Had a cheeky over nighter after work on Friday,
i had already packed pretty much everything during the week, so after filling my water bottles and adding the chorizo to the pack i begged a lift from my dad and headed up to my permission
i have been desperate to get out camping in the snow but the fates and real life have conspired against me
luckily there was still some snow on the ground
Past the wood pile and two Christmas trees i had taken from work and the local church to dispose of
a bit of bunny sign
dumped the pack in my selected spot, i moved from my old spot to allow it some recuperation time, i've used this spot three times now once with i camp @butlins and teepee, once with Damian and teepee and now this time, its further in and doesn't attract nosy dog walkers after a bacon butty
plus i get to use an Oak tree as part of my ridgeline support which i like.
bit more bunny sign
then i set my tarp up in an Adirondack wind sled pitch
Got a brew on
Whilst the water boiled i moved the Christmas trees to closer to the new spot
i had planned to sned them all and use the branches as insulation but time got ahead of me and dusk was approaching so i skipped that idea and later in the night constructed a wind block with them.
next plan was get the fire going
this didn't go as well as planned, a lot of the material i was using was damper than i anticipated and i will admit i was starting to panic a little, after frantically racking my brains i looked over towards the Christmas trees and had a why didn't i think of that earlier moment,
well that worked
goes to show that you should never expect the fire to light straight away, always have a back up plan especially if it is brass monkey's out and you intend to rely on a fire for warmth/food/water/light.
so billy can boiling some more water for another brew i started on my project- candle stick
foolishly i forgot to take a photo of the finished item but here is a pic with the candle stick in view
the candle provided enough light within the tarp to make it comfy and homely and enough visibility to not need my head torch for the majority of the evening-got through 4 candles mind you
by this point i was getting peckish so time for grub
chorizo and matheson smoked sausage, fried in a bit of suet(cheer for the tip Teepee)
then added some couscous and boiling water and waited
nom nom nom nom nom
decided to make some snowball soup as much to do something as replenish the water stocks
note the water already in crusader cup to prevent burning the bottom out of the mug, the mors pot held quite a bit of compacted snow, a bigger billy can is definitely useful
having a lid speeds up boil time without loosing so much water through evaporation, i know it was only a short distance away from home but further afield this could of been important,i took the lid off for this shot
after a while of doing this i had produced about a litre and a half from snow, nice and easy minimal effort, might even share the recipe
i rearranged the fire to burn slower
then after several more brews i bundled up in my sleeping bag read for a while and listened to the sleet falling against my tarp before turning in for the night
woke briefly at 06:00 decided it was A still dark and B too cold so went back to sleep until around 08:00
this was the remainder of the fire
thats it for photos
made myself a brew or three, had some porridge and got a lift back with my dad again
thanks for coming along
Sam
i had already packed pretty much everything during the week, so after filling my water bottles and adding the chorizo to the pack i begged a lift from my dad and headed up to my permission
i have been desperate to get out camping in the snow but the fates and real life have conspired against me
luckily there was still some snow on the ground
Past the wood pile and two Christmas trees i had taken from work and the local church to dispose of
a bit of bunny sign
dumped the pack in my selected spot, i moved from my old spot to allow it some recuperation time, i've used this spot three times now once with i camp @butlins and teepee, once with Damian and teepee and now this time, its further in and doesn't attract nosy dog walkers after a bacon butty
plus i get to use an Oak tree as part of my ridgeline support which i like.
bit more bunny sign
then i set my tarp up in an Adirondack wind sled pitch
Got a brew on
Whilst the water boiled i moved the Christmas trees to closer to the new spot
i had planned to sned them all and use the branches as insulation but time got ahead of me and dusk was approaching so i skipped that idea and later in the night constructed a wind block with them.
next plan was get the fire going
this didn't go as well as planned, a lot of the material i was using was damper than i anticipated and i will admit i was starting to panic a little, after frantically racking my brains i looked over towards the Christmas trees and had a why didn't i think of that earlier moment,
well that worked
goes to show that you should never expect the fire to light straight away, always have a back up plan especially if it is brass monkey's out and you intend to rely on a fire for warmth/food/water/light.
so billy can boiling some more water for another brew i started on my project- candle stick
foolishly i forgot to take a photo of the finished item but here is a pic with the candle stick in view
the candle provided enough light within the tarp to make it comfy and homely and enough visibility to not need my head torch for the majority of the evening-got through 4 candles mind you
by this point i was getting peckish so time for grub
chorizo and matheson smoked sausage, fried in a bit of suet(cheer for the tip Teepee)
then added some couscous and boiling water and waited
nom nom nom nom nom
decided to make some snowball soup as much to do something as replenish the water stocks
note the water already in crusader cup to prevent burning the bottom out of the mug, the mors pot held quite a bit of compacted snow, a bigger billy can is definitely useful
having a lid speeds up boil time without loosing so much water through evaporation, i know it was only a short distance away from home but further afield this could of been important,i took the lid off for this shot
after a while of doing this i had produced about a litre and a half from snow, nice and easy minimal effort, might even share the recipe
i rearranged the fire to burn slower
then after several more brews i bundled up in my sleeping bag read for a while and listened to the sleet falling against my tarp before turning in for the night
woke briefly at 06:00 decided it was A still dark and B too cold so went back to sleep until around 08:00
this was the remainder of the fire
thats it for photos
made myself a brew or three, had some porridge and got a lift back with my dad again
thanks for coming along
Sam
