As the weather forecast was to be good over the weekend we decided to head out to Annalong wood to test out some new gear and hopefully find Percy Bysshe cave..
My new cheap and cheerful cooking system which will be used in all forests from now on providing I will be lighting a camp fire a lot lighter and more compact than my usual trangia stove ;D ;D
Another bit of new kit for me the Vango Sherpa 60+10 ruc Main reason for this pack was size (always seem to carry more gear than I need) and the price was in my range £75
Not a great start on this though its going back to the shop on Monday for a new one or my money back as its popped a seam already (bad times) but it was packed so I went ahead and took it with me anyway. >:( >:(
So that was that and off we went we parked the cars at Carrick plant £5 for an overnight stay and headed up the Annalong track destination hotel Annalong..
The weather was great not to much wind and a nice temp you wouldn’t have thought we were coming to the end of September at all. Its a nice easy dander up to the campsite and about 35-40mins see’s you up there. It was tents pitched and straight into wood cutting and gathering for the night we got straight into this as we had planned to go for a wee explore on up the track to try and find Percy Bysshe cave (second time around)
We knew the rough location of the cave that is we knew it was up there somewhere so off we went stopping and taking in the views along the way.
On up the track it splits and heads off up towards Cove it was here we got chatting to a couple who told us that if we found the “Diving Board” a large overhanging slab of rock then al we had to do was head left and up and we would find the cave entrance.
Found it and next the cave. Its quite a small entrance but gets a lot bigger as soon as you get in..
A few more pics outside the cave of some of the rock formations and the views from our vantage point..
By now it was getting near dinner time so it was a quick hop back down to the campsite to get the fire going and get a bite to eat and maybe even a wee drink or two..
All in all a great day we were really pleased that we found the cave it only a quick scoot up from the campsite and if you walk on over you will come across a wee lake also a great way to put in an hour or so with the kids. The weather held up well with only a couple of light showers later on in the night so it was up with a tarp and no worries at all.. nice to stay dry when your having a few we talked late into the small hours and all had a good lie on in the morning.. A great wee trip…..
