The 12th Night

Night 12 under canvas (well, polyester) has been completed and the grand total of miles saved is 1,920 at the moment. Probably more important than that is the fact that I have salvaged at least 36 hours of my life that would otherwise have been spent on the motorway.

I really didn't feel like staying here last night, I didn't feel very well yesterday and the last thing I wanted to be doing was pitching a tent and all that malarkey... I decided to stay anyway because I had a meeting here this morning that needed some preparation, I knew if I went home an early start would be almost impossible.

So, last night I took it easy. I watched "The hills have eyes" on the laptop and then went to bed. Watching horror films in the dark (even pretty rubbish ones like this) and then sleeping alone in the middle of nowhere amongst unidentified wildlife is an experience, I'll call it "extreme sleeping"!

This morning was beautiful (and I felt much better too, thanks) the sun was shining and I was packed up before 7am. I took a shower and was about to head off to work when I realised I'd made something of a schoolboy error... I had folded the tent up and packed it away without emptying the internal pockets. I had left my wallet inside and I can't get in the office without it, nothing for it but to unpack it and crawl inside to have a look. I found it, eventually.

News

I was told today that I will soon be moving to a new project. Instead of working in Lichfield (85 miles from home) I will be working in Rugby (50 miles from home).

Now this is good in terms of the amount of miles I will be driving, but will it put an end to my Corporate Camping? It can easily take a couple of hours to get home from Lichfield, but I can get to and from Rugby in around 45 minutes... will it be worth camping there??

I'll have to give it some thought. I still think I'll be spending time in the tent, my main office is in Crewe (145 miles from home) and I really should be going there at least once a week (I have been avoiding going to save fuel) so maybe I'll be spending a night per week at a different site, or maybe in the wild.

Thinking

As you'll know if you have read the rest of my posts, I'm trying to save as much money as possible by commuting to work less and camping near the office is my main solution to this problem.

I've also mentioned in the past that the money saving is going well in terms of using a whole stack less fuel each week, but I do have to pay for the campsite each time I stay over. A night at the site costs me £7, but a return trip in the car costs about £14-£15... so I save around £7 each night I'm away.

I really want to become self sufficient for the camping part though, I do begrudge paying £7 for the use of a small patch of grass, a toilet and a shower. I want that whole £15 fuel saving to be all mine.

So, the thinking I have been doing is to try to provide the facilities I need without paying for them... What I have come up with is pretty simple idea for providing hot water for showering/washing.

The idea is that I could pick myself up an old roof-box from Freecycle and use it as storage (as intended) and also the base for a solar powered water heater. Roof box would be ideal for this as it spends all day sitting on the roof, outside, in the sun.

My idea has a few parts to it:

1. Insulated water storage tank - This is where the water will live, it could hold a few gallons of water and would be well insulated to keep in the heat. Something along the lines of high-density foam covered container, like you find in a domestic heating system.
2. An array of small metal capillary tubes to collect heat, perfect example of which is shown here - This chap has made a solar water heater by using the heat exchanger from the back of a fridge.
3. A regular solar panel to run a pump - This is the good bit! I would use a small pump (like you would get in a fish tank for example) and power it with a solar panel/battery combo. The best bit is that I would rig the pump to run only when the output of the solar panel was high, when the sun is shining I'll pump water from the insulated tank, through the heater and back to the tank. When the sun is not shining (at night!) all the water stays in the super-insulated tank.

The result of all this would hopefully be a tank of warm (or hot) water on demand to shower with, I'd run the pump for the shower directly from the vehicle battery.

So... what do you think then??

Back home

I'm back now from a busy couple of days (and nights!) working. First night in the tent and the second night in the posh hotel.

I could easily have done without the hotel; I got there are 6.30pm and then left to go out on the town at around 6.45pm, got back at 00.30am and was up again at 7am. It's just not worth shelling out a load of cash to sleep in a bed for a few hours, sleep is sleep... I don't sleep better in a more expensive bed.

Another thing about the hotel is that the carpark was full, almost every single car was a mid to high end company car (mine included!), I've stayed at this hotel many, many times but it's just not me anymore. All this getting back to basics (occasionally) is making me much less materialistic, that can only be a good thing I guess!

Over dinner I mentioned to a couple of my co-workers that I've been camping out near the office to save the fuel and traveling time... I think they find it a bit odd but I'm sure some of them saw my point when I explained how many miles I have saved (1760 so far!) and how many hours I have spent sat on the M42 twice a day.

Every time!

If you live in the UK then you'll know that the weather recently has been pretty nice, lots of sun and no rain = perfect. So why is it that today, when I'm camping, it's now raining and very very windy?

I managed to fight the tent up in strong wind, just after I got it pitched it started to rain. So, I'm cooking inside again and I have placed the car alongside to act as a wind-break.

I've taken extra care to make sure everything is pegged out OK, time will tell... I can't see it being a very peaceful night!

Compare and Contrast

I won't be going home for a couple of nights because of work commitments, I'll be staying in two locations...

Tonight I'll be pitching the tent at my usual location in Staffordshire and I'll take it easy while listening to the football (I'm not really a fan but I'll make the effort for the World Cup!) I'll have a couple of beers and an early night, ready to hit the road first thing. Tomorrow night I'll be staying at a 4 Star hotel in the middle of a Cheshire Golf Course and then entertaining the big-wigs at a Thai restaurant in the evening.

So, two different types of accommodation but which is best?

I suppose it's not fair to compare the two really... There isn't much that the hotel really offers that I can't get at the campsite; I have a bed, I have a shower and I can make a cup of coffee whenever I like. I think the only advantage the hotel has is that there is an iron in the room so I can iron my shirt in the morning!

If *I* was paying (and I do pay for the campsite!) I would rather spend £7 than £90+, that's for sure!

This week

For the first time in ages I won't be camping this week. It just so happens that I'm not doing two consecutive days at the same office.

I think I'm going to miss it, especially as the weather is perfect for a spot of outdoor relaxation.

I'm still half thinking of ways to camp for free (or as near to free as possible), I'm sure I'll come up with something!

Last night

The weather stayed nice and it was a lovely evening.

I pitched in a different part of the site last night as it was much busier than usual, there were several tents, a few big motorhomes and a bunch of caravans.
In an ideal world I'd have the whole place to myself but I suppose when the weather is like this everybody fancies a break.

As it was warm last night I didn't sleep in the sleeping bags, I opened them out and put one under me and the other on top. This didn't work very well because the bottom one kept slipping about on the airbed. I got pretty cold at around 4am so I zipped myself into one of the bags.

I got up this morning later than usual (7.30) after spending some time enjoying the sunshine filtering into the tent. I was packed, showered and at work by 8.15.

10 nights - 1600 miles saved

Tonight

Things didn't really go to plan this week and I ended up traveling home when I had hoped to stay. I'll be staying here tonight though and I'm looking forward to having some decent weather for a change, it's lovely and warm out there and the forecast is for it to stay that way.

I think I'll really enjoy tonight, I'll get all the benefits of saving fuel and all those hours in traffic and hopefully none of the hardship that the weather has been bringing recently.

I hope I haven't jinxed the weather by saying all that, tropical storm over Lichfield?

Packing

I need to spend a couple of days in the office at Lichfield this week so I'm packing enough stuff for a two nights stay. I'm not 100% sure I'll stay two nights but it's better to be prepared.

I don't really need to pack any extra stuff for a longer stay, I travel pretty light so it's an extra shirt and tie really!

Although I'm saving lots of miles and time doing this, I would like to save a little more cash. The problem is that each night I stay I have to pay £7 in pitch fees (50p of that is for the shower) and in an ideal world I would pay less, or nothing! I really don't need any facilities (although I do use the toilets and shower) so I might have a crack at a spot of wild camping or spend some time looking for cheaper sites

Cooking on the Beach

Cooking on the Beach
Originally uploaded by Saturner.

Alright, it's not exactly camping but we hit the beach today and I used some of my gear to cook us a meal while we were there.

It made it a cheap day out, we only paid for fuel and parking.

If I could persuade my good lady wife to give camping a try then it could have been even better, I'm sure it will happen one day (our 5 yr old daughter is keen I think!)

Gear

I keep having to remind myself that the whole point of this camping lark is to save money. I keep finding myself looking at all the gear you can buy from the on-line retailers.
Luckily I'm pretty tight fisted these days and it takes a lot for me to part with any cash, I haven't succumbed yet!

I have been thinking about the gear I have and, specifically, if there is anything else I need. I think I'm pretty much covered.

The only thing I struggle with when camping (as apposed to staying in hotels like I used to) is getting work done in the evening. The tent is too small for a desk and chair, you can get small tables but I don't think it would be comfortable.

I think the answer may well be to get a Carnopy. I already have a decent folding aluminium table and I could use the back of the car as a seat. That way I could have a covered area to catch up with a bit of work/cook/drink wine/relax.

The only other areas that need attention are lighting and power. I have a decent 1,000,000 candle power torch but I could use a lantern for more long-term lighting, something cheap and rechargeable would do. As for power, I don't need much; something to charge laptop, phone and lantern would be fine. In theory the car should do all this but I have twice flattened the battery...

The only other thing on my list is a wind-up radio... I really want one.