Tuesday 1st April
So last night, Tuesday 1st April, I camped out. I set my tent in up in my friend’s garden, thinking that in my own garden I was at too much of a risk of being bamboozled by marauding offspring. Then I went back home and watched a film recommended to me by my darts team captain, A Walk In The Woods. It was a superb film and I understood straightaway why he said I should watch it.
Once it had finished, I started getting together everything I needed for my camp out. I put it all in a bucket – a bucket has many uses when you are camping, that’s another tale. I made myself a cup of tea in an insulated beaker, hooked it onto edge of bucket, grabbed warm hat, gloves, camp light, head torch, phone and battery pack and off I went. I couldn’t find my kindle which peed me off because I thought it would help if I couldn’t get to sleep.
So I unzipped tent, climbed inside with my bucket, which I just plonked down while I zipped the tent back up. Then I realised that everything was getting wet! Stupid insulated cup which had been tipped over was leaking everywhere! Wet hat, wet gloves, bucket full of tea!
Then I got a text message asking if I was asleep and wanting to talk about would it be ok to borrow my bike while I was away! Well I said yes of course and asked person who will remain nameless to bring me over a hat! Every cloud has a silver lining.
I think I nodded off around 11.30pm, but was woken at 12.00am by hedgehogs banging their plates in the garden. I felt guilty because I had forgotten to put food out for them as I had agreed I would🥴
I felt toasty warm and comfy but soon realised that my hips were hurting, reason being the self inflating mat had deflated! I blew air into it to reinflate it and finally got to sleep.
I slept through to 6am, and climbed out of bed at 6.15pm because I needed a wee. I popped home, went to the loo, made a cuppa and took it to my bedroom with a proper bed, drank tea and went back to sleep 🙂
The idea behind the camp out was to iron out any possible issues. The objective was achieved. I am starting my walk on Saturday 5th April. I’m a bit worried about the weight of my backpack and will be looking to see what can be jettisoned.
