Spring Brechfa

[Bishop]

If you Google Brechfa forest you'll probably end up looking at all the touristy stuff around Abergorlech, circular walks, horse riding, mountain bike trails and a rather good burger hut. But over on the West side near the village of Brechfa it's pretty much deserted. Whilst good spots to camp are sparse amongst the spruce finding them is part of the fun and the place keeps drawing me back. Went out this time a bit light and should of packed a warmer jacket, during the day moving around was ok with just a thick fleece and my sleeping bag more than adequate but mornings... the purr of the zip and that first blast of cold air and warm feet into cold boots uuugh. Thankfully one thing in plentiful supply around here is pine resin and jaffacat had sent me some fatwood so at least getting a fire going and a brew on quickly wasn't a problem.

Lots of windfall around one of my favourite haunts so this year I feel a bit of camp construction is in order.

Raised bed

Many arm loads of moss later

Yet more moss, throw over the tarp and dig out a little shoe-box size fire.
The tarp is more for a windbreak/ reflector than rain cover and provided I kept the fire sensible the two worked well together. Next trip out I'm packing the bow-saw, maybe even the hatchet lol

Just big enough to get a cooking pot and a tin mug onto.

 

[QDanT]

Good set up for an over-nighter
if you didn't pack an axe how did you open the beans
or is that why there's no food cooking photos

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.963777,-4.1043018,5440m/data=!3m1!1e3

 

[Bishop]

Lol was wandering around up there scouting locations on a three day pass from SWMBO didn't write more on account of being slightly knackered.
She wants to camp up there sometime this summer with her astronomical telescope and still not sure yet how we're going to do it.


There will be beans when I get around to dehydrating some more but for now I've been playing with pancakes.
Instant batter mix is truly manna, plus there's enough empty space in the bottle it comes in to fit two small travel bottles inside. One for olive oil another for maple syrup so less wasted space in the pack, no mixing mess and you end up with a spare water bottle at camp. Go on admit it, you want some


Camp cook setup is a bit of an anticlimax, the rocks are simply arranged so a pot sits happily over the fire. So no hangers or grill-rack required for this trip.
A bigger fire would of been nice as night time temperatures were around 1-2C with a pretty constant breeze blowing through the valley made the chill bite a little. It was enough to keep things tolerable but not toasty.

Of course some people just don't care, at least this time they weren’t pushed into the treeline then torched.

 

[MegaWoodsWalker]

I liked the shelter!