“You can’t do that,” said Pete as I began to leave work, with one of the most worried faces I’ve ever seen him make, and “I really don’t like that, Why are you going by yourself?” “Because who else would want to sleep on a hill, mid January, with no tent?” I replied.
It’s true that it was probably a stupid idea. We are currently going through a cold spell with sub 0 degree temperatures on a nightly basis but I was committed to the plan. I was going to follow Mr Humphreys’ “Year of Microadventures” this year, sleeping out at least once a month in a desperate attempt to stay sane in London.
I left work and headed across town to Victoria Station, My thermals covered by my work trousers and waterproof. Apart from the rucksack and hiking boots giving my plans away, you could have thought that I was just another commuter on their way home.
The walk from work to Victoria Station passed some of London’s most famous landmarks.
The walk was a lot quicker than I thought and I arrived at Victoria with enough time to pick up a late lunch of the finest cuisine, a double bacon cheeseburger and large fries (Because obviously I needed the extra calories if I were to survive the cold of the evening). After I wolfed down this greasy delight, the departure board announced my train’s platform.
Mmmmmmh! Pre-emptive calories…
I have always enjoyed the train, but there was something even more appealing about it now that I didn’t have a return ticket for the same day. I was very excited; I hadn’t slept outside for months and not once since I moved away from Scotland!
Yeay! Leaving London!
This would be my first experience wild camping in a place where it wasn’t technically legal… A little niggle of doubt started to build up.
What would happen if I got caught?
What if it got too cold?
What if I hadn’t brought enough warm clothes?
Why on earth was I doing this?
Luckily a beautiful sunset appeared, completely distracting me from all these worries.
Nice sunset and dirty train windows.
I arrived in Shoreham just after sunset and climbed up the hill with the dusk light. When I reached the area I’d planned on staying in, the head torch came out as I searched the area for anywhere flat and hidden enough that I could stay.
I eventually found a nice corner of the woods, inflated my sleeping mat, unpacked my bivi and sleeping bag, and got to work cooking dinner (A lovely Pasta Bolognese bag thing that didn’t look very appealing but tasted better than my everyday cooking).
Looks horribe uncooked, just add water, tastes amazing.
As the temperature dropped and the food disappeared, I decided to curl up in my shelter for the night and read until I felt sleepy enough to sleep. Then I pulled tight the two drawcords on the bivi and the two on the sleeping bag and fell asleep quite quickly.
Cold weather wear. the enterance to the bivi was pulled tight so the hole was about the size of an orange, perfect to breath through.
I awoke at 12am with a slight sense of panic. My legs and feet were rather chilly and I felt quite trapped with the four different drawcords keeping me away from the outside. I had to tell myself to relax and find the fasteners, undo them and then panic. It was quite a kerfuffle! After a quick wiggle of my legs I was feeling warm again and managed to fall asleep again, repeating this process every few hours.
I awoke at 8am, surrounded by frost and surprised at how warm I was. I put some water on the boil for my morning cup of tea and began breaking camp. After all the gear was packed up and the water boiling, I realised I had no idea where I’d put my teabags. Never has a cup of freshly boiled water tasted so good. I could feel the warmth spreading through my body. I picked up the last few things to pack away, my homemade alcohol stove and an unused pair of socks, inside of which I discovered my teabag stash (I swore a bit at myself after that).
Frosty!
As soon as I left the wood, I realised just how cold it had been during the night. The frost was covering everything, all the puddles were frozen over and my toes could feel it through my boots and thick socks. The sun had just come up and the reddish sky was reflected in the frost. It was really lovely! I managed to take a few photos before my phone decided it had a low battery (I knew it didn’t as I had just checked it, turns out it had just got too cold to operate).
Propping my phone against a frozen post to take this photo led it getting too cold and turning off.
Walked down the hill and back into Shoreham. My Grandparents live there so my plan was to meet up with them for lunch. With time to kill before then, I headed to the pebbly beach that extends for miles on the south coast. It was at this moment my phone decided it was warm enough to work again so I got a few photos and then headed to my Grandparent’s house.
Shoreham beach (that reaches to Brighton and beyond) is made up of lots of flinty pebbles and an incredible horizon.
I had made sure not to tell them that I would be sleeping out before seeing them, because I knew they would panic all night about it, but when they asked when I traipsed into their house in thermals, with a backpack and smelling of hills, I couldn’t help but tell them what I’d been up to the night before. Their reactions were priceless!
Aren’t they adorable! They think I’m mad now…
After lunch I headed back to the beach where I made use of my unused teabags and relaxed a little more before getting back on the train to London.
Nothing more relaxing than making a cup of tea on the beach while watching dogs run around like mad.
All in all, I feel like this short trip has refreshed my core. It has taught me that if I need an escape from London (or anything else), the countryside will always be waiting.
That I don’t need to worry what the weather is like, its southern England, not the Artic.
And finally it has shown me that it’s really not that hard (or expensive) to have a little trip away.
If you would like to learn more about Microadventures, I highly recommend Alistair Humphreys’ website and his book for inspiration.
I’m coming next time! 😛 although I still think you’re mad!
I’ll hold you to that!
Scott you’re mad – but admirable! Wish I had done things like that when I lived in London – would have made it a lot more bearable.
Thanks Colin, it certainly was a nice reset.