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South West Plymouth locals meet every two weeks

Here's picture of breakfast and how the weather was for packing up.
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A big THANK YOU to @Matt & @divebuddy for their excellent company on our short but sweet overnighter on Fri/Sat

As you may be aware we did intend to stay out until Sunday morning but the conditions dictated otherwise as they often do on Dartmoor

@Matt & I walked into the area around Nuns Cross Farm along the bumpy track in the sunshine on Friday afternoon carrying far too much weight on our backs despite the fact that we had tried really hard to " PACK LIGHT "

We took the weight off our shoulders for a 5 minute rest overlooking the site whilst we decided where to setup. The original area that we had recced was heavily occupied by a combination of cows, ponies & sheep so we went to a relatively flat area on the opposite side instead

It took a little while to decide how we were going to configure the tarps as it had been some time since we had used them as our chosen shelter type. We got a call from @divebuddy (Dick) to let us know that he was in the car park & he would shortly be joining us

Dick got himself squared away & we proceeded to have a brew & a yap. Tea-time was soon upon us & the meals of choice were out of date " rat packs ". I went for burgers & beans June 2020 & Matt decided on sausages, beans & potato June 2018 with a side-order of a buttered bap

We decided to " hit the sack " a couple of hours later & all was calm in the sky ( " You're laughing now " ! ) whilst the cows munched the grass around our tarps

I don't usually sleep all that well whilst camping but the experience as a whole usually makes up for it & inbetween cat-naps I looked up into the sky with a big grin on my face admiring the stars amongst the stillness of the night. I heard Matt getting himself acquainted with his new sleeping pad (Nicknamed Lilo Lil ) in the early hours & all was well with the world. Fast forward to daybreak & old mother Dartmoor had painted a very different picture to wake up to. Whilst not being shocked by the complete about turn in the conditions I was however disappointed. We were greated by the proverbial " pea-souper " & condensation had run riot inside the tarps with the added bonus of rain on the outside. I sat up & was greeted with an impromptu hair wash & I then discovered a pool of water underneath the head end of my sleeping pad. Due to a " schoolboy error " on my part the water had dripped from the tarp onto a couple of inches of my groundsheet that I had stupidly left outside the footprint of the tarp. Matt & I were also using down-bags in order to keep the weight down but as we all know they don't flourish in damp conditions.

We got our heads together & decided to give the conditions an hour to improve whilst we had breakfast ( Egg banjos a la Matt - Thank you mate) before deciding to cut our losses & " get outta dodge "

An enjoyable trip was had by all & the decision to call it a day was a good one as we experienced more rain on the way out. It also looked like the weather was going to stay that way for the rest of the day. I also feel that the three of us were given a bit of a lesson by our ageing & now aching limbs as to what we can physically cope with on these trips considering our age & fitness levels. We all attempted to lighten our usual car-camping loadouts & despite this I reckon that we all humped in excess of 20 kilos down the 2km track

STAY TUNED FOR OUR NEW SERIES OF OLD GITS GO GLAMPING

KNEEF OUT ! :D
 
Big Red said:
Looks fantastic lads, but as one who lives in the Dartmoor National Park, and worked on the moor for over 3 decades, I can assure those not familiar with Dartmoor, that the weather is very rarely anything but warm and sunny. 👍😀
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Like I said in my write-up the about turn in the conditions was more of a disappointment than a shock as the moor often has four seasons in one day. There is no way that you can plan a trip to Dartmoor using the ordinary forecast for Plymouth as a guide but we all knew that before we set off :thumbsup:
 
M
WildWood1965 said:
Like I said in my write-up the about turn in the conditions was more of a disappointment than a shock as the moor often has four seasons in one day. There is no way that you can plan a trip to Dartmoor using the ordinary forecast for Plymouth as a guide but we all knew that before we set off :thumbsup:
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Mother Dartmoor has a mind of her own for sure. 👍
 
The next Plymouth area camp will be from Friday August 19th until the morning of Sunday August 21st

Although the walk-in is shorter & easier than the path for Nuns Cross it would be a good idea to pack light again. On this trip the hammock/tarp combo should be the shelter of choice gentlemen

Pictures from the recce today with @Matt to follow :thumbsup:
 
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