Top tips when you're out and about
Build a Campfire
Cooking on a campfire can be a really fun experience. It fuels our primal cave man nature. Make sure you enjoy a successful outdoor experience by following a few simple rules when it comes to building and lighting your campfire.
Prepare your site
- Pick a location for your fire that is at least 5 m away from bushes, or any combustibles or overhanging branches.
- Ensure your fire is built downwind from your accommodation.
- Use large rocks to make a round or U shaped perimeter.
- If it is windy, ensure that they back of the fire pit faces the wind (so the wind takes any smoke to the back of the fire)
- Put a large or a number of smaller rocks at the rear of the fire pit to act as a chimney, to help direct smoke up and away.
Lay kindling
- Fill your chosen fire area with paper or tinder and a couple of Zip™ firelighter cubes.
- Lay the kindling over the paper, alternating the orientation of the wood for each layer to create a lattice pattern. Some campers prefer to make a ‘tepee’ shape.
- Remember to light the firelighters with long safety matches and have a bottle of water or sand/ dirt to smother any unwanted flames.
Once ablaze
- Once the kindling is fully alight, add the pre found fire wood. Wherever possible, ensure that the wood is of a similar size.
- If available, use hard wood as it burns more slowly and reduces the amount of spitting.
- When the flames have begun to die down, leaving mostly cinders, use a large, strong stick to push the cinders into a high concentration at the back of the fire and a lower concentration at the front. This gives the cook a choice of high, medium or low temperatures in which to cook.
- To begin cooking, set the grill on the rocks. You can now place the food directly on the grill or in a pan and cook your meal in a truly authentic style.
- After cooking, add wood for the evening campfire, sit back and enjoy relaxing the great outdoors while keeping warm.
- As the fires goes out, extinguish thoroughly with water, before turning in for the night.
Now you’ve had a read of our Campfire advice we would love to hear any ‘pearls of wisdom’ that you might have. Share your very own top tips for the perfect campfire on our Facebook, tweet us or send us an email and we will upload our favourites on to this page!
