headtorch

This last winter has seen the start of some night walking.
A fairly new experience for me, yes, I’ve done often take a ‘passeggiata’ on holidays but up in the hills, away from the sodium lighting of the roads, towns and villages was something very different. It can get dark, very dark!
I needed to invest in a decent head torch, however, given that I was new to night walking, I wasn’t prepared to spend large sums of money.
Moel Famau view at night

I went to my local GoOutdoors to pick up the Coleman CHT 15 Ultra Bright Headlamp. Winner of Trail Magazine’s Best Value award (February 2014), it is surprisingly good despite it’s ‘budget tag.

headtorch Powered by 3AAA batteries, it provides 150 lumens which illuminate up to 180 feet on it’s highest setting. This setting can be activated with a single press of the big easy to use (even with gloves) button. This button is also used to cycle between the different modes, red, blue, low (35 lumens), medium and full power.
The red setting is useful when taking a break and don’t want to dazzle the people you’re with as the colour does not appear as bright to the human eye as white LED and it prevents loss of night vision.
The blue light makes for easier map reading as it retains the map’s colours. Blue is the also only light which can cut through fog.

The battery life is around 6 hours on full power. There is a red battery power indicator that warns when the battery is running low. however, changing the batteries is fiddly and best first attempted in the comfort of your own home until you get the hang of it.
A mounded key is attached to the strap buckle and used to unscrew the battery housing end cap. Reattaching doesn’t give a reassuring click but does appear to be tight enough.

It is a reasonably comfortable fit, stays on well, doesn’t feel too heavy and doesn’t leave mark on your forehead. The headband is elastic, fully adjustable as is the light itself which can be moved to aim the beam. I’ve worn it in the rain without issues and it does feel durable and can withstand being dropped – although I don’t want to test that too much!

To conclude, for my first venture in to night walking this head torch proved to be a good purchase Yes, I would always take a spare torch (or two!) but I’m pleased with the Coleman and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to a novice night time walker or camper.

Another day, another storm.
I’m sure the amount of storms that have hit the UK has increased tenfold since they started naming them. This evening ‘Frank’ was on it’s way bringing wind and rain.

We parked up near the church in Cilcain, a small village near the foot of Moel Famau, reached via a single track road off the A494.
Armed with the Coleman CHT 15 headlamp (and plenty of batteries and a few spare torches!) we walked East, past the church, following the road to the left. We took another left at the next junction where the road eventually became a muddy track heading South East.
The climb here was gradual but the work rate soon increased as we joined the Offa’s Dyke path to the South towards Moel Dywyll.

So far, the navigation was fairly straight forward but, with the pitch black skies and various routes becoming available, the GPS became a very welcome bit of kit!
It’s disorientating walking in these conditions, even on hills visited numerous times previously, however, the views over to the twinkling lights of Wirral, Liverpool and beyond are fantastic. Sadly, this photo doesn’t do it justice.
20151229_215203-1[1]

There are tales of ghosts who haunt this part of the Clwydian hills and sightings of UFOs flying overhead. Personally, I don’t believe such stories, but, it might have been fun to see a spirit or alien though!
You can understand how such stories come about when you turn off the head torches and look out in to the silent, inky blackness.

Once we reached the first cairn the wind had really got up making walking quite difficult. By the time we had got to Jubilee Tower we concluded it would be unsafe to stay there for our coffee break given that the wind was gusting around 45mph!

We dropped down and took the Clwydian Way path to the North which had become very muddy and slippery. I managed to stay on my feet….unlike others (-:
It was here we fired up the Jetboil to get a welcome brew on.
We returned to the car a few hours later, slightly windswept and extremely muddy but an enjoyable walk!

Walk map This 6 mile route can be downloaded from ViewRanger.

Black Pudding Gaiters

Hiking, travelling, gear

Tag

Coleman CHT 15 Headlamp

An Evening with Frank