Beach camp with Stooboy.

[andybysea]

Just back from a two day'er with stooboy at our usual haunt, pics to follow from stoo once he's home and had chance to download them, i said id do the write up.

Day 1 Friday afternoon set off 3.15pm down at bay around 4pm set up our camp and got a fire going,then the hunt for lots of drift wood,
The wind was howling and this made the fire burn the wood rapidly and give out hardly any heat,so we had a few beers each and called it a night around 10pm.
The wind continued most of the night flexing my tent in various directions,but the next morning it had calmed down.
Day 2, Breakfast fry up and a brew then we walked over to the base of Fast castle,basically as far as we could walk till we came to a rock stack that was just beyond the safety limit,it had also briefly showered and the rocks had become very slippery in parts so we took our time,on the way back we collected some limpets from the rocks as Stoo mentioned he had'nt tried them before,i told him i had and i thought they were awful,never the less once back we got the fire back to life,and i put a flat rock in the embers to heat up.Once they were cooked stoo tried a few, did he like them? i will let him answer that.
Dinner time consisted of fried chorizo/bacon,pasta,and rice another brew up,then wood collecting, we also made a much better seating area (basically L shaped) giving more room and storage,got a really nice fire going,then had a few beer's followed by some late night snacks, whiskey,and hot chocolate.
Day 3 tidying up camp, making sure we'd packed everything and then the fun climb back to the top.
Hopefully Stoo will be along soon to post his picks as he has some good ones,
ps thanks to him for coming over i had a great time,and hopefully the other guys who could'nt make it this time can come to the next one.

 

[Peterlee_Paddler]

I'll have a look later for Stoo's pics.
Next time I won't be doing nightshifts on a Saturday!

 

[gsfgaz]

It was same for us Andy, the wind was howling and changing direction every 2 minutes , then it turned baltic through the nite , sitting at the fire with a few beers freezing ... it was brilliant ... looking forward ti ur photo's ...

 

[gowersponger]

lol well done for holding out in the weather and nice one for trying the limpits you should of took along a folding trap for crabs, lobster, even been known for traping nice size codling. i love shore camping summer time is the best with bass on the menu

 

[Miyagi]

Hi Andy,

Glad you both had a great time, sorry I had to miss this one.

Can't wait to see the pics.

Liam

 

[stooboy]

Got down to Andys for about 3pm, Andy had cut up some trees at the back of his garden to take down for wood, as we where unsure if there was any new driftwood since the last trip.

On arriving I extended my walking pole, and to test it as you do i decied to stomp it into the ground, not paying attention struck it straight into my roll mat that was lying on the ground strapped to the top of my rucksack, it looked like only the outer carry bag was broken....

After carrying the wood Andy had cut about a mile to the cliff top, it was decied that we should probably toss the stuff of the cliff rather than risk humphing it and our bags down the cliff, that was the last we saw of that wood

Fortunately There was loads of new drift wood since last time and a couple of nice rounds to use as side tables

But like andy said there was a harsh wind coming in off the sea, and after foraging wood and a late tea we where not long in calling it a night as the wind was incinerating the wood rather quickly, and what was more annoying was the wind was eddying around us causing frequent face fulls of smoke, and stealing all the heat.

I was awake early Saturday morning to discover that i had stabbed my airbed, and was on the ground, neither off us had a repair kit so i had hoped id be here telling you the wonders of having chewing gum in your pack but alas a botched repair still failed to work.

After a fryup for breakfast we where on our way to find the fast castle cave, Andy knew the way

over hill and dale

threw "narrow" cracks

we where finally beaten by a large rocky outcrop that although we could get to the top of it getting down the other side or rather getting back up over it seemed a bit risky and i being a non swimmer was glad when Andy said it was the end of the line, as the tide comes in really quickly here.

me posing below fast castle

On the way back andy demonstrated the art of welk whacking,

vid:

And Rock pool pole vaulting

Back at base camp after collecting a few welks we got the fire on the go and set about cooking the welks

vid:

I actually thought they where ok, kinda like muscles needed a bit of seasoning, so inspired we went of to some nearby rock pools to look for bigger tastier sea food but turned a blank

We then set about building an extension to the seating area due to the smoke issue the previous evening.

But there was very little wind on Saturday night and we where able to sit round a very good roaring fire.

Although Andys Staff, refused burn without a fight...

 

[Toddy]

See next time you're trying limpets ? Cook them as you did, then take out the meaty foot and put them into some clean fresh water with some veggies and slowly stew them.
I'm told it's excellent and as the muscle relaxes with the slow cooking it's much better eating. If you can find some winkles and whelks to add in to the stew so much the better. Just mind and fish out the shells (no I didn't intend the pun )

Sounds like a good weekend though Looking forward to the photos

cheers,
Toddy

Oooops, too slow, cross post

 

[Miyagi]

Excellent photos Stooboy!!

I can't beleive the red flag is still there.

Sorry, but I couldn't help laughing about your airmat - comedy gold mate.

Will join you both on the next one. Have the bad bits of the goat path deteriorated much since our last visit?

See you at Comrie.

All the best,

Liam

 

[andybysea]

Now that last pic is a nice looking fire, number 15 is a nice view of the camp(its only a fraction of the way up the cliff though) stoo set off to retreive some balloon's he saw stranded up in the bracken.
Liam the last bit of the path is falling away a little and is a bit slippery underfoot the good news is its only the last 20 ft of so.

 

[Twodogs]

Another cracking thread ,
nice one
Twodogs

 

[stooboy]

Sorry, but I couldn't help laughing about your airmat - comedy gold mate.

Liam

yeah i laughed it off initially to andy with "these alpkit mats are tough as nails" but inwardly was crying, and was no better when i woke up with a sore back and was walking about like a crab all day.

plus you missed andy coughing up a lung this time after sucking in a lung full of smoke on the "blow" poker

 

[Miyagi]

yeah i laughed it off initially to andy with "these alpkit mats are tough as nails" but inwardly was crying, and was no better when i woke up with a sore back and was walking about like a crab all day.

plus you missed andy coughing up a lung this time after sucking in a lung full of smoke on the "blow" poker

Hahahahaa

I've spent all weekend cursing and muttering, knowing I'm not there. feel "much" better now!!

And to think I had my kip mat ready this time and couldn't make it.

I was out early doors today with the dog, down to Cramond, up to Cammo Estate, then onto Craigie Hill (Lord Rosebery's Estate) to have a look at an old iron age fort.

I've lived in the area for 20 years and only found out about it last week! Using grid co-ordinates Lat 55.967714N, Long 3.357244W I found it.

Not only have I been rambling over it for years, it's one of my "cuppa stops/fag breaks" when I'm up there!!

Great weather up here today and everywhere was packed with ramblers/walkers etc.

Liam

 

[stuart f]

Looks good lads.That gully just behind your camp is screaming to me,fishy heaven,i really need to get along one day and drop a line or even a baited fish trap into it. I like Limpets too,me and Craigm9 agreed that done in a black bean sauce they would be delicious.

Thats a swine about the mat Stoo,hope you will have it fixed for the meet up mate.

Cheers Stuart.

 

[andybysea]

Yes the satisfying cooling smoke experiance,that is inhailing(dont know how or why i did it) from a blow poker,i feel like its burnt my damn throat, was coughing for about 20mins.
Stuart there's plenty of fish to be had, a couple of my brothers mates stayed here last year and caught Pollack and saithe,my brother also had a good old lobster from here,and theres loads of crab in the summer, plus shrimp in the rock pools.

 

[Miyagi]

Yes the satisfying cooling smoke experiance,that is inhailing(dont know how or why i did it) from a blow poker,i feel like its burnt my damn throat, was coughing for about 20mins.
Stuart there's plenty of fish to be had, a couple of my brothers mates stayed here last year and caught Pollack and saithe,my brother also had a good old lobster from here,and theres loads of crab in the summer, plus shrimp in the rock pools.

Dumm, dumm, dumm... doo doo doo da da dumm - recognise the tune?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbdxm8Ia0Wc

All the best mate,

Liam

 

[andybysea]

Its was'nt happiness or mild and i hope i dont look like Gregor Fisher in that ad.(no comb over here!)

 

[Miyagi]

Its was'nt happiness or mild and i hope i dont look like Gregor Fisher in that ad.(no comb over here!)

God no, I never thought of that!!!

I just recognised the face from the advert, and as I was trying to post quickly, it was a case of "that's one of them!!".

Sorry bro,

Liam

 

[andybysea]

Liam im only joking, ive got a much thicker skin than that! my best mate down in Manchester's sole purpose when visiting me, is to wind me up and take the p##s and weve been mates 15yrs.

 

[QDanT]

thanks for sharing sat. night camp looks brill. don't think I fancy the climb down though isn't there a stair lift for us doddery old s*ds how about a reverse rescue and the helicopter winches you on to the beach ?
thanks for posting and stooboy for the photo's
cheers Danny

 

[gsfgaz]

great photo's , u cannie beat geting oot in thr wild weather .. cheers for sharing