Packing for the Peak District is not quite the same as packing for a week on the south coast. You are camping at altitude in the middle of England, where a warm afternoon can turn into a cold, wet evening in about twenty minutes. Plan for that and everything else is straightforward.
Sleeping warm
This is the thing people get wrong most often. Clear nights here get cold well into June, and a summer-weight sleeping bag on a thin mat will have you awake at three in the morning. Most of the cold comes up from the ground, not down from the air, so an insulated mat or a decent airbed with a blanket underneath you matters more than the tog rating of the bag.
A hat to sleep in sounds ridiculous and works extremely well.
Layers, not one big coat
Three thin layers beat one thick one every time, because you can take them off as you climb and put them back on at the top. A waterproof with a hood is not optional, and neither is a second pair of dry socks.
Footwear depends on what you plan to do. The Tissington Trail is flat and firm and fine in trainers. Anything involving limestone, Dovedale included, needs a proper sole.
Cooking and food
Bring more gas than you think you need, and something to stand the stove on that is not grass. If you are camping without an electric hook-up, a cool box with frozen bottles in the bottom will keep food cold for days, and we have freezers on site where you can re-freeze your ice packs.
You do not need to bring a fortnight of shopping. Our camping shop stocks groceries, camping supplies, ice and the things people forget, and it is open from 9am most days, from 8.30am at weekends. If cooking loses its appeal after a long walk, the Callow Inn does pizzas and burgers.
The things people forget
- A head torch per person, plus spare batteries. Site lighting is deliberately minimal
- A mallet that is not the one that came with the tent
- Spare pegs, and a few heavier ones for exposed pitches
- A doormat or offcut of carpet for the tent door. It keeps half the mud out
- A power bank, if you are not on an electric pitch
- Bin bags, and a separate one for wet kit
- Midge repellent for still evenings near water
- Something to sit on that is not the floor
What you can leave at home
A huge cool box you cannot lift when full. Six pairs of shoes. A separate outfit for each day. Firewood, if you are bringing a fire pit, because damp wood you have carried from home burns worse than dry wood bought locally.
Camping without electric is easier than most people expect once you have the cool box sorted. If you are weighing up pitch types, the prices page lists tent and touring rates side by side.
