Solo Wild Camp on the Black Mountain (part of the Brecon Beacons)

[GwersyllaCnau]

I left the car at 11:40am and as my son wasn't coming I had decided to try to make my way to Llyn-Y-Fan Fawr, but I got distracted on the way.. 'What is that on the horizon? What is over that ridge? Where is that small lake?' I ended up zig-zagging the first three miles and spending too much time looking at things so I gave up on the Lly-Y-Fan Fach idea and decided to walk until 3pm.
It was around 2:45 when I noticed the huge rocks close to the river and I thought that would be a marvellous place to camp!
I had originally planned to leave the tarp open until I wanted to go to sleep or it started raining but as I was laying there the sky completely cleared to I pulled the tarp off completely, leaving it pegged and ready to pull back over me if it rained. I slept totally out in the open watching the stars with only the bivi bag and sleeping bag as protection from the elements. During the night the temperature dropped to -2 degrees celsius, the sleeping bag kept me warm and totally oblivious to the cold. I did wake a couple of times during the night but this was due to lumpy ground not the cold. In the morning there was ice on my bivi bag, this shows how well the sleep system insulated me from the cold.
The walk back the following morning was quite hard. I decided not to to go back the same way I went there as I had zig-zagged across the peaks. I wish I had gone back the same way! I crossed bog then fields full of football sized icy boulders that wanted to snap my ankles. I had planned on getting close to the waterfall on the way back but I had already gone past it by about a mile before I remembered about it. I will take a trip up there to camp beside it one night. I was quite happy to finally arrive back at the car.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpPPrzdbmcc

[GwersyllaCnau]

Part 2


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0GGcvL0efY&list=UUCpKxjrTKBO0o6VH4mySEWA&index=1

[BJ]

Brilliant stuff, I was waiting for part 2. A cold night . thanks for sharing.

[rawfish111]

Great stuff and fantastic country. Not been out that way for a good few years.

[GwersyllaCnau]

Thanks for the replies. I love that mountain range. It's not the biggest but for that reason it's less traveled:D

[Al21]

Thanks for posting those. Interesting to see, though you need to find something to occupy yourself to save going to bed at 7.00pm :)

I like the tarp set-up very much! I must experiment along those lines myself.

Cheers Al

[GwersyllaCnau]

Thanks for posting those. Interesting to see, though you need to find something to occupy yourself to save going to bed at 7.00pm :)

I like the tarp set-up very much! I must experiment along those lines myself.

Cheers Al

I didn't actually get to sleep until around 1am as I was watching the stars.

The pole used for the tarp is from my Vango Tornado 200 which was destroyed by wind on my last trip.

[Al21]

I didn't actually get to sleep until around 1am as I was watching the stars.

Glad to hear it. It's a wonderful universe out there!


The pole used for the tarp is from my Vango Tornado 200 which was destroyed by wind on my last trip.

I've several old flexable tent poles kicking around. Should find something that'll work.

Cheers

Al

[GwersyllaCnau]

Sorry I've not been on the forum for a while guys.

I've been on 2 overnight trips since the one posted on here and to save starting a new thread I thought I'd just carry this one on.

3rd April Hammock Hang
Pack weight 20.5kg including 2 litres of water plus camera, separate flash and tripod.

We didn't leave home until 3:45pm as we didn't have to go too far, in fact the intended camp site is only about a mile from our house.
As soon as I had set up Squatt's hammock, as usual he got in it straight away. I set my hammock up and made coffee for me and drinking chocolate for Squatt before he emerged from the hammock again.
From then on he was happy burning the dried leaves in the Honey stove. We cut small logs to build a small fire on rocks beside the river once it had got dark and cooked our food, again on the honey stove. I had taken the MSR stove as a just in case but we didn't use it at all on this trip.
After food we went for a short walk, not too far as we had pitched very close to a busy dog walkers path.
After dark I did some photography and lit the small fire by the river. Squatt was getting cold so at 9:30pm we went to bed in the hammock. This was the warmest I'd ever been (during winter) in the hammock, I didn't even notice any cold spots from the underquilt. It was a totally clear night and the view from my hammock was amazing. The temperature went down to -2 degrees Celsius but I stayed nice and warm. I was woken at 6:30am by 3 separate woodpeckers in different locations, close by. At about 9am I finally dragged myself out of the hammock, I always find it harder to get out of the hammock than a tent, it's so comfy, and cooked breakfast, again on the honey stove...I say cooked but it was boil water for 'Ready Brek'. By 11am we had eaten breakfast and packed away, arriving home at 11:30am.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tiSyKgvJOg

30th March
Pack weight: 18.1kg including 2 litres of water and food for Squatt and Baldy, plus an SLR camera and separate flash.

We planned on camping at the derelict cottage where we had hammocked before, only this time we were going to bivi under the DD 3X3 tarp. Strider was under his poncho. The weather couldn't have been better considering it's the coldest March since records began for some parts of the country. As we got to the top of a hill close to our intended camp we saw smoke, this turned out to be a huge grass fire almost surrounding our campsite. First we though o well we'll have to find aother site, then O MY GOD! THE TREES ARE GOING TO GET BURNT DOWN, WE WON'T BE ABLE TO HAMMOCK THERE EVER AGAIN!
We thought the safest place would be the other side of the river, so strider took the plunge and waded across, he sat patiently munching chocolate while Baldy tried to find a safe place for Squatt to cross and guarantee that he stayed dry.After many attempts Baldy gave up and Strider crossed back across the river.
We knew the the campsite is quite hard to get to as it is surrounded by marsh, so we decided to give it a go and keep an eye on the fire. We set up camp relatively quickly, Baldy changed his mind as to the setup of the tarp opting for a completely closed tarp going over a hooped pole as he knew the temperature was going to well below freezing and Squatt was already feeling quite cold and had borrowed Striders Snugpak softie jacket.
Strider changed his mind 3 times as to the position of his tarp, eventually opting to go between the low wall and the large tarp.
We cooked out food completely on the Honey although we had the MSR as a backup, Squatt was cold and hungry and wanted to use the MSR. Immediately after food Squatt got in his sleeping bag and was warm. He did get out of the sleeping bag when Baldy started taking photos as he wanted to 'play' with the Honey stove (Photo can be seen below).
After Squatt went to bed Baldy and Strider stayed up for a few hours watching the stars, and talking all sorts of gibbering about the merits of different camping kit, the grass fire in the distance had gone out close by as Baldy thought that it would.
During the night the temperature outside dropped to -5 degrees celsius and Badly woke with cold feet as he had pushed them out from under the tarp in his sleep, the only trouble was that the tarp was pitched tight and had compressed his sleeping bag against his feet. The lowest recorded temperature INSIDE the Tarp/tent was a tropical -3 degrees celsius.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VryfbgPckXA