Author Topic: Cutting daily camping costs?  (Read 4932 times)

gunwharfman

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Cutting daily camping costs?
« on: 14:51:18, 28/05/19 »
I'm a hiker who finds that camping costs me between £40 to £50 a day and on odd days even more. I will always try to look for a campsite and will often pay £10 for a night. I then go to pubs to eat and drink, three pints can be about £12 and about £12-£15 for a meal. Then, of course, I will buy snacks to eat during the day plus coffee and cake. Easily another £10. Is this your type of experience, or do you hike and camp more cheaply?

I would save lots of money if I wild camped each time and I assume I would save again if I cooked food myself? Can't really think of much else.

Warbler

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Re: Cutting daily camping costs?
« Reply #1 on: 15:28:47, 28/05/19 »

I'm the same. I've never wild camped, and can easily spend £50 per day. I'm not one for sitting by or inside my tent at night, and would much rather eat, drink and socialise in the nearest pub.


Some people prefer the solitude. It's a personal choice.


Jac

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Re: Cutting daily camping costs?
« Reply #2 on: 15:41:44, 28/05/19 »

Easy to cut those costs but, forgive me if I'm wrong, but I don't get the impression that you really want to give up anything to do so.
I can never quite understand carrying a tent then paying to pitch it unless access to a shower is important though perhaps if you spend each evening in a pub it is.
So many paths yet to walk, so little time left

Patrick1

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Re: Cutting daily camping costs?
« Reply #3 on: 17:48:55, 28/05/19 »
Assuming you're not setting off from home, you left out transport to / from the walk  :) .


But if that's the way you like to do it, and you can afford it, then why not? You're right, obviously, that it can be a great deal cheaper if you wild camp and cook - only a little more per day than you would probably have spent on food if you'd stayed at home, in fact. If you haven't tried it like that then maybe you should - lying in my sleeping bag of an evening, looking across an empty glen and listening to the silence, while water for a meal starts bubbling on my stove,  is one of the main attractions of camping for me. But I quite understand that other people like to do it differently.

fit old bird

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Re: Cutting daily camping costs?
« Reply #4 on: 18:59:05, 28/05/19 »
I've got two tents, but hardly ever use them. They are too heavy to carry, so it would be camping with my car. I did think about booking myself on a camp site for this last trip down the south west, I don't mind sleeping in a tent. But, I don't need to holiday on the cheap any more so I thought blow that for a game of soldiers, and booked a nice B & B for five nights, and went in a Travelodge for the last night.


There's no way I would sit in a pub every night, I don't need a cooked meal and several pints. My weight would balloon if I did that. I'm not a pubby person, don't even go in the local at home, and it's just round the corner.


If I slept in a tent I would get the cooker on and warm up some soup.


ilona

Jac

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Re: Cutting daily camping costs?
« Reply #5 on: 19:01:57, 28/05/19 »

if you wild camp and cook - only a little more per day than you would probably have spent on food if you'd stayed at home, in fact.
If you haven't tried it like that then maybe you should -

Exactly - there is no such thing a free food (unless you scrump it) all food costs money so no need to pay more than you can afford.
The walking is freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee :D
I'm pretty sure GWM has tried it which is why I don't quite understand why he's raised the question.
So many paths yet to walk, so little time left

MarkT

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Re: Cutting daily camping costs?
« Reply #6 on: 20:38:37, 28/05/19 »
In a nutshell, its the food and booze that makes your daily costs higher than other peoples. £12 on booze £12-£15 on food, approx £25 a day on luxuries. yes you may miss out on the social side of things in the pub but I often find, conversations with other campers around fires on the campsite are more interesting.


And just cooking your own meal once every few days would save you money. What do you do if there is no pub? Or do you only stay at campsites near pubs?

gunwharfman

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Re: Cutting daily camping costs?
« Reply #7 on: 21:58:50, 28/05/19 »
I raised the question because I'm just interested in how others do it. I didn't include travel costs, that adds to it all of course but obviously is variable depending on where one goes and by what transport system is used. I have wild camped quite a lot, not because I've deliberately planned to do so, more about being in the wrong place at the end of the day. I do like going to pubs and when in them I make a great effort to talk to people, especially to the ones who live nearby or in the area. My question came about because I was talking to a young bloke in the pub a few days ago and we discussed costs. He couldn't believe it at first, he thought camping was an ultra cheap way of having some time away. I'm lucky that I'm of an age when I don't really have to worry about cost anymore, but my lifes habit of not being wayward with money is hard to change.

Mel

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Re: Cutting daily camping costs?
« Reply #8 on: 22:13:09, 28/05/19 »
Excluding travel to/from and campsite costs, my camping expenses are zero.

bricam2096

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Re: Cutting daily camping costs?
« Reply #9 on: 22:22:48, 28/05/19 »
Maybe it’s just me but when I do a backpacking walk, the last thing I want to do is sit in a noisy pub. If there’s a shop near or on the way I’d rather just buy a pack of 4 cans (to re-hydrate myself  ;)) and enjoy the peace and quiet plus food from the shop.

If no shop then there’s not much option than have a pub meal and a pint then back to the peace and quiet of my tent.
LDWs done - 32 in total including 16 National Trails and 3 C2C

Wainwrights 176
www.brians-walks.co.uk

fernman

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Re: Cutting daily camping costs?
« Reply #10 on: 22:58:17, 28/05/19 »
This thread has prompted me to do a rough calculation of my daily food costs plus sundries like batteries, etc., for a four-day walk, so I added up all the stuff I'd ordered online such as freeze-dried meals, isotonic drink powder amd energy bars plus supermarket items like dried milk, packet soups and chocolate.
The total worked out as £14 per day for the trip I completed a couple of weeks ago. I wild camped, so costs for this were zero.
How this compares with how much my food costs at home I haven't a clue, ask the wife, I'd guess £14 is slightly more.
As for pubs, there aren't any where I walk (I tell a lie, I did pass one this year where I spent £3.50 on a pint, my excuse being it was very hot weather, but that was a highly unusual exception, and I didn't like having  the weight of the coins in change from my banknote afterwards).
Post-walk I stayed on a remarkably cheap camp site at £6 per night (I'm used to paying £14-15 and up to £20), while pub lunch with a pint and pub dinner with a pint came to about £30 a day. Living like that is a luxury for me, I can't afford to drink out or dine out at home except for a rare Wetherspoons visit.
So neither were anything like other peoples' £40-50 a day.
Petrol for the 220 miles journey to my walk, plus driving around during my camp ste days, then returning home, was £75.
« Last Edit: 23:01:20, 28/05/19 by fernman »

Jac

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Re: Cutting daily camping costs?
« Reply #11 on: 23:17:39, 28/05/19 »
I was talking to a young bloke in the pub a few days ago and we discussed costs. He couldn't believe it at first, he thought camping was an ultra cheap way of having some time away.

I think we've proved that it can be. It's the optional extras that up the cost - as in the rest of life.
So many paths yet to walk, so little time left

forgotmyoldpassword

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Re: Cutting daily camping costs?
« Reply #12 on: 11:15:02, 29/05/19 »
Lets be fair, camping is a cheap form of taking a holiday not nothing is 'free'.  Food and travel are minimum costs which need to be seen more as an 'overhead' to even getting out of the door, but most of the things mentioned by the OP are what I'd consider a 'luxury' - a nice campsite with a shower and a pub dinner and a couple of pints aren't an 'every night' thing.  If you're adding coffee stops, cake, pub dinners etc then I'm not surprised it's costing you more.


Some suggestions may be to only use a camp site every few days to keep yourself clean, same as buying food at supermarkets and carrying it with you - and a couple of beers if you want to enjoy the sunset with a drink or two.  As for a pub meal, perhaps have one at the end of your walk and that is about it?  If you really want to have coffee whilst out, some companies do decent backpacking drip coffee which you can have in the middle of the fells no problem.  That's 2/3rds of your daily costs gone straight away, something which may let you take longer trips.





tonyk

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Re: Cutting daily camping costs?
« Reply #13 on: 11:22:49, 29/05/19 »
 Daily costs on a walk such as the Cleveland Way usually average around £15.This includes four pitches on campsites where the price varies from between £2 and £9 per night.Rest of the time is spent wild camping.Food is usually from the shops as living on my own I know full well how much it costs to prepare decent meals,certainly not £10-15 per portion.Its possible to eat quite well when walking for around £7 or less per day.I do visit pubs for a quick pint when the weather is hot but am quite happy to go without alcohol for long periods,often months at a time.


 Its horses for courses.If you have the money and enjoy what you are doing then keep on doing it.An austere lifestyle isn't suitable for everyone.
« Last Edit: 13:12:20, 29/05/19 by tonyk »

barewirewalker

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Re: Cutting daily camping costs?
« Reply #14 on: 16:37:06, 29/05/19 »
Conundrum;
 
What connects GWM's camping costs to shooting pheasants? £45. About the average a gun pays a shoot to eachdriven pheasant out of the air.


And the difference? Pheasants have a close season and walkers do all the year round. So which is economically more useful. A sport limited to the more wealthy or that open to all.


Probably a good thing to be proud of the money spent in the rural economy, farmers like to think money, but they are told by landowners that walkers are an unnecessary nuisance in the business of land management.




Thanks to the OP for drawing this point to my attention, next time I am talking to a farmer and he labours the point that the countryside is a workplace, I'll slip another bullet up the spout   ;D
BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

 

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