Backpacking with a 4 year old

A few weeks ago, I took my eldest son, Aaron (4) on his first backpacking trip. We only walked a couple of miles and spent the night on the shores of Llyn y Fan Fawr on the Black Mountain (Western Brecon Beacons).

It was my first backpacking trip for many years and all of the old kit was dusted off, most of it now twenty years old - my Vango Hurricane, Berghaus AB70GT pack and my trusty Trangia, now given a new lease of life with a gas conversion. Aaron carried his own sleeping bag, thermarest, comics and pyjamas and I carried the rest - 55lb's of it!

Aaron had a wonderful time. He has been car camping since he was one year old and is always being dragged up a hill or into the woods for some Ray Mears type adventure. The thing that really impressed him was that he was allowed to dig a hole to poop in. In fact, it impressed him so much we had about 5 false alarms, just so he could dig his cathole.

He helped with filtering the water and cooking his pasta and spent hours paddling in the shallow waters. I feel sorry for kiddies that will never experience the outdoors like this - children love the freedom, the mud, the cooking, the camping and the staying up late looking at the stars.

We had spooky stories and hot chocolate and retired on what was turning into a breezy night but we both slept warm and well.

After a huge breakfast, we packed up and walked back to the road and waited for our lift back to Swansea, whilst watching the mountain rescue teams training their dogs on the sunny mountainside.

I'm not quite sure what his teacher and classmates thought when they asked him what he did on the weekend.

I hope he mentioned the cathole.