Original plans for a halloween camp on Dartmoor with another YouTuber, West Country Wild Camping (Ash) fell through due to last minute complications on my part (sorry Ash). We'd planned a spooky camp near the site of Kitty Jay's Grave (roughly 1 mile North West of Hound Tor) and I was really excited for this camp as it had been in planning for several months and would have been my first camp with Ash who, since starting my channel and Instagram account has fast become a friend, though we have never met in person.
Anyhow, with the Halloween camp cancelled I decided to go out the night before, a night often referred to as Devil's Night.
Not fancying Kitty Jay's Grave as I figured I'd save that one for next year, I decided upon the site of my very first wild camp back on April 14th of this year, when I camped with my good friend Big Ian at Crowdy Reservoir. It was a very spooky camp, with a strange presence in the night that really spooked me and made me fear going back to camp there, until now.
I remembered the weather from that night, it was terrible with super strong wind and being so damned cold. We both had a miserable night and while it actually encouraged me to continue camping, it actually put Big Ian right off the idea and I've struggled to get him camping again since.
Crowdy Reservoir is not far from the murder site of Charlotte Dymond, a servant girl who had her throat cut by her lover back on April 14th, 1844. This I learned a few days later which spooked me even further since her ghost supposedly rooms the area every year on the anniversary of her murder and this kind of explained the strange presence on the night of our camp!
During my Devil's night stay I didn't experience any supernatural shenanigans but again, the wind was horrendous and this time couple with heavy rain which really concerned me as it was the first time I'd pitched up my new Lanshan 1 Plus (with 4 season inner) and I had not yet seam sealed it! The wind in the night tore a couple pegs out of the ground causing the tent to nearly collapse on my in the night. Having to get out in the high wind and rain to re-peg the tent was not a fun experience at all.
Getting back into the tent afterwards I had to strip off my base layer and sleep in the nude, not the most comforting way to sleep on such a night in a tent, but luckily this was also the first time using my new OEX Leviathan EV900 sleeping bag, a true 4 season bag filled with hydrophobic down, I found my self warm in seconds.
I'd also brought along a new pair of Sundicks Down Booties (daft name, I know) that kept my feet toasty warm and comfortable. Since I normally suffer with cold feet at night in my tents, despite wearing thermal socks these were a surprisingly welcome addition to my pack and will definitely be with me on future camps.
Finally, around 2am I fell asleep. The tent held up well and despite having not seam sealed the Lanshan it let in no water at all. I woke up warm and dry! I climbed out of the tent and was greeted by a beautiful sunrise over the lake.
This morning I planned to drive to Roughtor Carpark, visit the memorial stone at Charlotte Dymond's murder sight and if the weather permitted, a walk to Roughtor, the second highest natural point in Cornwall... so I did!
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