I'm attempting a night out once a month for the year. It's my challenge for myself. This trip happened in January and a good friend at work asked if they could come along when I told him what I had planned. My friend is a complete novice to the outdoors and after much discussion he assembled a budget gear list for his very first overnight in the hills!
Knowing that this trip shouldn't be a fast paced thrashing I poured over the maps to put together a route that wasn't too physically demanding (my friend has a fair few aches and pains from spending most of his earlier years as a mechanic), but equally give him a good introduction into this wild camping malarkey. It needed to be enjoyable and interesting, not a slog!
I planned the route, arranged for him to meet me at my house, gave hints and tips about packing etc and got everything ready. We arrived in the Peaks and parked up the van in a reasonably popular spot. My friend was dead keen to get going, but being equally keen to measure the pace, I took my time in lacing up my boots, filling water bottles and chatting about what lay ahead. The route began along a wooded valley, steep sided but with the path easy going we meandered along the river, chatting away. We came across a pair of ultralight campers setting up their tent very early on, and with the clouds gathering, I could see the question on my friends face. Keeping the banter going I said we've a way to go just yet, and camping so low down is a bit frowned upon, plus I had promised a spectacular site towards the end of the day!
Leaving the Valley behind, we crossed the Snake Pass and headed up onto Bleaklow. The cloud was well and truly in. Walkers were thinning out and the wind was pushing against us as we got up onto a high point. We sheltered in the lee of a bank and I got the map out. I had been discussing the route as we went, showing him how the map related to the ground, which way we were going etc. After a handful of jelly babies we set a bearing through the fog to a trig point... After a steep climb, we walked right up to the B29 Liberator crash site on Bleaklow.
The wreckage is really something to behold and with the fog right in, it was easy to see how the accident had happened. I had done a bit of swotting up and was able to tell my friend the whole story about the crash, including how the pilots wedding band was found in the 70s and returned to his daughter in the US. The obligatory Trig Point pic was taken and we moved off to find a decent camp site for the night. I was glad to see a massive smile on my friends face for almost the entire rest of the day.
(Me, just before the campsite... my rucksack isn't really that big, for scale I'm 5ft 5in
)
After an hour or so, and with the wind really biting now, we came to the rough area of where I had planned to camp. I took us around a Spur and out of the wind. Locating a spring, we refilled our water bottles, including my 3ltr camelback which I use as a bladder in camp. We set up our tents nearby just as the low cloud swept over us and hid us from view.
(Collecting water before setting camp)
I talked my friend through what I do in camp, personal admin, changing into warm dry clothes, powedering my feet and getting dinner on. I could see he was mimicking me and before long he was wrapped up in his new tent and enjoying a hot brew!
(Me in my tent, coffee brewing!)
We chatted the evening away, going through a bag load of subjects until the chat quietened down and the silence drew out. By half 8 he was asleep. I read a book on my phone for a while before dropping off shortly after.
With morning I was first awake (I usually get up at 0430 for work, so my body clock is kinda set like that now). I went through my morning constitutionals and returned to my tent and back into the sleeping bag. Propped up on one elbow I got a brew on. As my gas stove fired up my friend unzipped his tent and greeted me with a very cheery 'hello mate'. The standard 'sleep well?' questions went back and forth as we both busied ourselves getting our own breakfasts. For me, coffee was the first order of the day and friend ribbed me about my fresh ground coffee beans and my 'posh coffee cup'. I offered him a cup but he declined, being an ardent tea drinker himself.
Once a leisurely breakfast was had, we dressed and packed away slow time. It had rained in the night and our tent flys were soaking. My friend had taken my advice about carrying a flat sponge to wipe the wet off as much as possible and I guided him through packing his tent away in a such a way as to keep his inner as dry as possible in the tent bag.
After a final check round for litter or gear we moved off back towards my van. A gentle stroll down into a valley was a good warm up for the steep and drawn out climb out at the head of the valley at mid morning. That certainly got the heart rate up and we were panting a bit. Fortunately the rest of the walk back to the van was mostly down hill and in good weather.
A great overnight for me and I think the fire has been lit in my friends heart for the outdoors. Before we even got our packs off at the van he asked how often do I do this and would I mind if i took him out again? I replied that I would be honoured to do so, and so the next trip was planned on the way home....
(My tent just before bed)
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Knowing that this trip shouldn't be a fast paced thrashing I poured over the maps to put together a route that wasn't too physically demanding (my friend has a fair few aches and pains from spending most of his earlier years as a mechanic), but equally give him a good introduction into this wild camping malarkey. It needed to be enjoyable and interesting, not a slog!
I planned the route, arranged for him to meet me at my house, gave hints and tips about packing etc and got everything ready. We arrived in the Peaks and parked up the van in a reasonably popular spot. My friend was dead keen to get going, but being equally keen to measure the pace, I took my time in lacing up my boots, filling water bottles and chatting about what lay ahead. The route began along a wooded valley, steep sided but with the path easy going we meandered along the river, chatting away. We came across a pair of ultralight campers setting up their tent very early on, and with the clouds gathering, I could see the question on my friends face. Keeping the banter going I said we've a way to go just yet, and camping so low down is a bit frowned upon, plus I had promised a spectacular site towards the end of the day!
Leaving the Valley behind, we crossed the Snake Pass and headed up onto Bleaklow. The cloud was well and truly in. Walkers were thinning out and the wind was pushing against us as we got up onto a high point. We sheltered in the lee of a bank and I got the map out. I had been discussing the route as we went, showing him how the map related to the ground, which way we were going etc. After a handful of jelly babies we set a bearing through the fog to a trig point... After a steep climb, we walked right up to the B29 Liberator crash site on Bleaklow.
The wreckage is really something to behold and with the fog right in, it was easy to see how the accident had happened. I had done a bit of swotting up and was able to tell my friend the whole story about the crash, including how the pilots wedding band was found in the 70s and returned to his daughter in the US. The obligatory Trig Point pic was taken and we moved off to find a decent camp site for the night. I was glad to see a massive smile on my friends face for almost the entire rest of the day.
(Me, just before the campsite... my rucksack isn't really that big, for scale I'm 5ft 5in
)
After an hour or so, and with the wind really biting now, we came to the rough area of where I had planned to camp. I took us around a Spur and out of the wind. Locating a spring, we refilled our water bottles, including my 3ltr camelback which I use as a bladder in camp. We set up our tents nearby just as the low cloud swept over us and hid us from view.
(Collecting water before setting camp)
I talked my friend through what I do in camp, personal admin, changing into warm dry clothes, powedering my feet and getting dinner on. I could see he was mimicking me and before long he was wrapped up in his new tent and enjoying a hot brew!
(Me in my tent, coffee brewing!)
We chatted the evening away, going through a bag load of subjects until the chat quietened down and the silence drew out. By half 8 he was asleep. I read a book on my phone for a while before dropping off shortly after.
With morning I was first awake (I usually get up at 0430 for work, so my body clock is kinda set like that now). I went through my morning constitutionals and returned to my tent and back into the sleeping bag. Propped up on one elbow I got a brew on. As my gas stove fired up my friend unzipped his tent and greeted me with a very cheery 'hello mate'. The standard 'sleep well?' questions went back and forth as we both busied ourselves getting our own breakfasts. For me, coffee was the first order of the day and friend ribbed me about my fresh ground coffee beans and my 'posh coffee cup'. I offered him a cup but he declined, being an ardent tea drinker himself.
Once a leisurely breakfast was had, we dressed and packed away slow time. It had rained in the night and our tent flys were soaking. My friend had taken my advice about carrying a flat sponge to wipe the wet off as much as possible and I guided him through packing his tent away in a such a way as to keep his inner as dry as possible in the tent bag.
After a final check round for litter or gear we moved off back towards my van. A gentle stroll down into a valley was a good warm up for the steep and drawn out climb out at the head of the valley at mid morning. That certainly got the heart rate up and we were panting a bit. Fortunately the rest of the walk back to the van was mostly down hill and in good weather.
A great overnight for me and I think the fire has been lit in my friends heart for the outdoors. Before we even got our packs off at the van he asked how often do I do this and would I mind if i took him out again? I replied that I would be honoured to do so, and so the next trip was planned on the way home....
(My tent just before bed)
Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk
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