can't cope with even elevated fold up camp beds after his hip replacement, he needs pretty much a full height normal bed. I'm feeling a bit 'last man standing' amongst that crowd, I'm the oldest by some margin, but also the fittest/healthiest it seems!
No help to you, but I did buy a caravan about 8 years back, so I could carry on 'camping', well at least the camping lifestyle, without suffering the tent and all the consequences thereof, and also to up the comfort levels and convenience with onboard facilities etc. That sort of presents a potential solution for you - GLAMPING!
Many sites offer ready erected tents (often teepee or yurt types), or pods, cabins/huts etc., often with a fully equipped set up, so no need for own tent, beds (usually offering something approaching a proper bed rather than an air bed etc.), even cooking facilities with some. They obviously come at a price probably far higher than your past 'backpack camping', but they do give an opportunity to carry on the lifestyle with a 'just turn up, and walk away convenience' of only having to get your person to the site, they often offer a linen service too, so luggage need be no more than clothes, and minimal foodstuffs.
Bigger/taller tent will be heavier to carry, and it still needs to be pitched which will require a level of mobility and strength.
Reduction in physical strength and longer recovery time after pitching a tent was the main reason why I changed unit from a tent to a high top panel van conversion with her own facilities.
Since the OP does not have access to a car/van and has to rely on public transport, camping pods, ready tents and static caravans would be my suggestions.
Good luck and I hope the OP can find a way to continue with camping.
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
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Thank you all for replies. It pretty much confirms what I thought. My options are limited. I am looking again at simple lightweight teepee tents. As it would only be for summer use, that would make a difference! Glamping is very expensive especially one person on their own. I think I may experiment as I just do not want to give up on the camping. An ideal solution would be if there was a cheaper way to hire a van for a few days for festival use. Im pretty sure I would be able to cope in a camper van as I drive but I do not need a vehicle where I live and its far too expensive to own.
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
Campervans can be extortionately expensive to hire (we've looked and baulked, even when the budget wasn't too tight!!!), but if you hunt around, there seem to be a few on offer for around £70 a day, which for maybe a long w/e nudges them far more towards the affordable! They are obviously not all singing all dancing ones, often based on smaller sub-transit sized vans with 2 berths, but appear functional in a literal 'tin tent' kind of way.
Couldn't find any adverts (search results swamped by family sized static caravans!), but I believe people do hire out their private touring type caravans that are on seasonal pitches. May be worth the time and effort to investigate further.
Sadly in most respects, 'camping' is no longer a budget holiday to be achieved at minimal cost as it used to be, it's very easy to spend 'big' money these days as businesses see it as highly profitable, and recent demand from people with more money than sense tends to fuel that, with a detrimental effect to those trying to do the old style 'budget camp'.
Let's hope you can find both practical and affordable solutions, to be able to carry on.
Yup, hiring a campervan/MH, even the most basic model, is expensive, even for private hires.
I was going to suggest getting a folding trolley/cart which I have found very useful, however, my usage has been limited to transporting items from the boot of my car to a venue that involved walking a short distance, and not via public transport.
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
Had ankle replacement due to end stage OE. I'd wait until rehabilitated from Op. Lightest kit possible helps. May leave room then for something like a lightweight Thermarest cot with pad on top. Some sites have pods to hire with bunks if tent out of the question.
WELL just to respond to last couple of posts. Ive narrowed down my options to hiring a basic van (NOT a camper) - much less pricey, that I could kit out with very basic gear. Or, invest in a lightweight teepee tent and see how that went. I am not giving up!!
Quote: Originally posted by rosalee59 on 15/9/2025
WELL just to respond to last couple of posts. Ive narrowed down my options to hiring a basic van (NOT a camper) - much less pricey, that I could kit out with very basic gear. Or, invest in a lightweight teepee tent and see how that went. I am not giving up!!
Some campsites get a bit 'sniffy' about people 'ruffing' it in unconverted vans (I've got a friend who's tried in her un-signwritten hubbies work transit van!), and/or sign written 'commercial' vehicles are banned from pitches (can sometimes be parked in the car park, when used as tow or transport vehicle - no use for living in!). You need to be sure a 'basic van' would be acceptable on site. No hard and fast rules to guide, just whatever a particular site likes to enforce. The DVLA definition of what they will accept as a camper van (conversion) is roughly 'side windows', 'graphics typical of a camper van', and IIRC a high or pop-up roof, also fitted bed, sink etc., some sites take that roughly as their guidelines too.
All that said, CAMC seem to have relaxed rules due to desperate need for bookings, and roof tents on cars are now being admitted to 'no tents' sites, so other sites may be relaxing past 'no vans' rules to get business!
Quote: Originally posted by Monty15 on 15/9/2025
... CAMC seem to have relaxed rules due to desperate need for bookings, and roof tents on cars are now being admitted to 'no tents' sites ...
Roof tents can stay on hardstanding pitches at 'no tent' sites, where as normal tents can't, that's my understanding.
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
Just had an idea for the OP about hiring a vehicle with a roof tent, to discover they are as expensive if not more expensive than hiring a campervan.
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
Quote: Originally posted by dk168 on 15/9/2025
Just had an idea for the OP about hiring a vehicle with a roof tent, to discover they are as expensive if not more expensive than hiring a campervan.
DK
Very much a fashion trend at the moment, and seem difficult to justify the use of at any practical level when conventional camping - keeping out of reach of the Lions in Africa maybe, avoiding the Hedgehogs in Hertfordshire, probably not!
When you consider, the cheapest ones seem to start at £1000, and just keep going up way past £2500, for what amounts to a compatible basic 'ground' tent at ONE TENTH of the price, it's no surprise they rent out at astronomic rates too!
I'd strongly advise OP not to consider, if what I've witnessed on my last couple of trips away is anything to go by.
1) For a basic 2 berth sleeping space only tent they seemed to take ages to make usable when fully set up. I've used lots of different 'ground' tent types over the years, and reckon many a good 5/6 berth, stand up height, with porch, type tent would be quicker and easier!
2) A pretty good level of strength and dexterity/mobility seems essential to set up.
3) Then there is the ladder climbing to enter/exit which may not be many people's forte under more favourable conditions, and you do that EVERY time you enter/exit, and that's after the countless times setting up!
4) Noticed something on what would normally be caravan/MH pitches, they are rarely level, many of these tents seemed pitched at excessive slopes as the base car was not levelled first, we take it for granted with caravans and MHs that a bit of levelling will be required, and with a caravan that is often no more than raising/lowering the jockey wheel, not so with a MH or roof tent, it's going to be wheel ramps etc. I've slept in tents on sloping pitches, it wasn't enjoyable, usually find yourself pressed against a soggy flysheet as you slide 'downhill'!
5) The old joke of 'If the caravans a rocking, don't come knocking' takes on new levels with a roof tent it seems, wouldn't speculate on hidden inside activities, but they don't half sway around with any movement as the car rocks on it's suspension!
6) And of course, much like a MH/camper, you pretty much have to pack up camp if you want to go out in the vehicle, it really does need packing up completely before you can hit the road, and then you rebuild your camp from scratch on return! I did have neighbours on last site who spent hours setting up, and had a drive away type awning as a living space etc., but they still were not going to go out in the vehicle until the tent was repacked!
It did take on a kind of road crash fascination watching these campers, it was almost painful watching so much expense and effort go into achieving so little - WHY, just WHY!
No doubt an EV vs ICE type debate will ensue between the pros and cons of roof tents, but from what I've seen, it's NOT an easy option, and certainly not a suitable option for OP if her limitations are as described. Nice and considerate thought DK, but probably not best option IMHO.
I used to have a roof box attached to my car that I loaded and unloaded every trip for about 2-3 years, before I got rid of that in favour of a leisure trailer that was bigger in volume to cope with the increased in weight when I got my first cotton canvas Dutch pyramid tent.
My fuel consumption improved significantly whenever I had either the roof box or the trailer attached to the car is all I am prepared to say.
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
Quote: Originally posted by dk168 on 16/9/2025
I used to have a roof box attached to my car that I loaded and unloaded every trip for about 2-3 years, before I got rid of that in favour of a leisure trailer that was bigger in volume to cope with the increased in weight when I got my first cotton canvas Dutch pyramid tent.
My fuel consumption improved significantly whenever I had either the roof box or the trailer attached to the car is all I am prepared to say.
DK
Are you hinting, your footwear may be of the 'Lead Wellie' kind? .... and that the Local Constabulary urgently spread the word "...SHE'S BACK, break out the radar guns!"
My roof box is fairly aerodynamic, not sure it had a huge impact on either my speed (always 'modest' of course ) or my fuel consumption, but a roof tent, now that's less of a brick, more a complete brick wall!!! That'll be something you notice for sure!
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Topic: CAMPING WITH OSTEOARTHRITIS
via mobile 15/9/2025 at 2:56pm
