Wild camping in the Elan Valley

[benp1]

I did a bit of walking and wild camping on the first weekend in March this year, I desperately needed to get out and hadn’t been out properly like this in ages (2 kids under 18 months at the time). SWMBO could see that I needed to get out too so was the one encouraging me to go. This is my trip report, just very delayed!

I often go walking with friends but there is something incredibly relaxing and peaceful about going without any other person, just the dog. If I’m honest without the dog I’d probably find it a bit boring, but with him its fantastic, he really makes the trip.

Drove down on Friday night and stayed at a campsite near Rhayader so I could have an early start, it took 4.5 hours to drive up there. I arrived around 7pm (it was dark by this point), pitched the tent, had dinner, relaxed for a bit and read my kindle. I had a couple of Indian boil in the bag meals from Tescos, tasty and cheap, and then hot angel delight to finish (Angel delight powder and nido milk powder in a pour and store bag)

Was cold overnight, tent froze and felt quite chilly in my sleeping bag. Was pushing the boundaries of its temp rating given that is a 0 rated bag (WM Summerlite) and I’m a cold sleeper. I was wearing baselayer top and bottom, 100wt fleece, merino beanie and merino buff.

I got up fairly early, packed up my stuff, had breakfast (one instant porridge sachet and one sachet of chai latte, twice), then made a move

I’d arranged with a tearoom/B&B to park in their drive overnight, but I’d done it a few weeks earlier and hadn’t been able to speak to her again in the run up to the trip. I got there about 8.45am Saturday morning and there was no one to speak to. Tried the doorbells and knocked on the windows but no answers so I left car (parked as out the way as possible) and hoped for the best.

The weather on Saturday was outstanding, it really felt like the first weekend of Spring. I started walking in my new jacket, a Paramo 3rd Element, but was soon down to a base layer. It was a little breezy every now and then but the sun was out and it was genuinely glorious. I spent the majority of the day in just a base layer, I used the gilet part of the jacket on for a couple of sections, particularly once I'd walked as high as I needed and I was looking for a place to pitch

I did about 16 miles on Saturday. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do the whole walk and find a pitch before it got dark so I didn't stop for lunch, just walked through, it also gave me the opportunity to try this out. I starting walking at 9.15am and got to the rough area I was camping in around 4pm. I used my walking poles for about the last third of the walk as with the trail pounding my feet and legs were starting to ache.

Snacking throughout the day instead of eating lunch worked out much better than I thought it would. I did the same both days, although I discovered that the chocolate ginger bars I procured from Waitrose aren't good when it’s cold, they're rock hard! I was very impressed with the some snack bars called 9bars, tasted great and easy to digest. I also took loads of nuts, and for the first time ever I actually made up my own GORP mix. The basic mix consisted of honey nut peanuts, chocolate drops, mini hob nobs (tiny ones, about 1cm across), smoked and roasted almonds, cashew nuts, macadamia nuts. I made up 4 packets of this, 2 for each day, and each one was slightly different in terms of ratios. I also took a few other goodies like flapjacks and nakd bars.

I thought I might get bored with eating so many nuts but the blend of different things worked really well and will definitely do it again. The snack bars were also good and gave me enough variety so as to not get bored. I’d stop every now and then and put a few different things into my hip belt pockets, I’d then snack and walk. When I ran out I’d do the same again. It was also really easy - not much mess or hassle compared with having to cut up and spread cheese, pate, salami etc, and I didn’t need a sit spot or place to do this in. This approach would work really well on walks where stopping wasn’t convenient (exposed walks, rainy or snowy conditions).

I also used nuun tablets with my water. I find these alleviate the boredom of water and I actually like the triberry flavour ones – nice flavour, slightly salty, slightly fizzy

A fairly big section was walking next to reservoirs

This looks a bit flat but trust me, it was an uphill slog, I was seriously hot walking up this

At the end of this slog I got to this

When I got to the spot I’d planned to camp I spent a little while looking for a pitch that was level, not water logged, and not full of tussocks. Much harder than it sounds, but it was definitely worth looking around as the actual pitch was awesome - protected on two sides by rocks, above the water so the cold air could sink away, view of the lake and the setting sun

Check out the view from my tent

I’d taken a different brew kit this trip, a Snow Peak 700 pot with a Pocket Stove Ti. I also took a Snow Peak 450 cup, it’s been a continual outdoors companion. Using the SP700 to boil water in worked well as I could then stick it in my cup for eating/drinking and still get another pot of water on the stove. The real boon was being able to nest the mug and pot as it took up less pack space, particularly as the Pocket Stove could fit inside the cup as well. Most trips beforehand revolved around a faithful MSR Titan kettle.

Standard pot noodle and tuna sachet dinner, still good. Having two separate mugs worth meant I could space dinner out a bit. Dessert was freeze dried ice cream, was nice but not as satisfying as a hot dessert. Got water from the lake I was camping by, had to crack the ice to get the bottle into the water, filtered it with the Travel Tap

Really pleased I took my neoair chair kit, added weight but I got a lot of use out of it in the evening. I put my dog’s reflectex mat outside the tent and put the chair kit on that to protect it. Was able to sit down, lean back and enjoy the view. Chair kit also worked well inside my pack as I could collapse the neoair with it so it gave the back panel more structure. I’d recently acquired a neoair pump sack was a good way to keep stuff inside my pack (like a drybag, but not quite) and made inflating the neoair much easier. Also very pleased I took my kindle (on its own inside an Aloksak), as it gave me the opportunity to read for a bit in the evening. Used it outside the tent whilst having dinner etc, then used it again inside the tent as it started getting dark and I'd moved all my stuff inside the tent

My dog, Henry, was very tired and curled up on his mat without the fleece blanket I’d taken for him pretty soon after I put it down, this was fairly unusual, he usually sniffs around the tent for a bit generally being quite annoying. The sky was clear and stars were out, but it was also really cold. Read the kindle a bit more but I was also tired and seeing as Henry was asleep I went to bed, before 9pm!, I can’t remember the last time I went to bed so early! Henry only got up once, woke up to him flapping his ears, put him back on his bed and he was fine. The tent has no base so he can leave if he wants to, I attach his lead loosely round my sleeping/bivy bag with a long piece of paracord, means he can’t naff off without waking me up – just a precautionary measure

Learnt my lesson from the previous night, I wore every single bit of clothing i had! It was literally freezing overnight, tent was completely frozen inside and out and all my water bottles were frozen. I have no idea how cold it easily must have been -10

Woke up at around 5.30am, the sun wasn’t up so made a brew and went to watch the sunrise.

It was a few minutes walk up to the nearest top to let me watch it, wasn’t as impressive as the sunset. It was really cold, I had all my layers on, some insulated trousers might have been nice.

Pics of the rather unimpressive sunrise

Had to go and get more water from the lake as all of mine was frozen. Rather cleverly I’d left my bottles upside down as I was expecting it to be cold so I was able to break the ice out and refill them

Went back down to the lake again and had to break through the ice again, it had refrozen overnight and was now so thick I had to chip through it with a rock. That’s the rock sitting on the ice next to the hole

My hands were cold for pretty much the entire morning, particularly when I was clearly the ice off the outside of my tent with the lid of my SP700. Burnt the hairs on the back of my hand at one point as I couldn’t tell see if the stove was on and my hands were so cold I couldn’t feel it – till the hairs burnt. The brew thawed the ground out a bit

Packing up was fairly easy as I didn’t really have much stuff and I’d eaten the vast majority of my food

Leave no trace, almost... That's the ice I scraped off my tent

The walk on the last day was longer than I thought it might be. Followed a BOAT for a bit but sections of it were difficult to follow as they were completely flooded. Was fine once I’d peeled off in the general direction of the car. Unfortunately I wasn’t really following a proper path and walking over the tussocky grass was really heavy going. It was much colder on the Sunday, had my 3rd element and primaloft jacket on together for the first couple of hours, then for the latter half just the 3rd element. Buff and hat were on for most of it

Was probably my favourite trip to date. Weather was varied and glorious (both hot and cold), campsite was excellent, incredibly quiet and barely saw anyone, and dog had a great time

Lots of bits of this have been copied from a spreadsheet log I keep of my trips, which basically include a summary of the trip, what worked and what didn’t, and then a kit list including weights. Sounds sad hey? Its really made me learn from each trip, and my base weight has dropped or my kit has got more versatile


Thanks for staying with me and apologies for the saga, turned out longer than I’d planned once again! (Also posted up on British Blades)

 

[Gray]

Brilliant, stunning views, beautiful pics. Thanks for sharing

 

[Neanderthal]

Great report. Thanks for sharing your trip.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Harvestman]

Hi benp1, looks like a great trip. I know that area well, and recognise all of your pictures. The area around Claerwen reservoir is one of my favourite places.

However, I should point out to anyone who might wish to follow in your footsteps that the Elan Valley Estate does not permit overnight camping on its land. Frankly this is frustrating, as there is some fabulous country there and I'd love to do a proper camp there, but those are the rules, and much of the estate is SSSI, especially the woodlands. When I've been up that way myself I've tried to make a point of camping outside the estate boundary, although that isn't always obvious on the ground.

So, excellent trip report, but had to point it out. Sorry if it comes over as a bit killjoy. I've been up there a lot and tempted to bend the rules myself.

Lovely looking dog, too, by the way.

 

[Imagedude]

Looks like a great trip, thanks for sharing.

 

[copper_head]

Great trip report, looks like a beautiful part of the world. Made me long for the crisp frost in the grass and welcome warmth of a sleeping bag, especially on a muggy night like tonight .

 

[theoctagon]

Great stuff! which shelter is it you have?

 

[wingstoo]

Hi benp1, looks like a great trip. I know that area well, and recognise all of your pictures. The area around Claerwen reservoir is one of my favourite places.

However, I should point out to anyone who might wish to follow in your footsteps that the Elan Valley Estate does not permit overnight camping on its land. Frankly this is frustrating, as there is some fabulous country there and I'd love to do a proper camp there, but those are the rules, and much of the estate is SSSI, especially the woodlands. When I've been up that way myself I've tried to make a point of camping outside the estate boundary, although that isn't always obvious on the ground.

So, excellent trip report, but had to point it out. Sorry if it comes over as a bit killjoy. I've been up there a lot and tempted to bend the rules myself.

Lovely looking dog, too, by the way.

I was always thinking the same, as a youngster we used to fish up there a lot, but it was always only day tickets because of the no camping rules, but we bumped into a lady in the permit shop on one trip as we were asking about campsites in the area, mainly only in or near the town of Rhayader, but this lady said we could use her land to the side of her bungalows on the left side of the road on the way up to the dams, so we managed to pitch up there for the night. Earlier this year we were up at the dams and a couple were asking about the track we had just walked back along to see if it was passable due to the snow, Apparently they have either bought or rented a place on the far side of the Claerwen dam, they offered us a chance to camp there in the future in their garden...So hopefully we will get the chance next year when the calendar isn't so full. Sometimes it is a matter of asking around and seeing who might be willing to over a place to pitch up.

Looks like you had a great trip, and hope that it gave you the break you needed at the time.

 

[The MAX]

great trip report, and that is one handsome looking dog!

 

[benp1]

Great stuff! which shelter is it you have?

Its a Mountain Laurel Designs Spinntex Mid, like a precursor to a Supermid. Truly fantastic shelter - big, airy, roomy and very light

Hi benp1, looks like a great trip. I know that area well, and recognise all of your pictures. The area around Claerwen reservoir is one of my favourite places.

However, I should point out to anyone who might wish to follow in your footsteps that the Elan Valley Estate does not permit overnight camping on its land. Frankly this is frustrating, as there is some fabulous country there and I'd love to do a proper camp there, but those are the rules, and much of the estate is SSSI, especially the woodlands. When I've been up that way myself I've tried to make a point of camping outside the estate boundary, although that isn't always obvious on the ground.

So, excellent trip report, but had to point it out. Sorry if it comes over as a bit killjoy. I've been up there a lot and tempted to bend the rules myself.

Lovely looking dog, too, by the way.

I was always thinking the same, as a youngster we used to fish up there a lot, but it was always only day tickets because of the no camping rules, but we bumped into a lady in the permit shop on one trip as we were asking about campsites in the area, mainly only in or near the town of Rhayader, but this lady said we could use her land to the side of her bungalows on the left side of the road on the way up to the dams, so we managed to pitch up there for the night. Earlier this year we were up at the dams and a couple were asking about the track we had just walked back along to see if it was passable due to the snow, Apparently they have either bought or rented a place on the far side of the Claerwen dam, they offered us a chance to camp there in the future in their garden...So hopefully we will get the chance next year when the calendar isn't so full. Sometimes it is a matter of asking around and seeing who might be willing to over a place to pitch up.

Looks like you had a great trip, and hope that it gave you the break you needed at the time.

Thanks chaps

I sort of agree. I'm not saying everyone should do it. But I am happy to stealth wild camp in places where it's not permitted as long as I'm not leaving any impact. Many of the places I've wild camped has been like this, and I do it responsibly eg all over the Brecons, Lake District, Peak District. Most of those places don't allow it, but also acknowledge it happens and let him happen responsibly

you can see from my pics you'd have no idea I'd been there

 

[wingstoo]

I have done "Wild camping/stealth camping" a few times myself in other places close to home and a few places in Wales, SENTA, Black Mountain, Duchy of Cornwall Estate, Mynyndd Llangors to name a few, it's just one of those things that gives it an extra bit of an edge, I doubt that much would happen if caught, escorted away perhaps, but not a lot else. Still we shouldn't encourage others to commit an illegal act though should we...

 

[treadlightly]

Looks like a wonderful trip. Great pics and a fabulous looking dog. There's no better companion when you're out and about.

 

[Dave]

Thats a place I've never seen before. Nice photos, and nice kit. Handsome hound. How old is he?

And how did he handle temperatures down to -10?

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

Dog loved it, I'll bet. Did it snuggle up on your sleeping bag at night ?

 

[benp1]

If I was genuinely on my own then I certainly wouldn't have as good a time. So good being out with him

The massive bonus about this area was the sheep, there were very few around so he spent the vast majority off the lead and as a result could explore

He's 4, pure bred lab but he's a family pet. You'd think he'd be cold but he was fine amazingly. It was the first time he'd actually bothered using the mat, I always take it but he prefers to curl up in the corner straight on the floor. I also always take a fleece blanket for him, I lobbed it on top of him but it never stayed on him for very long.

I was expecting to find him snuggled up to me halfway through the night, he's never done it before but I knew it would be cold. He seemed fairly happy on his mat, which is just fancy bubble wrap

He's amazingly hardy. I'm sort of jealous of the way he gets on with things... Go for a swim, get out and shake off. Mud and dirt, get stuck in. Thirsty, drink whatever's there. Toilet, just go for it. Sleep, just lie down. He's also low maintenance - no haircuts, clipping of claws etc. He last had a hosing/bath over a year ago! I'm careful to buy quality food for him though, seems to work well

 

[treadlightly]

He's amazingly hardy. I'm sort of jealous of the way he gets on with things... Go for a swim, get out and shake off. Mud and dirt, get stuck in. Thirsty, drink whatever's there. Toilet, just go for it. Sleep, just lie down. He's also low maintenance - no haircuts, clipping of claws etc. He last had a hosing/bath over a year ago! I'm careful to buy quality food for him though, seems to work well

I know what you mean. They don't need any stuff with them. Mine just seems to accept any temperatures and weather. He does insist on sharing my mattress though!

 

[fishfish]

been there before,theres tonnes of trout in there!

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

I canoe camped and Munro bagged with my Mum's lab, he loved it. I would wake up with him half on my sleeping bag though. He used to dig a hollow in sand for a bed when ee beach camped. He would immediately lay on an old karimat, as soon as I put it down too. They live all that freedom being off lead too.

We de-sensitize dogs by taking them up to horses, chickens, sheep etc when they are puppies. They then grow up not bothered. Although one lab we had always barked and chased crows or guls.


PICT1082 by Nick_Scots, on Flickr

 

[Harvestman]

Still we shouldn't encourage others to commit an illegal act though should we...

Exactly. As this is a public forum we have to be seen to not be using it to encourage others to break the law. As members we have a duty to Tony as the website owner. That's why I said what I did. No criticisms of the original post, as the report was obviously of a sensible and responsible trip.

I love the Elan valley, and would spend a lot more time there if I could camp openly, but I can't.

 

[wingstoo]

I’d arranged with a tearoom/B&B to park in their drive overnight, but I’d done it a few weeks earlier and hadn’t been able to speak to her again in the run up to the trip. I got there about 8.45am Saturday morning and there was no one to speak to. Tried the doorbells and knocked on the windows but no answers so I left car (parked as out the way as possible) and hoped for the best.

Is this the place on the left not too far from the Elan Valley Hotel (maybe a mile), set back off the road a little bit with wooden picnic tables outside? Known as Riverside lodge...