Total adventures this year: 10
Hammock Hang in Local Woods
28th December
Wild-Camp:37
Kind of a spur-of-the-moment overnighter. I wanted to see what the KarrimorSF Predator 80-130 that I'd got for Christmas left like fully open in the 130litre option carrying the Hammock kit, which is why I wanted that particular bergen. The Sabre45 with the side pockets giving a total capacity did just about carry the hammock gear at a squeeze, but I like to easily put my kit in the bergen without needing to compress everything as much as is physically possible.
We didn't get to the woods until it was about to get dark plus due to the fact that I had a slight knee injury we didn't walk to far, this is the reason for the small amount of video taken and the lack of photographs.
We didn't get to the woods until it was about to get dark plus due to the fact that I had a slight knee injury we didn't walk to far, this is the reason for the small amount of video taken and the lack of photographs.
Black Mountain Wild camp with Strider
12th December
Wild-Camp:36
Strider and I finally decided to go to a hidden waterfall I'd seen from a distance a couple of years ago. It rained continuously . The waterfall was amazing and we will be visiting it again in the summer when I have intentions of swimming at the base.
Walk in the Pen-y-fan Area
7th November
This wasn't an overnight wild camp like the rest of the adventures here, but that doesn't mean it wasn't an adventure.
A friend of mine had organised a night march across this area at night and this was a recce of the route. Some revisions of the route have now been made as the original route was to cross the river and head up to Lloydy's Point (you won't find this on any map, you need to be in the know). But as the river was virtually impassable and definitely dangerous to cross , it was decided that the safety of the "Dirty Dozen" was more important than chancing a river crossing.
We met a very nice 'Gentleman' who asked which would be the best route up from the reservoir to trig point 642, he sounded as though he was a Lord of the manor somewhere, he wore the most stereotypical Downton Abbey breeches I've ever seen, complete with red ribbon tucked into the fold of his socks. He asked how far we had walked, in FURLONGS! We couldn't answer so we told him in miles instead. Seemed like a really nice guy though. Hence the title of the video below.
A friend of mine had organised a night march across this area at night and this was a recce of the route. Some revisions of the route have now been made as the original route was to cross the river and head up to Lloydy's Point (you won't find this on any map, you need to be in the know). But as the river was virtually impassable and definitely dangerous to cross , it was decided that the safety of the "Dirty Dozen" was more important than chancing a river crossing.
We met a very nice 'Gentleman' who asked which would be the best route up from the reservoir to trig point 642, he sounded as though he was a Lord of the manor somewhere, he wore the most stereotypical Downton Abbey breeches I've ever seen, complete with red ribbon tucked into the fold of his socks. He asked how far we had walked, in FURLONGS! We couldn't answer so we told him in miles instead. Seemed like a really nice guy though. Hence the title of the video below.
Hammock Hang in local woods
30th October
Wild-Camp:35
Squatt's two friends came with us this time. I had intended to try a new site which I'd found whilst out running but it wasn't suitable for hammocks, so we re-traced our steps and went to a place Squatt and I have been to several times before. It was hilarious watching the two J's pitch the tent and even funnier watching them strike camp. I couldn't help them pack the tent away or video much of it because was still trying to pack my own kit away.
Hammock Hang in local woods
25th October
Wild-Camp:34
Squatt's friend came with us for his first ever wild camp, it was in fact the first time he'd ever seen a camping hammock. While I was packing the kit needed for an overnighter, he couldn't understand why so much kit was needed. I think he was glad that I'd made him take 2 sleeping bags as he called it. Its was in fact a sleeping bag and an underquilt.
Most of the time was spent just chatting whilst sitting in the hammocks. Squatt and 'J' played with the smoke from the Honey Stove with their head torches.
Most of the time was spent just chatting whilst sitting in the hammocks. Squatt and 'J' played with the smoke from the Honey Stove with their head torches.
Black Mountain Hammock Hang
10th October
Wild-Camp:33
Overnighter in exactly the same place as our last trip, this has become our go-to place if we can't be bothered to walk too far.
We took the new rifle as the old one broke on the last trip. The cover isn't designed to be carried on a bergen so I'll have to modify it slightly. We wanted to cook our home-dehydrated food on the Honey Stove but all the wood on the ground was soaking wet and the dead tree that we can always get wood from was also very wet.
We took the new rifle as the old one broke on the last trip. The cover isn't designed to be carried on a bergen so I'll have to modify it slightly. We wanted to cook our home-dehydrated food on the Honey Stove but all the wood on the ground was soaking wet and the dead tree that we can always get wood from was also very wet.
Black Mountain Hammock Hang
25th August
Wild-Camp:32
Overnight Hammock hang almost at our usual place. We hung from trees at the top of the hill about 100 yards from our usual trees. I took my VERY old air rifle for Squatt to have a go with and he shot about 10 pellets before the stock inexplicably broke. I have no idea why it broke but I will buy another one as is seems to have re-kindled Squatt's interest in wild camping.
Brecon Beacons near Glyneath
9th May
Wild-Camp:31
Overnighter at a place Strider had found a couple of weeks previously. We left the car at around 4pm and walked for an hour and a half to the chosen camp. We didn't bother setting up camp, instead cooked our food below an outcrop in the lee of the wind then left our bergens and went exploring until it started becoming dark.
Setting up camp was easy. Inflate the matresses and pull the sleeping bags out of our bergens which were already in the bivvy bags.
During the walk up there we didn't see a soul. In the morning as we were cooking breakfast we saw a cyclist on the forestry road then about half an hour later a poodle, but no owner!
Setting up camp was easy. Inflate the matresses and pull the sleeping bags out of our bergens which were already in the bivvy bags.
During the walk up there we didn't see a soul. In the morning as we were cooking breakfast we saw a cyclist on the forestry road then about half an hour later a poodle, but no owner!
Troserch Woods Hammock Hang
5th April
Wild-Camp:30
Solo overnighter in local woods. I spent most of the time just sitting watching the world go by or talking about kit on the video. I used the Hennessy Hammock for the first time since buying the DD Hammock.... I think I prefer the Hennessy.
Gwrydd Mountain Wild Camp
7th March
Wild-Camp:29
Overnight wild camp by a cave Strider and I found whilst going home on our last wild camp.
Hammock Hang on the Black Mountain
7th February
Wild-Camp:28
Below are some photos taken whilst looking for a future camp-site
Strider and I planned an overnight camp, we weren't sure whether to bivvy or hammock, we weren't even sure where to go until the day before. We wanted to do a bivvy in snow, and were hoping to do Pen y fan, but although P-Y-F was white from a distance, there wasn't enough snow to bother going up there. Plus my foot was still swollen from gout and I didn't want to walk too far.
Hammocking on the Black Mountain was chosen and we'd planned to go to a site we haven't been to for 18 months. As usual the way there was boggy but only deep enough to get the bottoms of our trousers wet. This site has always been windy for some reason, even if it is not windy anywhere else, as we approached there was a bit of wind, but nothing major. As we were setting up the wind became ridiculous and snapped one of the bungees I use as guy lines for the tarp. Luckily the tarp was undamaged and credit is due to the build quality of the DD tarps. We decided to move to another one of out regular sites which is NEVER windy. It took a while to pack my tarp away with it whipping around in the wind, every time I got it half way into the dry-bag a strong gust of wind would pull it out of my hands and I'd pretty much have to start again.
By the time we got to the second site it was totally dark and we set up using head torches. I'd taken Hexi blocks to cook on and I tried using a couple to light a wood fire in the Honey Stove, unfortunately even though the wood felt dry it was too wet to light even using Hexi blocks as firelighters. I just cooked using the Hexi blocks in the end.
During the night the minimum recorded temperature was -2 degrees celsius, both of os stayed very warm. As usual when hammocking we didn't wake early and even then didn't want to leave the comfy hammocks.
Hammocking on the Black Mountain was chosen and we'd planned to go to a site we haven't been to for 18 months. As usual the way there was boggy but only deep enough to get the bottoms of our trousers wet. This site has always been windy for some reason, even if it is not windy anywhere else, as we approached there was a bit of wind, but nothing major. As we were setting up the wind became ridiculous and snapped one of the bungees I use as guy lines for the tarp. Luckily the tarp was undamaged and credit is due to the build quality of the DD tarps. We decided to move to another one of out regular sites which is NEVER windy. It took a while to pack my tarp away with it whipping around in the wind, every time I got it half way into the dry-bag a strong gust of wind would pull it out of my hands and I'd pretty much have to start again.
By the time we got to the second site it was totally dark and we set up using head torches. I'd taken Hexi blocks to cook on and I tried using a couple to light a wood fire in the Honey Stove, unfortunately even though the wood felt dry it was too wet to light even using Hexi blocks as firelighters. I just cooked using the Hexi blocks in the end.
During the night the minimum recorded temperature was -2 degrees celsius, both of os stayed very warm. As usual when hammocking we didn't wake early and even then didn't want to leave the comfy hammocks.