I am woken by the dawn crowing of roosters. The weather does not look promising, but it’s dry, and I’ll take that. I leave the campsite with a dog walker. He is 90 years old and still hikes up the nearby hills. What an inspiration. I can explore a lot of places in another 30 years.
The wind is fierce at the top of Little Hangman, as I stagger up to join a couple, and we take mutual photos.
“You look like a proper hiker”.
That’s a relief.
The climb up Great Hangman feels relatively easy compared to its’ smaller sibling, despite being the highest point on the SWCP, at 1,044 feet. A more gradual climb. I stand on the large cairn, but the wind is too strong to hold my iPhone steady.
The mist has caught up with me, and the rain is relentless. I head off the path, along a pretty wooded valley, for refuge, and an excellent pint of Exmoor Gold at Hunter’s Inn.
There are some wonderful views, but I can’t take many photos in the rain. It is slow progress, walking into the wind, and my distinctly non-streamlined sleeping mat is not helping matters. Everyone wants to stop and chat though: dog walkers, hikers, and campers. Perhaps it’s the wildness of the day that bonds us.
The late afternoon is spent walking through lush woodland, revealing pretty waterfalls, swollen by the rain. The largest is Hollow Brook.
It is dusk, and I must leave the path, to head inland to my campsite at Caffyns Farm. I have misjudged the distance. It is a two mile uphill climb along a winding bridleway. I am tired, it is getting dark, and the wind and rain are hammering me. All I can think of is a warm sleeping bag. One foot in front of the other.
To my relief, I eventually reach the farm, and pitch my tent at the highest point of the field, in the dark, with the rain pouring down. There are two other people in the large field. The first opens his camper van door to ask if I need any light. The second, with a large tent, drives his car across to offer the illumination from his headlight beams. Lovely gestures. I am soon warm and dry in my sleeping bag with a coffee. All the vestibule flaps are closed and tightly secured. My shower can wait until morning. I am not leaving this tent for anything!
Walk distance: 14 miles.
Total distance: 988 miles.
Well done on reaching the highest point of the South West coast path. Love the windblown photo of you too.
As to taking photos in the rain I also have that problem. Eventually I got a waterproof (and shock proof) camera, which partly deals with this. It means it never stops working no matter how much rain and can be left in a pocket, but the downside is you still end up with water on the lens a lot, blurring the photos and if it’s raining hard it’s difficult to get enough time to wipe the rain off and take the photo before more rain gets on it! Better than nothing though.
Thanks Jon. Yes, I can take photos, it is the problem you mention with the lenses on my phone. I dry them off but soon I have nothing dry left to dry them with, without opening up my backpack, which is a non-starter. I have mastered the art of whipping the phone out, not spending too much time framing the shot, and then putting it back in my pocket. Works for a while, until there is too much water in my pocket from the phone!
A horrid wet end to the long day’s hike but nice to have the offers of light by the other campers. Great photos despite the wind and rain.
Thanks Karen. At least my sleeping bag was dry this time. I am learning.