2 Nights Alone in the Wild - A Forest Adventure

​My last trip of winter! It was the 1st of March and armed with a pretty grim forecast as usual, I expected this to be another godawful-weather-ordeal so I didn’t even plan any kind of route, thinking I would be hunkering down in the forest all weekend. But instead, I was granted cold starry nights, clear skies, silence, snowy mountain views and babbling brooks surrounded by evergreens. Having no planned route to follow, I instinctively wandered in whichever direction I felt most drawn to. I visited mines, paddled in biting water and peered into some giant freaky holes too. This was the perfect end to the long, wet winter of 2023/4

To read the trip journal and see my maps, click on 'read more' at the bottom of this blog post..

Looking After the Wild Places

Adventure Safety

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*I choose not to be sponsored, affiliated with any particular brands, and have not accepted any free gear to try since summer of 2021. Every piece of gear that I’m using is something that I have chosen to buy for myself – my opinions on it and experiences with it are completely impartial.
 
TENT
Tent Hilleberg Soulo + Footprint (Bad Weather Test & details about this tent here: https://youtu.be/mUi1IGskBig)
Swedish Dishcloth for condensation 7g https://amzn.to/3vt3W4E
 
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Soundtrack

Thank you to these amazing artists for producing such beautiful music - it is such an important part of my videos and a joy to help me tell my lil adventure stories..
 
New Life – Ardie Son
A Window to Your World – Earth Tone
Looking Back From Here – Laurel Violet
Home Journey – Sémø
Escape Velocity – Steven Beddall
Softhearted Identity – Lance Conrad
Hope and Heisenberg – Spearfisher ft. Cicely Parnas
A Forest Melody – Tellsonic
Boundless Repetition – Victor Lundberg
Eyries – Jakob Ahlbom
 
All from Artlist, Epidemic Sound and Bensound with license.
​

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​TRIP JOURNAL & MAPS - 2 NIGHTS ALONE IN THE FOREST

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DAY 1
​
It was the 1st of March as I set out for my last trip of Winter. The weather forecast was, as usual, grim and uncertain as hell, so I decided not to plan a route for this one – instead trying a different approach of wandering in whichever direction I felt most drawn to. I wanted to keep it simple and free, and just see where it took me.

I picked a layby next to a forest in the Hebog Range of Eryri, said goodbye to Landy and got on my way.

The mountains welcomed me with rain and sleet as I set off crossing a ford, but as I wandered on in a vaguely westerly direction, the skies brightened and I could see snowy peaks surrounding me. I passed a tranquil forest lake and continued to climb higher, ambling over and around fallen trees and dodging bogs, until I came to a place suitable to pitch my tent at around 380m elevation. Here I was at the top of the tree line above the forest, looking over a valley backed by big peaks

I found a trickle of water to fill my bottles, and had my tea (chilli and rice with bread & butter – a camping fav!) As darkness fell, the temperature dropped swiftly into minus and the stars sparkled in the cold night sky. With the moon still far below the horizon, the stars were so bright that I almost felt that I’d cheated the system in some way.. like the beauty of this universe above me was supposed to be hidden somehow, because surely, it was too special and awe-inspiring to be seen by little me. I marvelled at it a while and then settled down to sleep – it was -3°C but I was cosy and snug in my sleeping bag.

​DAY 2

I woke well rested after a deep, 7-hour sleep, to the sound of a bird quietly chirping in some nearby tree. Aside from the bird, the mountains were silent. The view as I unzipped the tent door was one of my favourite morning sights yet. Light clouds were dancing over the big snow-dusted peaks, against a blue sky, all framed by evergreens. This felt like a special place and I lingered quite a while, having a lazy breakfast of pastry and chocolate coffee, as I took it all in and felt the light warmth from the morning sun

As I set off on my way back to the path, I found the bogs frozen over, and noticed they were full of what looked like frogspawn.. would they survive being frozen? I hoped so, but their prospects seemed pretty bleak

I continued on the path that I had started up the previous day, and soon new views and new peaks opened up in front of me. I followed a drystone wall along a particularly boggy stretch, clinging to it and hopping between rocks to prevent myself sinking into the sloshy wetness beneath my feet. I rounded a corner and saw in the distance old mine buildings set into a hillside, and down in this new valley to the south, I could see a small lake that I had visited before – at the end of last summer, when I dislocated my ankle. I remembered sitting in my tent with my swollen appendage, looking up at where I was now, wishing I could go and explore it, but knowing I had no choice but to go home and sort out the injury. I was glad to be here now, and continued on toward the mines

I was walking mindfully along, making sure not to slide down a gradient to my left, when I noticed something huge appearing in front of me. At first I just saw something big and dark, and then I realised it was a giant hole in the ground. The thing was unexpected and made me reel a bit with my fear of heights, but I enjoyed the fact that there were no fences around this gaping monstrosity. Being close to it felt both sickening and exciting, and I was curious as to what it actually was.. some part of the mines, I assumed. It was so big, that multiple trees were growing inside it, their tips only just peaking out of the top of the hole. I approached it on my hands and knees and sent my camera over on a long pole so that I could glimpse inside without getting too close for comfort. The sound of water dripping down the sheer walls sent a chill down my spine. I imagined falling into this thing and being trapped down there.. *shudder*. Time to move on

I wandered around some old mining buildings, looked on at views of mountains framed by slate windows. I wondered who had lived and worked here, and what their existence would have been like. Unimaginably hard, no doubt. A gust of wind came through and I felt I could almost feel the energies of past lives.. spirits of the mountains and the mines. I decided to start heading north, and soon came upon another hole. This one was even bigger, but unlike the former, there was a scree slope leading down into it on one side. I tentatively made my way down into the huge bowl and followed more dripping water sounds to a hidden tunnel in the rock. The floor of the tunnel was flooded and I couldn’t see an end to it, it just continued on until the daylight couldn’t reach any further and it was taken by darkness. I stepped back into the sun and took a break for lunch. A few hikers appeared at the rim of the hole before carrying on their journey. As I emerged, I noticed another tunnel cut into the rock above the hole, and went to investigate. I scrambled over some rocks to avoid the sheer drop back into the hole on my left, and found this tunnel much the same as the last; flooded and filled with echoing dripping sounds. I wondered how far these tunnels went back into the mountain and what horrific chasms and dark deathly drops might be found inside. I always find mines both fascinating and terrifying in equal measure

Leaving the mines behind now, my path climbed and then opened out. I was at the top of the tree line again, at a different part of the forest. Here I was surrounded with spruce trees, so fresh and green and magical. I was almost skipping as I followed a path back down into the forest, the last remnants of snow melting along the track. At a fork in the path, I chose to head north east, simply because it felt more appealing, and soon chose to come off the path entirely into the deep dark forest. The days were still fairly short, and I would soon need to find somewhere to stop for the night.

It wasn’t long at all before I stepped out of the trees into a small brook, which I followed up to the most idyllic little spot to pitch my tent - a clearing surrounded by evergreens, with my own private stream. I pitched the tent and paddled briefly in the biting 6°C water, before cosying up into my sleeping bag and making my tea – tonight it was cheese and ham pasta. The rain and sleet came, and carried on all through the night. As I dozed off, I thought about what a blessing it was that all of the freezing rain had waited until I was warm and dry in my ten

​ 
DAY 3

I woke after another restful night to a still morning. The rain had been and gone and it was time to start heading back toward where I started – the first day of the trip that I had a destination to aim for

The wander back through the forest was pleasant and easy. I tried navigating with only my compass in a general south easterly direction and eventually found my way back to my car. This weekend had been nothing like what I expected. Instead of the bad-weather weekend that I was bracing for, it instead turned out to be the perfect end to this long, wet winter. (Which according to the met office, was the 8th wettest winter since records began, and I certainly felt it!)