Laura Maisey - Yes Tribe campout leader and Running Home From Rome.
This summer, I became the Yes Tribe campout leader and it has been the loveliest way to contribute to and participate in this amazing community. It has been fantastic for me personally as it has meant I got out once a week and wild-camped. Given that I am on the verge of a three month, 1249 mile run from Rome to London, my need to become comfortable with wildcamping was quite urgent and leading the campouts this summer has done that. I now feel totally ready for this element of my trip, which I definitely did not before leading campouts. I love every part of the process - visiting the site beforehand to do a reccy for good camping spots, organising what train to get, baking bread/cakes/biscuits to take.
These campouts embody everything I have come to regard as integral to the Tribe. We all bring snacks to share when we reach our camping spot (I have a routine I call the tearing-sharing bread circle, in which we tear pieces off a loaf while introducing ourselves). We share stories over a campfire. We make connections that lead to amazing things (Kate and Andy of SUP The Danube fame met at a campout). We lend each other kit (there is very rarely a campout in which someone isn't using borrowed kit, usually from a fellow Yes Triber!). We embrace the night and the fresh air and relish sleeping under the trees and stars. Then we wake with the sun, usually sit around chatting for a while then slowly potter back to the station and to our indoor lives knowing that, for one night, we shared an awesome special moment together under the stars.
Twitter: RHFR99
Facebook: RunningHomeFromRome
