Essential camping knots for pitching a tarp

Why knots matter when you sleep under a tarp

A tarp is the simplest shelter there is: a sheet of coated fabric, two trees, and a few lengths of cord. What turns that sheet into a weatherproof roof is the way you tie it. Pitch a tarp with lazy knots and it will sag at two in the morning, flap itself loose in a coastal gust, and drip on your sleeping bag by dawn. Pitch it with three dependable knots and it will hold through wind, rain and the sort of damp that rolls in off the sea at dusk.

You do not need an encyclopaedia of knots. Three will carry you through almost every woodland pitch and coastal camp: the bowline, the taut-line hitch and the clove hitch. Learn them slowly, practise them until your hands know them in the dark, and your shelter will be up in five minutes with a mug of tea in your other hand.

The bowline: a loop that will not slip

The bowline makes a fixed loop at the end of a line — one that will not tighten under load and will not jam, even after a wet night. It is the knot you use when you need a reliable eye to drop over a peg, a branch or a corner eyelet.

• Lay the working end over the standing part to form a small loop, roughly a hand's width from the end.
• Bring the working end up through the loop, around behind the standing part, then back down through the loop.
• Snug it down and check the loop holds its size when you pull hard.
• Remember the old rhyme: the rabbit comes out of the hole, round the tree, and back down the hole.

On a tarp, bowlines earn their place at the corners. Tie one in the end of each guy line so it can be looped over a peg in seconds, even with cold fingers. They are also excellent for the fixed end of a ridgeline, where you want a loop that stays a loop no matter how much tension you pile on.

The taut-line hitch: tension you can tune

Wind and rain change everything. Cord stretches, fabric sags, and a shelter that was drum-tight at nine o'clock is slapping against itself by midnight. The taut-line hitch solves this because it slides along the standing part of its own rope, then grips hard when loaded. You adjust tension by hand, without untying anything.

• Pass the working end around your anchor point and bring it back alongside the standing part.
• Take one turn around the standing part, then a second turn inside the first.
• Take a third turn outside the others, then tuck the end through and snug the whole thing down.
• Test it: push the knot along the line to slacken it, then pull to load it. It should bite immediately.

Use a taut-line hitch on every guy line you want to fine-tune, and on the free end of your ridgeline. If the wind gets up at three in the morning, you can reach out from your sleeping bag, haul the line tighter, and go back to sleep.

The clove hitch: fast, adjustable, dependable

The clove hitch is the quickest way to fasten a line to a post, a pole or a tree trunk. It is two interlocking turns that grip in both directions, and it comes apart the moment you want it to. For tarp work it is invaluable for attaching corners to upright poles, lashing a ridge line to a trunk, or securing a line to a walking pole used as a porch prop.

• Pass the working end around the pole and cross it over the standing part.
• Go around the pole a second time, above the first turn.
• Tuck the working end under the diagonal that crosses the second turn, then pull both ends tight.
• Remember that a clove hitch can creep along a smooth, wet pole, so back it up with a couple of half hitches around the standing part if the load will shift.

It is the knot you tie when you are in a hurry, and the one you will use most often in woodland, where there is always another trunk to tie off to.

Putting the three knots to work

A classic A-frame tarp pitch uses all three in sequence, and the order matters. Run your ridgeline between two trees at roughly chest height. Clove hitch one end for speed, and finish the other end with a taut-line hitch so you can crank the line tight. Drape the tarp over the ridgeline, then tie guy lines at each corner with bowlines, ready to drop over pegs.

• Tension each guy line with a taut-line hitch and peg it out at around 45 degrees to the tarp.
• Lower the windward edge close to the ground and keep the pitch low if the forecast is rough.
• Angle the opening away from the prevailing wind, and face the fire or the view if conditions allow.
• Re-tension everything once the fabric has settled and the cord has taken up its stretch.

That Nordic approach — a simple roof, a wool blanket, a slow fire, unhurried campcraft — depends on shelter that behaves itself. Good knots are what let you sit back and enjoy the evening instead of wrestling with guy lines in the dark.

Practise at home before you head out

Buy four or five metres of 4 mm accessory cord and cut it into three-metre lengths for guy lines. Seal the cut ends with a flame so they do not fray, and keep the whole lot in a small stuff sack with your pegs. Then practise the bowline, taut-line hitch and clove hitch on the back of a dining chair, on a broom handle, and eventually with gloves on in the garden after dark.

Fifteen minutes of practice a few evenings running is enough to make these knots automatic. Do that, and your next woodland walk or clifftop camp will end with a dry sleeping bag, a tight tarp, and the quiet satisfaction of a shelter you pitched entirely with your own two hands.