Confidence comes from small, deliberate steps

Solo wild camping is not really about braving the wilderness. It is about making a series of sensible decisions so that the only thing you have to manage is your own head. Confidence arrives when your plan is boringly specific: you know exactly where you are sleeping, you know how you would get out if the weather turned, and someone at home knows both of those things too.

If you are new to it, treat your first nights as training. Not training for mountaineering, just training for you — for how you sleep, how you cook when your hands are cold, and whether the sounds outside your tent at 2am are a deer or something worse. They are almost always a deer.

Choose your first pitches carefully

The single biggest confidence booster is a low-risk pitch. Forget the dramatic summit bivvy on your first outing. Aim for a sheltered spot at moderate altitude, ideally with an easy escape route down a clear path or track.

Look for ground that is flat, dry and out of the wind. Tucking in behind a rock outcrop, on the lee side of a small knoll, or in a shallow hollow will make a windy night feel calm. Avoid the following:

• Exposed ridges and summits, where wind arrives from every direction and you have nowhere to retreat.
• Gullies, stream beds and dry watercourses, which can flood fast after rain higher up.
• Under dead trees or loose crags, where something could come down in the night.
• Squelchy bog, which will soak your sleeping mat's warmth away.
• Immediately beside tarns or lochans, where midges gather and damp ground lingers.

Pitch with your door facing away from the prevailing wind, tighten everything properly, and put a rucksack or boots in the porch to weigh it down. Wild camping in Scotland is a recognised right under access legislation; elsewhere in the UK you should seek the landowner's permission. Know which applies to you before you go.

Bothies as a stepping stone

For a first solo night away from a campsite, a bothy is a friendly compromise. These simple unlocked shelters are maintained by volunteers, free to use, and cannot be booked. That means you might arrive to find them full, so always carry your tent as a fallback.

Bothies build confidence because they reduce the variables. You have four walls, a roof and usually a hearth. What they demand is courtesy and preparation:

• Carry your own fuel if you plan to burn anything, and only use a fireplace if there is one.
• Take every scrap of rubbish out with you, including things you did not bring.
• Bring earplugs — a crowded bothy is not a quiet night.
• Do not assume a bothy bed or bench is free; camp near it if not.
• Leave the place cleaner than you found it and the door properly latched.

Off-season, midweek bothies are often empty. A first solo night in one, with a walk in and out by daylight, teaches you a lot about your own company.

Upland tarns: beautiful, but read the ground

A tarn or lochan is one of the loveliest places to wake up. There is water for cooking, a view that changes with the light, and often a natural bowl of shelter. The trick is to camp near the water rather than on top of it.

Walk fifty metres or so back from the shore and find a dry, slightly raised spot on a knoll or a well-drained shelf. That gets you away from boggy ground, night-time midges and the temptation to swim when you are cold and tired. If you do swim, know that upland tarns are cold enough to cause cold-water shock — wade in slowly, stay close to the bank, and get dry and dressed before you start shivering.

Also check the ground for signs of heavy use. If an area is badly worn, move on. Quiet, thoughtful camping keeps these places worth visiting.

Planning, communication and a safety net

Tell someone exactly what you are doing. Not vaguely. Give them your intended route, the grid reference of your planned pitch, your estimated return time, and the time by which they should worry.

• Agree a check-in: a text when you reach your pitch, another when you are back in signal.
• Leave a note of your car's location and registration if you are driving to the start.
• Check the mountain forecast the night before and the morning you set off, and be willing to change plans.
• Note phone signal blackspots on your map and consider carrying a personal locator beacon or satellite messenger.
• Write down your plan; screens die, paper does not.

Having a safety net does not make you less adventurous. It makes you calmer, and calm is what lets you enjoy a solo night.

Small comforts that make solo nights easier

Confidence is often just good sleep. Take a mat with a proper insulation rating, a bag rated colder than the forecast, a warm hat, dry socks and a head torch with spare batteries. Eat something hot and substantial before dark, then get in your bag early. Earplugs and a buff over your eyes will blunt the wind noise and the early dawn.

Start with one night close to a familiar path in settled weather. Then a bothy. Then a tarn. Each trip teaches you something, and before long the tent going up in a cold wind will feel like second nature.