Who doesn't wild camp, and why?

Do consider Naan bread (the long life ones you find by the sauce jars), they are quite light and pack a punch in term of calories (230g for two, 345 cal per naan), them two and the korma curry from LWWF and you've got nearly 1100 cals...

The LWWF korma curry is superb

The food's very much a preference thing - personally if I'm intending mainly going walking I will just take non-cook foods - bread/salami/peperami/jerky/dried fruits/nuts/seeds. Can't see the point in carrying a stove (but then I'm a weirdo that NEVER drinks tea / coffee so the idea of having to boil water before drinking it seems odd to me).

I agree, Oatcakes are a very good basic carb source if bread's too bulky / liable to get wet.

I do take a stove (home-made beer can variety) if I'm going somewhere where I'll be staying and fishing - (and usually take a small pack of butter, lemon thyme and dried apricots to cook trout with, or plan on finding wild fennel and marsh samphire to go with Mackerel or Bass).

All this talk about wild camping and food is making me hungry... well... for the wild camping bit anyway. So... given that there's a place I've always wanted to camp for the night, at nearly 900m, yet nice and flat and reasonably grassy, and given that the weather forecast is pretty good, with no rain, plenty of sun, and little wind, I'm inclined to make a dash for it right now. I gather I'll be camping on the southernmost example of siliceous alpine and boreal grassland in the country, so minimal impact will mean exactly that. My bag is packed, food is just what I've ransacked from the cupboard, and as we say in t' North... "t' watter's on t' fell"... (translation - "the water is on the fell"). So... no need to carry water up there... or at least no need to carry it more than the final half mile. I don't have a car, but when has that ever stopped me? There's a Thursday-only bus to where I want to start, and a Friday-only bus from where I want to finish. This is what you call 'a plan'. If I leave it until the weekend... there are no buses... and the weather will be lousy!

Feel free to guess the location of my wild camp. In fact, feel free to turn up if you're at a loose end... otherwise... see you tomorrow!

Southernmost example in which country??

http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/publications/JNCC312/habitat.asp?FeatureIntCode=H6150

Cross Fell?

Lovely forecast or not that's still a mildly brave spot to pitch a tent

It was indeed Cross Fell. Lovely and clear, not really cold, just very cool, and fairly light winds.

Ron Rees Davies... maybe I should have said the southernmost top-notch example of that grassland!

Funny thing about Cross Fell. I never meet anyone up there, unless I take them up there myself. This time, I met day-walkers and Pennine Wayfarers on both flanks of the fell, but there was still no-one on top apart from me and some rather bemused-looking sheep.

We'll have to meet up for that Paddy, always fancied doing Cross Fell. Might as well do it with someone who knows the place well...

Off to the Yorkshire Dales this week-end, a nice little spot easy to reach with good views...

Cross Fell is very much a last-minute sort of destination. If you try and plan a couple of weeks or months in advance for a visit, then you don't know what the fell is going to throw at you. The top is a bleak stony, grassy plateau, and even after decades of Pennine Wayfarers crossing it, there still isn't a continuous path all the way across. The weather station on nearby Great Dun Fell holds the English records for the maximum amount of foggy days, the highest windspeeds, and the longest continual frost. The annual mean temperature up there is 4C, and over 200 days a year feature mist, and over 100 days feature gale-force winds.

I've been wanting to camp on top of Cross Fell for ages, and the last time I set off to do it, I got thrashed off the fell by torrential rain and retreated to Greg's Hut to dry out. Now that I've finally managed it, I'd better point out that the soil is exceptionally thin. I couldn't get a single peg its full length into the ground, and actually bent a ti-nail while trying to hammer it down. The whole fell-top is covered in small flat slabs of sandstone, with very little soil on top. It's also quite hummocky, so it's difficult to find a really flat spot. The hummocks are 'stone polygons' formed by thousands of years of freeze-thaw action.

Anyway... when all else fails on Cross Fell... remember Greg's Hut!

Picked up a brand new Osprey Atmos 50 for £60 quid the other day, so hopefully all my gear will go in. Just need a smaller SIM now.

Even if I don't do the wild camp, this is a really good excuse to buy more gear

You're getting the right idea!  Now, go out and wild camp and then you can REALLY justify MORE gear.  And having got the gear, you'll just HAVE to get out to use it - and so it goes on.  Fun stuff.

I am late into this thread. but here is my slightly pickled view ( please excuse the worse than usual grammar etc)

That bastard Skip wrote (see)

PS: It's probably also a good idea not to tell the missus that you and the lad will be going with people you met on the internet, drinking water from streams, burying your poo, sleeping on 6mm of cold foam, or necking half a bottle of malt whisky

That depends on the Mrs It's called  character building

Metric Kate wrote (see)

" she'd ask. "er.. people I met on the internet." After a while it just became a running joke. I didn't tell her about the marmite / anal sex analogies.

well. the people I met on the internet in Jan this year, I also regard as good friends after a few meets

Which motivational Bull shall I start with

"If you have never failed at something, you have never tried anything new"

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone"

Kit weight neednt be a problem if it is reasonable. It's more about the location and feeling of being remote - your interpretation, not others ( I wont mention Nuns Cross Farm a few weeks ago) . From there you can build on it as you gear improves

Like others on here, I both Wild camp and car camp - it depends on what I want - and nobody else.

Do what you want, and dont be dictated to. just enjoy what you do.

Paddy Dillon wrote (see)

.. no-one on top apart from me and some rather bemused-looking sheep.

Gawd Paddy! Have you been confusing the sheep again?

Paddy Dillon wrote (see)

... holds the English records for the maximum amount of foggy days, the highest windspeeds, and the longest continual frost. The annual mean temperature up there is 4C, and over 200 days a year feature mist, and over 100 days feature gale-force winds.

You're really selling it, aren't you?

Chewie wrote (see)

 I wont mention Nuns Cross Farm  a few weeks ago

Yeah, that was a really peaceful night in the wilds, wasn't it?

i think the only terrible experience I've had has been waking up with a leech on the inside of my lip, that however was due to walking through rainforest while searching for a camp site...very glad we didnt choose to camp there, in retrospect it could have been extremely grim in comparison!!

You'd be suprised where you can get away with camping, I did it in Tasmania for two months and didn't get shouted at once! Not done anything in the UK but seriously, wild camps are more peaceful, and a lot more beautiful than any field with a shower block in it that I've stayed in.

Becky wrote (see)

....waking up with a leech on the inside of my lip...

Oh gross!

Reminds me of the Blackadder episode in which he visits the doctor and is precribed a course of leeches: "Just pop one under your tongue until it dissolves"

Becky wrote (see)

... camping ...in Tasmania for two months ...Not done anything in the UK...

Time to remedy that omission! Have a look through the Meets section

Yes, Becky, hope you've clocked that meet in the Brecon Beacons first weekend in September. Train to Brum and I can take you from Cardiff Central, or stick out a thumb and see who's coming down your stretch of motorway.

That bastard Skip wrote (see)

Paddy Dillon wrote (see)

... holds the English records for the maximum amount of foggy days, the highest windspeeds, and the longest continual frost. The annual mean temperature up there is 4C, and over 200 days a year feature mist, and over 100 days feature gale-force winds.

You're really selling it, aren't you?

Just reinforcing the fact that a wild camp up there is very much something you decide at the last minute, rather than plan weeks in advance!

What it looked like on the night (and morning).

Paddy Dillon wrote (see)

... a wild camp up there is very much something you decide at the last minute, rather than plan weeks in advance!

What it looked like on the night (and morning).

If you do decide to go over Cross Fell again at short notice (camping or not), drop me a PM please Paddy - I'd like to walk that hill.

Those videos are excellent BTW.

Sure thing... but having been thrashed off that hill in foul and loathsome weather in the past, I generally reserve it for clear, settled days now. Still... even when it all goes wrong up there, it's always possible to retreat to Greg's Hut.