Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more
General => Meets, places, trips and reviews => Topic started by: LandyLiam on November 26, 2014
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Disgusted with myself for missing a few recent camps (well maybe not the Slievemoughanmore one ::) ) and spurred on with the purchase of a new bivvy tent and some fine weather I decided to do a summit camp on Bearnagh. The call was put out and Adam responded so it we were set for a blind date having never met each other before, sure what's the worst that could happen! Well the worst did happen, the forecast changed >:( rain appeared and I was so tempted to stay at home by the nice warm fire, but I couldn't let Adam down so a quick half hour packing the bag (just grabbed the 85 litre rucksack and stuffed everything in) I was in the car and it wouldn't start! not to worry, it has a wee intermittent fault and after a few resets I was on my way again. It rained the whole way there but I knew it was to clear soon with the potential for clear skies later :)
Waterproofs were donned at Meelmore Lodge and within 10 minutes we were sweating, the rain had certainley died down and by the time we got to the saddle it had all but stopped. Now there was a bit of a breeze and we knew it would be worse at the top so an executive decision was made to wimp out and lessen the suffering by camping at Hare's Gap.
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/Mobile%20Uploads/2014/P1090399Small_zps08478933.jpg)
Bromantic
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/Mobile%20Uploads/2014/P1040757Small_zps047c8dcf.jpg)
Adam's palacial Zephros 1
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/Mobile%20Uploads/2014/P1090403Small_zps50ced840.jpg)
my more modest Phoenix Phoxhole (picked up in a charirty shop for £6 :) )
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/Mobile%20Uploads/2014/P1040775Small_zps40b8aa66.jpg)
we spent most of the evening experimenting with night photography
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/Mobile%20Uploads/2014/P1040779Small_zps40419de1.jpg)
no stars yet but the night was young
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/Mobile%20Uploads/2014/P1040797Small_zpsc85eef16.jpg)
wasn't as warm as it looked
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/Mobile%20Uploads/2014/P1040800Small_zpsce366b98.jpg)
toasting the mitts
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/Mobile%20Uploads/2014/P1040834Small_zps5d4ecd68.jpg)
experimenting with white and red lights from the headtorches
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/Mobile%20Uploads/2014/P1040854Small_zps7a819138.jpg)
at last the stars have appeared
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/Mobile%20Uploads/2014/P1040844Small_zpsf8c709e3.jpg)
the plough appears above Slievenaglogh
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/Mobile%20Uploads/2014/P1040852Small_zps398b01e5.jpg)
shooting star?
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/Mobile%20Uploads/2014/P1040864Small_zps96e5e249.jpg)
2am and time to fire up the Alpkit Brukit for pot noodles
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/Mobile%20Uploads/2014/P1040878Small_zps7b91c513.jpg)
view from the bedroom at silly o clock
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/Mobile%20Uploads/2014/P1090440Small_zps356b84ed.jpg)
the morning rain didn't appear so lay on til 9am
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/Mobile%20Uploads/2014/P1090448Small_zps909dd2f8.jpg)
I hope that wasn't a cross 8)
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/Mobile%20Uploads/2014/P1090449Small_zps1b123790.jpg)
our wind break, it was very calm on this side of the wall
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/Mobile%20Uploads/2014/P1090459Small_zps55bc4540.jpg)
good morning Spellack
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/Mobile%20Uploads/2014/P1090471Small_zpse08151c6.jpg)
all packed up and ready to go to work, and to see if the car would start! (it did but then broke down about 15 times and it took me over 3 hrs to get to work :'( )
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/Mobile%20Uploads/2014/P1090478Small_zpsacd7e1e2.jpg)
gathering some rubbish from the area, not all was ours!
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/Mobile%20Uploads/2014/P1090479Small_zps0b58391c.jpg)
as Fred would say "Nobody got pregnant and we didn't eat anyone" or did we :o
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/Mobile%20Uploads/2014/P1090486Small_zpscda4d368.jpg)
just as we get down the hill the cloud rolls in to cover our campsite
Carlsberg don't do quick overnighters, but LandyLiam does ;)
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Love the photos. Love the hooped bivvy. What a bargain, you couldn't get better than that. I have a Vaude hooped bivvy http://terrybnd.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/vaude-bivi-1p.html good video on this blog.......but never had a chance to use it (always use tent as I a have a few). You have inspired me to get the hooped bivvy out and give it a go. ;D Despite the rain it looks like a good wee trip.
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Awesome pics. Sounds like a good night. Hope you went home over Bearnagh ;)
What did you think of the hooped bivvy?
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Pic's turned out really well. Thoroughly enjoyed the trip. Did the other half not wonder why you came home with boxers and a new hat? :D haha
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Nicely done lads. At least this one paid off.
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Good job lads, nice photos too.
fred
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"Hi love, yeah, I'd a great night on a mountain with that stranger from the internet. Now where's the bin so I can dump this random pair of boxers I've brought home."
Pic's turned out really well. Thoroughly enjoyed the trip. Did the other half not wonder why you came home with boxers and a new hat? :D haha
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What did you think of the hooped bivvy?
I really liked it, but I still prefer a tent overall. It does gives a different experience to the normal bivvy and tarp, I would say the hooped bivvy has the edge there. It also has the ability to zip up a mesh cover which would be very handy for those midge infested mornings. I think it really depend on the weather as to which will give the better experience, but as the weather is so changable here the tent normally wins for piece of mind. The vaude bivvy definitely looks good, I think I'll keep my eye on ebay
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Have you tried the Gelert solo tent? if so how would you say that bivvy compares? I like the idea of it for warmer camps to shed a few more grams off my pack, but the solo tent comes in at 1.3kg so it would need to be a huge difference to really justify a small gain in weight.
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Have you tried the Gelert solo tent? if so how would you say that bivvy compares?
No I haven't tried that one yet.