A night on Creigiau Gleision

Managed to convince my wife to come this time. Had to buy her a North Face nupste jacket and loan her my alpkit pipedream 800 as part of the deal.

We left Keighley for Betws-y-Coed about 5pm and somehow missed the traffic. Things were looking good.

Halfway down the M62 the Bongo lost power, the lights dimmed, radio turned off and the speedo went wild. Disaster. i was convinced the weekend was over. After drooling over the weather forecast (the best weekend in weeks) things were not looking good.

the very nice men from the AA turned up popped the Bongo on a truck and drove

us to the nearest service station where, an AA legend (in my opinion) was waiting for us.

He checked the battery and knew instantly it was the alternator. The alternator had rattled loose, lost a bolt and torn its wires out. In true Mc Gyver style he rigged up a new bolt from some scrap laying around in the back of the van and a new plug for the wires

going into the alternator. The weekend was back on!

We arrived in Betws-Y-Coed just in time for all the pubs to stop serving food. We eventually got a table at the Chinese restaurant (the Red Dragon I think) the Beijing beef was amazing.

We then drove to the parking spot I discovered SH 79514 56809.

This was a great little secluded spot that reminded me of a campsite. Not free during the day but their were no signs to say you couldn't park overnight. We awoke to be in a prime location to choose a free spot (SH 79479 56434)

to leave the bongo for the weekend while we hiked and wild camped. This spot seemed quite secure as it was in full view of several shops and a pub.

We were heading for Creigiau Gleision taking in Llyn y Parc

,

llyn Glangors,

Llyn Geirionydd

and Llyn Crafnant

before

climbing up through the forest at the end of Llyn Crafnant to Creigiau Gleision.

This was my full winter wild camp and I was really pleased with our kit.

Because my wife was with us I took our Vango Tempest 300 that we bought for Croatia instead

of my Laser Comp. Although over three times the weight it compacts quite small and had plenty

of room for me and Jo, the dog and Tom could fit in to eat with us and play dominos.

Jo said she was really warm in the pipedream 800. I was using My Snugpak Kestrel which has

a comfort rating of 0. I was ok through the night but I had to wear all my clothes and Jacket.

I was so pleased with the views and conditions in the morning, and I hope you can tell from the

photos it was hard not to take a good photo.

After packing up we continued along taking in the other peaks and then dropping down back

into the forst and back to Betws-Y-Coed for Sunday dinner.

Flickr Slideshow to follow with all 400 photos!

Links to GPX files for the route.

View creigiau-gleision-day-1-gpx

View creigiau-gleision-day-1-gpx

Live blog from skiningrove

My super tall shadow

Live blog from the dune at skiningrove

Live blog skiingrove beach

Saltburn side sands at skiningrove

Hebden Bridge to Keighley Hike/pubcrawl

Forcast looked terrible again so met up with my mate Ian and Hiked from hebden Bridge to Keighley. This turned out to be a pub crawl, 14 miles in total, very tired and hungover.

Stumbled across a couple of little bothies/shelters @ SD971 331 and SD981 353 See the photos.






View Hebden Bridge To Standbury in a larger map

Live blog from haweswater

In the haweswater hotel and waitig for my venison dinner.

The weather has been terrible, walked 16 miles yesterday and slept at mosdale cottage, weather too wet and widy to camp. Just 6 miles today back to hawes water. Oscars paws are very saw, poor bugger.

To wet to get camera out soo not many pictures.

A fellow Bongo Backpacker!

Stumbled across a fellow Bongo Driving Backpacker.

Only thing is his blog is very impressive and puts my feeble efforts so far to shame.

I shall have to step up my game.

http://backpackingbongos.wordpress.com/

Terrible weather again!

Feels like its been gales and raining every weekend since I started backpacking in the UK.

Once again I watched the weather carefully and decided not to go wildcamping.

Am I being soft?

On Saturday I decided to get out and do a hike to see if I made the right decision.

I decided to do a walk from Dunsop Bridge

The weather was atrocious, much of the walk was ankle deep in mud and I even had to wade across a stream come river at one point.

My rain coat kept me really dry, had a little sweat build up but the armpit vents soon got rid of that once I opened them up.

Boots and soles are turning out fantastic, very comfortable, no rubbing or burning sensations.

I think it would have been a pretty miserable camping trip.

That said I really enjoyed the walk.

Map below and photos to follow.


View Dunsop Bridge Hike in a larger map

The best laid plans...

Here is a map of the hike and wild camp I planned in North West Carneddau.


View North Western Carneddau in a larger map

However, it quickly became clear that Sundays weather was going to be horrid. saturdays weather looked really good so it was a shame to miss out, especially when it was going to be Mal's first wild camping trip.

So I planned the following escape route to Dulyn Bothy just in case.


View North Western Carneddau escape routes to bothy in a larger map

Keeping a close eye on the weather, by Friday I had decided that the winds would be so high on the Sunday that walking up in the mountains would be a bad idea.

The following are the routes we did. We parked as close to the Bothy as we could get, walked a 12.5 mile loop taking in the Bwlch Eryl Farchog ridge (SH 694 633), stayed at the bothy and had only a 3.5 mile walk back to the car.

This turned out to be a good move, all the little streams were raging torrent and the foot bridge (SH 724 674) we needed to cross was submerged and only just crossable.


View North Wales in a larger map


View North Wales Day 2 in a larger map

lunch in a bothy

having a bite to eat in a bothy before tackling the Bwlch Eryl Farchog ridge

Live blog - Snowdonia weekend

On my way to liverpool to meet up with tom and mal, then onto snowdonia.

This will be Mal's first wild camp.  Unfortunatly Sunday weather looks terrible.  I have planned lots of escape routes and a bothy incase the wind is going to be as bad as it looks.

Will try and live update if signal is good enough.

Also this will be the first real test of the new battery for my Google phone, so hopefully will be able track the whole walk and still have power to listen to some music at night.

Won't reveal the location just yet, don't want trick or treaters at the tent.

New rain coat

Been after a new lightweight jacket to replace my old snowboarding jacket which although made of goretex and really warm it does weigh over a kilo.

Really liked the idea of the Marmot Mica, at 200g this would be a big weight saving.

However, on the way home from work I pooped into TK Maxx which sometimes has some real gems.

Picked up a Nike ACG storm fit trail jacket for £29, bargain! Only weighs apx 390 grams so twice the weight of a Mica but a third of the price.

We shall have to see how it performs but the blurb sounds good

'Ultrafine microfiber polyester combines with a highly breathable laminate to provide total protection from water and wind. It's an exclusive waterproof fabric designed for the serious athlete in wet, cold and windy conditions. Storm-Fit keeps you dry and incredibly comfortable from the inside out'.




Update from NW Carneddau 31/1/2009

This jacket held up really well to the terrible conditions on our hiking weekend in NW Carneddau. The pockets are blocked by the hip belt and the armpit vents are a tad difficult to open but at £29 it performed great. Its windstopping ability was also exclellent as too was the breathability with no moisture build up that I can remember.

My Kit list

Working on a kit list to help me identify areas I can loose some weight and how much it will cost.

Check it out here

Had to get out

Stuck at home with a cold, had to get out. New boots seem ok and battery for the phone has held up to tracking this walk via gps:



View Rombalds And The Glen in a larger map

Kettleness live report

Far too windy to camp but doinng some reconnaissance for future camp. Kettleness looks good, see attached 

Laser Competition Modifications

Just followed the instructions on http://blogpackinglight.wordpress.com/laser-comp-mods/

to modify my Terra Nova Laser Competition.

Great ideas and very helpful pictures.

Added the extra guidropes to both ends and central pole. Also implemented the tension option to the pole hood.

Will try the ventalation options while on the trail this weekend.

in reference to: Laser Competition Modifications « blogpackinglight (view on Google Sidewiki)

Testing my new boots and soles

Last week while walking in the lakes by boots finally gave up the ghost and leaked, my feet were wet for two days, I thought I had trench foot all this week.

I have always had Demon boots but this time I picked up a pair karrimore boots and combined them with a pair of innersoles from yoursoles.com

Although only 4 miles today my boots seemed really comfortable. Will be interesting to see how they get on on a longer walk.

Thinking of doing some of the Cleveland way next week and camping next to the sea.

View Ilkley Moor Circular in a larger map

My first UK wild camp

After browsing the brilliant http://v-g.me.uk/blog/ for ages I finally decided to try one of the trips. I decided upon the Highstreet route.


View Highstreet Weekend Wild Camping in a larger map

My mate Tom from London joined me. After picking Tom up at Penrith train station we made our way to Patterdale for about 7pm, giving us just enough time to get up to Angle Tarn

Saturday was very misty but we managed to see some of the views.

We walked much further than we thought we would on the first day so we looked for somewhere good to camp. We found an amazing liitle gorge and camped right next to a waterfall.

On Sunday we then walked along Ulswater back to Patterdale, apx 21 miles in total.

Link to all the pics

This time I will take my wife

Much abuse was received for not taking my wife to Colorado, so we decided to go on a backpacking trip together.

We decided to island hop round Croatia. We had just about everything that we need but we bought a new tent. we went for the Vango Tempest 200 with the plan to split it and share the weight. we bought it from Go Outdoors. imagiine our suprise when we went to pitch it and it was a tempest 300 inside a 200 sack, oh well, minimal weight increase for much more room.

We flew to Dubrovnik via easyjet. Stayed in Dubrovnik for 2 days, then the island of Mijet and its national park for 2 nights, then Korchula for 2 nights, Lastavo for 2 nights, Orebic and the mountain st IIla for 3 nights and finally back to Korchula for 3 nights.

Here is a link to the photos

Honey, can I go to America? Yea, but im going to Colorado!

So only after a week of my wife declaring she wanted to go to the states I had booked my flight to Denver.

I still don't know why I chose Colorado, I guesses like the rest of the world I have unconsciously gleamed years of information from tv shows from the USA.

I had a flight, now what. I trawled the internet for ideas of what to do. I stumbled across the Colorado trail. I bought the books and did loads of research, however, it quickly became clear this may be a bit of a leap for me from casual camping to a two week wild camping trip in the Colorado wilderness.

I then discovered the Rocky Mountains National Park. This seemed perfect, well organised, great free transportation (which kept the cost down) and a cheap transfer from the airport. From booking the flight in May to the day I flew on the 21st of June I had lived and breathed RMNP every minute of the day. Planning my walking routes, how to deal with the altitude, where to camp, where to fish, what to eat, what equipment I would need.

The major purchases before going were a Terra Nova laser Comp a Honey Stove and a trangia. I had all the clothes I needed already.

In a nutshell I was to spend the first week at the KOA camp in the town acclimatising and using the shuttles to take in as many lakes and mountains as I could, then my second week in the backcountry wild camping.

The following is my journal from my trip to the RMNP

Upgrades, free beer and altitude sickness Estes Park, Colorado, United States Sunday, Jun 28, 2009 Entry 8 of 20 | show all | print this entry oooooowwwwww, my head hurts. First of all @Jo, my phone doesn't work and Skype won't log in. Have bought cheap mobile and will try and call you soon, its seven hours behind here so a bit hard to figure out when to call, love ya. So after 24 hours of traveling I finally made it. I had a free upgrade to economy plus so my lanky legs were OK on the flight. Had 3 hours to kill at Denver so had a few Beers and got a free one for having a quaint accent. Couldn't get to sleep at all last night had about 6 hours in the past 48, feeling a bit trippy. Developed the worst hangover ever. The pharmacist reckons I have altitude sickness and the beer didn't help. I have to drink water constantly to get back to normal. Estes park is beautiful and the fishing looks good right on my doorstep. Hoping to venture into the park tomorrow if this altitude sickness subsides. Its a bit strange being on my own but everyone is really friendly and being solo makes you approach people and start a conversation. My 'ey ups!' and 'ow dos' are going down a treat. Check out today's pics

Cub Lake and Fern Lake/ Mosquito Hell Estes Park, Colorado, United States Monday, Jun 29, 2009 Entry 9 of 20 | show all | print this entry

Woke this morning to find that my altitude sickness had gone. All the locals said drink water constantly, you can imagine what that was like through the night! I walked from the Cub lake Trail head to cub lake and then up to Fern lake to do some fly fishing. As you will see from the photos there was a bit of snow still on the ground up at Fern lake which was weird because it was red hot. I caught about 15 Colorado Cutthroat Trout, not the biggest in the world but they put up a great fight. Kept 3 for my supper, good job I put them in my rucksack because it turned out you can't take fish out of Fern Lake. I also fished the inlet stream into Fern lake. There were fish in the tiniest pools, really hard to catch. While fishing I was constantly being attacked by mosquitos. When I returned to the campsite i must have at least a 100 bites all over. Everyone thought it was hilarious that the mosquitos like my english . Itching like buggery now. 88 degrees today and still no thunderstorm. Will post todays pics in tomorrows blog.

Itchy itchy itchy arrrgghhhhhh!!! Estes Park, Colorado, United States Tuesday, Jun 30, 2009 Entry 10 of 20 | show all | print this entry

Not funny at all I look like a dot to dot puzzel. Went straight to Pharmacy this morning to get anti itchy wossits. After popping my pills I went for a hike. Today's hike went above 10 thousand feet, hard work but great views. Air still feels thin so had to go really slow. Temperature in town was 96 today and felt that hot up the mountain. I walked from Glacier gorge trail head towards spruce lake and then up the really steep boulder brook trail and then down to Alberta falls. Think I deserve a steak tonight, thing is there all as big as a dustbin lid in the market. Link to day 2 and 3 pics

Beavers! Estes Park, Colorado, United States Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009 Entry 11 of 20 | show all | print this entry

Woke up with altitude sickness again but bought the local super drug and felt ready to put my body through more hellish climbs up mountains. Visited Mills lake today and then on up to Black lake where I saw two beavers. One came running down the path at me, we had a game of chicken and I won. The second was just sat at the side of the path eating lunch looking at me like I had a problem. Check out the beaver pics. Also got some pics of a humming bird. When you see lots of pictures of random flowers that me trying to get a picture of the humming bird. The first pic in 'day 4' (link below) you can see the humming bird in the right corner, looks good zoomed in on the camera. People here think im from Australia or New york because i'm wearing a NY cap. Its 6:30pm at the moment and its 94 degrees, ouch. Walked past a hotel today that looked really familiar. Turns out its the hotel from the Shining. REDRUM REDRUM REDRUM. Anyway all work ad no play make Adam a dull boy. all work ad no play make Adam a dull boy. all work ad no play make Adam a dull boy. all work ad no play make Adam a dull boy. all work ad no play make Adam a dull boy. all work ad no play make Adam a dull boy. all work ad no play make Adam a dull boy. all work ad no play make Adam a dull boy... Today's pics

Thunderstorms, y hell! Estes Park, Colorado, United States Thursday, Jul 02, 2009 Entry 12 of 20 | show all | print this entry

Wednesday night there was an amazing thunderstorm over the mountains, never seen anything like it, anyway long story short it landed right on my head in my little tent, I thought I was going to be washed away but the kit did me proud. Check out the pics from Thursday, tried to fit in as many lakes as I could, I did Nymph lake, Dream lake (Caught ten trout here while guided fishing parties were looking at me in awe, come on!), emerald lake, Lake Haiahya, the Loch and Sky Pond. It was a race to bag Sky pond because the sky was clouding in just as I scrambled up timber line falls the sky started to rumble. Took some pictures and legged it (sky pond is the pictures of the lake in the clouds). It was 11000 feet up here. As I got back down to the loch the heavens opened and the thunder and lighting began, didn't get ant pics as I was ting myself, it was scary but amazing. Most people were sheltering and waiting out the storm but I had to catch the bus back to town so had to keep going. Made it back to my tent like a drowned rat, and then the sun came out and it was roasting again. Someone had left me a load of logs for a fire, nice! Another family bought me ice cream. Here are the pics

Sunshine, showers and huge fish. Estes Park, Colorado, United States Friday, Jul 03, 2009 Entry 13 of 20 | show all | print this entry It was raining a lot today on and off so I went fishing on the river next to the campsite. Tried the local flies and nothing was happening, so I thought why not try some of the flies I use at home, pooped on three czech nymps and boom straight in to a giant rainbow trout followed by 3 good size browns and 3 more rainbow trout. Never caught rainbow trout in a river before, boy do they fight, once again I out fished the locals ha ha ha! Can't get my head in my tent now. This will be my last report until Thursday when I return from the wilderness. I have had to build in some contingency plans as there is still freakish amounts of snow around, rangers told me to get crampons and an Ice axe, i know y hell. Basically I have to get over the boulder grand pass, If I cant then I will hike back down the mountain to the rangers hut and try and book out some differnt backcountry sites. On the last day I need to get down a glacier, they said boots and my walking poles should be fine for that but said the crampons and Ice axe would make it easier. Hopefully i will have lots of great pictures, all the rangers say its a great hike I've got planned. Forgot to mention I saw a coyote yesterday, couldn't get a picture it was more scared of me and running a way really fast

Backcountry day 1 Estes Park, Colorado, United States Saturday, Jul 04, 2009 Entry 14 of 20 | show all | print this entry

View all photos & videos View as slideshow

Well I made it back safe. One of the hardest things I have ever done. I will be uploading my video diaries and photos from each day. Enjoy! Part 1 Here are the pics Video part 2 Video part 3

Back Country Day 2 Allenspark, Colorado, United States Sunday, Jul 05, 2009 Entry 15 of 20 | show all | print this entry

Pics from day 2 Video part 1 Video part 2 Video part 3

Backcountry day 3 Grand Lake, Colorado, United States Monday, Jul 06, 2009 Entry 16 of 20 | show all | print this entry

Pics Videos 1, 2 and 3

Back Country Day 4 Grand Lake, Colorado, United States Tuesday, Jul 07, 2009 Entry 17 of 20 | show all | print this entry

Pics Video 1 and 2

Backcountry Day 5 Estes Park, Colorado, United States Wednesday, Jul 08, 2009 Entry 18 of 20 | show all | print this entry

Pics Videos 1 and 2

The wanderer returns Estes Park, Colorado, United States Friday, Jul 10, 2009 Entry 19 of 20 | show all | print this entry

Pics