We've had a run of good weather and a month or so earlier I'd taken delivery of my bargain lightweight 2 person Tent from Alpkit - the Ultralight
Ordos 2 so what better way to start last week !
On Sunday, Lewis and me had been up Birchens Edge doing some Orienteering practice for him and half way through the yellow course, we came across Gardoms edge and despite the gloom, it struck me as a fantastic wildcamp spot. Lewis and me agreed and he marked out (photo below) where we thought the tent should be pitched at some future date.
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| Lewis marking out the spot where we thought the tent needed to go at some future point ! |
Well, that was that - until the next day's weather was fantastic, with a great forecast too. Photo's of early mornings and sunset's from top photographers were up on the web and the seed had been sown. That was it - tonight was the night !! A quick logistical check in my head to make sure I had time to finish work / pack / pick Lewis up from Tennis / drive to the area / walk to the campspot / get tent up / cook food / relax for a bit with some bouldering (mandatory on our wild camps!) / get up early and get back in time for school and work ! With a few minutes spare here and there I worked out we could fit it in - just !
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| Hood up - it's getting cold and we've not even had dinner yet ! |
This is the first time Lewis has carried some kit - made easier by the fact that it was his favourite Derby County rucsac, so not even the slightest grumble from him !
Apart from a quick assembly at home in Lewis's bedroom, I'd not had the tent out yet. It looked like the perfect tent that I'd always been after but until now you could never buy. It seemingly offered the perfect blend of ;
* Design - I loved my previous tents' central ridgeline plus a big hoop at the entrance and small hoop at the feet end. The Ordos 2 was the same, but had a slightly better hoop at the bottom end.
* Space - loads of it - height and width and length.
* Porch - enough for boots / two sml packs or one big pack.
* Affordable - under £200 with a free footprint thrown in.
* LIGHTWEIGHT - I'd always wanted a tent which met the above criteria and was light. Until now - if I could get a tent, then perhaps it wasn't affordable or it wasn't quite light enough or spacious enough. This comes in at 1.2kg, but I think I've got it down to 1.1kg without extra buys / bags etc.
This offered everything I needed. Seemingly !
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| Obligatory night shot |
The first time you put up a new tent it's always a slight learning curve but I think it was up in perfect conditions in about 7 mins. Sub5 next time. The tent pitches inner first and attaches to the ridgeline pole via sml hooks. I think in rain, you'd need to be pretty swift to avoid getting the inner too wet. If you were creative I still think it would be quite possible.
Space was better than I'd hoped. Plenty of room at feet / width / height / porch. Then again, I have come from a solo backpacking / mountain marathon background so am perfectly used to having my nose pressed against canvas to get a night's kip in. This certainly wasn't the case here.
The night was frosty and that was I think the only downside to our trip as Lewis's hands got quite cold and he never normally suffers bless him.
I can't wait for its next trip out which is going to be even lighter weight as my equally shiny Alpkit
Numo ultralight sleep mat arrived the day after which again is half the size of my previous one when packed but 3 times as padded when inflated. And very reasonable at £35 too !! Cheers Alpkit!
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| Mandatory mist morn shot |
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| Dawn / sheepy / sunrisey type shot. |
