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[RedLeader]

I finally got around to doing my first solo camp. On Friday evening I hotfooted it down to Newcastle with a tarp and walked up to the Tullybranigan River on the slopes of Slievenabrock and Slievenamaddy. It was much darker than I had expected so when I set out at first I was going to just stop at our usual spot in Donard Wood but when I arrived there was already people round a fire and I didn't want company so I sneaked off. The plan had been to skirt the forest on the slopes of Slievenamaddy but there had been extensive logging done that wasn't on the map (or Google Earth) so I eventually had to drop down onto the forest path. It's bloody hard navigating in the dark and to be honest, I probably took an overly long route, but then again, where's the fun when it's easy I also underestimated the slope where I wanted to camp and had problems finding somewhere clear and flat enough to pitch.

Once I got settled it was great fun. Nowhere near as scary as I thought it might be. I'd brought a hobo stove and a kilo of firelog and that topped up with a few sticks from the surrounding area was enough to keep going for about 4 hours. With a reflector fashioned from a disposable BBQ I found it was actually quite toasty. A few hours infront of the fire with just Jack Daniels and some prog rock on the iPod was incredibly relaxing!

It's good to get out of your comfort zone occasionalls - I'd hightly recommend it!

Edit : Big thanks to BillyBackpack for being my potential mountain rescue if things went South. It's comforting to know that someone capable knows exactly where you are!













There will be more photos on the Flickr group.

[andy1984]

nice one J. looks like fun!

What sleeping bag have you got? Was it warm enough?

I tested out the argos tent on friday night..... from the comfort of the garden though!!

[RedLeader]

It's an Alpkit Pipedream 600 in an Alpkit Hunka bivvy bag. Well toasty and with the bivvy bag, totally waterproof (supposedly - haven't fully tested that yet!). I was more than happy with my kit choices so I'll put a post on later in what I carry these days as after a year of experimentation I think I've got quite a good beginner setup - might save people some of the wasted money I've spent on crap that didn't work

nice one J. looks like fun!

What sleeping bag have you got? Was it warm enough?

I tested out the argos tent on friday night..... from the comfort of the garden though!!

[666_pack]

well done mate I knew you had it in you! love the pic of the hobo stove it's been a while since i've had mine fired up.

[andy1984]

i slept in the garden on friday night with just a crappy mummy syle sleeping bag that i got from argos about 10 years ago!!

I think it was a slumbalux mountain or something? I'd love to know what it is rated too because in just my boxers it was just about warm enough... although i dont think it got down to 0oC on friday night.

[RedLeader]

It's the first time I've used mine for anthing other than amusement. I'd reckoned that because I was on my own I wouldn't want a big, noticeable fire or to be plundering around in the forest in the dark so a small burner seemed a good option at 175g or so. I brought the kilo of firelog because I've been musing on a way to be on a mountain peak and have a fire of some sort (you know how much of a firebug I am). So 4 people carrying 250g of log would be enough to keep the hobo burning warmly enough to boil water etc for about 3 hours depending on how hot you run it - more if you can find some other flammable material about. The windshield from the Trangia Mini worked well as a heatshield too.

well done mate I knew you had it in you! love the pic of the hobo stove it's been a while since i've had mine fired up.

[chris]

looks like a good trip, I ment to txt you back but i've no money in my phone! Iwas actually in donard carpak playin football when i got your txt so I was in prime location for a reply!
I've been looking into tarping now I've a couple of walking poles, some of the ones you can buy are nuts, look like something you'd see on doctor who!
Funny you should mention about carrying fuel for a mountain trip, I was saying to 666pack that we should look into a summit BBQ, You have a Yukon Firebox dont you? And If everyone carried a kilo or so of charcoal you'd be sorted, what do you think?

[RedLeader]

No worries on the texting front - after it rained so hard on Friday in Belfast I started to get a bit paranoid that I might need the canoe As it turned out the weather was awesome. The poles I have are just Trekmates cheapy ones. Only problem with them is they're 300g a piece which seems heavy but I've not tried any of the better quality ones.

A summit BBQ sounds awesome - can't believe we haven't already done that. I have a Yukon but's its quite weighty at 2.3kg. We might be better with a big disposable BBQ and extra charcoal. We should defo get this planned, it's a fantastic idea!

looks like a good trip, I ment to txt you back but i've no money in my phone! Iwas actually in donard carpak playin football when i got your txt so I was in prime location for a reply!
I've been looking into tarping now I've a couple of walking poles, some of the ones you can buy are nuts, look like something you'd see on doctor who!
Funny you should mention about carrying fuel for a mountain trip, I was saying to 666pack that we should look into a summit BBQ, You have a Yukon Firebox dont you? And If everyone carried a kilo or so of charcoal you'd be sorted, what do you think?

[Kirth]

Where did you get your tarp John

[suspectmonkey]

Looks like great craic - can't wait to try a tarp out some time myself, but the amount of kit I'm gathering is already getting out of hand without getting any more

[RedLeader]

Its a 3m x 3m from DD Hammocks @ £29
http://www.ddhammocks.com/products

It's a well made tarp with plenty of fixing points and only weighs 650g + pegs. I love to be able see around me and the flexibility of having a shelter from the rain that you can sit a few people under is useful.

Where did you get your tarp John

[chris]

No worries on the texting front - after it rained so hard on Friday in Belfast I started to get a bit paranoid that I might need the canoe As it turned out the weather was awesome. The poles I have are just Trekmates cheapy ones. Only problem with them is they're 300g a piece which seems heavy but I've not tried any of the better quality ones.

A summit BBQ sounds awesome - can't believe we haven't already done that. I have a Yukon but's its quite weighty at 2.3kg. We might be better with a big disposable BBQ and extra charcoal. We should defo get this planned, it's a fantastic idea!

looks like a good trip, I ment to txt you back but i've no money in my phone! Iwas actually in donard carpak playin football when i got your txt so I was in prime location for a reply!
I've been looking into tarping now I've a couple of walking poles, some of the ones you can buy are nuts, look like something you'd see on doctor who!
Funny you should mention about carrying fuel for a mountain trip, I was saying to 666pack that we should look into a summit BBQ, You have a Yukon Firebox dont you? And If everyone carried a kilo or so of charcoal you'd be sorted, what do you think?

Does it not dismantle? I'm sure we'd be able to work it someway that we could split it up. I was thinking the likes of the fire box would not only be good to cook on but would radiate heat better than a disposable bbq.

[RedLeader]

Actually, it does dismantle so it folds flat so it could be split between people. It doesn't have a massive cooking area but it would prob do.

No worries on the texting front - after it rained so hard on Friday in Belfast I started to get a bit paranoid that I might need the canoe As it turned out the weather was awesome. The poles I have are just Trekmates cheapy ones. Only problem with them is they're 300g a piece which seems heavy but I've not tried any of the better quality ones.

A summit BBQ sounds awesome - can't believe we haven't already done that. I have a Yukon but's its quite weighty at 2.3kg. We might be better with a big disposable BBQ and extra charcoal. We should defo get this planned, it's a fantastic idea!

looks like a good trip, I ment to txt you back but i've no money in my phone! Iwas actually in donard carpak playin football when i got your txt so I was in prime location for a reply!
I've been looking into tarping now I've a couple of walking poles, some of the ones you can buy are nuts, look like something you'd see on doctor who!
Funny you should mention about carrying fuel for a mountain trip, I was saying to 666pack that we should look into a summit BBQ, You have a Yukon Firebox dont you? And If everyone carried a kilo or so of charcoal you'd be sorted, what do you think?

Does it not dismantle? I'm sure we'd be able to work it someway that we could split it up. I was thinking the likes of the fire box would not only be good to cook on but would radiate heat better than a disposable bbq.

[MG1]

Sounds like you had a good nite mate

[billy backpack]

Fair play to you J .............. Looks like you had a great site and a very enjoyable night !!!!!

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