Solo Camping, Winery Visits and Long-Form Vlogs
This one feels like a major milestone. A monumental accomplishment. One of those rare moments in life where you sit back and tell yourself “job well done”.
Nervous, anxious, worried, slightly fearful, yet excited and optimistic as I embarked on a four hour drive down to Somerset from Manchester.
That’s right, I finally went on my first ever solo camping trip !!
(and of course, fit in a winery visit… when in Somerset and all of that)
How It All Came About
My gorgeous partner, Emily, will tell you herself that I’ve been threatening to go camping alone for a good year and a half now. Especially since we’ve both got so into the solo-camping-don , YouTuber himself - Luke Nichols of the Outdoor Boys. (sadly now retired :( )
Anyway, this was a decision born not out of malice, or selfishness (well a tiny spread-in of selfishness, but hey, don’t judge me… sometimes it’s necessary, some of yall out there are too selfless… lol) I’ve just been so intrigued and curious as to how a solo camping session would pan out - surely it couldn’t go that bad, could it??
(famous last words… I know.)
Alongside two of our close pals Archie and Ruby, the four of us were set to go to Dias De Campo ; a house and techno festival in the rugged hills of Montanejo in Valencia.
The vibes were on point, your boy was actually getting excited about something (for a change) and OF COURSE, yours truly couldn’t find his passport the night before our flight - that was my techno festival in Valencia instantly in the bin. Surprisingly I wasn’t that disappointed if I’m honest, like I mentioned above, I’d be threatening to camp alone for quite some time and this missing passport situation felt like the perfect opportunity to go camping on my ones - a proper silver lining, ay?
The Execution
Of course in the name of the Outdoor Boys, I saw this as a great time to try my hand at a much longer style vlog and record the whole 4 days of my trip - check this link out for access to the full thirty five minute vlog ;
Without giving too much away before you watch the vlog, it was a great success!
Much like any trip I go on outside of Manchester, I’m always searching for a cool wine bar with character and a story to tell. Or better yet, a winery to visit, and as you know from my previous post, this year I’ve changed my focus to British wine and cider makers, because there is definitely a sub-culture sprouting and it’s exciting to tell the truth!
After some serious brain scanning and photo album scrolling, I remembered I’d recently got in touch with Adam Collins business owner and winemaker at Saddlegoose winery. Without giving too much away (as you should 100% watch the vlog), I managed to squeeze in a visit to Saddlegoose , a British natural winery whose taproom is located conveniently twenty minutes away from my campsite in the cool, indie town of Frome.
Over the course of my solo camping trip breakfast, lunches and dinners were cooked over fire, and I even got to watch some champions league football.
2025 ay, what a time to be alive!
Capping It Off
I hope you guys are enjoying this new, revamped version of the Swill Wineletter, as you may have already saw in a recent note, the next write up will be about the current state of Manchester’s hospitality industry - there’s A LOT to talk about.
Hope you enjoyed, slainte!