The 10am start kicked off at 10.45 much to the chagrin of The President who is currently considering a new tardiness policy. The commitee is to ratify th new "If they turn up late they'll be left behind in future policy" at the next meet, this will superceed the "Should of left 'em behind" policy that was tabled on the day.
The camp was preceeded by a 5k hike up the side of the mountain and tree line through what what started out as a light rain but gradually increased throughout the day. Not long up the road I took some footage of the impressive flow of what is normally a large mountain stream but that day it was nature showing off. At this spot last May a few of the guys popped in for a paddle, needless to say there were no takers this day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x60HVuakfwI
The hike although wet was great and despite the beautiful views the highlight was the river crossing. Due to the route and heavy rain we were faced with trying to cross the river at an awkward point just before we arrived at the site.
A lot of scouting was required and minor reroute to find an appropriate point to cross. Luckily for us we came across a point where there were some stones and we were able to cross using the fallen branches from on old dead beech tree.
We finally got to the site at about 14.30 and nearly everyone chipped in setting up the tarp for the camp and getting firewood, which was some craic given how wet it all was. We got the fire going about 16.00 and some folk began setting up their shelters while others continued getting the firewood. There were 8 of us out on the day so plenty was needed, incidently 2 newbies. Thankfully everyone got set up cos as ye can see below it didn't clear up much!
Most of us got dinner by 19.00 and then a few headed off for an early night, yes some of us need 14 hours sleep it seems!!!! The rest of us stayed up till around 10 before heading to bed. The main theme from this trip was ensuring you are prepared in future. Whether it's the right kit, from shoes to wet gear, or just a map so you know where to go, planning a trip such as this with as many folk in these conditions means that you have to be well prepared and I think the whole team got a good lesson out of this trip.
The camp rose round 8.30 and we got to making fire and breakfast
and some of us got to enjoy this view over a bowl of porridge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMq6SHeRftI
We took a more direct route back down to the carpark and got back down in good time, hitting the cars at around 12
A motley damp crew!
More updates to follow later
thanks to gris for the photos
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