A Breath of Fresh Air
North Wales - March 2024
For both of us, between work, family, and other commitments, the start of 2024 has already been quite the year! By the time we got to March we were both itching to get outside and away from home for a bit, so formulated the idea of a trip without a specific destination in mind.
We knew that we were looking for:
A week or so where it was largely just the two of us - so we could enjoy long rambling chats.
Sleep under canvas (probably in a tent) - as we always feel better for that.
Get away from technology, and disconnect from the digital world to calm our minds.
Go walking somewhere interesting, and see new things.
Cook on open fires - as this makes cooking so much more of an occasion.
Somewhere not too full of people.
A campsite that was relatively sheltered - due to the time of year.
We then used criteria to look for places to go and activities to do.
Accommodation
While on our NFCT adventure last year we came across Hipcamp, which we happened to find also operates in the UK. This website and app lists small camping, glamping, and campervan locations. In the UK many farmers have taken to diversifying their income by cornering off a small field, or unusable farmland, and making a camp site. The issue is finding these sites, as often the farmers are understandably not the world's best website designers. This is where companies such as Hipcamp are great. We happened to find a wonderful little site with only three camp pitches, two glamping pods and a couple of holiday cottages. It also had a relatively nice set of toilets and showers, with the nice touch of washing up sinks (that had running hot and cold water). The Glade pitch at Bach Wen was available the week we were looking at, was secluded, had its own fire pit, was relatively flat, and was surrounded by trees on all sides, what more could you ask for! I know, it was also only a five min walk to the beach, down a private footpath!
If this description is making you want to check out sites on hipcamp, then you can use THIS LINK to get £10 credit when you sign up (and it’ll give us £10 credit too).
Weather
Unsurprisingly for this time of year in North Wales the weather was changeable. By changeable, we mean that during the week we had brilliant sunshine, pouring rain, hail and even snow! This meant we were constantly changing layers to keep warm and dry without getting sweaty. If we were going to share one bit of advice from this trip, it is to sort out what you do with your wet weather gear. That's not just waterproofs, but also how you are going to keep all the rest of your kit dry and mud free. Have a good think about how to keep the wet separate from the dry, and also how to dry out the wet. We kept all our dry stuff tucked away in bags, whilst the wet could be hung up to dry out. Our Terra Nova Terra Firma tent (that we got a cracking deal on years ago) once again proved itself. It stood up admirably to the torrential wind and rain, keeping us dry, and enabling us to get some quality sleep despite this.
Going for a walk
This part of the country is covered with an intricate network of footpaths that hint at important travel routes of the past. It is amazing how when following these paths you find ways across the hills and valleys to little villages and ancient structures. Time has marched on and there have undoubtedly been changes to the landscape, however, you can still get a feeling of connection to the past by walking the same paths that those before us once travelled along. This feeling is amplified in this part of the world, as there are numerous Standing Stones and Celtic Hill Forts dotted across the landscape that show that people have been making this part of the world home for 1000’s of years.
Some of the points of historic interest are not quite as ancient. We found that there was a local Holy Well quite close to the campsite, where it was believed back in the seventh century that consuming the water and then sleeping on the local church floor would cure children of epilepsy. It is amazing that such points of cultural significance from the past are relegated to minor notes on maps, and shown with faded plaques at the side of the road.
The beaches were fantastic open stretches with views of the hills and sea. We were fortunate that the majority of the wind came from the land, so when walking along the beach we were sheltered by the low cliffs. There was much flotsam and jetsam, much of which being evidence of the fishing industry. There was also a surprising amount of driftwood. We took the opportunity to crack out the twig stove, and heated some water for making a tasty soup. It was so relaxing to sit watching the tide go out while periodically placing another small twig on the stove. A nice part of the Bushcraft Essentials Bushbox LF twig stove is that once you get it going there is very little smoke or ash which makes leaving no trace a breeze.
The Coastal Path in England and Wales is a wonder of walkers' organisation. It has been no mean feat to organise so many landowners across the two countries to enable a continuous path. Walking the coastal path can feel long as you seem to spend hours seemingly not getting anywhere, however, the views really do make up for it. So many hidden coves, inlets, and gems along the way. The coastal path in Wales is some of the best we have walked. We must admit though that the Pembrokeshire section does have the edge on beauty, compared to the Northern section we walked on this trip.
What to do when the weather is bad?
Many years ago a good friend of ours wrote their masters’ project on the rate and seriousness of incidents in the hills, in relation to the distance people travelled to get there. The results of their analysis were startling. The takeaway was “the hills are not going anywhere and you can always come back again, but if you risk it in bad weather there may not be a next time”. On this trip we had some strong winds (50+ mph), as well as the conditions being cold, wet, and generally changeable. We had planned to go for a few walks in the hills, but heeded the advice we were given and decided that this was not the time to do so. This led us to go for a few lowland valley walks, as well as going around a couple of fascinating local museums.
We would recommend the Mountain Rescue exhibit at the Caernarfon Airworld Aviation Museum, as well as the whole of the National Slate Museum. The latter is free to enter, which is nice. Both of these museums gave an insight into the lives of the people that shaped the landscape we had been walking around earlier in the week.
When it comes to cooking it is worth considering what your wet weather plan is. Although it is possible to cook and eat your food in the lashing rain, it is not much fun. We took advantage of the trees on the site to put up our Aiguille Alpine Expedition Tarp in a number of different configurations to keep the worst of the weather off us. Due to the high winds we took down the tarp each evening before bed. We have learnt the hard way that it is not worth the risk leaving your tarp up unattended in strong winds.
Whenever there is an opportunity to look around, and an independent outdoor store presents itself, we jump at it. In these stores you often get far better service than the large high street stores. They are also often more than happy to provide helpful local knowledge. On this trip we would like to highlight Crib Goch Outdoor who were incredibly helpful sorting out Robert with a new waterproof (a Paramo Alta 3) as well as advising Katrina on possible brands that might make a pair of waterproof trousers that could fit her, despite not selling them!
Not all parts of a trip can go well, and this one was no exception. After a sudden onset of illness and a call to NHS 111 we were advised to go directly to Wrexham Accident and Emergency on bank holiday Friday evening. Needless to say we never wanted our trip to end this way, but these things happen, and we are grateful that the NHS is there and accessible wherever you are in the UK. After some brilliant work by doctors and nurses all was well, and we were able to leave in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Apart from the hiccup at the end, this trip was exactly what we wanted. The weather is never a blocker for having fun, you just have to take it into account when planning your trip. We knew we had options before we left, so it was great to use them and have fun along the way.