Gale Force Wildcamp

Day 1 - Moonlight over the Lake 

The walk to the stream was easy, but the ascent was hard given the weight I was carrying. It was slightly breezy and a bit chilly, but fairly pleasant on the whole.

It was fully dark by the time I reached the north end of the lake, but the half moon provided ample illumination There was only a gentle breeze and the scene was both serene and surreal as the moonlight reflected across the water It was a wonderful moment, one of those rare times when nature forces you to stop and look at it in awe.

Moonlight over Llyn y Fan Fawr

At first I didn't bother taking the camera out because I knew I couldn't photograph it handheld and I didn't want to stop before reaching camp. But then I changed my mind and attempted it, using my two trekking poles to brace the camera. I tried a 15 second exposure at ISO 400. To my surprise it came out pretty good, blurry of course, but only slightly. Then I tried a 1 second exposure at ISO 1600. It came out surprisingly well, but horribly grainy. In spite of the grain though, it captured the scene well.

Moonlight over Llyn y Fan Fawr, with clouds

Then I realised it was worth spending more time over so I took off my rucksack and set up the tripod to take some more shots before moving on to set up camp. The tripod gave a much better quality image, but then the moving clouds were blurred, as was the reflection on the lake. A better quality photo, but not such an accurate representation of what the scene actually looked like to the eye.

Only after moving on did I realise that I didn't use my DSLR! Since I'd started off using my G9 to take snaps, I actually forgot about my 400D! "Not to worry" I thought, "there'll be plenty more opportunity to take more shots like that over the next few days".

How wrong I was! That evening was my best opportunity for photographs. If only I'd realised I'd have wandered back and taken more serious photos, but I was so shattered after hauling all that weight up there that I couldn't be bothered.

It had taken me an hour and a half to reach the camp site by the lake. There was a breeze blowing from the northwest, so I pitched my tunnel tent (Nallo 2) facing southwest, which was ideal for the view too.

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