first wild camp

I'm looking at doing my first wild camping towards the end of the holidays in the lake district. The location Ive chosen is Red tarn near Grisedale Grid reference 350 153. Has any one wild camped there before and if so is it suitable and most importantly if there weather gets bad how easy is it to navigate back down and how are the foot paths. The tent Ive got is a terra nova superlite voyager i assume this would be suitable this time of year ?

Can't comment on the pitch as i've never been there, but the tent would be fine even if you pitched it high in a hoolie.

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Hi Oliver, don't know the Lakes well enough to comment on your choice of location, but your tent's fine. I've got a SL Voyager myself and though I tend to use it more in winter / bad weather, that's only because I've got a Laser Comp too  It's a super piece of kit, very roomy for one; though I had a footprint made for the sleeping area, I generally don't bother with it and just take a bit of care to make sure the ground where I'm pitching it isn't too rough.

Haven't camped there myself, though it might be quite a busy site being next to the major routes up and down from Helvelyn/catstyecam. That does mean that the footpaths are pretty obvious - navigating down to Glenridding shouldn't be a problem (have a look on Google earth / other aerial views!

Looking at the map (and from memory) there is very little flat land around there - the contours of the cwm slope straight down into the lake - so finding even a small spot to place a tent might be difficult. Around the lake outflow looks most likely, but the flattest area (S of the outflow) looks like it might be boggy with that small pool and there are also a lot of rocky areas.

Given how busy it could be, and the limited camping sites, I would always be looking around for alternative spots in case there's no room at the lake.

Near the sheepfolds at 358168 would look a good alternative to me - Sheepfolds are usually flat, away from boggy areas and often there is room to pitch inside the fold which gets you a lot of shelter if it's windy.

Near the abandoned dam at Keppel cove might also be a possibility?

You've chosen one of the busiest wild camping spots possible, and you might find all the best bits of ground are already occupied. Getting out of the area if the weather turned bad wouldn't be a problem though.

Nearest railway station is Penrith, and several buses per day stop at the station on their way to and from Glenridding and Patterdale. The next nearest railway station is Windermere, but there are only a couple of handy summer-only buses from Windermere, over Kirkstone Pass, to Patterdale.