Pitch your tent properly, advice for festival goers young and old.

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I've written before about hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.

Watching tents at Creamfields and Leeds festivals this weekend made me think about this again.

Lots of young people go to festivals and they might have no camping experience, or only have experience of camping as a family holiday, where mum and dad pitched the tent and then every day was a sunny adventure until home-time.

So I guess this is for those people, and for you if you don't camp much. 

a pyramid tent and a pop up tent pitched next to each other. Both have survived storms with winds in excess of 70mph

First things first, pop up tents are great. They are super easy to erect and they feel like an instant pitch. but do not be fooled. The fact the tent popped into shape does not mean you do not need to peg it down, nor does it mean you do not need any guy ropes.

Bigger tents with flexible poles often give you and your mates lots of space and plenty of room for luggage and clobber, but again, you need to peg them down, all the guy ropes, all the time.

People with pyramid style and bell tents will already be familiar with all the tent pegs because these tents are held firm by the pegs fastening them into shape.

Read the instructions for your tent and practice at least once at home.

When you pitch at the festival USE ALL THE GUY ROPES, and any extra peg points around the base of the tent. I cannot stress this enough. It feels like a faff but if there is a storm you'll be laughing from the safety of your tent. If you have practiced at home you will know you have enough tent pegs. The pegs supplied with cheap tents are rarely any good. Consider buying some better pegs, even if just one pack for the vital peg spots.

various tent pegs
Cross your guy ropes and ensure they are a reasonable distance from your tent to give a decent angle. Angle your tent pegs! Do not just bang them in straight. Angle the bottom of the peg towards the tent, pretend to be the tent, pull the rope/string while standing by the tent, it should be hard to pull the peg out.

And the most vital thing of all - check the guy lines regularly and keep them tight. Tight guy lines are not just to fix the tent in place, they stop it moving as much in the wind and this in turn stops your poles snapping! If there is a storm, zip up all the doors and windows and keep your guy lines tight. Take down any gazebos, store your camp chairs inside.  

Happy camping.

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