Away from the cat part II

I have a holiday planned! And I will be away from home for days. The idea is that the cat will not mind too much. I hope to get her accustomed to that by then! I had already spent a night in the hills before, but then I had only been away from home for some 16 hours. I still have some way to go. So when I realised I was going on a walk, I figured I should add a night to that. That way I would be gone for significantly longer than the previous time! And I thought my friend Kate would be joining me on that walk, so I suggested we go to her place afterwards for dinner, and then after that I would just vanish into the hills. Kate turned out to not have registered, but we kept the dinner in position. So after the walk I jumped into my car and went to her place. I had brought a bottle of wine, so while there was food in the oven we just sat at her garden table and caught up with a glass of wine! It was really nice. And it even got better when the food was done. It was delicious! I sometimes have excellent plans. But when we had eaten dinner, Kate suggested I go off as I still had to find a space to sleep. And she offered me some strawberries, as she had bought quite a lot for just one person. I had an empty lunchbox! They could go in there. And I filled my flasks.

I said my goodbyes and left. I had decided I wanted to sleep in or near a slate quarry I hadn't ever been to. It is on the opposite side of the road from Foel Gron, but on the OS map it does not have a name. I drove there in not too much time, parked up, rearranged my bag so I had everything I needed, and walked into the quarry. I knew it had a stream running past it, so I know there was water. Not many spaces immediately presented themselves, but at least there was no sign of midges. I stayed close to the river. Where it entered the quarry perimeter I saw a bit of a gully. It wouldn't rain that night, so pitching in a low space wasn't a problem. And that would keep me out of the wind! It was a bit breezy. And I decided to go for it. It was lined with soft moss.

following the  river upstream into the quarry

I didn't do an awful lot other than pitch the tent, have a quick bath in the river (which was rather peaty brown; I wasn't sure about drinking that), brush my teeth, and go to bed, as it was already getting a bit late. I would have time to explore the next day! And I slept well. I did have to go out for a leak, but that just meant I got to see the beautiful moonshine over the landscape. Then in the morning I woke up into an unexpectedly cloudy day. But that was fine with me!

I decided to sit right by the river for my breakfast. I really enjoyed my outdoor breakfasts! And this one even had strawberries. And after breakfast I brushed my teeth, and zipped my tent closed. I wanted to leave my luggage behind while I would be exploring the quarry!

breakfast!

I first had a look at some holes in the wall. The ceilings looked very spectacularly crumbly, so I left them for what they were. I then looped around the water in the main pit. It was not a big quarry, but it was nice to see new ground! And from a distance, you could see my tent like this tiny little green blob in a huge landscape. I enjoyed that. But I looped back to it, and packed everything up. I started making my way back to the car, but I wanted to sit down somewhere and drink my last coffee and eat a slice of cake. I found a lovely waterfall which provided the backdrop! And then I finally did go back to the car and drove home. I drove through Ysbyty Ifan, as I had never been there before, and I imagined the landscape on the way there being gorgeous. And it was!

the pit

 impressive borehole 

Quarry selfie

There is a tent in this picture, honest!

Looking back upstream to where I had been camping

When I got home the cat was waiting for me behind the front door. But she didn't seem particularly upset! She still had quite a lot of food. So I think this mission was a success. I had had a great time, I got her used to me being away for some 26 hours, and she was fine! Exactly how I hoped this would be. And I had even caught up with a friend along the way. An excellent weekend.