Friday 26 April 2013

20th of April Wild Camp on the Highstreet



This is the first Wild Camping trip for over a year now since my hiking buddy damaged his Knees and I became a dad!

I'm hoping to start hiking and wild camping again on a more regular basis and plan to blog my adventures.  As you can see above I have recently discovered Social Hiking and will be utilising it for my blogs also.

Haweswater 20th April 2013




Peaks Bagged

Low Kop (1,877 ft) Jump to location
Classification: Birkett
Feature: no feature
Source: Database of British Hills
High Raise (High Street) (2,631 ft) Jump to location
Classification: Hewitt, Nuttall, Wainwright, Birkett
Feature: cairn
Source: Database of British Hills
Rampsgill Head (2,598 ft) Jump to location
Classification: Hewitt, Nuttall, Wainwright, Birkett
Feature: cairn
Source: Database of British Hills
High Street (2,717 ft) Jump to location
Classification: Marilyn, Hewitt, Nuttall, Wainwright, Birkett
Feature: trig point
Source: Database of British Hills
Mardale Ill Bell (2,493 ft) Jump to location
Classification: xN, Wainwright, Birkett
Feature: cairn


This trip began in fabulous weather.  A little windy but it was clear we needed to find a sheltered spot for the evenings wild camp.

We arrived at the Haweswater carpark at Mardale at apx 9:30 am as I wanted to get a official parking spot. Luckily we got the last one.  The downside of such an early start is that we had apx 11 hours to fill until it was time to pitch camp (an easy task in these stunning surroundings).

As you can see from the map and photos we left our packs in the Bongo and hiked to Small water, over to Blea water and then to the hotel for afternoon tea.

We returned to grab our kit hiking along Haweswater and cut North East onto Bampton Common and the Highstreet.  By this point our new member was shattered and could hike no further.  We had planned to camp on the picturesque  long stile, however we were a long way off.  I knew from the forecast that the winds would be 30-40mph gusts from the SW so we managed to camp behind a wall that sheltered us from the worst.

This was the first time my Terra Nova Laser Comp has been tested in the wind.  I knew from other peoples experiences that they can flap a lot and be noisy.  Luckily I had my ear plugs but they didn't stop the tent fro smacking me in the face a few times during the night.

My friend James had brought his New Big Agnes UL 1 which I was very impressed with.  I went for a pee a couple of times in the night and noticed it was hardly moving at all.  It seemed very solid.

My home made Meth Stove seemed very inefficient.  Failing to boil my water after 30 minutes.  While Tom's Caldera cone/Fosters can set up boiled in 3 minutes.  Back to the drawing board.  I think the flame was being blown around too much and the pot was too close to the flame.  More experiments needed.

Sunday morning has to be the worst conditions I have ever hiked in. It had forecast winds up to 40mph on the tops but the winds we experience were nearly blowing us over and it was snowing, again not in the forecast I read.  Visibility was terrible.  I must admit I was scared.  Luckily I have kept up with my compass skills and I manage to get us off the mountain.

We all experienced complete failures of our waterproof jackets and trousers.  Should we expect our waterproofs to fail in such driving wet conditions?  What are other peoples experiences?

I forgot to take my camera, however James took his and can be found here, more to follow.

Thursday 31 March 2011

Windermere to Penrith wild camp

Caught the train to Windermere then a quick bus to Ambleside.

We then took 3 days to walk to Penrith train station and train back home.

The walk involved a stay in the cave priests hole and then a brilliant wild camp spot in an old abandoned mine. See maps




View Windermere to Penrith Wild Camp in a larger map

Tuesday 22 February 2011

MapMyTracks

just added a new widget to the blog.

MapMyTracks. Im going to use this as a link straight to my recorded adventures but also as a realtime log of my location in case of emergencies.

Monday 27 September 2010

Gpx file.

GPX file for my recent Howgills walk.

Howgills. Sedbergh to Kirkby Stephen using the Settle to Carlisle train.

Had planned to wild camp the Howgills this weekend, however, remembered it was my wedding anniversary so it was just a reccy.  Stunning scenery and best of all no one around at all. Lots of opportunities to camp on the higher hills or descend in to a gully  and get out of the wind. Pictures and gpx to follow.

: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=200096573754407368465.0004913ff289bdb584cc0

Saturday 8 May 2010

Helvellyn wild camp

Diesel being £1.20 per litre we decided to catch the train to Windermere and then a bus to Ambleside.

From Ambleside we walked up to Helvellyn. The wind was really strong so we dropped down to the woods below Helvellyn.

Thursday 15 April 2010

Quick Wild Camp after work

A quick wild camp after work above Glossop.

Unfortunately my new boots gave me terrible blisters and the walk had to be cut short and i limped back to the car early next morning.