View Full Version : Old timer kit
I'm 54 on the 15th October, and reading through various forums got me thinking about the kit I used when I first started camping/hill walking back in 1966
From memory my first kit ran along the lines of
Army sleeping bag, down, WW2 (and used for years after)
Enamel mug
Army mess tins
Torch (ex army from @ WW2)
Army rucksack of some sort
Couple of candles
Spare jumper and shirt
Spare socks and pants
Anorak of some kind, in the early days often an ex forces job
Soap, toothbrush, towel, toothpaste
Compass
Map of Snowdonia
Matches
Primus stove
Tent, fuel and food was given out by the teachers as needed, most food revolved around corned beef, cheese, dried spud, oats, dried milk, chocolate, nuts and raisins, cocoa, sweetened condensed milk, Spam, bread, jam and butter.
So what are your early memories? Please give an idea of the dates you used the kit
malcolmc
12-10-2008, 17:45
I’m a similar vintage. I’m very impressed by how much better modern kit is, particularly rucksacks and boots.
My earliest camping was with the Scouts, memories of baked beans followed by burn, bash and bury the tins :eek: . Doubt that’s done these days!
I’m a similar vintage. I’m very impressed by how much better modern kit is, particularly rucksacks and boots.
My earliest camping was with the Scouts, memories of baked beans followed by burn, bash and bury the tins :eek: . Doubt that’s done these days!
The problem these days is that the cans are often not buried :(
Agreed, modern gear is a vast improvement on most of the gear you and I used, the quality of some kit though remains much the same
John Fenna
12-10-2008, 18:08
My first hikes (early 70s - I was a late starter as for age 12 I lived in Belgium with no english speaking Scouts or similar and non outdoor parents) were with a steel framed canvas and leather rucksack weearing some ww2 wool issue trousers or Derby tweed britches, cotton jacket, cooking on an american messtin over hexi. boots were industrial - not steelies though! - Scottish bunnet, wool shirts, merino undies, ragwool socks, Dachstien mitts, shetland wool balaclava, Blacks sleeping bag, single skin cotton pup tent, poncho/groundsheet. No self inflating mats or foam ones for that matter - you slept on your spare clothing as insulation!
The good old days!:rolleyes:
squantrill
12-10-2008, 18:13
I’m a similar vintage. I’m very impressed by how much better modern kit is, particularly rucksacks and boots.
My earliest camping was with the Scouts, memories of baked beans followed by burn, bash and bury the tins :eek: . Doubt that’s done these days!
Our scout leader would never let us get away with that.. I remember every camp we went to Jack (the leader) would scout the camp after every meal/wash up. If there was even the smallest piece of porrige left on a blade of grass he would find it. And he would get us all to do some wierd clean up the toilet thing!!..
Still remeber it though many years later, every camp I have I spend the last 15 mins looking around picking up small bits of paper food that may have got dropped!!
Our scout leader would never let us get away with that.. I remember every camp we went to Jack (the leader) would scout the camp after every meal/wash up. If there was even the smallest piece of porrige left on a blade of grass he would find it. And he would get us all to do some wierd clean up the toilet thing!!..
Still remeber it though many years later, every camp I have I spend the last 15 mins looking around picking up small bits of paper food that may have got dropped!!
I do that same thing to my scouts... good ole days are nevertheless not all bad then i guess. :D
nice thread.
Well for the most part of my kit and ways of doing things, i have gone from good ole days, to brand new ultra light weight, and now going back again. Probably end up somewhere in between.
First started in the 60s with army blanket as a sleeping bag, canvas tarp from a truck, cut and shaped like a baker style tent but much smaller, enamel mug and enamel billy for making tea and boiling water, army mess tin for cooking food, carried in an old Swedish army canvas and leather rucsack. Knife was a sheath knife which had a wooden replacement handle fitted by my grandad, I wore a canvas hiker smock and moleskin trousers with army DMS boots with canvas gaiters, not forgetting the ubiquitous bobble hat. Compass came from a pair of "Wayfinder" shoes(anybody remember them?) and carried newspaper for starting the fire. My other bit of equipment never left behind when camping in those days was a 410 folding shotgun known as a poachers design. Couple of tins of beans, some flour, salt, tinned milk, sugar, tea leaves, and fork and spoon. Always had a few spuds, and turnips from farmer's fields and if you could find a friendly cow a spot of fresh from the udder milk. Ah the good old days, kit weighed a ton, continued need to refresh the fire through the night to stop you freezing, soaking wet when it rained all the fun of the fair. Loved every miserable minute of it.
As a Scout in the early 80's our Troop was one of the first to stop using the old canvas "Nijer" style tent.http://www.newtents.co.uk/images/vango-stormhaven.gif We caused outrage among the more traditional local leaders.
Only 3 years ago tho, I underwent expedition training and one of the team building exercises was to put one of these beasts up. 2 of us on the course were / had been Scouts and so were made to sit out the challenge, because we would have an unfair advantage. I kept really quiet, cos I'd never put one up and they looked very cumbersome to my modern way of thinking.
We had to sleep in the beast that night - 6 complete strangers, one of whom, ground his teeth in his sleep constantly. Thankfully I had my modern kit with me, and slept a few yards away in my MOD bivvy bag.
I now assist the teeth grinder at Scouts, but always make sure that my tent is no where near his!
My personal gear is a mix of modern and traditional now:-
I have reindeer hides and modern sleeping bags to choose from.
Hobo, Trangia and multi fuel pressure stoves amongst others to choose from.
Waterproofs are a mix of Goretex and Ventile.
Tarps are a mix of Cotton and sil nylon.
Fire lighting again has choices from flint and steel to ferro rod to windproof lighter.
Each has its place and its uses, but I find myself choosing to use the more traditional items in my inventory these days. Just more satisfying to use I suppose... if a little heavier!
Simon
Ah the good old days, kit weighed a ton, continued need to refresh the fire through the night to stop you freezing, soaking wet when it rained all the fun of the fair. Loved every miserable minute of it.
Might aswell join this.
Wouldn't have done without it.
malcolmc
12-10-2008, 20:34
Our scout leader... would get us all to do some wierd clean up the toilet thing!!..
...
Our leaders always found some reason for giving us the same duty; it was supposed to be good for our souls. Don't remember being all that convinced of that at the time. ;)
A friend of mine and his wife still use two Nijer/Icelandic type heavy cotton tents, both of them are nearer 60 than 50 (friend and wife that is, although the tents can't be far off) and put them up plus fly sheets unaided without a problem. I'll ask his permission to post some pictures of his xmas camps up in the lake district :) His photo's, complete with his series 1 Landrover are fantastic :)
New disigns can be wonderful, but I never had problems (other than weight) with cotton tents, I never had them blow down on me, or get wet from condensation, or leak etc
BorderReiver
12-10-2008, 21:09
Early '60s with a mate. An Egyptian cotton tent with wooden poles; single skin; no groundsheet. Old blanket and extra clothes for sleeping. Mum's old frying pan and a fire for cooking.
Happy as a pig in an oak wood.:)
Rothley Bill
13-10-2008, 00:03
He He Nijers featured heavily in my first camping trips in the 70's, as does being lifted onto the back of a flat bed truck sitting on the kit all the way to camp.
Now find myself still extolling the virtues of the nijers et al. If pegged correctly they stay up in all weathers. Just a bit heavy to cart about if doing a multi stop trip. We cooked on open fires or as a treat we used primus parrafin stoves, or a dodgy petrol 2 burner could have been a coleman?
Kit was what ever we could find I dont remember buying anything special, perhaps an enamel plate. I still use the stainless steel mug my uncle made for me all those years ago, its seen better days but its an old friend.
squantrill
18-10-2008, 15:02
Our leaders always found some reason for giving us the same duty; it was supposed to be good for our souls. Don't remember being all that convinced of that at the time. ;)
hahahaha it wasnt just our 'chief', then hahaha.. I found some old photos of a camp in dorset many years ago with the old troup brought back many found memories ;)
guess an "oldschool" camp, would look something like this:
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc50/Spejder/LPT2007lejrpladser.jpg
Or at least this is how it looks when i'm out and about on Scouting-Trials here in Denmark.
mortalmerlin
18-10-2008, 15:33
I started in the Cubs in the UK, Oh the memories :) The old canvas tents, the freezing cold nights and the porridge in the morning. Then I had a break until I joined the cadets, scouts in our area seemed a bit naff.
But I was digging around in some of my old kit and got my old 58 webbing out last week. I was supprised to find how well all of my kit fits into it and how comfortable it still was to wear (allowing for some readjustment of the straps as the webbing seemed to have shrunk several sizes over the last decade of storeage). I think I will be trying it out on my next venture and see how it compairs to a modern rucksack.
guess an "oldschool" camp, would look something like this:
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc50/Spejder/LPT2007lejrpladser.jpg
Or at least this is how it looks when i'm out and about on Scouting-Trials here in Denmark.
Looks like one of our living history camps.
http://www.lore-and-saga.co.uk/assets/images/Viking-Port.jpg
Looks like one of our living history camps.
http://www.lore-and-saga.co.uk/assets/images/Viking-Port.jpg
It actually does. I've spent quite some time on one of the danish living history workshops/museums, and the picture you showed is pretty much the same. Fascinating :)
First ones I slept on the boat my dad built. We had a tarp over the boom to create a kind of tent. Primus for heat and cooking, down sleeping bags that stuffed into kit bags. Grey army framed rucsacks and a willow picnic basket to hold the crockery and food stuffs.
All along the Gareloch, the Holy Loch, Loch Fyne and Loch Long.
I still remember the smell of the seagrass that my moses basket was made from and I recall my little brother sleeping in it too while I slept on top of the bags on the burden boards.
Scouts were definitely Black's nijers :rolleyes: In fact I think there may still be one up our loft from when they were finally thrown out in favour of nylon ones.
cheers,
Toddy
I was never in the scouts, grew up on a farm, parents did not go to church, when tried to join the scouts, said couldn't because didn't go to church.
Got my early camping a few years latter, bought a canvas pup tent, rained all night, but didn't get wet. Did not know enough to not pack the tent wet so when latter tried to use it, was molded and rotten. That limited my camping for several more years. Now I wonder why I thought I needed a tent at all.
malcolmc
01-11-2008, 22:07
This thread prompted me to dig out some of my old kit. Something I’d forgotten I had was a Spong travel water filter. Mine was well travelled and got a lot of use. In spite of it being made of plastic I didn’t manage to break it. They had silver impregnated activated charcoal cartridges, which were supposed to deal with almost all contaminates, doubt you can get them these days unless anyone knows different. Anyone else remember or used them?
http://www.webwessex.co.uk/gallery/spong01.jpg
The filter packed
http://www.webwessex.co.uk/gallery/spong02.jpg
The filter set up for use (minus cartridge)
Now have I managed to post pictures on my first attempt?:D
Nope, if you want to see them, the images posted at http://www.webwessex.co.uk/gallery/spong01.jpg and http://www.webwessex.co.uk/gallery/spong02.jpg .
Cracked it, images should now be visible in post. :D
Celt_Ginger
02-11-2008, 09:17
Good lord, this brings back painful memories, lol. Boys Brigade camps in Scotland. The old canvas tents. We had to roll up the sides each morning for inspection (and to dry out our sleeping bags after a night's rain) Putting the smallest boy in the tent into the bottom of his sleeping bag and then hanging it from a tree, huge latrines for 200 (and being made to dig them as a punishment for hanging boys from trees in their sleping bags) Ahhhh, the good old days indeed.
So what are your early memories? Please give an idea of the dates you used the kit
I remember in maybe '79 car camping in the lake district in a big blue double-skinned tent with a vestibule, cooking bacon in the morning with a regular frying pan over some kind of kerosene stove. We woke up to find miserable sheep sheltering from the torrential rain in our vestibule.
squantrill
02-11-2008, 10:10
I started in the Cubs in the UK, Oh the memories :)
But I was digging around in some of my old kit and got my old 58 webbing out last week. I was supprised to find how well all of my kit fits into it and how comfortable it still was to wear
Just got this image now of a grown man in cubs issue shorts hahahahahahahaha sorry...
Man I used to hate those shorts, when I was in the cubs we also camped right next to large patches of stinging nettles!! damn those cubs shorts ;)
:red:
You are all so lucky!!!!
1985 camping with my sister in a badly pitched single skin nylon tent from argos. We had an double airbed with a leek, can't remember the sleeping bag but remember being cold. It was proper nasty. We cooked tinned food on gaz stove which I still have.
Going away with church youth group the following year was great, a big old scout tent and a foam mat so i was really happy that I wasn't being bounced awake. 15 girls and that boy crept in all in one tent. The worst camping i did was with an ex who said he'd done camping all his life, no, he had done caravanning and hadn't a clue.
I think back and wonder how I wasn't put off camping. I still think canvas tents are warmer, airbeds are evil and suck the heat out of you.
phaserrifle
02-11-2008, 12:56
As a Scout in the early 80's our Troop was one of the first to stop using the old canvas "Nijer" style tent.http://www.newtents.co.uk/images/vango-stormhaven.gif We caused outrage among the more traditional local leaders.
The group I go to still has the old style patrol tents, and still use them.
we had a few two man dome tents, that where shocking quality, and two of the four where useless. we only got an alternative to the patrol tents last year, when we purchased some lovely 8/9man dome tents. but we still use the patrol tents (they take up less room, and are less fiddly to put up in the dark.
haven't even fitted them with synthetic guy lines (which would avoid the need to ajust them so much to account for the weather.
Chainsaw
02-11-2008, 15:01
Got exactly the same memories, 1st Uddingston! 50+ boys in a field in burnham on sea, or whitby or somewhere in wales I can't remember the name of. Once arrived in aforementioned field as the farmer was removing the cows. We had a game of 30 a side football to get rid of all traces of the cows if you know what I mean.. :yuck: Boys had tents like the ones above, officers had bell tents and we all ate in a huge marquee.
not thought about that for a while.
Alan
Good lord, this brings back painful memories, lol. Boys Brigade camps in Scotland. The old canvas tents. We had to roll up the sides each morning for inspection (and to dry out our sleeping bags after a night's rain) Putting the smallest boy in the tent into the bottom of his sleeping bag and then hanging it from a tree, huge latrines for 200 (and being made to dig them as a punishment for hanging boys from trees in their sleping bags) Ahhhh, the good old days indeed.
Minotaur
02-11-2008, 21:31
Ahhhhhhhh!
Storm Havens! Putting those tents up and down. The memories.
Does anyone remember the big 16 man army tents. Used to hold the record for unpitching one of them.
First camp was in Wales, Brecon Beacons, remember because it was the Royal Wedding so they lit them.
Would have killed for half the kit we use now, espically Mummy Sleeping bags. Coming across an army one was a revelation.