When wild camping, preparation is key. As the old adage goes: "fail to prepare, prepare to fail", and this is an activity where you don't want anything to go wrong - and if anything does, then you need everything to hand to help you resolve the situation.

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Before even contemplating going wild camping, you need to first plan where you are going to go.

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I always thoroughly research any locations weeks in advance of any camping trip. I find studying Ordnance Survey Maps, walking guidebooks, internet forums & even youtube are all amazing sources of information, where you can plot your routes, visualise the landscape and get first hand knowledge of what you can expect, how long the hike will take and if there is a suitable tent pitch once you reach your destination.

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Using the same material, you'll also need to consider where to park, if heading there by car. Quite a few car parks are pay-and-display in the Lake District, and some are infamously expensive - even just for a few hours - so make sure you find out:-

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• do they allow overnight parking &;

• how much will it cost.

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Alternatively, you could always do a bit of research for any free parking area, or lay-bys. These do fill up very quickly on busy days though, so you'll need to take that into consideration as well - and have a backup planned.

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Next thing to prepare for is the weather. Expect the unexpected with this! British weather is notorious for how quickly it can change, and this is particularly true in mountainous regions.

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It's preferable to research at least two or three different weather forecasting websites in the days leading up to your camping trip. The reason behind this being: one forecast has the potential to be incorrect, more than one forecast with the same prediction is less likely to be incorrect.The sites I use are:

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Accuweather - General weather forecasting

BBC Weather - General weather forecasting

Darksky website - hyper-local weather forecasting

Mountain Weather Information Service - mountain region specific

Skippysky - cloud cover forecast

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