Ok so lets take a LIGHT harted look at camping for beginers!
The 1st thing that I learned from at the Lakeland 09 meeting.
Take your new tent home and put it up so you have some idea how it go,s together!(I got that right )and how big\small it is!
When they say it is a 2 man tent that are using Snow Whites mates as a size guide
Next blow up your air bed and see if it fits!
This is where it all started to go wrong,
yes it did fit but it was so high that my head and feet were wedged into the ends of the roof of the tent (it was a wedge shaped tent)
so what I did was let some of the air out to lower my hight, but all that happens is your\my fat hits the ground and your\my head and feet go higher and it makes turning over to get "comfy" almost imposible!!!
Next NEVER EVER trust the free sleeping bag that comes with the tent!!!! not only did I not even take it out over the bag it came in but I did not look at how warm it was suposed to be!!!!! IF I was a POLAR BEAR then may be I would have been ok! Oh no wait you remember what I said about the size guide for the tent? well im Mr average under 6ft tall a bit over waight 14st but let me tell you, that f*cking sleeping bag was all most the death of me, lets just say that DOPEY got into it and GRUMPY got out! I froze my t*ts off it was so bad that I all most gave up and went home at 4am on the 1st morning!
When and if you go camping pack a wooly hat to keep your head warm, make it the 1st thing you put in your kit! In the end the only thig I took off to go to bed on the 2nd night was my lid and boots!!
Next if you are getting on a bit and are not as bendy as you used to be, get a taller tent that you can kneel in of stand in cos I swear when you are sat on the ground trying to put you socks on your legs are a foot longer than when you do it at home sat on the bed.
If you go camping with a large group of mates and there is a lot of booze being drunk then I would sergest that you try to remember to pack ear plugs or camp away from the group as drunk people snoore so bad!!!
Having said all of the above I have to say that all involved in the Lakeland do all pulled together and made it a great weekend and im glad that I stayed so peps just beware the pitfulls that can be found the hard way
Happy camping BEAR.