We've been meaning to get out camping on the hills for a while now and struggling to get around to it. Recently I identified a really appealing camping spot near home, and friday we threw some kit in bags and headed out to watch the Lyrid meteor shower.
I used to do quite a bit of lightweight camping and fastpacking, but haven't for a long time. Getting the right kit together quickly is no longer as second nature as it once was.
I ended up using a 40l pack, which seemed like way too much. Kit list is below. It's going to be useful to get some practice and improve my kit planning, particularly ahead of the Saunders in July.
While I was packing, I discovered that my old spirit bottle (which had once contained nail varnish remover belonging to a girlfriend) was knackered, so I ended up carrying a half empty 1 litre bottle of isopropanol. It just went in the wand pocket of the pack though, so wasn't too much of a problem.
It was still light when we set out, and we managed to get up onto the top and reach our camp site in daylight. My initial feeling was that we'd just use bivi bags, but it was cold and very windy, so we put up the tent (and were very glad of it in the end).
While Claire was putting up the tent I boiled water and put it on the tentmeals. We were a long way from a water source so we'd brought in about 3l for the two of us. That was plenty. Once we'd got dinner and the tent done it was dark and we settled down in sleeping bags & bivis to watch the stars, chat, and eat. We both had really cold hands every time we brought them out of the sleeping bags, but otherwise with lots of clothes, sleeping bags and bivis we were fine. I spent the night wearing leggings & trousers, 2 base layers (one merino), Montane Prism, Paramo and a sleeping bag. My Snugpak sleeping bag isn't massively warm.
We managed to see quite a few meteors, even though the rock outcropping we'd pitched behind for shelter was between us and the direction they were coming from. We eventually turned in around midnight, and spent a cosy, comfortable night in the tent.
We slept late in the morning - 8.30. Too late really for wild camping, but we were well away from any paths. After a lazy breakfast of tea, chocolate brioche, cheese, and malt loaf we packed up and took the long route home to the car. The walk in was about 4 miles, the walk out again about 5.
Kit list (items in bold were unused)
- Pod Cragsac
- Snugpak Softie Chrysalis kilo
- Thermarest pro 3/4
- Terra Nova Laser Competition 2
- Alpkit hunka xl bivi
- Whitebox stove
- MSR Titan kettle
- MSR titanium mug
- Noaks ti long spoon
- Aluminium wind shield
- Platypus 2l bladder
- Stainless 750ml water bottle
- Long handled gas lighter
- leatherman micra
- First aid kit
- Zebralight H600fw Mk4
- Spare zebralight battery
- Lifeventure vacuum mug of milk
- Teabags
- Coffee bags
- 2 TentMeals main meals
- 2 Lakeland 'boil a bag' plastic bags.
- Loo roll & plastic bags
- Salomon filter cap & softflask
- Bottle of wine
Clothes
- Paramo Velez lightweight
- Montane Prism
- Isobaa long sleeved merino base layer
- Polyester short sleeved base layer
- Snugpak thermal leggings
- Peter Storm zip offs
- Drymax trail socks plus spare pair
- Altra Lone Peak 6 shoes
- Dare2b knitted hat
- primaloft buff
- Columbia Outdry Ex lightweight
- Montane Ember
- Evadict waterproof trousers
- Lowe Alpine stretch gloves
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