My Tips for Camping with ME

Last weekend I went  camping for the weekend with some of my family and so thought I’d share some tips based on what I did that helped me conserve energy and all the mistakes I made that didn’t!

• Pack well in advance, do a bit each day, so it’s not one big energy draining task. Write a list first and then pack a certain number of items each day. Also if you don’t have anything, this way you’ll find out earlier and have time to get it.
• Pack LOTS of warm clothes, several times what you think you’d need- I thought I had plenty but ended up having to send someone back to fetch more! Wearing a few pairs of long socks- I had colourful stripes ones- is a good idea as the last thing you want if you get lots of muscle pain in your legs is for them to get cold and tighten up. For your clothes, layers are the best idea because heat is trapped between them but then if it does get hot you can take some off.
• If you have the room pack a warm sleeping bag, a duvet and several thick blankets, that way you know you’ll definitely be warm enough. It might not be sticking to the tradition of camping but you could bring an air bed, it will give you better quality sleep. The mechanical pumps take a lot of oomph to use and aren’t ME friendly, so you might like to ask someone else to do that for you. Or you could take an electric pump that connects to the car if you can get your hands on one.
• You could also take some low energy things to do, in case you’re not feeling well enough to go out during the day, maybe some crafts, a pack of cards and a board game, or a book to read?
• If the people you’re camping with  don’t mind, arrive a few hours after everyone else, when all the tents are already set up- this is what I did :P If you do arrive with everyone else, I wouldn’t recommend helping set up the tents if you’re anything other than mildly effected, it’s pretty tiring. Hopefully the people you’re with won’t mind doing it for you.
• Think about where you pitch your tent, how far is it from the toilet facilities? It depends how far you can walk but if it’s not far then you should try to be as close as possible, you’ll end up having to make the trip several times, and it will seem further in the dark! Also try to remember what direction the toilets are from your tent; getting lost in the middle of the night isn’t fun!
• Again, this isn’t the traditional way of camping, but if you think cooking a meal would be too tiring, you could do what my family did and go to a pub for your evening meal instead- which will still be tiring but you get to sit in the warm, with decent food and don’t have any washing up to do in a stream :P
• Remember to have pleanty of rest, i know just how easy it is to get carried away having fun and then pay for it later, a few five minute rests here and there can make all the difference :)
• My Top Tip: Take sun cream, even if the forecast is bad, British weather is unpredictable as we all know, so you could end up getting burnt if you get a beautiful sunny day instead of the cloudy gloomy weather you were expecting!
• Or an even better tip for camping with ME is don’t!  Stay at home in the warm!  My camping trip was fun and I did enjoy myself but it was freezing and extremely tiring, cue payback, so I don’t think I’ll be going again until I’ve improved a lot!

I have lots of book reviews coming up soon, as i've read several books lately and after a recent trip to the library a big bag full of books to be read. I also have some make up posts pre written and some posts about some of the crafty stuff I've been up to as well as some other ideas in my mind, what would anybody like to read more of?

Heather xx