Wild Camp, Haycock

With: Paul Rich & Fergus

Weather: Awful - persistent drizzle; light north westerly wind; mild; visibility less than 10m above 450m

Distance: Total approx. 8 miles

Paul Cooking Tea

Ferg & I met Paul by Nether Beck in Wasdale at about six o'clock on Tuesday evening. The weather at this point was dry albeit it overcast with the top of Yewbarrow in & out of low cloud. We took our time & headed north following the Beck. Originally we had planned to head up to Scoat Tarn & then pick off a summit or two after setting up camp & having something to eat. However, we were all a bit late getting away so instead we opted for a plan of camping around the confluence of Nether Beck & the beck which flows out of Scoat Tarn. We picked our spot as the drizzle began and quickly had camp set up and the stoves on. Ferg & I went for the Wayfarer beef stew & dumplings (very good) whilst Paul made fish pasta - smelt good! After a fairly leisurely first part to our trip we decided to go for a night nav on Haycock. The light was "dim" as we set off in steady drizzle & lowering cloud base at around 21:45.

We hadn't climbed too far up Lad Crag before we were in thick mist and fading light, it wasn't long before visibility was down to below 10m and the rest of the evening was spent taking compass bearings & measuring distance. We made it to Haycock summit at 23:00 - I'll have to go back to see what its really like up there!

Ferg & Paul on Haycock Summit

The nav down was probably harder but we got back problem free apart from a comical few minutes when we were no more than 25m from our tents but just couldn't see them! Reflective tape will be added to the tent next time we do this. It was approaching 1 am - just time for lemon tea & a small dram before calling it a night.

We were up again by seven & on the move by eight after porridge for breakfast -  still raining!

An excellent short adventure & really good to get out with Paul again. We're planning to do some more of these in the coming weeks & months - watch this space.

Wednesday Morning - Still Raining