No longer a virgin wild camper that is. I've been longing to try out my new tent and it all came together last night. The Ryder Cup finished for the day so it was a quick packing of everything (the whole lot weighing 2 st) and off in the car. I wanted to be near home (because I can't be bothered driving for hours) and also because it was my first time wild camping and who knows what could happen.
Having spent hours looking at OS maps I decided to go to a place I have walked before round the back of Clachcurr Hill just west of Glenkindie (NJ 40983 13570). I knew there would be shelter in the trees and reasonably flat ground. It was very rainy on the drive to the parking spot at the foot of Ben Newe and I was beginning to have my doubts. However, I didn't want to be called a wus so I set off in light rain.
Since the last time I had been there the landowner had erected miles of deer fencing which buggered up my route. However, after a detour straight up the side of the fence I found a massive gate (beautifully made) without a padlock and I was able to find the sheltered spot I had been looking for.
The tent went up no problem once I found a spot with short enough grass - the tent pegs were not long enough given the lovely, cushiony, long grass. I had taken my petrol Coleman stove so I heated up a chickpea dish (made by Look what we found.co.uk) followed by a mug of hot chocolate courtesy of Mr Cadbury. By now it was getting dark so what do you do? I was in my sleeping bag by 8 pm twiddling my thumbs!
At first I was pretty claustrophobic because the tent is very small inside, particularly at the foot end. Added to that, I was sweating buckets because of my thermal base layer top and decent sleeping bag. The more I use base layers the less I like them. In my experience they make me sweat much more than a simple cotton layer. I know they are supposed to wick sweat away, but I still find them uncomfortable. Temperature overnight about 9 degrees C.
It was quite a while before I was able to relax fully. Would my new tent blow away or leak water? Would I be murdered by some mad axeman or eaten by a monster deer? My mind was working overtime. It's strange how soft one gets after living in brick houses for years. As it turns out the pitch was brilliant because although I could hear the wind in the trees, at ground level my tent was motionless. Either that or the design was perfect and it deflected the wind.
I eventually dropped off around midnight and had a good sleep despite waking up several times (as I always do anyway). The new sleeping mat by Alpkit was fantastic - very comfortable and kept me very warm. It also packs down pretty small.
I stumbled out of the tent around 8 am and got another hot chocolate on the go. The weather was still very damp with lots of low cloud and mist. However, the tent was dry apart from a lot of condensation on the inside of the inner tent. The price you pay for making the tent tighter than a Peterhead purse. Everything felt a bit clammy but this was due to me rather than leaking rain.
Packing the tent etc was fairly painless and it was back to the car and home for a shower and cup of tea. All in all an enjoyable experience. I'm not sure I could do much more wild camping between October and March because it gets dark so early. It's no fun being confined to a tent the size of a coffin for over 12 hours. I suppose I could pitch near a pub but that kind of defeats the purpose.
Now I know how a pupil feels in a classroom when they are finding the work difficult. Tonight was my first ever bass guitar lesson and I've been getting more and more nervous all week. Two weeks ago I bought a bass, probably inspired by (the beautiful Gemma Evans from) The Answering Machine, although to be honest I've always listened to the bass line in songs for years. In the late 70s one of my favourite bands was Magazine with the mighty Barry Adamson on bass . To use a terrible phrase, he was "awesome". Have a listen to "A song from under the floorboards". My favourite gig of all time was Magazine supported by Simple Minds at Clouds in Edinburgh. I also got into reggae about the same time and saw lots of Jamaican bands that were very popular courtesy of John Peel and the punk movement.
