My first trip solo backpacking

SoloBackpacking/Hiking
Written By Remi Looi-Somoye

My basic (semi-budget) winter camping kit list is at the end of this post.

Over the past few months, I’ve been daydreaming of hiking up some mountain, setting up camp on the summit, and waking up to pink skies and sunrise. I’ve been reading blogs, following Instagram accounts, and slowly collecting camping gear.

Thing is, I’ve never actually been backpacking before, excluding the Duke of Edinburgh programme back at school nearly 15 years ago.

So, to put my interest to the test, and to give all this new gear a spin, I planned a sort of impromptu camping trip. I had a free weekend coming up, and the weather was looking acceptable. I wanted to go somewhere close by that wouldn’t result in a pricey train ticket, and I wanted to go to a campsite with facilities in case I came across any trouble. So I checked out a couple of campsite directories including campwild.uk (£) and pitchup.com and found a campsite near Stevenage that was open all season, less than £20 for a pitch, and a direct train from near where I live in London. Perfect.

Hiking through the dark and mud

Because this trip was quite last minute, and because it was more a test run than anything else, I didn’t quite have all the kit that I wanted, nor had I done much planning for the trip itself. I had a 40L rucksack (compliant with cabin-size luggage) that I used to pack all my camping gear, which was a tight squeeze. It took me so long trying to configure everything to fit in this bag that I missed both the first and second train I had planned to get. Once I finally caught a train out of London towards Stevenage it was 1pm, and I had very limited daylight hours left to hike to camp.

My plan wasn’t to ride the train all the way to Stevenage. Instead, I wanted to get off a stop or two before, and then hike the extra distance to camp. That way I’d get a bit of the backpacking in. I got off the train at Hertford. From here it was a 17km walk North to the campsite, an estimated 4 hours. With some and some speed, I could hopefully get there before sunset.

I had been keeping an eye on the weather but I hadn’t really considered the fact that it had been raining all week. Most of the paths were either completely flooded or very muddy. Luckily my walking boots (see kit list below) held up well, even almost completely submerged my feet stayed dry. Because of the state of the paths I had to take a couple of detours, and the mud slowed me down. By 5pm, I still had a fair way to go and the grey drizzly weather meant that it was already pretty dark. It took me about another hour of walking through dark fields and quiet woods before I reached camp. I’ve got to say it was pretty eerie towards the end. I was a little scared, mainly of the dark, but I was so focused on trying to navigate muddy paths in poor visibility that I couldn’t focus much on the fear.

At camp - trusting my judgment and feeling scared

Arriving at camp in the dark and mud was not fun, and the campsite staff were not convinced that I would be okay. They kept asking me if I was an experienced camper (no) if I had done this before (no) and if I wanted to stay in one of their cabins instead (no). But I knew I was capable. I hadn’t come all this way in the wet and mud to not camp!

Being a solo traveller I often get questions like this, concerned members of the public questioning my ability. It can be tricky trusting your judgment when there are so many people out there telling you otherwise.

Just remember, they don’t you and they don’t know what you are capable of.

Out in the wilderness, there is a lot of noise. Rustling bushes, flapping wings, screeching crows, and then silence. It was a little unnerving. I was finding that I was really quite scared of the dark on my own. I was glad that I had chosen to stay at a campsite with other campers around.

Despite this, I was also acutely aware of being a solo female. While I was comforted by the fact that there were fellow campers nearby, I didn’t want them to know that I was a woman out in the woods alone. My biggest fear camping alone was honestly of someone or something coming into my tent at night. So I kept to myself, kept my light out, and tried not to draw any attention.

I was able to set up the tent quite easily in the dark (glad I practiced at home!) but the one issue I had was the mud. The mud was that wet kind that splatters everywhere and clings to everything. I really needed a towel or something to wipe my hands because I just got mud everywhere!

With everything set up and unpacked, I cooked dinner and enjoyed the warmth and comfort of spicy instant ramen. Pot rinsed out, muddy hands washed, and teeth brushed, I settled into my sleeping bag. Barely 30 minutes into the film I had downloaded on my phone I fell asleep.

Waking up puffy-faced and bright-eyed

The night went well. I was warm and as comfortable as a side-sleeper can be on a foam mat. I woke up with the sunrise, around 7:30am, puffy-faced and bright-eyed and finally able to see around camp.

It was a beautiful blue-sky morning and I loved the freshness of the air.

This is the thing that I love about waking up in nature, the mornings.

I was much quicker cooking and packing up camp and was off by 9am to walk towards Stevenage, about 10km (2 hours). My body was a little stiff and a little sore but nothing too uncomfortable, I was back in my stride very easily feeling fresh and ready.

On my hike the day before I barely came across another person, walking through fields and woods and farmland. For this walk to Stevenage, I was mostly walking through villages and towns and so passed many locals and dog walkers on my way. Coming across other people made me more aware that I was a stranger in this area and that I stood out. Not only because I was dressed head to toe in noisy waterproof fabric, but also because I was the only person of colour I had come across in these past 24-hours. When you’re living in London it’s easy to forget that not everywhere is as diverse. In the back of my mind, I wondered what people thought of me, a solo brown girl walking around with a tent strapped to her back. But everyone I passed was very friendly, as they often are in the countryside, and they would start conversations, provide me with directions, and offer me water.

The last hour of the walk was mainly on pavements along roads. The concrete made my feet hurt and my legs tired. I was glad to arrive at Stevenage train station and it was a direct 20min ride back to London from here. All in all, I was home by noon. Less than 24-hours round trip.

Reflections

  • Definitely definitely get to camp before it’s dark. It’s less spooky, it’s easier to set up camp and cook, and it allows you to get your bearings and feel more comfortable in your surroundings.

  • Slow the pace and take more breaks. I was so focused on getting to camp on time that I would try to power through hunger or discomfort. It made the walking way less enjoyable and also meant I focused less on the beautiful surroundings.

  • For me, the colder weather and darker days made winter camping a little less fun when doing it solo. In the dark, there is a lot less you can do for entertainment and you have fewer daylight hours to play with which impacts what time you arrive and leave camp.

Basic Winter camping packing list

To wear:

To pack, quick access:

In the bag:

Remi Looi-Somoye
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