Wildcamp - Holme Fell
Sunday 10th September 2006 - Monday 11th September 2006
Well this was to be my first wild camping since an outward bound course in 1980. In fact it was to be my first solo wild camp ever, a momentus moment indeed!

I can honestly say that this wild camping thing had been planned for months, I bought the tent for it in March but so far had only used it once before in the middle of the Great Yorkshire Show ground in Harrogate, not exactly wild camping as we know it!

Weeks ago I had booked this Monday off work with the intention of actually putting all the little excuses about not doing a wild camp behind me and actually going and doing it. I had planned a route in the Howgills, not an area I am familiar with but to be honest I wanted a change of scenery and I thought it might be quieter. I read all the internet sites about wild camping that I could find but I have to say that the most informative and useful is V&G’s. I think I read every page at least ten times, but like most things with me I like to learn from my own experience, usually the hard way!

The last week I had been putting finishing touches to my plans, to be honest all this involved was trying to fit everything I wanted to take into the rucksack! Years ago I purchased a big rucksack that I was always going to use for backpacking, I am not going into detail about equipment now, and suffice it to say that 55 litre capacity is not enough! (I only figured it was 55 litre back at home when I spotted a little label on the side!)

To start with my sleeping bag in its stuff sac would not fit in so I had to stuff the sleeping bag directly into the bottom. I had to split the tent (Terra Nova Solar 2) out of its bag and pack the inner and outer in the side pockets of the rucksack with the poles and pegs in the main compartment. The sleeping mat ended up fastened to the outside and that just about left enough room for some food, a pan, gas canister, burner and a change of clothes, just ! A 2 litre bottle of water completed the load and I have to say I was not that happy with things. My last experience of back packing all those years ago is a bit blurred but we did carry everything between two of us I recall, now it was all down to me!

Come the day in question and I was blessed with the weather, in fact after a lousy August, September was shaping up very nicely, no rain, apart from last weekend of course! My plans for a nice afternoon start were thwarted by the wife who needed my presence at a local horse show to help out  with things, oh well! As it turned out it was a very successful show for us, it was the annual members trophy show and we (that’s the royal We as I had loads of input into the results, not!) ended up with 5 bits of silver ware to take home, not bad at all! After rushing home as soon as I could escape I loaded all the photos I had taken onto the PC, made dinner for every one and made last minute preparations, as it happens yet again my last minute preparations meant leaving stuff behind that I strategically placed in the hall way to be packed in the car when it returned minus horse trailer!

Right then, I am in the car heading north and thinking that with an hours drive or so I should have at least 2 hours walking to get to my chosen pitch tonight, it was about 5 miles from where I was going to leave my car, I already had a Plan B in mind in case it took longer than I expected but it was a nice evening and daylight would last that little bit longer, I hoped!

What follows is a translation of the scribbles that I jotted down on paper over the next day, I have expanded my notes slightly but also included some more thought that I may or may not have had as my plans turned to rat shit! Perhaps I was just not ready and I had expected too much of myself and the slightest excuse was enough to cancel my plans?

4.45 pm. Leave home and head north.

5.40 pm.   Arrive at Bowderdale Head after an interesting journey up the M6 seeing so much traffic heading south after people have finished their weekends, mine was just beginning!

5.45 pm. Realise that my camera did not have a memory card in it! The GPS refused to function! Argh!!!!!!! This totally threw me, for some reason I did not want to venture into the Howgills without camera and GPS.
I had left the memory card in the PC at home and totally forgot about it in my rush to get away. That and the GPS not working meant that I would have no record of my trip. I have mislayed all of my compases so lack of GPS meant I would be wandering blind in an area I did not know at all, I am sure I would have been able to do it but.......

5.50 pm. Rapidly think of a Plan B, Holme Fell, a scramble up Raven Crag, wild camp somewhere near the top of Holme Fell and then a leisurely walk tomorrow. I had no other maps apart from the Howgills map, the place I know better than anywhere in the Lakes is the area around Holme Fell so I felt confident about going there, a scramble is always nice and it was a much better idea than returning home!

5.55 pm. Leave Bowderdale and head towards Coniston.

6.55 pm. Leave car on the road to Hodge Close Quarry and set off walking back along the road to the start of the scramble.
Scrambling is normally fun but with a full and heavy rucksac it was definatly hard work, even just getting over the stile at the begining was tough! That coupled with a sense of urgency about getting to the top in time to find a pitch for tonight was quite stressfull.

7.30 pm. Finish the scramble up Raven Crag and start to look for an over night pitch. Knackered!!!
Yup, scrambling witha heavy sack is not recomended, my legs were shaking and lungs bursting, but it is still a good scramble!

7.45 pm. find it!
Why is it that once I decided that "somewhere around here will do" I then spent 15 minutes at least walking away from that spot only to return after not finding anywhere better!

8.05 pm. Tent up, mattress inflated.

8.07 pm. Pan of water on stove for a brew

8.10 pm. A watched kettle never boils! Looked at the tent and realised that it needed another 5 more pegs than supplied……..

8.12 pm. Water ready and coffee made….rethink before interruption a total of 7 pegs needed!

8.15pm. Sit down on my jacket with my back against a comfy rock craglet and watch the sun go down over Wetherlam, eat some cake and drink coffee, perfect!
Thinking about it , it would have been better if I had more daylight to look around the place that I had chosen, more time to set up camp and chill out, as it was everything felt like one mad rush, but thats me!

8.24 pm. Would I have had a comfy rock to lean back against in the Howgills?

8.25 pm. Saw my first star of the night!

8.28 pm. What’s that noise?
The mind can start to play tricks and imagine all sorts of things, but when there is a total absence of sound and then you hear something...........

8.35pm. Tidy up.

8.45pm. Can not distinguish Harrison Stickle from the background gloom any more, so went into the tent.

8.50pm. What do I do know then???? Rang home – no reply! This is supposed to be a two person tent, mine was full with just me and my gear! 2 people must be very cosy or very friendly!

8.51 pm. Something’s coming ! A heavy footed sheep with a limp?????
Mind playing tricks again!

8.57pm. Wished I had brought the toenail clippers.

8.58 pm.  Found small bottle of whisky!

8.58 pm. Ouch that burns on the way down, but now got a nice warm sensation!

9.02 pm. Decide to stop writing silly notes and settle down to read my book and sip some whisky!

9.07 pm. Wife rings up, kids playing up and then I lost phone signal!

9.10pm. Why did I bring a hard backed book and not a soft back one that weighs lots less!

3.30 am. Woke up in need of a toilet visit, couldn’t find toilet block so had to make do!

7.15 am. Woke up again and realised that I had slept in my walking shorts and t shirt. Looked outside, cloudy, couldn’t see Coniston Old Man or the Langdales through hazy cloudy skies.

7.30 am. Pan on for coffee and Wayfarers bacon and beans, can’t wait yum yum!
To be honest I probably had one of the best night sleep I have had in years, very comfy and warm.

7.40 am. Eating out of a pouch is not much fun, had better beans but 3 slices of bread and butter that I brought helped, coffee great!

8.10 am. Onto second cup of coffee and starting to feel awake. Looked at tent and realised that I had not lined the fly sheet up with the poles correctly, this allowed inner and fly to touch. Is that why inner had a damp patch on the roof ?

8.15 am. Wetherlam disappears in the clouds, is it going to  rain?

8.50 am. Everything packed away, surprised by the amount of condensation on the tent, perhaps it needs a slight breeze to help it, it had been a very calm night with no wind.

8.55 am. Leave pitch and head for Holme Fell summit.

9.07 am. Arrive at Holme Fell summit. Shit this pack is HEAVY!
I think you have to put your mind and body into a different mode when backpacking, you just cant do things at the same pace that day walking involves, or perhaps I just can't travel light!

9.23 am. Top of Ivy Crag, very hazy, low cloud, but nice.

10.00 am. Through Uskdale Gap and down through the trees. Unfortunately been thinking about work on the descent!! Argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Very warm and humid. Sat down on a tree branch and took of top to cool down, drank lots of water. Looks a long way up to the top of Ivy Crag from here.
I thought about the water situation here. I had carried a 2 litre bottle of water and now it was used up! Getting water from the fells is going to need carefull thought in future, besides water weighs a lot!

10.10 am. Cooled down, hauled HEAVY sack onto back and set of again!
Even with the loss of the weight of 2 Litres of water it was still heavy!

10.25 am. Arrive back at the road.

10.32 am. Arrive back at my car whishing I had a goody bag there full of treats like water and a wash bag. I knew I had forgotten the wash bag and spare clothes but I could live with that, but a treat of something nice to drink and a choccy bar would have been great!

So that was my first wildcamp. I had enjoyed it but it had also given me loads to think about in terms of the load I carry (pun intended!) I had learnt loads, thought of a few things that could help reduce weight and thought about what I could get out of wildcamping that day walking could not give me. Watching the sun go down and if I could get up in time, watching the sun come up, the feeling of being more in tune with landscape, being able to spend more time on the fells etc etc.
I could have just pitched the tent next to my car and sort of had the same experience but then I would have missed out on carrying that HEAVY pack.

 

Back to the drawing board and some more planning and PREPERATION!