Fellow member Davidpingu and I had arranged well in advance to do an overnighter this weekend. Dave wanted to return to a site in the Black Mountains that we went to in August, and I had agreed. Now, Dave is well known as a weather jinx, and this trip was no exception. Saturday dawned through sheeting rain, and the met office had it down as a severe weather warning for rain. I consulted the mountain area forecast and found gales predicted, with hill fog, persistent rain and low temperatures thrown in. Not good.
Dave duly arrived to collect me, and we both wimped out. Our intended site had been bad enough in strong winds in August, so we really didn't fancy it. Plans were changed, and we decamped instead to a more sheltered lowland site where I have permission.
A short walk in, and we got set up. I had been wanting to try the Adirondack wind shelter arrangement with my 3x3 DD tarp, ever since I saw it recommended by John Fenna on here. With the aid of my new Aldi walking poles (£5 each, on sale now - at that price they are disposable, but they did fine) I was delighted to find that it went up easily with loads of room to spare. I will use this again. By the way, the log was already there, and I just pitched around it.
Having packed for the mountains, Dave had packed his new mountain tent, which was rather overkill for a lowland camp, but that's what happens when you chicken out of mountain trip. Naturally, the weather improved dramatically once we had changed plans, and we only had showers for the rest of the day.
Dave had a spare tarp with him, so that was set up as protection for a fire. It functioned beautifully as a smoke collector but it kept the showers off.
Now, being sophisticated sort of fellows, we didn't have camp food. We had French cuisine. Dave had cassoulet, I had petit sale. Being British we managed to burn both. Millionaire shortbread and Nice biscuits made for a dessert.
I can report that I had one of the most comfortable and satisfying night's sleep that I can recall for a long time on a camping trip, and Dave seemed to sleep well too if the snores were anything to go by. The next morning was misty but the sky was gorgeously blue.
When the sun came up over the ridge I managed a nice shot of it through the trees.
We packed up and walked back to the car, having had a really relaxing weekend. My thanks to Dave for his company, especially with him not being able to come out again for a while after this as there is a new baby on the way.
Dave duly arrived to collect me, and we both wimped out. Our intended site had been bad enough in strong winds in August, so we really didn't fancy it. Plans were changed, and we decamped instead to a more sheltered lowland site where I have permission.
A short walk in, and we got set up. I had been wanting to try the Adirondack wind shelter arrangement with my 3x3 DD tarp, ever since I saw it recommended by John Fenna on here. With the aid of my new Aldi walking poles (£5 each, on sale now - at that price they are disposable, but they did fine) I was delighted to find that it went up easily with loads of room to spare. I will use this again. By the way, the log was already there, and I just pitched around it.
Having packed for the mountains, Dave had packed his new mountain tent, which was rather overkill for a lowland camp, but that's what happens when you chicken out of mountain trip. Naturally, the weather improved dramatically once we had changed plans, and we only had showers for the rest of the day.
Dave had a spare tarp with him, so that was set up as protection for a fire. It functioned beautifully as a smoke collector but it kept the showers off.
Now, being sophisticated sort of fellows, we didn't have camp food. We had French cuisine. Dave had cassoulet, I had petit sale. Being British we managed to burn both. Millionaire shortbread and Nice biscuits made for a dessert.
I can report that I had one of the most comfortable and satisfying night's sleep that I can recall for a long time on a camping trip, and Dave seemed to sleep well too if the snores were anything to go by. The next morning was misty but the sky was gorgeously blue.
When the sun came up over the ridge I managed a nice shot of it through the trees.
We packed up and walked back to the car, having had a really relaxing weekend. My thanks to Dave for his company, especially with him not being able to come out again for a while after this as there is a new baby on the way.
