Outside is impenetrable darkness.  Beyond the canvas walls of my tent the only sound is the sea washing rhythmically against the beach. There are no street lights here, no cars, no houses, just space.  I am in the far north of Scotland, on the ragged fringe of this island. Apart from the breaking waves the only sound is the hiss of paraffin lamps and the crackle of logs in the stove.  I am in another world, warm and comfortable and as far from the cacophony daily life as it is possible to be.  I drift into the silence.

I wanted to know if the Safir 7 tent, made by Tentipi, could withstand a Scottish winter.  Can you really be warm and comfortable beneath canvas in a blizzard or a gale? The weather forecast had talked of snow and frosts, the possibility of hail storms and strong winds – now was the time to find out.  I am a lover of wild places. I like nothing more than visiting a remote bothy in the depths of winter.  But in the pandemic bothies are closed, I wonder if a tent could replace them.

Andrew from Nordic Outdoor in Edinburgh assured me I would be warm. That the Safir 7 would withstand anything the weather could throw at it.  So I went to Gairloch on a stormy weekend in December to find out if that was true.

Putting up the Safir 7 was remarkably easy.  I had to be quick as the wind was carrying great walls of rain and hail in from the sea and there was a storm not far away.  Putting the tent up was different from erecting any other tent.  You put the pegs in first, guided by a string and a sort of template you set at what is to be the centre.  The advantage of this is that the tent is secure as soon as you put the centre pole in place and erect it.  The manufacturers say you can put the tent up in three minutes.  It’s true you can have the tent up in about that time on a nice sunny day in Kent.  In a windswept field in Gairloch it takes a bit longer to install the floor and rig the storm guys.  The Safir 7 doesn’t have a sewn in ground sheet but the waterproof floor clips easily into the outer tent.

Next I fitted some old carpet a friend had given me and then installed the tent’s engine, a stainless steel wood burning stove.  The heat machine is a substantial piece of kit. It sits in the centre of the tent and its chimney goes through the outer of the tent through a specially designed aperture at the top. The stove is very simple to assemble and install.

The moment of truth is lighting the stove. I was shivering in the tent, the temperature barely above freezing. I had never lit a stove in a tent, it seemed counter intuitive – wouldn’t it burn the thing down?  I put a match to the kindling and the stove roared into life.  I went put on my duvet jacket while I waited for the stove to heat the tent.  I stood to get my jacket and realised the tent was already warm. The stove’s heat in the small space was almost instant. Bothies are cold miserable places until you light the fire.  It is the same in the Safir 7, the stove is a game changer.  Once it’s lit you are warm and comfortable. The secret of the tent is that the stove produces so much heat it pretty much doesn’t matter what the weather does the stove can handle it.

This was a different kind of camping than I have experienced before.  Andrew was right, the Safir 7 didn’t care what the weather did.  Winter camping in the Highlands can be pretty grim. It is dark from around 3.00 pm and, in the average tent, you are stuck in your sleeping bag for hours trying to convince yourself you are having a good time.  It’s different in the Safir 7. That evening I travelled to a different world.  I lit my ancient tilly lamp, its hiss and gentle light, evocative of a different era.  Scott and Amundsen would have felt at home beside the glowing stove.  Later that night I left the cocoon of the tent get a book from my car and found myself in a frozen world.  The sky had cleared and the temperature dropped well below freezing. I had been so warm beside the fire I was oblivious to the cold outside.  No matter how cold it gets I am certain you would be comfortable beside in the tent with a good supply of wood for the stove.

Taking the Safir 7 down

Anyone who has struggled singlehanded to take down a large tent in a high wind will know that it can be battle.  You can find yourself wrestling with a huge sail of material that has become possessed by a wind demon and is willing to fight to the death rather than go peacefully back into its bag.  With every gust of wind it makes a determined attempt to escape the campground, lift you off your feet and drag you off into the forest.  As the wind began to rise, I was increasingly concerned that I might have such a battle.

I need not have worried.  The Safir 7 is the easiest large tent I have ever taken down in windy conditions.  The great advantage is the single pole.  I took the pole down in the centre of the tent, with all the guys attached, and the tent lay flat like an obedient dog.  Tents with multiple poles or hoops never come down as easily. Then I used the tent’s secret weapon, a loop in the tip of the cone and pegged the apex down into the wind.  Rather than being my mortal enemy the wind became my best friend and helped to straighten out the tent so that I could fold it back in the bag.  This little tip was included in the instructions for the tent which, for once, I had read.  It took me about five minutes to take the tent down, no demons showed up.

Disadvantages

I am delighted with the tent and like all pieces of equipment you need to get to know how to work with it and what it will and won’t do. 

Weight

The tent weighs around 15 kg and the stove about 20 kg so you won’t be backpacking with it.

Cost

At around £2.5 k it isn’t cheap but it will last you a lifetime and you’ll be able to camp in all weathers. If you compare it to the cost of a mobile home it is very economical.

Rattles

The metal mesh heat shield on the chimney did rattle annoyingly in high winds. It was my first time using the tent so I probably didn’t do the best of putting it up and there may be ways of stopping that I am unaware of.  Time will tell.

Summary

The tent has opened up a whole new range of adventures for me.  If I can get hold of one of those polar pulk sleds I can pull along I plan to take it into the heart of the snowy Cairngorms. Not sure if that’s been done before but it’s the kind of thing that inspires me.  The great thing about the tent is that I can take it to all sorts of places I couldn’t go before.  In these days of the pandemic it’s also a very safe place to be.

Camping isn’t something a rational person would do. You have a centrally heated home that you leave to go and shelter under a piece of canvas.  But that’s the point for me. The atmosphere of the tent allows you to dream in a different world. I wouldn’t want a mobile home, all plastic and aluminium, that’s like taking the day to day world with me. I’m happier with the smell of wood smoke, paraffin and canvas.  I’m delighted with my Safir 7 and can’t wait to take it into wild places.

Can the tent take the place of a bothy?  The answer has to be yes, perhaps it’s even better.