I'm just back from a single overnighter, and whilst my knees are busy seizing up on me I thought I should use the time productively and write a trip report. Apologies for the picture quality on some shots as I relied on my phone, not wanting to risk the camera on a mountain trip with poor weather forecast.
The orignal plan was for a two night trip with Davidpingu and Lloydus of this forum plus another that I had not met. However, my plans got changed to a single night when work switched me onto a 22.30 shift finish on the friday night
so Dave and Lloyd went ahead anyway and I arranged to meet the other chap, Mansun, and go up on the Saturday. Dave had never been in the mountains before, and neither had Mansun, but Lloyd was experienced even if not with this particular area, so I thought they would be fine, although I gave Dave some pointers on where to camp the first night.
In the event, Dave and Lloyd had an adventurous first day, nearly missing each other completely, and doing too much walking, ending up at the expected second day campsite at the end of day 1, tired and a bit battered, as the wind was fierce. Dave was somewhat dehydrated, and doing the Daniel Boone challenge (which he stuck to gamely) and suffered some cold overnight, whilst Lloyd suffered a rodent attack in his tent which resulted in a throrough dusting of flour over all his kit.
Still they were all set up and ready when Mansun and I strolled up on Saturday, having taken the easy way in. Here is the campsite: a ridge above a quarry at the far end of Grwyne Fawr reservoir. It has been camped frequently so there is little wood, and the fire pit was already there. It looks quite peaceful until you notice the horizontal smoke. The wind slowly got worse through the weekend.
All those green boughs are because apparently Dave selected a downed tree as a firewood source, but it wasn't as dead as he thought (this became an ongoing way to bait him) so the green branches that turned out to be part of it became the intended bedding for the Daniel Boone bit. Nothing wasted. It did mean that our firewood source was greeen though, so a lot of smoke was inhaled over the course of the weekend.
Set-ups. Dave and Mansun were camping together as Mansun hasn't done this before and so had no tent or tarp. As it was Dave's birthday at the start of the trip, this pitch became known as 'The Boudoir'. Comments like "Get a room you two! Oh wait, you have..." were common. To be fair, this was the most exposed pitch, but it survived well.
Lloyd, being practical, brought a tent, which proved weather proof, if not rodent proof.
Having been here before, I pitched closer to the quarry edge, to get some shelter from one of the terraces. The downside to this is that my pitch was on a slab of solid rock, which made it impossible to get a tent peg in. It had to just make do as best I could, hence this slightly less than perfect bit of tarpology. The headroom wasn't a lot to shout about either, on account of my walking poles jamming so I could not extend them as much as I wanted (I had intended to try the Adirondack windshelter), but it stayed up and kept me dry, so it was ok.
Here are the protagonists. Lloyd is on the left, already feeling the cold. Mansun in centre shot is carving a spoon after some guidance from me, and Dave is making hard work of carving a pot holder.
The view from the quarry when a patch of sunlight got through.
Dave wanted to try some herbal tea with foraged ingredients, so I wandered off and foraaged a load of bilberries, cowberries, bell heather tips, cross leaved heath, and a bit of wild thyme, plus the least bitter rowan berries that I could find. Dave juiced up some of the berries and steeped the herbs, and the result s was... unpleasant. At least according to Mansun, who managed just a mouthful or so. Dave manfully drank his (it having been his idea) and made a half hearted attempt to convince us that it wasn't so bad. Lloyd and I declined to partake.
So we settled into a round of eating, sheltering from the wind, fighting to keep the fire alive whilst getting no heat from it at all and inhaling swirling smoke. As darkness fell a bottle of whiskey appeared (Dave's present) and in a brief period of clear sky we watched satellites and a few spectacular Perseid meteorites, before retiring to bed. It was too windy for anyone to sleep really well, but it wasn't too bad. In the night it came on to rain as well.
This was the view in the morning.
We all had a hot brew, and packed up with minimal delay, and headed home. The weather could have been better, but I for one really enjoyed myself. It was over a year since i was last up in the high hills and I have missed it. I was mentally relaxed and just felt comfortable the whole time, although this may be because I knew what conditions to expect and so came prepared. Dave completed his Boone challenge, and under the circumstances did really well for a first mountain expereince with the wrong kit in less than ideal weather. My thanks to all three of the lads. I will not be leaving it so long before going back next time.
The orignal plan was for a two night trip with Davidpingu and Lloydus of this forum plus another that I had not met. However, my plans got changed to a single night when work switched me onto a 22.30 shift finish on the friday night
so Dave and Lloyd went ahead anyway and I arranged to meet the other chap, Mansun, and go up on the Saturday. Dave had never been in the mountains before, and neither had Mansun, but Lloyd was experienced even if not with this particular area, so I thought they would be fine, although I gave Dave some pointers on where to camp the first night.In the event, Dave and Lloyd had an adventurous first day, nearly missing each other completely, and doing too much walking, ending up at the expected second day campsite at the end of day 1, tired and a bit battered, as the wind was fierce. Dave was somewhat dehydrated, and doing the Daniel Boone challenge (which he stuck to gamely) and suffered some cold overnight, whilst Lloyd suffered a rodent attack in his tent which resulted in a throrough dusting of flour over all his kit.
Still they were all set up and ready when Mansun and I strolled up on Saturday, having taken the easy way in. Here is the campsite: a ridge above a quarry at the far end of Grwyne Fawr reservoir. It has been camped frequently so there is little wood, and the fire pit was already there. It looks quite peaceful until you notice the horizontal smoke. The wind slowly got worse through the weekend.
All those green boughs are because apparently Dave selected a downed tree as a firewood source, but it wasn't as dead as he thought (this became an ongoing way to bait him) so the green branches that turned out to be part of it became the intended bedding for the Daniel Boone bit. Nothing wasted. It did mean that our firewood source was greeen though, so a lot of smoke was inhaled over the course of the weekend.
Set-ups. Dave and Mansun were camping together as Mansun hasn't done this before and so had no tent or tarp. As it was Dave's birthday at the start of the trip, this pitch became known as 'The Boudoir'. Comments like "Get a room you two! Oh wait, you have..." were common. To be fair, this was the most exposed pitch, but it survived well.
Lloyd, being practical, brought a tent, which proved weather proof, if not rodent proof.
Having been here before, I pitched closer to the quarry edge, to get some shelter from one of the terraces. The downside to this is that my pitch was on a slab of solid rock, which made it impossible to get a tent peg in. It had to just make do as best I could, hence this slightly less than perfect bit of tarpology. The headroom wasn't a lot to shout about either, on account of my walking poles jamming so I could not extend them as much as I wanted (I had intended to try the Adirondack windshelter), but it stayed up and kept me dry, so it was ok.
Here are the protagonists. Lloyd is on the left, already feeling the cold. Mansun in centre shot is carving a spoon after some guidance from me, and Dave is making hard work of carving a pot holder.
The view from the quarry when a patch of sunlight got through.
Dave wanted to try some herbal tea with foraged ingredients, so I wandered off and foraaged a load of bilberries, cowberries, bell heather tips, cross leaved heath, and a bit of wild thyme, plus the least bitter rowan berries that I could find. Dave juiced up some of the berries and steeped the herbs, and the result s was... unpleasant. At least according to Mansun, who managed just a mouthful or so. Dave manfully drank his (it having been his idea) and made a half hearted attempt to convince us that it wasn't so bad. Lloyd and I declined to partake.
So we settled into a round of eating, sheltering from the wind, fighting to keep the fire alive whilst getting no heat from it at all and inhaling swirling smoke. As darkness fell a bottle of whiskey appeared (Dave's present) and in a brief period of clear sky we watched satellites and a few spectacular Perseid meteorites, before retiring to bed. It was too windy for anyone to sleep really well, but it wasn't too bad. In the night it came on to rain as well.
This was the view in the morning.
We all had a hot brew, and packed up with minimal delay, and headed home. The weather could have been better, but I for one really enjoyed myself. It was over a year since i was last up in the high hills and I have missed it. I was mentally relaxed and just felt comfortable the whole time, although this may be because I knew what conditions to expect and so came prepared. Dave completed his Boone challenge, and under the circumstances did really well for a first mountain expereince with the wrong kit in less than ideal weather. My thanks to all three of the lads. I will not be leaving it so long before going back next time.
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