C2C Days 4 & 5 - the first wild camp

Last weekend, we completed the first overnighter of our Welsh C2C trip. Saturday was a nine mile stretch (2300 feet of ascent) from Glanaman to a wild camp on Foel Fraith then an 8 mile haul (another 1100 feet upwards) to Llanddeusant (and a bit further to the pub).

It was the first time we had used all of the new kit in anger. Alan cheated and didn't bring everything he is going to take on the main trip and then boasted about how light his pack was. Bad man.

Saturday's walk was blustery with a few short showers around lunchtime, then the wind dropped developing into a beautiful still evening with clear skies (read cold). We found a great camp site big enough to hold 50 Akto's, let alone our three on the terraces of an old limestone quarry - the sort with immaculately manicured bowling green grass thanks to the local sheep population. The forecast had predicted a 3 degree night and by 9.00pm it was rapidly approaching 6 degrees, so after very succesful FBC meals (Fish Risotto - thanks Stef - aka BG!) and a Platypus of red wine, we snuck into our tents ready for a chilly evening.

My home-made Golite quilt was very warm if I could keep my ass under cover. As a sleeping bag, it was rated at 0 degrees and it coped very well with the temperatures as a quilt, but I am a fidgety sleeper and every time I turned over, I got a cold bum. I have two options - abandon the quilt and use my Mountain Hardwear Phantom bag, or persevere with the quilt and hope it gets warmer (this weekend was freak weather, nights are back to 10 degrees now).

During the night, the cloud dropped and saturated everything (Pete got up for a pee at 4.30am and experienced the zero visibility), but when we emerged at 6.30am for a brew, the sun was burning the dew from the flysheets. Obviously, the Akto's suffered badly with condensation and a lot of mopping was required before we packed the tents up. Does anyone have a method of dealing with the Akto's evident condensation problem? We would all love to hear about it!

Once we had had breakfast and pulled some more water from a rather dubious water source (full of newts and therefore newt crap), we fiddled with the kit for a bit - fashioning a washing line from walking poles and spectra - packed up and were walking by about 10.30am... straight into a half hour climb along a spiky, rocky ridge (Garreg Glas - complete with limestone pavement and nosey red kites), that would not have looked out of place in Snowdonia.

The day's route took us across unpathed land, free styling through heather, bog and bilberry to the rim of Bannau Sir Gaer - one of the best views in south Wales (IMHO) and one of my most favourite places on earth. We dropped down to the bothy and then took the track past a fish farm and then a long tedious lane slog past Llandeusant YH to the Cross Inn for a couple of excellent pints before Jackie (Al's better half) picked us up.

I learnt a few lessons and quite a bit about the gear...

The Z55 was awesome with about 30lbs in it. The caldera cone stove boiled a pint of water, in wind, in 4 minutes with 12ml of fuel. The OMM chest pack was worth it's weight in gold and will come with me on the trip. We took too much food, at least the lunches were too big. The new inflatable Insulmats were worth the extra grams. I am going to take earplugs to keep the sheep's nocturnal activities at bay. The Road Angel was perfect for checking our position. I bought a new Canon Ixus 850 as I was jealous of Alan's tiny camera. Don't forget to put on sunscreen - very burnt nose. Dr Bronners is fine for washing your teeth. Take more baby wipes (Pampers unscented) for washing when you can't face an icy wash in newt crap. Pacer poles rock. Merino does stink. The Black Mountain is wild, beautiful and very moist underfoot - but the Salomon shoes and Smartwool socks combo drained and dried very quickly. Newt crap blocks water filters very quickly. My Montane windshirt is the most versatile garment I have ever owned. Both Al and Pete were very jealous of my Knirps X1 during showers, despite taking the pee.

Did I mention that Alan cheated? I'm not bitter ;)

This weekend, we are doing a dayhike from Llanddeusant to Llandovery, then we are on the trail for a week and I can't wait!