I don’t know about you but sometimes I get all nostalgic about the way things used to be. Then I remember the benefits of what we have now and it soon passes away. I often remember the hardships of walking and hiking that we used to endure. Do you, for instance, remember the days before sleeping mats were invented? Can you imagine the discomfort of having to sleep on the floor? I suspect somebody will know when sleeping mats were first invented – I’m told it was in the 1970’s but I suspect it may have been earlier . However, I didn’t encounter them until I had been hiking for at least a couple of years. I remember my first yellow Karrimat (picture is not of my mat but one that someone else had for sale on gumtree – hope they don’t mind) – I think I still have it somewhere – it was a very luxurious item. I now sleep on a 5cm thick self-inflating sleeping pad and it is pretty good (I have my eye on a thicker one). Before the days of sleeping pads you had to find as much thick grass as possible to camp on (not easy on Dartmoor where it is either in thick clumps – nasty stuff – or very short) and then maybe dig out a depression for your hip to sit in and try and pitch the tent so the dip was in the right place – not easy. I’ve got soft these days because I have just bought a backup mat just in case mine fails and I can’t stomach the idea of sleeping without one.
Not everything used to be better or are we just getting soft?
One reply on “Do you remember the days before sleeping mats?”
You are right, my bed roll at Guide camp had lots of blanket layers but no mat. Sometimes Dartmoor can offer a very soft night’s sleep but it it the cold without a mat that I wouldn’t like.