Solo Camping in a Coastal Cave - Cliff top Wood Stove Cooking

Well, it is a blisteringly hot day. You may have heard, as I was walking in, the thunder. It's rolling in. Driving down here, I'm on the east coast here, it was pouring after a really hot, sunny day. And I think that's what I outrun getting here, so I'm going to rush down to the cave here, which I have wreckied once the other day, just to check it was here and it existed. It's hard to find these things through folklore sometimes. But here it is. A bit of graffiti in it, but it's quite nice. We'll talk about the history of it a bit later. But yeah, the rain's just starting to come through the canopy a bit now. Nice views of the sea over there. Hopefully if this rain stops, I'll get over to the cliff a bit. Maybe even cook over there, we'll see. Yeah, I've got the refuge of the cave for the rain. Someone's been kind enough to leave some firewood here. I saw signs that there was a fire here at some point. I'm probably going to use my wood-burning stove, try and keep it clean. But yeah, you can see it has been a bit graffitied, unfortunately, but I'll definitely make use of this. Nice copper. We've had a lot of thunder, but it's only been a little bit of a shower. Not had that downpour that I thought was coming. I suppose there's still time. I'm going to stay by the cave for now, but it would be nice to get out on the cliff. Maybe for the sunset, we'll see. But yeah, I'm going to stay put until it looks like the coast is clear. Well, this is the spot I wanted to come out to. It's just down from the cliff and there's this big old rock here. I did, when I first saw it, want to come and bivvy on it on a separate night from doing the cave, but it's not very flat. I think you could shim yourself up, but you wouldn't really want to roll off it. You're not going to fall right down there, but it's still a bit of a drop. But it is nice. It is quite covered in ants, which is a bit unfortunate, but it shouldn't be too much trouble. I think I'm going to cook a spot of late-lunch, early-dinner here, and then do a midnight snack back at the cave. But it would be nice to see the sunset out here. Already looking beautiful. I've got a few bits of wood with me. I've got this nice chunk here. There's nothing out here on the cliff. I had to get it all in the woodland. I'll level this out a bit. That's probably about perfect. Put those big chunks in. Use a fire starter here. There we go. I've got the pan on, and I've just added in some chicken, which has pretty much defrosted. It was frozen when I brought it out. I'm going to add in some chorizo. And because it will all do in roughly the same time, some mixed veg that I've pre-prepared. Some courgette, some peppers, onion. It looks beautiful. What a beautiful spot to cook. I may have to come back here and do a lunch or something one day. I think we're going to get a nice sunset. I love them colours. The Mediterranean vegetable colours. We're almost there. I was trying to keep it relatively lightweight, so I'm just going to eat it straight out of the pan. I haven't even seasoned this. I just wanted the vegetables and that. The chorizo obviously has seasoning in it, but healthy for me. I love it. Being down on the coast in the summer for camping. The cave's just in a bit. It's about a 5 minute walk in through the wood there. It's tempting just to stay out here. As uneven as it is. It's time for a punk. A nice brew dog. Good these little cans for camping as well. You don't overdo it. Obviously not too much to carry. Keep popping open. It's been a lovely evening out here. Just waiting for the sun to go over the brow of the hill there. Cheers everyone. Just going to soak this up and enjoy it for a bit. Then make it back to that camp. Probably have a little something to eat. Another beer or two. Set up the bivvy bag. Pretty sure I'm going to come back up here for breakfast though. Make the most of it. It's time to get the stove going again now. Time for a little bite to eat. Got a few, there's plenty of twigs and stuff around here. I've cleared out the cave a little bit. So there's a bit more room now. Nice fat burger. Just a few onions as well. That's just about there. I'm using a naan bread as a burger bun. Just easier to transport. There we go. It's already getting late. So I think it's time for a cuppa before setting up the sleep system. A little bit about this cave. It's a hermit cave. I think back in 1920 or something like that, I can't quite remember now. There used to be a hermit that lived here. On the entrance there's some holes with a couple of bits of metal in there which was for a door. At the back there, I'll show you in a cut away, there's an opening and that's where he had a fireplace or a stove or something apparently. But yeah, he used to live in here and I think the owner of the land at the time kicked him out in the end and that was the last person to have lived in the hermit cave. I suppose enough room for one. So it's quite fitting really to spend the night here. It's eerily quiet in this woodland. You can just about hear the sea. It's about a five minute walk to that ledge I was on which I'll go back to in the morning for breakfast. But yeah, you hear every little sound. On top of this big rock formation is birds roosting and occasionally some leaf litter or something will fall down the back there where the fireplace used to be. I've cleared out where someone had done a makeshift bench here. It's the best place for my bivvy bag that I've got with me today. Which is just a snug packed bivvy. A hooped one. And it's getting on now. About midnight I think. It was getting on anyway to be honest. By the time I got down here after watching the sun set in these late summer evenings. So I've got my summer sleeping bag and my Trekology in here. Definitely doing the Bucknet up in here. Probably going to leave the sleeping bag I hope. It's still quite warm. See you bright and early to catch the sun sunrise. Well I made it back to me rock. Stayed up there at the top of the cliff for a sunrise but it didn't really happen unfortunately. Still it was beautiful just to see the sun come up. And yeah lovely spot for a little bit of breakfast. I remembered I haven't got all that much for breakfast. But I'm going to enjoy making it anyway. When I was bedding down last night I didn't mention it but there was millions of little eyes watching me. I've never been in a woodland with so many foxes. Just kept seeing the two little eyes with my head torch looking at me and kind of circling me wondering what the hell was going on. Breakfast is toasted tea cakes and I've got some jam to go with them. This is number two and that's all I've got. No bacon. I really wish this rock was flatter. It would be such a nice bivvy spot. You might be able to shim it up under the mattress but wouldn't want to roll off. I definitely do want to come back with the bush box and do a bit of a proper cook on here though. That'd be quite cool. I was just walking back past the cave here and I thought fitting place just to sign off and thank you guys for watching. Just a 15 minute walk if that. Back to the truck now. It's a hot one already. Well I hope you enjoyed it and I'll see you on the next one very soon. Goodbye for now.