Solo Car Camping in Heavy Winds & Rain | Wild Camping Plan Ruined

I am in the Lake District and I'm forced to do a stealth car camp. Hi, I'm Ella if you're new here. Welcome to my Ella Adventures. I love filming and documenting my little adventures from wild camping and car camping to spontaneous mini solo escapes. For me, it's never really about doing something extreme. It's about capturing the feeling of being out there, even in the smallest moments. But today's adventure looks a little different. The forecast promised one thing and then, as usual, changes mind. I found myself retreating to the car, listening to the rain, leaning into a slower, softer kind of adventure. And honestly, the ones that don't go to plan ends up being just as special, maybe even more memorable, in their own quiet way. I found myself in this beautiful little lay-by, just going up Honister Slate Mine and I was going to go camp up Dale Head, but the weather is just not allowing me to do that. You know what? I don't mind. I'm right next to the stream. It's so beautiful. The rain has stopped for the first time since I got to the Lake District. It is due to rain again heavily and the winds are going to be crazy. I think it's going to go up to about 60 miles per hour. So I don't really fancy spending the night up in the mountains in that weather, so I'm going to do a car camp. Before it starts raining again, I'm going to set up my sleeping system inside, which is going to be like kind of like an emergency situation. Okay. So usually I will have like a bed all set up in my car, just like an emergency, but I didn't set it up before I left because I just thought I didn't need it, but we were supposed to have some snow, not heavy rain. So I've got so much crap in my boot right now that I need to clear up. As you can tell, I packed my bag all ready to go. So I'm just putting my seats down because we need to be able to sleep in here. I'm not usually this messy. Okay. It's just, I haven't cleaned my car in a little while. So I've always have this in my car. It's got like Velcros, so it sticks on and then you just hook it on, hook it on like that, and then you've got no more gap. And then you just do the exact same thing to the other side. Just grab this, loop it in, and then fasten it up. Now I'm just going to use a foil mat. It's going to get really cold as well tonight, so this will be good and also protects my sleeping pad. So now I'm going to pump this up. I think I can feel the rain starting again. As you can see, my seats don't go all the way flat, so I am in a little bit of a slant, but it's fine. Let's pump this up. So we're getting there. I just have a blanket on that side, that's why it looks a bit up on that side. I've got my stealth stuff. So I made this last summer actually, when I did some summer camping. Between each hike, because I'd like to like stay in my car before I go for another hike and just chill. So I made these like little stealth, I don't know, window covers. So I'm only going to put it on that side for now, because I want to be able to see this side of the river. Basically, you just put it on like that. It's not the perfect fitting, but I find that it does the job, making it look a little bit stealthy. I don't even know if I got that right. Oh, this side. It's this way. Okay, so same thing on this side. Car's going by. So now I've got this little umbrella thing and you just open it up and then just hook it on onto the windscreen and then it sort of just keeps it private. So we've now got everything in the car all set up. I did try to organize a little bit, but I've just got so much stuff. I just have to work with what I've got. I'm really kind of annoyed because it doesn't look like it's raining anytime soon. Like the sky is turning blue. I mean, it's still very windy, so I could only imagine what it would be like up the top. But did I miss out on a good camp? I don't know. But I'm not regretting it. Like, I'm happy to be here. I'm still surrounded with like beautiful mountains. So I was going to think of the positive. My sleeping pad is a little bit too long for my car, but I'm sure it'll be fine. I'm inside the car trying to get away from that cold because the cold outside is very, very bitter and it actually hurts my fingers. I don't have my privacy screen on the back so like I can see people coming. But I don't think they can see me. Oh well. So it seems to have cleared up. Like you can see all the fells now and there's some blue skies and it's just crazy. Like it's supposed to be raining right now. Like that's the whole point I backed out of my camp. Like when I got here, I waited for a long time as well because it wasn't even supposed to rain at the time that I went. It was just constantly raining and then it got even heavier and the winds got a little bit crazy. So I was like, you know what, I'm just going to call it. And now I don't know if I'm regretting my choice, to be honest, because we've got such a beautiful weather now. I mean, it is very cold, but I don't mind the cold. I mean, I don't know how it is like up on the summits, but the fact that I can see like all the summits, like all the mountain ranges that I couldn't see before shows that up on where I was supposed to camp is going to be like nice views up there. So I'm kind of gutted, but it's still really early. It's 2.45. I was actually contemplating of whether like packing this up and like go start the hike. But then I thought I don't want to be rushed because it's a new place I'm going to go to. I've never been there. It's not too far anyway, but yeah, I think I just sort of gave up and got rid of that idea and just started, you know, setting more stuff up in the car. I don't actually mind because I haven't done a car camp in a while. I'm surrounded with beautiful view. I've got a mountain range right in front of me, and I want to know actually what this mountain range is. I've got an app which tells me what the mountains are. So it's called Peak Finder. Basically, you just point it like that, and then you can see. So right in front of me is the Helvellyn range. Helvellyn, Nevermose Pike, High Saddle, Low Saddle, Bested Boot, Raised, Diabrow, Great Dodd. And then this app also tells you where the sun rises and where the sun sets. So tomorrow the sun should rise there next to Bested Boots. It's really handy because I'm not really good at like naming the mountains and the fells. So I'm just going to relax for a bit, and sun sets in two hours. So I'm not too overly hungry yet. I'm probably just going to snack a little bit, but I'm going to save my dinner for later because it's going to be a very cold night. I think it's going to go down to about minus five. My car is very small, and it also, like I said, it doesn't go flat, so I'm a bit raised. And as you can see, my sleeping pad is up on my chair. I tried to push my chair as forward as I can, but that's literally how much. I mean, I suppose I can put the head bit down. Let's try that actually. Oh. I can't push it any more than that. Know what? I can actually do that. That's actually quite comfortable. So it is so, so cold right now, but I just want to go down to the stream. I've just been chilling inside my car just for a little bit, and I need to think about making dinner. It is cold, but wow. The views here are just incredible. Just look at the stream. My hands are literally freezing. I have to keep one glove out so that I could obviously use a Wow. It's just a backdrop and everything. This is literally one of the best car camping spots you can find right now. That's just crazy. You know what? I am not regretting the fact that I didn't wild camp because this is another experience. I don't do many car camps. I only really car camp if, one, if I really planned it, or two, let's say if my wild camping didn't go to plan. This is like a, I don't know what you call it. It's like a beauty in disguise. So I don't know. All right. Let's go back up and make ourselves some dinner because I am hungry. So, okay. So we're going to have to cook like this. So I just folded up my inflatable mat so then it doesn't get popped by the fire. I don't know. The wind is getting really strong again. So I want to cook this as quickly as possible. So I knew it was going to be another cold night. I'm kind of recreating what I did for my previous camp where I had some noodles and I'm actually very pleased with myself because I packed everything up all nicely so that I don't have to chop anything up. I've got some itsu seaweed just to go on top. I've got some baby corns and tenders. Ooh! Tenders and broccoli. The noodles is the beef ramen. Obviously I've got my scotch egg because I'm going to take the egg from this to go in the scotch egg and I like the meat so I always get the scotch egg. And then I thought to be fancy I'm going to try something new. So I bought these chorizo sausages things. I tried one at home and it tasted so good so I was like okay let me put it in into the ramen. And because last time I used, what did I use? I used a hot like a polish hot dog so I thought I'm gonna try this one. So I'm gonna just pop some water. I'm gonna pop the sausages in. Broccoli. Now I'm gonna add the corn. This is gonna be a beastie ramen. I'm gonna add the sauce already. So you've got the sesame oil and then seasoning. I'm like in a good position right now because the car is blocking me from receiving all the wind. Well the rest of it anyway. I'm just gonna cover that for a little bit and then wait for that to soften up a little bit and then I'll add the noodles. And now I'm gonna add my egg from the scotch egg. Tuck that in and I'm also gonna add the noodles. It's so simple but it's so filling. I'm just gonna cover that and let that do its thing. I am so so excited for this. I can't wait. It's like raining on and off now and the winds yeah they're a little cray cray but it's fine. I'm gonna be safe in my car tonight. There's been quite a few cars driving by because in this road there's quite a few like lay-bys that you can park. I'm starting to see like a few camper vans like parking up now. What time is it? It's 5.22 so it is getting quite dark now so I think that's why everyone's here ready for the night to settle down and sleep. I do want to buy a camper van. Not soon because I don't have the budget for it yet but in the future my dream is to own a camper van and I am manifesting that I will get one. I really want to travel around Europe and even just starting like traveling around Scotland first in my camper van. Yeah that's the dream but at the moment with my full-time job and my money it doesn't look like it's gonna happen anytime soon. I just do YouTube for hobby like I'm not making any money from YouTube. I don't know when I'll be making money probably in a couple of years. I don't know. I really enjoy filming and making YouTube videos that's why I like to keep these adventures going because it's like a memory for me. It's not just for the YouTube. I mean I love memories like digital video memories and I love looking back at these memories and like these are crazy adventures that I go to because I don't know it's just just a really nice thing to look back on like visually if that makes sense. Who knows maybe in the future I may be able to be my full-time job and I could just do this full-time living in my car or the van or just spending more time outdoors. It's the dream. This is looking so good and I think that's done. Right let's have some dinner. There's a van right in front of me right now. It's parking up. I think they're parking up. Oh my god this tastes so so good. I want to try the chorizo. Where did you go? That's so good. It adds so much flavor to the noodles as well. To the sauces I mean. Just absolutely incredible like my view right now whilst I'm having my dinner. Like it's just beautiful. One day this could be me every day hopefully. Alright I'm just gonna enjoy my dinner, listen to the river that's right next to me and just watch the view that's so beautiful and yeah yeah it's breathtaking to be honest. Okay everyone so I'm now all cozy and I am so so stuffed. That dinner really really filled me up. I think it's a chorizo as well. I'm all stuffed up now. I've got all like my window covers all done up now. I'm actually so glad that I didn't go from wild camp because I would just be up all night in the tent with that wind noise and just worrying if my tent would survive pretty much. So it's actually still pretty early. It's about seven o'clock and I'm just gonna be just chilling. The rain started again but I'm gonna go and just settle down now and just watch a few shows. YouTube mainly and call it a night. It is gonna be quite cold tonight but I think I'll be okay. Hopefully. I mean I've got my blanket and I've got my sleeping pad and I do have some hand warmers as well. Anyways I am just gonna settle down now. Just listen to the rain all night. I'll see you guys tomorrow morning. Goodnight. It's about midnight now and the winds are pretty crazy. Sorry about this light but I didn't want to blind myself. It's stopped now but the winds and the rain are kind of like taking turns. My car was literally like moving left and right. It was shaking pretty much. I'll be fine. Hopefully. I'm gonna try and get back to sleep now. Good morning everyone. So I actually slept okay last night surprisingly. We've had some crazy winds last night and some rain as well. It was actually quite loud but overall I actually slept really well so I'm not complaining too bad. I just know that if I was in the tent then it would probably be a different situation but it's very gloomy outside and just rainy, cold, bitter. Very miserable outside. I've got a few people walking past me now so I think it's time to make a coffee and think about going. See I told you this car's coming now. So it is so cold. It's just like instantly as soon as I opened the door it was like my fingers were freezing. I decided to keep it open just a little bit just so I can get some nice fresh air. I can't sit up because my thing is not tall enough so I'm just like leaning back which I don't mind. I'm just watching the river. Probably not the most attractive view right now but oh well. I really don't want to get out my sleeping bag. I'm gonna go and finish my coffee and I'm gonna pack everything up. Okay guys so I've all packed up as you can see. It started to rain again. My hair looks crazy right now but overall I had such a good time and it's a different style of camping but honestly I really really love it. The view has just been magnificent and I will definitely do more car camping. It's a different experience and I'm just so happy that I've got the opportunity to do it. So if you like this sort of video please give it a thumbs up and subscribe if you haven't and I will see you in my next video because it's raining heavily now so I need to go. It's literally like snow showers. Wow wow. Even though this trip didn't go to plan it still turned out to be such a memorable one. In a way it surprised me. It made me realize I actually really enjoy car camping. There's something comforting about it. The things we do just to get a shot. Being tucked away, listening to the weather outside, adapting instead of resisting and I think this definitely won't be my last. I'd love to do more of these very soon. Before we end this video I just want to say a huge thank you for all of your support. It honestly means more than you probably realize. Watching this little channel slowly grow, seeing your comments, your kindness and your encouragement it never goes unnoticed. None of this would be possible without you so thank you for being here and for being part of these little adventures with me.