Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more

Information => Introductions => Topic started by: CV09 on December 19, 2017

Title: Intro
Post by: CV09 on December 19, 2017
Morning all,

Thanks for letting me join.

I am from Belfast and I am getting prepped for my 1st Wild camp. I call it my new passion, my wife calls it obsession!

Looking at the forum it is obvious you guys have a ton of experience so i am in the right place for hints and tips. I have been thinking about wild camping for some time now but you know how it is life always seems to get in the way so it has been put on the back burner a few times. In the process of getting all the gear so as you know the initial cost is crazy but a great investment. made a few errors already!!

The intentions are ambitious.......start wild camping with my wife and two dogs (two St Bernards with a combined weight of 130 kgs, bonkers.....I know). They are mountain dogs so belong in the bloody mountains I keep telling my wife!!!!

Any tips for camping with dogs? Youtube has been a great help to be fair!

looking forward to connecting with you all,

Chris
Title: Re: Intro
Post by: NIPupper on December 19, 2017
bivvy bag for your sleeping bags to keep the wet dogs from making your sleeping bags wet. but for the first time don't worry about this as the weather will probably be dry anyways. I use one cause i like camping in more 'fun' weather!

to be honest i wouldn't worry about spending any more money till you get out there and see how it goes. then you can see, oh, i need something to do this etc.  thinking about it in the house tends to lead to you thinking you need lots of stuff, but lots of things just don't get used. also the lighter your bag is the more fun walking with it is.

starting out you can camp somewhat close to your car (if you have one) so your stuff is not so critical.

the mournes are good, Happy Valley, Annalong Woods, Fofanny Dam Reservoir.

white rocks beach on the north coast is good. you can camp in the dunes at the top car park, right beside the car
 
their are sheep about in some of these palces so if/when your having your dogs of the leads you should be confident that they won't go chasing them.


most of all, have fun
Title: Re: Intro
Post by: Glenn B on December 21, 2017
Welcome to the forum. Having never camped with dogs the only tip I could give you would be camp close to water, I would imagine those two big St Bernards would take some filling and at 1kg per litre that's an awful lot of weight to carry. On the other hand get the saddle bags on them and let them carry their own ;)