and I set out on a hike, out of the city and into the hills/mountains, to give our tent a test We carried the thing with us, as well as some food and two bottles of/for drinking water and left home around 9 in the morning, to avoid having to walk during the hottest hours on what seemed to be (one of) the warmest day(s) of the year, so far.
It took us 1 hour and 45 minutes of walking (mostly) up hill, to reach the spot that Clare, who knows the area, had in mind to set up the tent.
These 105 minutes included a couple of short breaks to put some food into our bodies, to drink water and rest our muscles.
It was/we were so warm that we transitioned from shoes to bare foot walking. And later, due to uncomfortable terrain, to flip flops.
We were glad to find out that the tent was relatively easy to set up ( we both have plenty of camping experience )
and ended up spending a handful of hours in a peaceful meadow, a stone's throw away from a mountain fountain with fountain mountain water that is known in the area and frequented by quite a bit of people.
Luckily, nobody disturbed our peace. Although we heard a couple of cars arrive at the fountain, in the time that we were there, and we were temporarily disturbed by the biggest and noisiest insect in the world aka a helicopter... 🚁
Unfortunately, the tent got the full sun on it after an hour (or two) and changed into a bit of a sauna, so we ended up having to sit outside of it, before we eventually decided to pack it up again and slowly walk back home.
Insect life was also getting a bit too active by then. It probably didn't help that we had parked our tent on what might have been an ant's nest... 🐜 🐜
We arrived back in town, early evening, after a fun day and some serious fitness. The tent isn't heavy, but carrying 17 Kg of tent gear ( divided over 2 people ), plus food and drinks, on a 'hot' day is quite a bit for those of us who have never been in the army and grew up in coldish countries ( Scotland and The Netherlands ). It also didn't help that Clare forgot to bring a serious sun hat ;<)
I almost forgot that we spent quite some time foraging wild asparagi in the area around the meadow that we camped in, as well as on the way back to town.
At the side of the road we saw many beautiful flowers and plenty of orchids - ( What a treat! )
We arrived home feeling tired but very satisfied. It was a successful test of our new tent. We were also happy to find out that the tent was fairly easy to pack up, which isn't the case with all tents and walking down hill is always easier than going up hill haha!
Long story short, we are already looking forward to giving our tent a serious test run ( over night ), once we manage to acquire a vehicle in the very near future.
TO BE CONTINUED...
