Campfire

Backblip from Friday.

Not many opportunities to blip presented themselves on Friday as it was already dark when we left the office!

After a day at work Simon and I met up with Richard and Paul to begin a weekend backpacking round the Haweswater area of the Lake District.

Haweswater is one of my favourite areas of the Lake District - I think I've trekked and backpacked round there more than any other area and I still love it. It was my choice of places to be on my 40th Birthday this year.

We got to our camp which was at a tarn called Small Water at 10.30pm. The weather had been extremely kind to us. It had rained almost all the way there by car, but stopped a minute after we arrived at Mardale car park, and we trekked the 1,500 ft to the tarn by moonlight and headtorches, warm enough to not need more than a baselayer.

We'd camped at Small Water before, and while there's a bit of bog to negotiate, it's a great place to pitch up for the night and quite easy to get to. Just enough room for our four tents.

In some circles this is known as 'Wild Camping', but we prefer to call it backpacking, as really there's nothing 'Wild' about it! Apart from the walk in, which can be a bit of a trial if you're not used to carrying a backpack, the benefits are fantastic. You get the whole mountain to yourself (even if you don't, it feels like it), sleep undisturbed as long as you want, fantastic views and noises. I've never come back from a backpacking trip disappointed. Wet sometimes, but not disappointed.

We pitched up next to a stream (sleeping to the noise of a stream is wonderful), by the tarn and passed a couple of hours in good company before turning in as the cloud came in. I mentioned the weather was kind... literally within seconds of getting in the tents the rain came down. Another great sound to sleep to is rain on the roof of your tent. As long as you trust your tent, you can get a good nights sleep!

As I said, there were not many opportunities to blip on this day of the trip as it was dark. This is not a marshmallow - it's a lump of esbit (a bit like a firelighter) which was our campfire. You can't have real campfires when backpacking in the hills!

More blips to follow and hope to catch up on your own!