baz's backpacking blog

mammut burny

2011-12-02T15:36:00.004Z

The Mammut Burny is described as a safety lamp. Weighing only 18g including the two CR2032 batteries. It has three modes; flood, red, and flashing red. And these are cycled through it that order by using the button on the front. At the rear there's a clip and an short loop of elastic. These allow the light to be mounted on cycle helmets, baseball caps, bike handle bars or shoulder straps of rucksack, etc. But unlike the Petzel e+Lite the clip doesn't have a mechanism allowing it to swivel so it can't be clipped to the brim of a cap and used like a head torch.

If you don't need to use the elastic to mount the light it can be removed saving a massive 2g! The elastic also has a very innovative tab that is used to open the battery hatch.

The lamp boast a brightness of 12 lumens and has a range of 12m in flood mode. And you'll be pleased to note that in flashing red mode it's visible from 500m and the battery will last up to 160 hours in that mode.

If you're fond of jogging after dark or need more lights adding to your bike's array then this little device is ideal.

therm-a-rest easy chair

2011-12-02T13:49:00.000Z

I bought a pair of these some time back for use when car camping. The TNF Nebula has good headroom and porch space but it's not big enough to fit people sitting on folding stools into. So these were a good solution. With the purchase of a Therm-a-rest NeoAir a few years ago the chair kits fell out of use.

Until, that was, someone mentioned that they had been using theirs with their NeoAir. I lost no time scrabbling about the attic looking for them. And as the picture shows you can indeed use a NeoAir. The NeoAir is slightly wider than the kit but it still fits, all you need to do is semi inflate and squeeze into place, remembering to put the valve in the right place should you need to add some more puff - job done. At 300g I would never consider taking one backpacking, however if a trip comes around and we don't have the luxury of a pub to spend the evening in then I may do. Especially if that trip is in the winter.

berghaus ardennes soft shell jacket

2011-12-02T12:00:00.005Z

It's always nice to be sent kit to try out and you'd think being sent a soft shell in the autumn would be an ideal time to put one through it's paces. But somehow we didn't figure on the unseasonably good weather we've been having.

I've had the jacket three weeks but it's not seen a drop of rain to test it's water resistance, and drying time. So this afternoon I resorted to setting the garden sprinkler up.

The Ardennes soft shell jacket is one of Berghaus's new season outdoor clothing offerings. The one I'm testing is a medium which on my frame is a good fit, the sleeves and length of the garment are spot on. The back has a drop tail which is what you'd expect, and the hem has two cinch pulls that make a very effective seal. The two pockets are set high to clear hip belts and are mesh lined to aid ventilation. One gripe is that the pockets are not very deep nor wide; too small to put my hands in anyway. On the plus side, inside the pockets are stitched on three sides leaving the top open so they create two internal pockets, if you get my drift. In fact as the pockets aren't that deep I've adopted the internal way of using them for house keys and mobile because they're more secure. The jacket on my postal scale weighed in at 550g.

The collar is quite high, and like the sleeves and hem, it makes a good seal. Although at first I thought the material was too stiff making the fit uncomfortable. Maybe it is and I've gotten used to it, or it's softened. The material is stiffer compared to my Marmot ATV jacket or The North Face Apex 3/4 top. And whilst I'm on the subject of comparison, doing a HUR test*, the jacket is more wind resistant than the Apex and comparable to the fabric used by Marmot. I also did a HUR test with Penny's RAB Baltoro Lite and the Polartec fabric is markedly more wind resistant than the AF fabric used by Berghaus.

And it's this balance between water and wind resistance, warmth and breathability that's the issue. For some a soft shell jacket is the bee's knees for others they aren't sum of their parts, being neither windproof nor warm enough. As for water resistance...

Well I chickened out of running around under the garden sprinkler so I put my arm in the jacket and put in under the shower. As you'd expect from a new jacket it beaded well, and when the material wetted out there was penetration through the material. However the seams (of which there are many) started leaking in a very short time.

To recap I love the fit of this jacket, the close fit might not suit all, particularly if you were planning to wear a thin fleece under it to increase the thermal rating. (I tried this and it was uncomfortably tight). The wind resistance is good but personally I prefer better. The water resistance looks comparable with other soft shell tops, and I'm confident that it would hold off a shower. Long term use will determine how durable the DWR finish is, but I expect like other jackets it will need to be washed and reproofed subject to use.

*HUR test; place hand inside jacket and try and blow breath through it. The harder you have to blow the more wind resistant.

classic kit - green top poly bottle

2011-11-10T21:14:00.001Z

I'm going to start a competition by posing the question, how old is this bit of kit? But any self respecting backpacker will already know the answer to this without needing to reach for their copy of the 1976 book Backpacking in Britain by Derrick Booth and Robin Adshead... Doh!

I'll claim that this one isn't that old but it isn't that far off. I only have two of these left, and they still get used for carrying dried milk and fresh coffee these days, not some freeze dried stuff like yesteryear.

One of the best culinary tips I gleaned at the time was to break eggs into a jug and decant them into a (larger) Green Top poly bottle. Devoid of shell they could be carried without any chance of being broken - that had already been done at home! From an advert at the time where the question was posed, 'How do you like your eggs? Fried or boiled?' Well boiled is the only way you can't serve them.

caldera cone system - first look

2011-11-07T11:47:00.001Z

The set up with a Snow Peak 900 pot

What do you get a backpacker who has everything? Another stove, of course.

Despite owning a number of different systems the one I go back to is my trusty Coleman F1 Lite gas stove. It's simple, quick, convenient and works in most conditions, however the cartridges are expensive and end up as landfill. And invariably on trips I always seem to be carrying a part used cartridge and a full one. Another disadvantage of the F1 Lite system is that as a couple somebody has to wait for one mug to boil before the next one is put on the stove. (I should mention that Penny always gets the first brew/hot water for cooking).

No doubt someone might ask why we just don't use the larger pot with the F1 but I did try using my Snow Peak 900 pot and a mug but there's something disheartening about staring into a pot that size when drinking 350ml of coffee.

All packed away

The Caldera Cone systems now come with a caddy, handily the caddy that ships with the cone for the Snow Peak 900 pot is one that unscrews in to similar sized bits, and these can be used to eat or drink out off. The immediate advantage is that one pot boils enough water for two and no one needs wait. And with the caddy doubling as bowls or mugs there's no need to carry additional items.

Of course the biggest advantage of meths based systems is that you can tailor how much fuel you need to carry for a trip; no need to carry part used cartridges, and no enviromental impact.

The system comprises of windshield cum pot stand, fuel bottle, caddy, and a recycled drinks can stove with attached primer plate; all in weight 177g. And it all packs neatly into the caddy, although I did have to roll and re-roll the cone so that it would go back in again. I'd prefer to pack the fuel elsewhere because I wouldn't want the caddy to get contaminated should the bottle leak. there's also room for a couple of GSI lexan desert spoons and a lighter.

In use

I did a quick test this morning (slight breeze, air temp circa 12C, no lid) and 15ml of meths brought 500ml of water close to boil. On that basis I figure I'd need about 30ml to bring enough water for two up to a boil. The supplied fuel bottle holds 5.5fl oz roughly equal to 160ml enough for five brews, not quite enough for two for a weekend trip unfortunately. No matter I have a 250ml that will do the trick.

Now all I need is to plan a trip out so that I can get to use it other than in the garden or local park or woods.

nite ize spotlit

2011-11-01T08:28:00.000Z

I spotted these on sale in Lakeland which is a bit off piste for a chain that is known for all things kitchen. Although I have been using an Asaklit LED light that I blogged about last year, it had somehow got lost. Well... not quiet. After buying this replacement and packing it on a recent solo trip to the Quantocks I discovered the Asaklit hanging from a tab in the inner of my Scarp1.

This was a good opportunity to do a side by side test. On spec, the Nite Ize and Asaklit have the same battery power source; a single CR2032. The Asaklit has two LEDS; the Nite Ize one. There's a small weight saving of 2g for the Nite Ize. However the Nite Ize, despite the single LED, has a diffuser, which wins over the two of the Asaklit which are uni-directional. At least in the Scarp1, when I used the Nite Ize in the Hex3 it was a bit lost it the top. But no matter, on solo trips I'll save a couple of grams and use the Nite Ize but when I'll use the Hex3 I'll take the Asaklit instead.

heinz squeeze and stir soups

2011-09-28T11:59:00.005+01:00

I read about these on Darren's blog, so when I was next in the supermarket I headed off to the aisle where they have the soups and picked up a couple to try. Heinz Cream of Tomato soup needs no introduction and is the utimate winter comfort food, ideal for the coming season. And just like it's big brother that comes in a can it's gluten free. They weigh 72g and are simple to use, simply tear off the perforated top, squeeze into your mug and stir in the water. And as the soup is a concentrated paste you don't get that after taste like you do with packet soups. Apart from the obvious use as a warming starter there's scope to use the soup as a base for something more substantial by adding pasta, dried veg, etc to it. So it's lightweight, tasty, low bulk and no packet soup after taste, so what's not to like? Well at 59p a satchet, the price is a bit hard to swallow. That said one or two of these are going into my food bag on trips out over the next six months.

grower's cup coffee brewer

2011-09-28T10:55:00.007+01:00

The Grower's Cup coffee brewer is an innovative way of getting a cup of fresh brewed coffee on the trail. It's simple to use just open the top, pull a red string (that opens the spout) and pour in 0.5l of hot water. The top is then re-closed and you leave it to brew from 5 to 8 mins depending on how strong you like your coffee.

The coffee, which is from Ethiopia, organically grown and fair trade, has an excellent flavour, and it was a pity that I only got one sample to try. The pouch weighs 45g, and as you can see from the picture it's fairly large although not particularly deep. It's being distributed by Rosker - 023 9252 8711 - sales@rosker.co.uk and will cost £2.50 per pouch. Despite being very good coffee, in my mind, the cost and the bulk of the product lets it down.

helen browning's speedy sausages

2011-09-12T12:41:00.004+01:00

These were suggested to me by a friend who also suffers from coeliac disease. Each packet has two portions of six sausages at 100g per portion, a handy size as part of a meal for one. The nutritional values are as follows; 1176KJ of energy, 17g of protein, 23g of fat, and a minuscule 0.6g of carbohydrate per portion.

The cooking instructions say they can be fried in a little oil in five minutes. As I wanted to simulate a camp cook scenario I set up my Coleman F1 lite on the patio and cooked them on a low gas with no oil in a non stick Primus fry pan. These are not called speedy for nothing and they were ready to eat in no time. I loved the taste of these although the fat content was a little high for my liking.

I've not tried any recipe ideas out yet but I guess they could be served with instant mash, with baked beans, or added to a rice or pasta dish. One of the dishes I've always wanted to re-create on a camp stove is Fabada. I can now envisage pre-diced chorizo being heated in a pan with the sausages until cooked through, chicken stock being added along with garlic granules, dried onion, and dried cooked cannelli beans. Then the seasoning; turmeric, smoked paprika, and ground pepper. The whole thing being brought to the boil and simmered, or put in a cosy, until the beans are reconstituted. I can't wait to give it a try.

eurohike backpacker tent - first look

2011-08-11T13:32:00.005+01:00

Front view

I was asked to select a tent from those that Millets stock so naturally I went for the Eurohike Backpacker. As it would appear very odd for me to post a review on something that has a frame, sleeps four or more people, and requires the use of a car to transport it!

The tent is a two person, two hooped tunnel one that weighs 2335g without the peg and pole stuff sacks. Splitting the bits between two gives roughly similar weighing bundles. The poles are colour coded as the rear of the tent is lower but it's obvious which one should go where. The height at the front of the tent is 90cm which is too low for me. The inner is solid with mesh at the top at the front and rear, it also has a pocket either side and a hook at the apex, nice touches but pretty standard these days. The space in the inner is what I'd call cozy for two with little room for storage. This isn't too much of an issue because there's space between the inner and outer to store stuff, and whatever you can get down under your feet. The porch space is quite roomy too. Access to the inner is by a left biased D door, and I would personally like it wider on the right to make it easier to get in or out without trampling on your partner.

Offset entrance

It pitches outer first which is always a bonus in the UK because we have weather not a climate! The outer has four guying points, two on each hoop, given that tunnel tents have little rigidity across the width of the tent it does flap. Pitching it tail to the wind would help but I'd be inclined to double the number of guys using the second set to add rigidity to the poles. The outer has two vents at either end to aid ventilation with the rear one with a Velcro closure. The door opens on the left so you can create an area that is covered and ventilated should you need to cook under cover. As already mentioned the porch space is good, easily accommodating a two pairs of footwear even smallish rucksacks. But with the entrance to the side I'd keep the area uncluttered which would make it easier to get in and out of.

Baggy bottom

There is a slight design flaw with the tent. The foot end of the inner clips to the guy out loops of the outer unfortunately as these guy out points are elastic and the pull on these by the inner means that the flysheet wouldn't set properly and became baggy This meant it flapped, and didn't shed water as well as it should. To remedy this I used an extra two groundsheet spikes. Although I didn't try this it may be possible to rig extensions to the inner clip out points, to save carrying the extra pegs. This is a shame because as a budget tent it has it's plus points but it's let down by this.

mrs crimble's crackers

2011-08-10T12:24:00.000+01:00

Finding a decent bread substitute for a backpacking lunch is a pain when on a gluten free (GF) diet. Doubly so because I'm a diabetic and need carbohydrate (CHO) to count against the insulin that I inject.

So lucky for me that I was approached by a PR company, The Ideas Network, who's client is Mrs Crimble's, and they sent me three boxes of cheese crackers to try. As it happens at the beginning of this week I was completing the last leg of the South Downs Way, and whilst in the general store in Alfriston I spotted a box of these crackers, so naturally I bought a box.

The three varieties are Original Cheese, Sundried Tomato and Pesto, and Rosemary and Onion, typical Mediterranean flavours then. Nutritionally they all contain 63.8% CHO however the flavoured crackers have few more calories than the plain ones. I like cheese flavoured biscuits because they can be eaten without any spread or topping, and, if you're lucky to have some, they go really well with sliced chorizo or salami.

Each box contains 7 servings of 4 crackers, giving 11.5g CHO per serving, so to suit my need I'd be looking at having a third of a box for lunch when out on the trail.

The crackers are very crisp, and like all gluten free biscuits and crackers they need careful packing because they will break up. Unsurprisingly it's because it's the gluten in wheat and other grains that hold bread, biscuits, etc together. Another point to note is that GF products are usually made from a mix of various starches, and potato starch likes absorbing moisture given any opportunity. Storage in an air tight container is a must, especially as the crackers aren't packed in portions. That said if there were two of you then sharing a box would solve that issue.

The flavouring isn't overpowering like some others I've tried. I'm always wary when food stuff has onion flavouring as usually several hours after eating I can still taste the onion, not so in this case. And I particularly like the crunchy crispness of the crackers.

I'm glad I was offered the opportunity to try these as they will help break up the monopoly that oat cakes have had on my lunch breaks.

stealth camping - the rules

2011-08-03T14:09:00.006+01:00

Olympiad training ground?

The first rule of stealth camping is... well, there is no stealth camping. And if you're stealth camping and get discovered then you've obviously not been stealthy enough.

Here's my 'guidance' on how to be stealthy - or not.

Bushcrafters wear green and drab coloured clothing for a reason. Wearing a day glo red synthetic base layer isn't going to help. Unless you happen to be hunkering down in an azalea or rhododendron plantation in April.

Similarly the same goes for your shelter. A Vango Force Ten? Too large profile, and foot print. And even in an azalea or rhododendron plantation in April you'd be hard pressed to hide something that orange. Even a green coloured tarp might be too high a profile; how often do you see green pyramids in the woods when you take your dog for a walk?

Planning on taking a mate? Make sure that s/he isn't a prospective gold medal winner in the 2012 British Olympic Snoring team. Or for that matter, whether you're a similarly aspiring Olympiad.

Using the shelter of the woods is often a ploy of would be stealth campers. However the woods are home to a myriad of munchers that range in size, from the micro sized muncher such as the mosquito, to much larger munchers, badgers or foxes, that have been know to munch rucksacks to get at morsels of food. That said if you're ensconced with one of the above Olympiads chances are that their training will keep the larger munchers away. Sadly micro sized munchers like mosquito's are indiscriminate and will not be deterred by snoring however loud.

So you've found a spot just off the track and someone has helpfully built a lean-to out of rotten branches, and put a black spot on the soil marking the spot where you should light a fire, should you fancy one. Think again, it's probably a trap set by rangers or wardens. Or if not they will certainly know of the place, and so will everyone else.

There is no smoke without fire; avoid being the centre of an arson investigation, leave the stove at home. Whilst wood gas stoves like the Bush Buddy are really efficient, if you can't get really dry wood you'll have a lovely pall of smoke hanging over your camping spot. The equivalent of you putting a poster up on the trail side saying, "I'm in here, on the right, behind the huge thicket." And even if the smoke dissipates some vigilant passer by may get a whiff of it and come and investigate.

Dog walkers do take their dogs out for a walk before seven in the morning.

the shropshire hills - caer caradoc

2011-08-03T10:29:00.000+01:00

Looking back to Helmeth and Ragleth Hills

In his book the Shropshire Hill Country Vincent Waite says this of Caer Caradoc, "Caer Caradoc is likely to be the first choice of a climber because of its commanding height, bold outline and historical interest." And indeed it was the first of the hills we bagged.

We approached the hill from the east leaving the car at the parking spot under Hope Bowdler Hill. In the Cicerone guide David Hunter's route starts from the car park in Church Stretton but as we drove down from the campsite past this spot it made sense to start from here, especially as there was space. Parking is limited to half a dozen cars but it's free. Unlike the car park in town which is much larger and costs.

What you don't realise if you climb up the eastern slope is how steep and airy the western edge is, it falls dramatically down to the busy A49 and Church Stretton. On our visit there was a lot of haze that so we weren't able to make out much more than the Long Mynd and the Stiperstones. On one of those cold clear days you could see into Wales. But only if it was a still cold day otherwise the only thing you'd make out is the tears streaming out of your eyes, even in the relatively gentle breeze that day my eyes started to well up.

Caer Caradoc is one of the places that Caractacus is said to have made his last stand against the Romans. It's know that the battle took place somewhere in Shropshire but not exactly where, and there are other hills nearby that have the same name. Whether the battle took place here or not it was certainly a settlement because the flat-ish summit is ringed with earthworks. And the imagination is stirred further by the tower-like rock structures that dot the edges of the summit. I could just see these towers, manned by a small bunch of plucky picts throwing rocks, spears and firing arrows at the overwhelming numbers of Roman Legionnaires as they marched up the unremittingly steep slopes.

From Little Caradoc, with Lawley and the Wrekin (in the distance)

From the summit of Caer Caradoc we dropped to the lower peak of Little Caradoc before descending further to pick up the track that runs along the eastern edge of the hill, and we followed this back towards the car.

food find - asian home gourmet kimchi soup

2011-07-31T18:30:00.002+01:00

Another great Longdan food find, Asian Home Gourmet Kimchi Soup paste. I've used this paste a number of times at home with the rice udon noodles that I posted about here. At home I added the paste to a litre of boiling water along with a roughly chopped onion and sliced bamboo shoots in the pot, after five or so minutes I added some cubed chicken breast. At this time the rice udon had been soaking for half an hour, and I'd refreshed the hot water during this time. Once the chicken had been poached I added shredded chard from the garden, and cooked for a further three or so minutes. The noodles were added to a (large!) bowl and the soup poured on top.

On the trail I'd use the broth I'd get from stirring the paste into hot water to rehydrate whatever I want to put in it. The choice is yours when it comes down to it but the paste isn't vegetarian as it contains shrimp paste and fish sauce. Soy sauce isn't used and the label states it's free of gluten contaminates, so it's gluten free but then I wouldn't be featuring it here if it wasn't! And it's MSG free too.

Stripped of the outer package the sachet weighs 53g,which isn't a bad weight compared to some cuppa soup mixes that might be used as a basis for a meal. And although the packet states use 500ml of water it does stretch to a litre as I use at home, so can be be split or used as a base for two in a larger pot.

This past week on a car camping trip I used the thick noodles again (I love them!) and poached chicken breast, pak choi, and bamboo shoots in the broth on a Trangia, the noodles needed breaking in half to soak but but nevertheless it was as good as ever (apart from trying to eat noodles with a spoon!)

I spotted some rice noodle nests that would make a great addition, albeit a bulky one, to this dish however whatever noodles you prefer, or can eat, this is a very flavoursome base and it''s one I'll continue to use.

the shropshire hills - wenlock edge

2011-07-31T15:23:00.011+01:00

Wine but no sign of the author

Lower Hill Farm campsite is located a few miles south of Much Wenlock on the western side of Wenlock Edge. Rita, the owner, optimistically claimed that the site was terraced which it was, after a fashion. But that didn't matter to us as we had pretty much the whole campsite to ourselves so we found a relatively level spot in the top field with a superb view out across to Caer Caradoc, The Lawley and beyond. Behind us somewhere in amongst the trees ran the Shropshire and Jack Mytton Ways.

"What are we doing tomorrow?" Penny asked. "That," I said pointing at one of the hills.

In Much Wenlock we'd picked up an OS map of the area (1:25 explorer #217) and a second hand copy of Shropshire Hill Country by Vincent Waite, which happened to turn out to be a real find. First published in 1970 it covered all manner of legend, history, geology, architecture and more on the area. In fact this book became a reference to the walks we did, "So what does Vincent say about..." was often asked when looking at the map and the guide as we planned the following day's activity. Our imprint was the 1989 one and there are copies available online.

We used David Hunter's The Shropshire Hills, A Walker's Guide published by Cicerone that we bought from The Outdoor Depot in Church Stretton. Despite being close to the start of three of the routes in the book covering Wenlock Edge we opted to bag peaks instead. This was no slight to the charms that undoubtedly the Edge offered but I thought that I'd like to walk the length of it. And for that you need to use a two car shuttle.

As the day closed the route was decided, and we drank vino whilst reading Vincent.

the shropshire hills

2011-07-31T13:35:00.005+01:00

"What's that over there?"

"That's the Shropshire Hills..."

"Any climbing?"*

"Naw, don't think so..."

"What time will we get to the Vanyol Arms?"

"Before it closes, I hope..."

On many occasions I have been party to similar conversations. The Shropshire Hills suffer the same fate as that of Northumberland, people drive past on the way to some where else.

More fool them. Whilst I try and visit Northumberland every couple of years, I'm ashamed to say that it took until this week for me to rectify the situation, Shropshire-wise. So last Monday armed with the knowledge of a campsite perched on Wenlock Edge, a box of full of food, and a car boot equally full of kit, we whizzed up the M40 in search of England's other forgotten county...

*There is climbing in Shropshire, apparently.

rab vapour rise smock

2011-07-18T10:02:00.002+01:00

I've had one of these for two years now. Although intended for high activity use, it has reflective piping on the shoulders and back, it's become a regular piece of backpacking kit for the cooler months.

RAB clothing is a good fit for my body shape and has a nice close fit. The sleeves are over long and have thumb loops which is a useful feature that I've used a number of times. Particularly because it doesn't have any where to stuff your hands. It has a dropped tail to cover my bum, the deep front zip helps to ventilate when the going gets hard, and there's a napoleon pocket that will take an OS map. Now it might seem like a good idea if an item of clothing stuffs into one of it's pockets, after all you won't need a stuff sack... But since the pocket isn't tethered internally when you try to take whatever is in there out it invariably means the pocket will follow more so if your hand is damp, which I find irritating.

As already mention this garment is meant for high activity use, so it doesn't have a hem cord but it's some thing that I find useful for the use that I put it to. However it does have one for the collar. I presume this is for sealing the neck to stop rain running down your back or to keep warm air in, whatever it's intention I've never had call to use it.

The material, Pertex Equilibrium, is wind resistant not windproof and this makes it more breathable, again a feature that is found in this type of top. The idea is that if you're running you generate heat so you need better breathablilty, and allowing some breeze through will have a cooling effect thus creating balance, or as the name suggests, equilibrium. Similarly it's shower resistant not waterproof, the surface material dissipates the rain over a large area to aid evaopouration with your body's heat driving the drying process through the lining material. Wear this when it's raining and you'll be damp, warm damp depending on how hard you're working.

Although it's not windproof enough for my liking, there's no hem draw cord and no pockets, it's something that I can put on over a base layer and be comfortable in a range of conditions. And that's why it works for me.

mountaingoat detachable mesh pocket

2011-07-18T10:02:00.000+01:00

I spotted the detachable pocket on twitter last week. MountainGoat is a one person operation and as I'm a big fan of supporting the outdoor cottage industry, I ordered one up. They are made to measure so you have to supply the dimensions and specify what grade of grossgrain (the thin stuff is lighter) you want. The pocket was made, despatched and delivered within a week.

I have gone from an Osprey rucksack that had pockets a-plenty to the three pockets of the Golite Peak/Jam without missing the extra storage and gear organisation that you have with those additional pockets, so why would I want an add-on?

Fishing for gear in the main pocket of a Golite bag is like trying pick out the winning ticket in a tombola, although by adding a couple of mini karabiners stuff like keys can be easily got at as I described here. So having an optional mesh pocket seems to me like a good idea.

Mesh keeps the weight down, my one weighs a paltry 27g, but apart from the extra storage, the mesh pocket is a good place to put damp gear so it has a chance to dry out. I haven't had the chance to get out recently so haven't had the chance to put it to the test but I think it will become a useful option to have.

food find - rice udon

2011-07-16T12:23:00.009+01:00

Longdan, an oriental supermarket chain, opened a store in town a few months ago and I wasted no time doing a supermarket sweep searching for stuff that would be suitable for backpacking (and my dietary needs, of course). Generally I steer clear of oriental food stuff because it invariably includes soy sauce or wheat noodles which contains gluten. However I am still fond of soupy noodle dishes so I was excited to find udon noodles made from rice. And, at the time, I thought that they would make a good addition to my backpack pantry.

For some reason there were no cooking instructions on the packet, this didn't matter I reasoned, I'll just cook them like I would gluten free pasta... However my first attempt resulted in half cooked noodles in very gloopy water! After scouring the Internet, including having to translate various pages, I was still no wiser. A quick visit to the shop and I discovered from another manufacturer of fat noodles that they need to be soaked in 'warm' water for twenty minutes or until soft. Back in the kitchen I soaked the second batch in hot water, and the noodles took nearly forty minutes to soften up.

Sadly although I've enjoyed a number of great dishes with these lovely fat noodles the preparation time discounts them from being useful on backpacking trips for me. If you're prepared for the wait, or like some, who carry nalgene flasks to rehydrate food stuff and can't eat food with gluten in, then give them a go. There's always the opportunity however, depending what's in my store cupboard, I might prepare them at home for an overnighter perhaps and carry them in a ziplock bag.

gefen gluten free thin noodles

2011-07-06T19:49:00.008+01:00

A seasonal food find as I found out when I went back to Sainsbury's. These were only stocked for Pesach (passover). And despite spending some time online I haven't been able to find a supplier, which is a shame as only having a single box to test a recipe is limiting.

My aim was to create a backpackers version of chicken noodle soup or lokshen as I remember it being being called when I was younger. My mother always used to administer this whenever a family member was ill. It's not a cure but, like all soups, it's a comfort food, it's easy to swallow, it helps rehydrate, and delivers calories thus helping the body to recover. So therefore ideal at the end of a long, hard day on the trail.

My memory of the dish was that it was thin like a consomme but I wanted to make it more harty, making sure that it had a good quantity of CHO ( carbohydrate) and therefore calories. One thing I do when building recipes is to work out how much CHO there is in the ingredient so I know how much insulin I will need. Unfortunately the nutrition facts panel is a bit confusing; it seems to imply that a single serving of 56g contains 82g of CHO! Although this may be based on the cooked weight, using 56g of dry ingredients. Looking at the 340 calories per serving, and with CHO having 4 calories per gram this would indicate again that there is 80g or so of CHO. I guess this must support my thinking that this is cooked weight. Why they cant just stick to using dry weight facts I don't know, I've come across this before with other dried foods, and it makes calculating how many insulin units I need difficult. Back to the recipe idea...

The base must be of good chicken stock so I always use Kallo low sodium and free range chicken stock cubes, one of each in this case. Apart from the noodles, I'm going to add some dried onion, dried garlic granules, diced dried carrot and swede, and some dried herbs. And if I have some shredded dehydrated chicken. The noodles take three minutes to cook, so it's important for the other ingredients to be hydrated before the noodles go in the pot. That's the idea, and I'll update once I've had a few attempts.

tickcard

2011-07-06T14:04:00.010+01:00

Spot the underlined correctly...

I found this device for removing ticks in Cotswolds. It's credit card sized and, without the wallet, weighs 5g. The card has a magnifying lens included. I guess if you happen to have a Sliva compass with you, you'll already have one of these. And as it's separate from the TickCard it's more useful because you can use the device whilst magnifying the critter (assuming it's on an area of your body where you can use both hands).

...and correct! (Blogger wont let me put a line under it).

How it differs from other devices is that you don't twist the tick, the manufacturer claims that, "biologists have found that that squeezing, twisting or in any way stressing a tick increases the risk of it injecting harmful agents into the bloodstream of its host..." There is no qualification on the packaging to substantiate this claim. In fact whilst reading the packaging (four pages of A6) I started to get the impression that the copywriter was playing the fright card, so I did a count of various words that were used in the copy. This is what I found.

Exclamation marks - 12
Safety/safe - 7
Disease - 5
Dangerous - 4
Serious - 3

Now whilst I'm fully aware that the number of people contracting Lyme Disease has been on the increase, and the swift removal of tick is important in lowering the odds of catching the disease, I dislike the use of fright factor to sell a product.

I'm also at odds with the fact that the USP of the device is contra to current practice, especially where there's no reference back to medical basis of the package's claims. And if I'm wrong on this point then I would expect them to include a reference to the research.

sea to summit x mug

2011-06-20T10:54:00.009+01:00

As part of the AGG cookset.

I picked this up as a companion piece to my AGG three cup pan and coke can stove, and Bush Buddy cooksets. The reason being is that the AGG pan is too wide to drink from, and the Primus pot that I use with the Bush Buddy gets hot and, of course, sooty. I'm not keen on burnt lips and hickory smoked coffee.

The X Mug weighs 63g so that's the weight penalty, it has graduations on the inside and will hold 400ml, which is about the right volume for a Starbucks Via. It's USP is that it's stored flat. The X Mug fits happily on/or in both these cooksets. It's made from silicone and the sides are soft, so there's the danger of squeezing it and spilling your brew. Although, the rim is stiffened so you can drink from it as if it was an oriental vessel. Silicon is better than titanium to drink out of. And if your hot drink is too hot you wont be able to hold it.

It's a mug's game.

It's conical shape means that it has a smaller base to it's rim, on a flat surface that isn't an issue but on your average uneven campsite there's a danger of it toppling over.

I'm not convinced that with the number of disavantages (you can't cook with it either) that the mug has, is outweighed by the benefit of having something that packs flat. For all that it's better than the other options that I've used, and avoiding burnt lips is to be welcomed.

gsi microgripper

2011-06-20T08:16:00.010+01:00

I've coveted these since GSI launched it's Minimalist cookset a couple of years back. And as I already own more pots and pans than I can use I wasn't about to splash out thirty odd quid for a small piece of orange silicon.

That said I have two cooking systems that would benefit from this piece of kit; an AGG three cup pan and coke can stove, and the Primus 1l pot that I use with my Bush Buddy. So luck was with me when I was doing a trawl of the gear shops on High St Ken at the weekend, as I stumbled upon the grippers being sold individually in Ellis Brigham.

The gripper weighs 12g which is less than half the weight of the MSR litelifter that it replaces. It also features a magnet which is useful with a gas fueled system as you can park it on the cylinder so it's at hand when cooking. The other use is for storage; you can park it in the concave bottom of a cartridge. Since both the systems I intend to use it with don't feature a steel cartridge I'm considering whether to cut the magnet out to save a few more grams.

golite shangri-la 3 floor

2011-06-13T14:14:00.001+01:00

Reinforcing patch and sealed seams

I've owned a Golite Hex3 for a number of years. It was bought so I could take my son on camping trips because at the time the only shelters I owned were either too small (a Mountain Hardwear PCT1) or too heavy (a TNF Nebula).

In the past I used non fitted groundsheets usually single person polycro ones but for half term I needed to maximse the space available in the tent, so it would accommodate the three of us, plus Harry, and our rucksacks. And knowing that Ben would bring along some Halo or Gormitti figurines which would easily get lost in the grass I bought a floor. There is no problem with retro fitting a Shangri-la 3 floor to a Hex3.

And it worked. We had all the space we needed. The bungy loops go over the guy outs and there's clips to raise the top edge to the loops sown into the shelter walls. The depth of the bathtub depends on how high you have the edges but I would say that even if you have them fairly low there is still some protection from standing water.

Clip and bungy guy out

The Hex doesn't have a porch so the groundsheet goes up to the door, some might find this a bit of an issue if you were needing to cook under cover, but it's an easy matter of unhooking and unclipping the groundsheet from the door guy out point and pulling back the groundsheet.

The groundsheet has a reinforced patch in the centre but I also packed a lid from a Xmas pudding pot and stood the pole end that for added protection. With the shelter that crowded I knew that the pole wasn't going to be dead centre anyway.

My only grumble is that I bought the 2010 version of the floor which was advertised as being lighter than it's earlier incarnation at 425g, however on my postal scales it clocked 520g! That's big difference in weight.

meths stove priming

2011-02-23T11:53:00.002Z

I got this tip from Grant, friend and fellow BPC member. He is a big fan of meths stoves and owns several different models. His trick is to use a tea light to warm the stove and the fuel making it easy to light and get up to speed. Now this tip only works with certain types of stove such as the Vargo Triad or the redoubtable Trangia but I felt it was worth sharing.

fizan compact trekking poles – first look

2011-01-20T15:30:00.002Z

Poles apart?

Bought as a present for Penny because she doesn’t own a pair, after she found out that they are really useful when walking in snowy, icy conditions.

It’s claimed that these are the lightest poles in the world according to ultralightoutdoorgear.com from where they were purchased which is blatantly not true. What Fizan claim is that they are the lightest telescopic poles at 158g each. However that weight, which is printed on the poles, isn’t correct either as they tip my postal scales at 20g heavier. Not that this matters to Penny as she isn’t a gram counter, unlike me :)

With those grumbles out of the way I’ll get to the detail. They come in a range of colours of which Penny chose gold, and are supplied with baskets and rubber tip protectors. They are 58cm in their packed size, extending to a max of 131cm. The handles are shaped and have adjustable wrist neoprene loops. And what makes these lighter than other telescopic poles is the patented Flexy Lock System; it requires no external parts.

Missing something?

The advantage of telescopic poles is that their height can be adjusted making them suitable for shared use, whoever is using them can fix them to their size. Another advantage is that they nest, unlike the Trail Blaze poles I own, making for a smaller, tidier package. And if you’re a tarp user like myself they give more flexibility to the pitching your shelter.

Fly off the handle?

Although they’ve been out on a couple of day walks they languished in the side pocket of Penny’s rucksack. And this may come as some surprise, I’ve not even had a tinker around with a tarp with them yet. That’s for another day and another post.

the outdoor show

2011-01-20T13:54:00.003Z

The 2011 show was held in London for the first time, relocating from Birmingham NEC to ExCel in the docklands. And similar to other events (TFM and the Publishing Expo being another example) this was club sandwiched with the London Bike Show and the London International Boat Show.

The show at it’s previous location wasn’t of any interest to me, not least that I’ve always felt the exhibitors list wanting. And looking at this year list I wasn’t expecting much.

That said I’d been sent some complimentary tickets, Ben was over so it was a good excuse for a trip up to town. And across it, and out the other side; ExCel is the other side of the Isle of Dogs.

It was certainly busy and we wandered around looking at stands but not seeing very much, a friend who had visited the show earlier in the week bemoaned a ‘lack of gear and gadgity things…’ I can only agree.

I had an interesting chat with a couple on the Tick Awareness Stand, one of whom had contracted Lyme Disease from a tick bite. Changes in farming methods, and the increase in the number of people enjoying the outdoors has lead to an increase in the number of cases.

And on one other stand, someone committed the cardinal sin of not knowing the product they manufacture, even with a laptop connected to their website he wasn’t able to answer my question. I’ll spare them any blushes by not naming them. But suffice to state that if you manufacture freeze dried meals and have a stand at a show like this punters are going ask whether the food contains gluten or any of the other allergens. Not having an answer cost them a customer and any glowing reviews that I might have written.

For my part the small but cosy collection of stands at the BPC AGM is the best place for gear and gadgity things. Now if someone could persuade Henry Shires, Ron Bell and other cottage industry manufacturers to fly over with kitbags of their goodies then that would be, well, brilliant…

o’tom tick twister

2011-01-17T11:13:00.001Z

I picked these up at the Outdoor Show from the Lyme Disease Awareness stand for a very worthy five pounds; four the twisters and a pound to the charity for which I received a scratch card. The scratch card rewarded us with another pair of twisters. Ben, my son, picked out his pair in a funky red colour.

These are so light that my scales have had trouble weighing them! I’d guess that they weigh around three or so grams, much lighter and more compact than the pen sized device I’d normally carry.

Simple to use, you just pick the twister to match the size of tick, slot the groove under the tick, and twist!

Prevention is better than a cure so as Seasick Steve sings, wear your socks right up to your knees :)

new year, new day, new resolution

2011-01-01T14:35:00.003Z

Cloud inversion on the Carneddau

Not really a resolution more of a reaffirmation… I’m going to get out backpacking once a month. No lofty aims or ambitions like bagging Munro’s or Marilyn's, or clocking up 20 mile days, just out in the countryside; some where, any where. In a tent, under a tarp or hanging in a hammock I don’t mind. Just out. In the fresh air, away from the City, in a space to breath, and think, and be free.

And I've not pencilled something in in my diary… no, I’ve written it in biro.

food find

2011-01-01T12:34:00.001Z

It’s worth doing a browse around ethnic food stores when you get the time as there’s a good chance you may turn up something that could be added to your backpacking pantry.

Most UK supermarkets only seem to stock dried skimmed milk and this watery rubbish, is well, watery tasteless rubbish. So I was pleased to discover Nestle’s Nido full fat dried milk in my local store. As expected the inclusion of the fat makes a big difference to the taste, whilst I’d always prefer fresh milk on my muesli, this stuff is leagues ahead of the watery tasteless stuff that I have been using.

A while ago I spent many hours browsing the web for bannock recipes and as many trying out different flour mixes and combinations to create a decent gluten free bread. Whilst doing this research I came across the idea of using ghee for cooking on the trail, ghee is clarified butter and is used in Indian cooking. The benefits are that it’s solid at ambient temperatures and will keep without refrigeration. Being solid is an advantage over olive oil especially as all the bottles that I’ve ever carried it in seem to leak oil over time. Pity is doesn’t taste the same.

have i found that headboard?

2010-12-10T09:54:00.001Z

I’m indebted to Sarah for giving me what I think is the solution to my wandering pillow.

I gathered from the limited number of characters that you get with twitter she used a pillow case; stick the pillow in the end of the pillow case and sleep on it. The pillow case is trapped under your body holding the pillow in place. Or that’s how I imagined it.

Now I’m not one for carrying extra bits of kit when I could use something that I’d already be carrying, so thought no more of the idea. Until yesterday morning when I was wandering along the Thames when I wondered whether a base layer or mid layer top would fit over an end of the NeoAir. The idea being that the pillow would be held in place by the top. Wandering is good for wondering.

Back home I inflated the NeoAir and the AirPillow and grabbed a selection of tops that would be on my kit list. Result!

The picture shows a TNF Flight T which is a very lightweight baselayer, weighing only 70g, slipped on the end of the NeoAir with the AirPillow held in place. Now all I need is the opportunity to get out and give it a try!

why don’t camping mats have headboards?

2010-12-06T18:03:00.001Z

I’ve been very impressed with the comfort that the NeoAir has brought to my camping experience. Added to that, the Exped AirPillow has proven itself in a short space of time. A killer combo, in fact. BUT the only problem I have with this set up is a migrating pillow…

The AirPillow does have two tabs with holes in meant for securing the pillow but these are in the wrong place. On the top, or bottom, depending which way round one uses the pillow, rather than on the sides, where they would be more useful. The valves on the under side make it possible to feed some 3mm black bungee through that can be wrapped around the mat and held in place with a friction toggle. But these too aren’t central, so the bungee clings to the very end of the mat. Not ideal as I’m willing to bet that the bungee could creep off the mat. Although I’ve yet to give this modification a proper try, so I might be writing it off too soon. That’s for the next trip out so in the interim I’m going to kick a few other ideas around.

If you’ve already got a solution or an idea of a fix why not post a comment.

asaklitt mini white and red led lights

2010-12-06T10:39:00.001Z

A chance encounter with another dog walker led (!) me to this handy discovery, that turned out to be a two fold win.

The lights were purchased from the Clas Ohlson shop in Kingston.

Typically like other LED bike lights they have a flashing mode which is how I saw them being used. But what makes these so handy is that they both have a loop at one end which means they can be hung up, or off a dog collar in the case of the red light. This makes spotting Harry on the common or down by the river an easy task. Providing of course there aren’t any other dogs out there sporting similar devices!

The second win was that the front white light can be used to illuminate a tent, and is an improvement over the LED lantern that I have been using. It has two rather than one LED so it’s brighter, it hangs straight down unlike the lantern, and it’s 3g lighter! They are powered by CR2032 batteries the same as my Petzl e*lite and blood monitoring machine, an added bonus should I need to cannibalise them.

katoola microspikes – first look

2010-12-06T09:59:00.004Z

I bought these at the beginning of the year but due to a run on stock they arrived too late for me to give them a try. So they’ve languished in the loft - until now.

MicroSpikes in place

The snow was long coming to the cosy corner of Surrey/London suburb that I live in but come it did. However the conditions haven’t been the best to give these a try out. At the tail end of last week the skies cleared and the temperature plummeted as the sun went down, turning the consolidated snow to hard icy lumps. Just what I needed to give them a go.

The MicroSpikes are easy to put on. Put the toe of your shoe in the front end and placing this on the ground and then pull the heel end back, and up over the heel. I was able to do this with one or two fingers with a gloved hand.

A tasty array of spikes

They’ve got ‘front’ on the toe end which is pretty superfluous as you cant read it but it’s easy to distinguish the front from the heel end. For a start there’s a spacer wire bar at the toe end which holds the chains and spikes apart at the that end. The heel end is wider with only two holes. Incidentally, I used the toe bar as a way of hanging them off my rucksack with a mini crab when not in use. (And off the back of the living room door to dry when I got home).

They can be popped off just as easily, just run the finger under from round the outside edge.

In use they gave a reassuring crunch and bite as I would’ve expected over frozen turf and snow as well as hard frozen consolidated snow. It was a bit disconcerting walking direct on non covered path as the spikes obviously shifted as I walked whereas crampon points don’t. In fact I started to notice different levels of ‘travel’ depending on the type of surface I walked over. Unfortunately the icy conditions didn’t last and by Saturday morning the thaw had put paid to any further testing.

chilterns, walk for wildlife part two

2010-11-29T09:03:00.005Z

Still some colour on the the trees

Saturday morning started with a lot of talk about gear. I had packed the Scarp1, and was kept busy answering a string of questions about the tent. This didn’t matter too much because the day’s mileage wasn’t going to be excessive, and we were expecting a few more to turn up. I also had a chance to chat with Grant about his Big Agnes bivi bag and Terra Nova tarp combo. The wind had given his set up a battering and we chatted about the ways that tarps can be pitched to withstand the elements. In this case the tarp wasn’t big enough to be pitched in my favoured bad weather configuration – the cave or pyramid. Not that it was crucial, as the Big Agnes he was using gave full protection to him and his kit.

It became clear that once we started to break camp, that black and grease Golite rucksacks were the most popular by far. In fact there were only two rucksacks that weren’t, out of a group of about twenty people.

Spot the Golite rucksack...

The Walk for Wildlife weekend is unique. The Warburg Nature Reserve allows the BPC to stay (exclusive to the club) and each attendee makes a donation towards the reserve. Better yet Anne has a sponsor who matches pound for pound what she raises.

And it was towards Warburg we walked. The previous week’s windy weather had stripped much of the leaves from the beech trees that the Chilterns are known for but there was still a burnished colour to the hills. The Chilterns are also known for Red Kites that were re-introduced very successfully here about twenty or so years ago. We hadn’t left the campsite when one of these most graceful creatures circled above our heads.

The route was a pleasant ramble through woodland and up and down hill, with the occasional trot along a valley. And there were plenty of Kites to see along the way.

Arriving late afternoon we found spots to pitch our tents between the trees. With foresight I could have packed my tarp and hammock instead of the Scarp1, next time for them then.

The quiet magic of the Reserve was shattered by the solitary chatter of someone’s radio, so I pointed out that we were on a nature reserve and myself and others wanted to enjoy the dusk as nature intended. With the radio off I cooked supper listening to robins, and then the owls as the light faded.

The nearest pub was two miles away but as I was feeling fit the four mile round trip didn’t deter. Besides what else was I going to do with the rest of the evening? So a bunch of us set off on mass, and returned a couple of hours later. After having convinced the locals that we weren’t mad for camping out at this time of year; it was for charity see.

The night passed with a sweeping soundtrack of foxes, owls, pheasants and other creatures calling out. At one point I had a dream that I was struggling to hang my food from a tree in a bear bag whilst the wildlife circled my tent.

I’d learnt that the train service that I came up on was being replaced with buses. So being close to Henley on Thames I checked whether the service via Twyford to Reading, and back to Richmond from there was running. I was in luck, so Sunday morning I bailed out along the Oxfordshire Way to Henley; a stroke of luck. As I headed along the way I got offered my second lift of the weekend, so thanks to Roger I was able to catch the first train out of Henley. And I got back to Richmond before lunch.

chilterns, walk for wildlife part one

2010-11-19T18:40:00.002Z

The Oxfordshire Way

Friday morning, 10.30

“Jane has sent me an email about a trip to the Chilterns, shall we go?” I asked. “I can’t I’ve got 100 hours of reading to do… for this essay I’ve got to get in before Christmas. Why don’t you go on your own if you want to..”

11.00

Kit compiled. and I’m in the kitchen sorting food, needed a few more cereal bars but otherwise I was ready to stroll.

12.00

I’ve had lunch and I said my goodbyes, and was on my way to Marylebone to catch the 14.23 to Saunderton in the Chilterns.

14.30

Arrive Marylebone… the next train was at 15.23 so I took a train to High Wycombe having been told that there was a bus to Radnage from there.

15.20

Found bus station in High Wycombe and discovered that bus goes at 17.40. I returned to the rail station to catch the train to Saunderton, that was due in at 16.07.

16.15

I set off from the station and headed across fields to find the village. The weather had closed in and a drenching drizzle accompanied me all the way. Low cloud meant that it was getting dark earlier than it was meant to, so the head torch I’d dug out of my bag whilst on the train was put on. Despite the weather and the lack of light my navigation was spot on. Until, that was, I reached the end of a single track road and spotted a sign post that stated, Radnage 1/2 mile. I checked the map and the road did seem to lead to the village. After about twenty minutes there was no sign of the village, and the map didn’t seem to match what I could make out as I went along; buildings and road junctions that shouldn’t have been there. Whilst re-checking the map a white van pulled up along side and the driver asked whether I was looking for the Crown. This took me aback but I said, “yes”. “Ah,” he said,”Are you meeting some people there?” Again on the back foot, I told him I was as it was a club trip. He told me I was heading in the wrong direction and that the sign post at the single track had been twisted to point in the wrong way! He offered, and I took a lift from him. On the way to the pub he explained he’d had a chat with those in the pub and having been told that others were on the way he put two and two together when he saw me. American backpackers would call that trail magic I guess. Anyway I was due a break having just missed the train earlier.

18.00

In the Crown I caught up with Anne and Chris, had a drink and met some club members that I’d not met before. It also gave me the opportunity to dry out and wait for the rain to stop before heading to the camp site to pitch my tent and have supper.

19.30

I was back in the pub, obviously…

pea and leek pasta sauce

2010-11-19T11:45:00.002Z

I created this simple sauce yesterday afternoon as a way of ringing the changes for my charges; a non tomato based pasta sauce. I used fresh ingredients but there’s no reason why dried ones can't be substituted to turn this into a backpacking meal hence it’s inclusion here.

Three leeks, thinly sliced
One celery stalk, thinly sliced
A handful of frozen petit pois
Two cloves of garlic, crushed
Small bunch flat parsley, roughly chopped
Olive oil
A knob of butter
Whole milk

Heat the oil and butter in a pan, and when the butter starts to froth add the leek, celery and garlic. Cover and sauté until the vegetables are soft. Add the peas, parsley and milk to barely cover the mix. Put the lid back to allow the peas to steam for a few minutes. Remove lid to allow milk to reduce as you don’t want this runny! Adjust seasoning and stir into cooked pasta.

You can add grated parmesan cheese to this or replace the milk with cream for a richer sauce. And if you over did the milk make a paste with a tablespoon of cornflour and some of the milk and stir that in.

buxton to roaches – gear review

2010-11-18T11:08:00.001Z

Edelrid Opilio

The stove performed as expected, great stability on tufty grass and the ability to invert meant I was able to milk the very last puff of gas vapour from a couple of nearly empty canisters.

Mountain Hardware Helion 2

Disappointed that the groundsheet seeped. I hadn’t noticed this before as I’d always put the mats between the groundsheet and the ground. As it wasn’t particularly cold I hadn’t packed the full length CFC mat that I use to bolster the NeoAir. I’ve chopped up an orange bivi bag to use as a footprint. It’s sleek shape and extra guying options meant that it was untroubled by the wind on Friday evening, one of it’s many plus points. Shame then that the groundsheet material doesn’t make the mark.

Corrugated cardboard

It’s doesn’t need me to point out how well this works as an insulator, just have a look at what a homeless person is sitting on next time you’re in town…

Rab Microlight Alpine jacket

A down jacket with a hood is the best option when you’re standing around on chilly campsite whilst weighing up options and plans for the rest of the day.

Golite Jam 2010

I never really doubted that this pack would deliver. The pack is deeper than the Peak (that’s how it gets it’s extra volume) so the side pockets are larger than the Peak’s equals more space to put poles, cereal bars, water bottle and a bag of trail mix. Not having a frame is a bonus too, with the bag unpacked I stuck it at the bottom of the tent to keep my heels of the ground.

Quick cook polenta

This stuff is like a blank canvas on which you can paint your own flavours. It doesn’t require a lot of cooking so is very fuel efficient, and it’s got a better carbohydrate load than instant mash. A bit like couscous then but much better because it’s gluten free.

buxton to roaches

2010-11-16T08:53:00.001Z

The Dane Valley

This has been an annual trip of mine for the last few years. The drive up to Buxton took longer than it should have done, due to several sets of road works, but we still managed to get there before dark, which was what we were aiming to do.

With spectacular timing the rain started to lash down as I stepped out of the car, driven by gusts of high wind. The campsite was already sodden so I squished about looking for a level and least damp spot on which to pitch the tent.

With the tent up I started to blow up my NeoAir, back from the car with her rucksack Penny asked whether I’d packed her Thermarest… Back into the car she drove into Buxton to arrive five minutes after Jo Royle’s had shut. Time to improvise. Wasting no time she raided the local supermarket and grabbed half a dozen corrugated cardboard boxes.

Back at the campsite I made another uncomfortable discovery whilst kneeling in the tent the groundsheet started to seep. Not good.

The tent was taking a hammering from the wind which had changed direction in the twenty minutes since I pitched it. So out I got and repositioned it, reset the guys to the rear of the tent, used my trekking poles as extra pegs, and dug my tent peg toilet trowel in as another anchor for good measure.

The rest of the evening passed without further incident. Apart from the minor fact that my Petzl e*lite was putting out as much light as a burnt out tea light. I was reluctant to use the spares in case I needed them for my blood monitoring machine.

The missing mat meant a change of plan for the morning so along with Geoff, who’s encyclopaedic knowledge of the local bus routes saved the weekend, we walked into Buxton and went to the gear shop to buy a CFC mat. I tried to convince Penny that she needed a NeoAir but given she can get a good night’s sleep on cardboard the expense didn’t seem worth it.

With a mat and batteries bought we had enough time to enjoy a proper coffee before catching the bus to the Cat and Fiddle. This turned out to be a better way of starting the walk as we missed the bitty circumnavigation of Buxton, stepping off the bus straight on to a good path to Three Shire’s Heads.

The path to Three Shire’s Heads

The weather was dry but drafty however we soon lost the breeze once we descended into the Dane valley proper. We arrived at Three Shire’s Heads in time for lunch, and in time to meet Christine Roche who had planned to find us there. This is a great picnic spot and, due to the good weather, was the busiest I’ve ever seen it. As Christine was only about for the afternoon she accompanied part of the way until having to return by another route back to her car. She was then going to meet us at the Roaches Tea Room, everyone who knows her will know of her love of tea and cake! Gradbach Youth Hostel was closed denying us a chance for an early breather so we pressed on, taking a more direct route thus missing out Lud’s Church.

Autumnal colours

At Roach End Geoff knee had started to give him grief so he opted to take the road to the tea house, whereas Penny and I climbed up to the Roaches Skyline. We followed the gritstone edge along before finally dropping behind Hen Cloud before finding the road, and ultimately the tea shop where we found Geoff and Christine tucking into tea and cake – obviously!

We pitched our tents with setting sun lighting up the evening sky. And I popped down to the Rock Inn for something stronger than tea to wash supper down with.

The Sunday dawned cold and claggy. Geoff’s knee had seized up and he wasn’t up to returning to Buxton on foot. Fortunately his local bus timetable knowledge saved the weekend for the second time. So Penny and I escorted him down to the bus stop to ensure he got back to our starting point without incident.

rab microlight alpine jacket – first look

2010-11-09T09:05:00.002Z

I popped into Cotswolds for a quick browse of their winter kit and spotted this. I just had to get one of these. And with my birthday looming I had every reason to treat myself.

The jacket weighs 366g (large size) and has three pockets; two large hand warmer pockets and a small napoleon pocket on the left that doubles as a stuff pocket. The construction is a simple stitch through in narrow channels. The material used is Pertex Microlight, which is extremely lightweight downproof, wind and water resistant, with a soft silky handle. The cuffs and hem are elasticated and there is a drawn cord on the hood, which has a wired peak.

I struggled to stuff the jacket into it’s pocket but as with all my insulation layers I use a oversized dry bag that I loosely pack the layer in, and pack it in the top of my rucksack. I would prefer a hem draw cord so that I can cinch in the hem to keep the drafts out. I’ll be taking a look at the hem to see if I can add one.

The jacket has been used mostly around town where I’ve appreciated the warmth that a down garment brings at this time of year. But it’s inclusion on my last trip, particularly on the Sunday morning around the camp, that I really appreciated having a down jacket with a hood.

At under 400g it’s not going to be as warm as other jackets on the market. But as part of a layering or sleep system it has a place.

golite jam 2010 – first look

2010-11-09T08:52:00.001Z

The Golite Peak has been my go-to pack for day and weekend trips since I bought it late last year from backpackinglight.co.uk At forty litres it handles most loads for spring and summer backpacking but packing it became an art form. And over the summer I had to forego its use on a longer trip because I was unable to fit the food I had to carry into it.

Buying a Jam was therefore a logical solution to the problem, again bought from backpackinglight.co.uk. As I’ve already stated the Peak is a mini-me version of the Jam, so they share most of the same features that I highlighted here. The main differences between the two is that the Jam’s hip belt isn’t removable, and obviously, the capacity is larger; stated 51l for the long back length. I had to match it’s baby brother so I got it in Black and Grease (gray) obviously :)

I think that the capacity is likely to be too big for my purposes because on the times I was unable to use the Peak I used an Osprey Talon 44. And the size of that seemed about right. Unfortunately the pack size is the pack size but it does have compression straps to take up slack. And similar can be achieved to some degree with the roll top. There’s always a danger with spare space; the tendency to try and fill it with superfluous kit.

As a post script to the above. I used the bag on my last trip out. And as expected it was a comfortable carry; I had 5kg of base weight, 1.5l of water and 1.5kg of food. My worry about it’s capacity seems to be right, I do feel that it’s bigger than I need, at least for shorter trips. Now if Golite was to produce a midi-me Jam at 45l I’d be happy to shell out some more of my hard earned cash.

galaxy hot chocolate

2010-11-07T08:24:00.000Z

A great find this. I’m not a big hot chocolate drinker but occasionally having a sweet warming drink is a great morale booster. Best of all it’s not one of those calorie counting ones either with each sachet having a 20g load of carbohydrate and 484KJ of energy. Not bad for a 30g packet.

For an insulin controlled backpacking diabetic it’s a source of readily absorbable carbohydrate so I always pack a couple should I need my blood sugar level or my morale boosting.

Update: unfortunately they have 'improved' the recipe so it now contains barley gluten. This makes it no longer suitable for coeliacs.

john west salmon flakes

2010-10-16T10:40:00.002+01:00

A new find whilst doing a circuit around Waitrose this afternoon. Looking for low sodium chicken stock cubes, I must add.

Not sure what I might cook up with this apart from, say, salmon fish cakes made with instant potato. Or added to a white sauce flavoured with dill and served with pasta.

tuna and potato supper

2010-10-16T10:31:00.002+01:00

This is a simple meal that’s easy to prepare and is very tasty.

Ingredients
One sachet of tuna sandwich filler
One sachet of instant potato

Boil the required amount of water, make the potato, add the tuna to the potato, stir, and eat! Did I mention this was simple to prepare?

Those with a fry pan and the inclination could make tuna fish cakes with the mix.

The ones I use are John West and they come in a variety of dressings, my favourite is the sun dried tomato one.

Exped AirPillow – first look

2010-10-15T13:59:00.002+01:00

It might seem strange that for someone who is constantly striving to reduce pack weight that I should make space for a pillow in my rucksack.

It’s simple really; I sleep on my side and need something to support my neck. Most text books state that you can make a pillow out of your spare clothes but I don’t carry much in the way of spare items. If I was packing a primaloft top or down waistcoat then chances are I’d be wearing it to boost the rating of my sleeping bag.

For a couple of years I used a Ajungilak pillow but this had developed a leak on a seam that, no matter how I tried to repair it, it would always deflate.

The full monty

The Exped AirPillow is it’s natural successor. It tips the scales at 79g, over 50g lighter than the one it replaces, and the tiny stuff sack supplied weighs a measly 5g. It has two valves on the underside, one to inflate (a one way valve) and the other to deflate the pillow. The Ajungilak had one valve with no self sealing mechanism making it a struggle to get the plug in without letting too much air out. Another plus for the AirPillow then.

Sweet dreams?

The pillow is supplied with a repair kit which is a nice touch, especially given my previous experience. The pack size is good too, being about the same size as a mobile phone.

On paper then it ticks the right boxes, all I need to do now is to get out with it and see whether it lives up to it’s promises.

inov8 roclite 305

2010-10-03T12:03:00.005+01:00

Superb customer service from Martin at likeys.com due to a cock up on my part, these little beauties came straight out of the box, on to my feet and off down the Dales Way. After I’d slipped the Superfeet into them, of course.

Apart from the price (they were on offer), the subtle shades of blue and gray, and a weight saving over the Terrocs, these boasted a midsole better suited to walking. And after three months of use I can testify to that.

The sole is a typical aggressive chunky/studded one like that on the Roclite 315’s that kept me on my feet last year in the Picos de Europa. The upper is an open weave mesh which kept my feet cool over the summer but is prone to being draughty. And my feet got a bit grubbier than they would have done had I been wearing a shoe with less mesh or had denser weave. And unlike other trainers I’ve not had any heel lift with these, so the heel cup material hasn’t worn through. Another first. I only hope that I can get my hands on another pair of these when it’s time to replace them.

edelrid epilio stove – first look

2010-10-03T11:08:00.009+01:00

Epilio with a selection of pots and pans

After a couple of winter trips where drastic action was required to get a flame out of my usually trusty F1 Lite gas stove, I thought that I’d better invest in a gas stove that had a preheat tube for the coming winter.

Back in January Primus started advertising their Spider in TGO, at the time the lightest remote canister stove with preheat tube on the market, so an obvious choice. However supply didn’t match my demand and by the time it was available it was already April and I had no need.

Unlucky for Primus, Edelrid had launched their similarly spec’d but lighter Epilio, so this became the next obvious choice. Apart from the small weight saving, the deal clencher was that the control knob is parallel to the tube, unlike the Spider, making it easy to invert the canister if required.

The deal clencher

The stove folds flattish and weighs 175g on my postal scales. The packed size is 13cm square and about 4.5cm deep, so won’t fit in smaller pots like a Snow Peak 600. Although you can use a pot of this size on it quite happily. The burner head is 3cm diameter and the jets are directed straight up. This is good if you’re using a pot but not so good if using a wide pan as the flame is concentrated in one spot. The flame can be trimmed to the merest murmur which, with the use of a spoon, should mean that the narrow flame spread isn’t an issue. The pan supports give the stove a diameter of 15cm and as stated will work with a pot the size of a Snow Peak 600 or any that have a bigger than 4cm diameter.

Burner with preheat tube

Although I bought it for winter camping, it may find itself in the box if I head out for a spot of car camping in the summer with the family. Due to the smaller pack size and infinitely better flame control than the Trangia that I would normally pack.

the name's case, justin case

2010-09-11T08:11:00.000+01:00

I love the gadgets in early James Bond movies. And when Bond went to see Q he always, always came away with a few that, regardless of what was to come, would actually get used. Better yet Q obviously had the BEST gadget ever - foresight. He knew exactly what gadget to give Bond before he set out on the mission. He would never have said, "James take the fingerprint encoded backwards shooting Walther PPK because you never know, it might come in handy..." And Bond would never have replied, "Do you know something I don't?" No, he would always take the offered gadget without further thought, confident at some point in the mission it would get used.

(Later in the movie when Bond's true purpose is revealed the baddie knocks the gun out of Bond's hand and tries to shoot him with it. "I wouldn't do that," Bond says. "Why? Do you know something I don't?" the baddie replies as he pulls the trigger. BANG! The mortally wounded bad guy clutches his chest, drops the gun and falls dead to the floor.)

Weather forecasts are like foresight but occasionally they fall short. On the recent trip to Scotland I added in a few extra items under the insistence of Mr J Case because snow and minus temperatures were predicted. However on this occasion Metcheck, MWIS and the Met Office must have had clag clouding their collective vision. More likely since that highly amusing (in retrospect) proclaimation back in 1986 when Michael Fish stated that hurricane force winds were NOT going to happen forecasters have always put the worst case senario. Any danger of adverse weather and the storm force winds, snow flakes et al get top billing. Makes me wonder wonder with this soaking into the pysche that we now believe that the weather is worse than it was twenty four or so years ago...

west highland way - day one

2010-05-26T09:20:00.007+01:00

Is this the start?

A short notice smash and grab affair that was worth the miserable return overnight coach journey from Glasgow.

We weren't a mile down the way when we met a couple of women heading towards us. "Are you doing the West Highland Way?", they asked. "Yes!", was our reply. "Good, because we're lost..."

Having set off earlier that morning with an A4 laminated map they had somehow managed not to follow the Way. As we headed along it was very apparent that they were going to have trouble navigating their way to Fort William. Several times they asked, "How did you know to turn here?", to which our reply was always, "See that signpost over there..."

We escorted them as far as the distillery where we turned off for a quick supply visit. Back on the Way we made good progress getting to East Drumquhassle but it was too early to stop. A quick check on the campsite reminded me that a fiver for a night spent on something as lumpy and sloping as that would be a waste of a good drinking voucher. A terse exchange with the campsite owner over 500ml of water did nothing to change my mind. I didn't realise that water was such a precious commodity north of the border...

In the Garadhban Forest Liam and I stopped for a brew and chatted with various wayfarers as they passed. The weather had been good all day and despite the forecast for showers they had been few and not particularly bad but as the afternoon progressed however they became more frequent and more intense. Once out of the forest we could see that the weather was closing in so a hunt for a spot was on; the official 'wild' camp spot on the edge of the forest had long vanished with the trees. A quick look at the map revealed a couple of potential sites near the Burn of Mar at the 17.5 mile mark. A fairly flattish spot with a view of Conic Hill and Loch Lomond was found close enough to the Burn for ease of water supply but far enough away to keep the babbling of the burn to a hushed silence.

Conic Hill, the fault line, and Loch Lomond

At this point I was pleased at how easy the Scarp1 is to pitch, in very little time and with no fuss I was happily ensconced in my home for the night with a pot on my stove heating water for some soup. Outside I heard Liam cursing as he fiddled with the many guys and pegs of his Jetpacker.

A few words on the Scarp1. Apart from ease of pitching, which at the end of a long day when you're tired, hungry, suffering from hypoglycemia, and getting rained upon, is worth more than a multi million winning lottery ticket (well sort of); there's the space. The second porch took the rucksack, damp waterproofs and trainers. And in the other I had space to cook, although I pegged the inner back to create more headroom above the stove. Internally there was space at either end to fit the rest of the kit that I was carrying, which wasn't that much given I was using the Golite Peak.

With supper eaten, I settled back and sent messages home. As the light began to fade, I started a sudoku puzzle, had a dram or two of whiskey, and with the puzzle half done I drifted off to sleep...

the art of packing a rucksack

2010-05-17T13:25:00.004+01:00

After ages of wrestling with Scarp1, I've finally found a way of getting it into it's stuff sack so that it fits happily in the outside pocket of my Golite Peak - sweet! I was able to get all the kit I needed plus four days food in that diminutive rucksack. To be fair the roll top didn't have much of a top to roll but since everything was in dry bags it didn't matter.

Not only that, the only difference between what I packed and what I would have taken on the Challenge, was a spare pair of underpants.

exped A6 document wallet

2010-05-17T13:22:00.003+01:00

A while ago I was looking around for a replacement of my Ortleib A6 drybag/document wallet that I kept my blood monitoring machine in. The one I owned had turned that nicotine yellow colour and the Velcro strip was starting to come away. In mid Wales a month or so ago it all came apart, rendering the thing unusable. At the time I was lucky to find a shop that sold them so bought a new one.

The size of the bag is ideal for my machine and I can fit a few spares in there too. But the trouble comes when I try and fit my insulin pens in as well. Careful packing is required in order to ensure that the top rolls down and holds securely.

At the BPC AGM at the weekend I came across the Exped Vista, which reminded me of a water resistant pencil case. That got me thinking so I headed back to the tent and grabbed my kit. Back at the stall the pencil case swallowed the two pens, and the blood monitoring machine with ease. Now unlike the Orteib bag it isn't waterproof, it has one of those proofed zips instead of a roll top, but the seams are sealed. My thinking is that as this will be carried in a rucksack pocket it will be fine in most cases. It weighs the same as the Ortlieb bag too (20g), and comes with a clip on one end. This is useful, clipping the case to the keyring in the rucksack pocket means it shouldn't fall out and get lost, and I can hang it up in the tent where the stuff has no chance of getting stood, sat or knelt on. An added bonus is that the zipper pull has a glow in the dark tab.

What's more the case has enough space for spare needles, lancets, and my other daily medications which means the other case I use can be left out saving me 64g. Joy.

the thames path - home to windsor

2010-05-17T09:47:00.001+01:00

Seething Wells

This was meant to be our last section hike of the North Downs Way between Otford and Rochester. However an early panic and flapping session involving a set of missing car keys (and not for the first time this week I might add!) meant a swift change of plan.

Liam and Tina headed to ours for an amble along the Thames westward towards Windsor. I'm not sure how far I can get with boasting about living less than 500m from a National Trail, if I lived in Edale or Twice Brewed it would be another matter. That may be but the route offers a wide breadth of changing scenery from the City landscape of London to the rolling hills of the Cotswolds. Oh and it's flat, mostly.

The trip was intended to introduce Tina to the backpacking experience. An oversight on my part scrabbling to approximate the distance meant Saturday's mileage was a little understated; 14 miles and not the 10 miles that I'd figured. The Thames wiggles, twists and turns a fair amount. And as the trail has to depart the river in places it makes counting grid squares to estimate the distance pointless.

Tina, Charlie and Liam

What amazed me was the diversity of buildings along this stretch of the river. It's a real mish- mash; prefabs, cottages, mansion houses, bungalows, and the odd palace. And the condition of these buildings were as varied; collapsed, ramshackled and pristine in unequal measure. There are several eyots along this stretch too, some reached by footbridge others seemingly by the use of oars or outboard motor.

We stopped at a river side pub near Sunbury Lock for refreshments, non alcoholic in case anyone was wondering. I redeemed myself in his eyes later by jogging into Shepperton to pick up a bottle of merlot to wash supper down. This foresight was swiftly banished when on the way into the campsite at Laleham we passed a garage that sold booze that would have saved me carrying the bottle and it's contents those last few miles. And much to Tina's delight I whipped out a mini can of rum and coke for her to celebrate her days effort. (There might have been a touch of guilt for buggering up the first days mileage in that process).

I got a good night's sleep and only woke once due to falling off to sleep without putting my beanie on. I woke early to the sound of birdsong; blackbirds, song thrush, robin and chiffchaff, were joined by tits, and a solitary woodpecker. I love camping at this time of year; spring birdsong as an alarm clock is a real pleasure to wake up to.

The mileage for the second day was much shorter which was a relief for the foot weary. My knee was fine but my overlapping toes were a bit sore. The weather wasn't as good, overcast and windier than the previous. The Montane windshirts that Penny and I had proving yet again that they are worth their minuscule weight and pack size.

On approaching Staines we were surprised how up market the place was, no sign of the Staines Massive. And I can state that I didn't see, one, let alone a group of hoodies. However heading out the other side and you get a different picture, the south bank of the river is heavily industrialised. And from the condition of some of the units not particularly successful businesses occupied them either. We swiftly left the crumbling industrial units behind, and the valley opened up as we entered Runnymede. Past Old Windsor and Ham Island where there's a short bit of canal that's been cut to take the sting out of the loop around the island. Just before Albert Bridge we spotted two red kites wheeling and hovering in the wind.

At Datchet we made an executive decision to grab the train from there rather than struggle with the crowds that we'd meet in Windsor itself. It goes without stating that what took a day and half to walk was covered by a 25 minute train journey.

tgo challenge 2010 - reprive

2010-05-11T12:45:00.003+01:00

I pulled out of the Challenge a few weeks back as I wasn't going to be able to take the required amount of time off to take part.

The good news is that I've got Thursday and Friday off, so that I can use my ticket. The plan is to walk a bit of the West Highland Way, although I've already done this route, and may be bag Ben Lomond.

The thing about this trip is that the last time I ventured out along the WHW, only a couple of years back, I did it in boots and carrying a Gregory Z55 rucksack. This time I'll be wearing my trusty Terrocs and using a Golite Peak; a 40l 'day' pack! My kit has changed and evolved but the most important thing is the knowledge that I've gained since then. As someone once put it, 'The more you know, the less you carry.'

I wonder who I'll bump into at the station tomorrow evening?

backpackers club agm

2010-04-20T20:55:00.003+01:00

I'll be arrived in Bath some time Friday evening, later than originally expected due to new job!

I'll be putting the Bush Buddy Ultra in the kit bag along with the Scarp1. I was going to bring along the Mountain Hardware Helion2 but as we'll have Harry I'll be putting up the Hex3.

I'm also thinking of bringing along kit to demo steam baking. And of course some kit to sell.

Requests for bringing my DJ rig down have been studiously ignored. I don't think Saturday evening is really the best time for a hardcore mix of trance and jazz vibes. Besides I've been told that gigs in this area attract far too much attention from the local DS.

Rumour on the circuit is that there is a fair amount of horse going around...

tgo challenge 2010 - uncertainty

2010-04-17T11:59:00.003+01:00

Sometimes good fortune is tempered by choice.

I've landed myself a temporary contract working for a large publishing company in central London. This is a good move for me careerwise, and I need the money.

At the interview, end of last week, the role was stated as a minimum of two months contract but due to the workload and strict deadlines they won't allow me to take time off for the Challenge. However on offering the work they aren't going to commit to the full period - just yet.

An email could be winging it's way to Roger at the end of the week... or not.

window shopping

2010-04-10T22:12:00.002+01:00

I ended up in Town earlier this week. On the way home I did a loop around the gear shops, not much to excite but then Berghaus, etc, never really does...

Snow and Rock hadn't got their new stock in so nothing to see there.

Costwolds had the new Vaude Power Lizard Light set up along side the Mountain Hardware Sprite. I got really excited about this Vaude tent, a one kilo almost two person tent. A potential Atko slayer. My excitement faded when I discovered that it had a 95cm internal height... And when I sat inside it; I couldn't. No surprise really it's the same with the Competition, and the Atko.

I was disappointed with the Sprite too. I had a PCT1 once, I couldn't sit upright inside this tent because again the internal height was 95cm. The tent has been redesigned; shifting the shape to create a larger porch and losing the hammerhead shape, and with it the bit of storage space on the non porch side which was big enough for a 45L rucksack. This shift in shape has now made the tent even more difficult for me to fit in as I had to lean back into what head space there was.

Two fails.

In the rucksack department I tried the new lightweight offering from Lowe Alpine the Zepton 50, reviewed by Chris Townsend in the current issue of TGO. My impression of the bag was this was Lowe Alpine attempt to compete with the Osprey Exos 46 and the Golite Jam. They all have similar volumes, and the Zepton's colour scheme is borrowed from the two other manufacturers. It's stated weight is approx 1.2kg a tad heavier than the Exos 46 but 300g heavier than the Jam. It's only available in one back size however unlike the others. It has a floating lid with external and internal pockets, like the Exos, but with only two attachment points. The Exos has a third buckle that holds the lid in place. My experience with floating lids is that they have a habit of sliding down the straps, so that third buckle is essential in my view. The Jam of course doesn't have a lid. All have the now obligatory stretchy side pockets.The acid test is to see if you can you get a drinks bottle and a bag of GORP in and out of these pockets with ease. Sadly the Zepton failed on this point. Unlike the others the hip belt doesn't have any pockets either. Chris Townsend gave the bag a recommendation, and it does have some plus points but it's the little things like no hip belt pockets and not being able to use the side pockets mark it down in my opinion.

Then I found the Paramo shop. The styling of the gear is wanting; more Ron Hill than Paul Smith. I wrote to them last year asking whether they had plans to bring out the new Velez Light in a decent colour (meaning black) and I was told no. However that afternoon I found that they'd had a change of mind. I tried a couple on and they seemed to fit well enough. And I deliberated long and hard on whether to invest, then I thought about the main criticisms; the weight and bulk of the items. My wallet stayed in my pocket and my card breathed a sigh of relief.

I left the shop, grabbed a coffee and walked back to Waterloo for the train home.

tgo challenge 2010 - kit dilemma

2010-04-10T12:41:00.001+01:00

The dilemma comes from having too many choices...

The Scarp1 was bought as a solo backpack shelter, with the Challenge in mind. However its pack size is at odds with the size/type of rucksacks that I own due to the support poles at either end. It's just too long a bundle. I wrote to Henry Shires and asked whether the poles could be removed and he stated that the central two poles can be left out being attached by velcro, and there were slits for the corner ones. He also mentioned that he didn't think it was worth the effort. Having tinkered around with this, I can only agree.

One solution would be to buy another rucksack, and I'm considering the 2010 Golite Jam. The Golite Peak has served me well over the last few months, so the Jam, the bigger brother of the Peak seems a natural choice.

Another alternative is to resort to my tried and tested shelter, the Golite Hut2. With this in mind I've seam sealed it for added weatherproofing. The benefits of using Jabba (the Hut, geddit?!) are that it pitches with the trekking poles that I'll be using, and I'll be packing a bivibag, which will be useful should I find myself taking shelter in a bothy or similar. And, of course, the much smaller pack size of a single skin shelter.

The more I deliberate the more I like the more flexible approach of using Jabba...

tgo challenge 2010

2010-03-30T14:06:00.000+01:00

I used Grough Route to plot the route we'll be taking. I've not used mapping software before so cant comment on how it compares with other systems but I found it fairly straightforward to use once I'd got the hang of it. One thing I'd change is the wording used to name a route, in the software a route is tagged not named. But that's a minor point and at only £1.50 per month who's to grumble.

The route has been vetted and returned with a few comments as expected. Our route is a simple low level one starting at Shiel Bridge and ending at St Cyrus, so I didn't expect to get much feedback, which was indeed the case.

Training walks are being done, along with a few overnighters to test kit. Kit choice is on going - I've revamped my list at least ten times now, weighed up the pro's and con's of my various cooking systems and shelters, but am still undecided.

Train tickets have been bought and transport to the start sorted thanks to Philip Werner.

Menu planning and dehydrating meals is going ahead. Food parcels will need to be created and shipped.

And my physio says my right knee is looking up to the task but the exercises still need to be done.

Roll on the 12th May.

golite peak tweak

2010-03-28T10:55:00.004+01:00

The Golite Peak is my bag of choice at the moment. But one of the things that’s a bit irksome is looking for stuff in the big front pocket. It requires a certain amount of rummaging, and possibly some unpacking, to find what I’m looking for.

Handily on either side of the pocket are ice axe retainers that are routed through the pocket. These make a useful points to attach a pair of mini karabiners from which keys and other stuff can be clipped onto. And hence easily located.

One of the bits of kit that I need to be able to grab without fuss is my blood monitoring machine and insulin. So I’ve made a short toggled lanyard that fits neatly through one of the holes on the Ortleib dry bag that I store the stuff in. A simple loop of dyneema could have been used but I wanted something that wasn’t permanently attached to the dry bag.

kent to cape wrath

2010-03-28T10:36:00.014+01:00

Thames Path, Dukes Meadows

On Mick and Gayle's journey north I'd seen that they were picking up the Thames Path and heading through town before turning north east along the Grand Union Canal at Brentford. As they were going to be in my neck of the woods I offered them a room for the night and join them on their trek.

Putney was thronging with the precursor to next weekend's Oxford and Cambridge boat race. We cleared the crowds as we headed towards Barnes, and took a planned detour at the Wetlands Centre to cut out the Hammersmith leg. Crossing the Thames at Barnes Bridge we were stopped by two guys, Adam and Ben, who were interested in the walk and put their hands in their pockets for a donate to the charity. Nice one guys! Stupid me though; I had a camera handy but failed to take a shot...

Just before Strand on the Green we met up with Juan and Vic, and their tiny three week old baby, Matilda. These are friends of Mick and Gayle who also live locally, and will be providing a place to stay after the next leg of their route.

Gayle bagging a cache

Mr Sloman will be pleased to read that this tiny stretch of the Thames has three riverside pubs, at the first Gayle stopped to bag a geocache that I'd pointed out. As we were nearing the end of the days walking and being in W4 clearly we couldn't pass the Bell and Crown without stopping for a pint of Fullers Chiswick Bitter. Unfortunately the weather which had behaved itself most of the day decided to chuck some wet at us. As we'd been sitting outside because we had Harry with us, we quickly said our goodbyes and bundled off to the bus stop for a quick journey back to mine.

The Bell & Crown, Chiswick

At home Mick pitched Wendy Warmlite in the garden for an airing, and demonstrated the impressive (Penny and I both went, Ahh!) tension banding that made the front hoop rock solid. And I discovered that I can, just, sit up in the front of one of these. Not that I need another tent - honest!

For reasons know only to Mick and Gayle they had skipped lunch, evidently very hungry by now Mick asked when supper would be ready. I said just give me a minute to put the kettle on and offered them a choice of Reiters meals. With the joke over I got cracking on a chick pea and fennel casserole.

With the clocks going forward Mick and Gayle stole an early start the following morning and headed off to Kew for the next leg.

gsi java drip - first peek

2010-02-04T09:24:00.002Z

Magazines are great sources of information, whether I’m trying to find new music or new pieces of kit, I eagerly scour the review sections for stuff that might be of use on a trip outdoors, or to listen to indoors if I cant get out.

TGO has had a couple of items over the last couple of issues that caught my eye. One was the GSI Java Drip reviewed by self confessed caffeine addict John Manning. Unfortunately, as with seemingly most pieces of kit, the review came before any chance of finding a UK supplier. A typical example of a pull strategy; get reviews, potential customers ring up, demand is assessed and suppliers, convinced of this demand, are sold the items for retail. I write potential customers as you have to be pretty damn persistent to bag some of these items. Or pretty lucky with finding a supplier who’s buyer is going to step outside the usual comfort zone of ‘We’ll stock Berghaus because everyone else does, and it sells.’ In the niche market of outdoor trade this avoidance of competition crushes differentiation.

So what has this to do with the GSI Java Drip? And what’s special about it? It’s USP (might as well stick with the marketing jargon) is that it’s a third of the weight of a MugMate and more packable. For someone who is forever on the search for that great cup of coffee in the outdoors this makes it an item to covert. Especially as this means I get to choose what bean I make my coffee out of, and not between what Lyons put in their coffee bags or what Starbucks pack in their Via sachets.

It’s simple to use; clip the legs on to your mug add the desired amount of coffee, pour on the hot water and wait for the dripping to stop. The capacity of the filter is about 200ml, so to get the volume of coffee that I prefer I topped it up. To clean, the filter ‘sock’ is simply inverted and the used grounds knocked out. A quick rinse will remove any stubborn remaining particles. It packs flat and will fit inside a Snow Peak 900 or fry pan lid of a Primus 1l pan set. And my postal scales agree with the 11g stated weight.

dd travel hammock

2010-01-28T18:23:00.015Z

I’ll start by stating that I don’t think that a hammock has much use in backpacking in this country. So why purchase a hammock?

It’s a fun piece of kit that may have it’s uses. The DD Travel Hammock, bought from backpackinglight.co.uk, is unique in that the base material is waterproof so if you find yourself without the necessary trees to hang between then it can be pitched like a tent. This is what caught my eye, I have a tarp and a couple of other single skin shelters that might require something more than a groundsheet. The base is double layered which allows you to slot in a Therm-a-rest or a CCF mat.

The stated weight was 900g but on the scales it clocked 1184g making way too heavy as bug proof inner for the Golite Hut2. The hammock came with a stuff sack and some black bungee to tie up the netting. I also bought a skin as this makes it easy to set up and pack up. And it will keep the hammock dry and clean too.

There are a couple of useful videos on YouTube, and the manufacturers website has all the information needed on how to hang the hammock. Basically find a couple of sturdy trees about 12 feet apart. The trees need to be living and be free of any dead branches that may drop off and cause injury. This is not as easy as it may first seem. My first trip out had me scouring Ham Common Woods. Most trees were too close together and those that I found that were far enough apart were snared with brambles, or the trunks were too fat for me to pass my arms around.

A pair of trees found and I tied the tapes around the trunks at chest height and carefully sat on the hammock to test the security of my knot tying. Success! I then guyed out the netting. Luckily the trees I picked had handy branches in the right spot to enable me to do this with relative ease. I found and threaded a stick through to open out the canopy above my head, slotted a mat in and clambered in. Hammocks are comfortable to lay on, so I don’t think a Therm-a-rest is necessary. What you will need is some insulation however so a CCF mat like the Multimat Adventure Long would be an ideal choice. I guess a three quarter length mat would do for the summer saving weight and bulk but I wonder whether the mat being shorter would migrate out of place.

If you don’t need to use the canopy you can hang the hammock upside down. Incidentally the canopy has two full length double zips either side, allowing ease of access and venting options if needed. Internally there are two pockets, on opposite sides and at shoulder level. And these are big enough to hold a head torch, wallet, cereal bar that sort of thing. There are tabs on the under side of the canopy so a drying line or other bits of kit can be hung up.

To make the set up weatherproof a tarp needs to be pitched as a roof over the hammock, like an A frame but higher up the tree.

The combined weight of hammock, tarp, skin, tapes, guys and pegs puts the set up close to 2kg, which makes it too heavy in my opinion for a backpacking shelter. The hammock with the tapes is a bulky package too. That said I might take it out on an overnighter where a pitch amongst the trees could be found, and where the weight isn’t too much of an issue.

It will get used, we’ve already sketched plans of how the rear garden is going to look, and in those plans is something to hang the hammock between. Hopefully in time for some summer time slumming.

polenta

2010-01-28T18:06:00.002Z

Given that I have to follow a gluten free diet you would have thought that I’d be cooking up polenta dishes on backpacking trips. I’ve side stepped using the stuff because my experience of cooking polenta indoors. I thought the need to pour a stream of the grain whilst stirring frantically to prevent lumps, then the volcanic activity of the polenta, and more frantic stirring would be too much of a faff on a campsite. Especially after a tiring day.

At the weekend I found some instant, one minute cook to be precise, polenta that just needs stirring into boiling water and paddled about for 60 seconds. In fact on my first try this lunchtime once I’d stirred the grain in the pot went straight into a pot cosy avoiding any volcanic eruptions. Lump prevention happened as I mixed the recipe in a poly bag, and cutting the corner off the bag I was able to trickle it without much fuss.

Recipe

75g instant polenta
3 sun dried tomatoes, cut into slithers
11/2 tsp of Italian herb mix
pepper
20g grated parmesan cheese

The first four ingredients were blended in a bag, and the cheese was added after the polenta was cooked. The packet suggested I use 100ml of water per 25g polenta and that gave the right kind of consistency. And 75g is enough for lunch with about the same amount of carbohydrate as four slices of bread. For an evening meal I’d up the quantity to 100g or even 125g.

As polenta is fairly bland it’s worth experimenting; cubed smoked cheese, chicken, bacon or salami could all be added to bump up the flavour, calories and protein.

time flies like knives; fruit flies like bananas

2010-01-26T21:21:00.001Z

I remember this from an eighties paper back by a bloke called Nigel about graffiti. I don’t see much graffiti these days; I guess the virtual bog wall of twitter, facebook, and blogging has replaced it. However in the words of Ronnie Corbett, I digress.

Ben, my son, will be six years old tomorrow, that’s over the hump of his first decade. It doesn’t seem that long ago when I cupped him in my hands as a little bundle in the garden of the Tide Tables cafe next to Richmond Bridge, barely days old. These days he’s barely short enough to fit over my head if he wants to ride on my shoulders, which is most of the time.

Happy birthday Ben, I know you’re not old enough to take the day off to do what you want but that day will come :)

multimat adventure long

2010-01-22T13:58:00.001Z

Not willing to give up the comfort of the NeoAir I took a chunk of Karrimat along on my last trip, originally it was to go under my feet but the bothy floor was that cold that I ended up with the mat under the mattress, and used my rucksack as a foot rest.

Clearly the NeoAir wasn’t up to the task, and the piece of Karrimat I owned wasn’t long enough to provide cover for the feet as well as the mattress. So I dredged the internet for a solution and what I found was the Multimat Adventure Long, a CCF mat. The stated weight was 215g so along with the weight of the NeoAir at 244g I had a combined weight of 459g. Only 73g heavier than the Multimat Super Compact Light 25 for a full length, more comfortable sleeping solution.

Incidentally the SC25 has an R rating of 3.8 against the 2.5 of the NeoAir, so I’d forgo the comfort of the NeoAir if the conditions dictate. After all there’s no point in having an uber comfortable mattress if I’m kept awake all night by the heat leeching out of my body; I’ve already earned that badge. That said I expect the NeoAir/Adventure Long combo to cope with most situations, now will I need this for Scotland in May I wonder?

pack food weight

2010-01-17T15:39:00.001Z

Generally on short trips I don’t bother with dehydrated meals for supper. I prefer to take one of those ‘instant’ pouch rice meals that can be reheated in a couple of minutes. As was the case for the aborted Buxton trip. One thing I’d never done was weigh the food. A few years ago, I loosely calculated that I carry 750g of food per day. A figure not dissimilar to the one, then quoted in imperial weight, in Derrick Booth’s The Backpackers Handbook which I was happy with.

Having diabetes and coeliac I err on the side of caution when it comes to packing food, the extra weight of which I never begrudgingly carried. It was something of a surprise that when I put the food bag on the scales two days supply shipped in at 866g per day, a little over 100g more that my estimated weight. Taking into account that one of the suppers comprised a rice pouch with a single serve tuna pouch, in the original packaging. And that I also had a tube of mushroom pate in the bag which will last about four days, the figure that I calculated was not far off if I used home dried meals.

I’d like to reduce the weight but am resigned that I need the extra provisions as picking food up along a trail that I can use is a bonus and not something that I can rely on.

buxton to roaches (non) trip report

2010-01-17T11:06:00.008Z

It may have been a case of being overly ambitious but the weekend didn't pan out like I was hoping. We set off at four thirty Friday afternoon. Not the best time as we'd be hitting the north circular at rush hour. But our reasoning was simple; the earlier you get away the earlier you arrive. This, of course, doesn't account for the pain of sitting in a traffic jam. It took two hours to cover the few miles from our house to the gateway to the north; the M1 at Staples Corner. During those two hours we started to hear an unhealthy rattling from the underside of the car. Pulling over at the first (or last, depending on which direction you're travelling in) service station to find that the cage that held the spare tyre had worked loose and the spare was missing! I secured the cage and was confident that this would fix the rattle.

Back on the M1 we crawled along at twenty or so miles an hour accompanied by a slightly differently sounding rattle. About this time Jay called me from Cold Springs Farm with some news. (She had rather sensibly travelled up earlier by train.) We were told not to drive beyond the car park as the car would need a tractor to retrieve it as there was four foot of snow on the campsite! The Farmer had offered them room in the bunk house along with another group who had turned up with the idea of pitching tents. She said that the roads in to Buxton were now passable but thick fog was causing problems. She also asked if we could stop by an off license so that we could make the most of the accommodation with drink and nibbles!

We continued to crawl along the motorway with thick freezing fog now adding to the misery. At Junction eight we pulled off the M1 and re-checked the underside of the car, it seemed the exhaust pipe now swinging in space. It became clear at this point that to continue on would be irresponsible so we re-joined the M1 heading south and for home. I sent messages to Liam and Jay letting them know that we were bailing out. It was disappointing to have to do so, especially as the weekend was one that I suggested, and it was to be Penny's first trip out in months.

Having had a couple of mechanical failures on the old bus over the last few months including the clutch going on Christmas Eve, I think it's time to trade it in for a newer, hopefully, more reliable model.

first trip of the new year

2010-01-15T10:27:00.004Z

This afternoon Penny and I'll be heading up to Buxton for a weekend of winter backpacking. Surprisingly I won't be testing many of my recent purchases; the Scarp1 and the Golite Peak are both staying at home. Although the Scarp1 has his and hers porches and would sleep two 'adventure racers', as tent manufacturers would have us believe, the extra space of the Helion2 wins. I will get out on a solo trip in a fortnights time to try it out however. The Golite Peak has been my day sack of choice since I got it but the extra capacity of the Talon 44 is needed, not least because of the relative bulk of the Helion2. I think that the Scarp is bulky but that's because I've gotten used to using a single skin shelter. I will be trying out the Golite Adrenaline 20 sleeping bag, it's going to be interesting to see how I make out with the unique zip arrangement.

kahtoola microspikes

2010-01-08T13:32:00.004Z

Unsurprisingly stockists have had a run on these. Thanks to Ramblin' Jay I managed to track down a supplier, Grit Gear in Derby. I called to check on their availability and although I hadn't mentioned what it was I was calling about I was asked, "Microspikes?" The guy I spoke to, Skinner, told me that they'll be taking another delivery early next week, so I put in my order. He also told me that they dispatched 200 pairs yesterday, and that since they opened this lunch time the phone hadn't stopped ringing. And there are no prizes for guessing what the calls were about.

so starts another decade

2010-01-01T12:07:00.003Z

A change in my working circumstances late last year means I have a more flexible approach to how I work so I plan to get out more. Expect more gear reviews and trips then - the TGO Challenge being my main focus at this point. There's talk about a summer trip to the Pyrenees so I'll be bending Andy Howell's ear about his visits. And I've always fancied the idea of seeing raindeer in Lapland and the Northern Lights so perhaps I may get to meet up with Hendrik.

I'll be at the Backpackers Club AGM which is being held in the south west this year, and I hope that the lightweight gear festival continues to held along side. It's a good opportunity to see gear that you can only oggle online, and to speak to the likes of Bob and Rose at BPL UK, Mark at Ultralightoutdoorgear and Kenny and Co at Alpkit even if you're not a member.

Hope to see you there or out on the trail. A happy new year to you all.

merino wool buff

2009-12-26T22:23:00.004Z

It's no surprise that one of the above turned up as a present yesterday. Fifty five grams of tubular softness, it's much longer than the synthetic me-too buff that I'd been using. My flexible head gear system gets an upgrade, and more flexibility given the additional length. Handy that as I seem to have misplaced the powerstretch beanie...

golite adrenaline 20

2009-12-26T09:54:00.003Z

Hood and centre zip

After my recent trip to the Lakes it was clear that my Marmot Hydrogen wasn’t up to dealing with temperatures below freezing, even bolstered with a bivi bag, a primaloft top and, well, I should state that I wore all my clothes including gloves and a wind shirt. I wasn’t cold but it is uncomfortable sleeping with that many layers on. I could of course packed my Rab Ladkh 800 it’s rated to -15c but it’s bulky, heavy, and been adopted by Penny. Earlier in the year I doubled up sleeping bags but that method is even heavier and bulkier that the Ladkh. An upgrade of my sleeping bag was needed particularly as I’ve slot on the Challenge. I know only too well what the weather is like in Scotland in May from experience and from listening to Bob’s podcasts.

So on my return to London I set about a search, my criteria were simple the bag should be OK for temps down to -10c, weight less than a kilo and be cheap. First port of call was the guys at Alpkit but they were out of stock of the Pipedream 600, and weren’t going to have any in until March 2010, fine for the Challenge but not for the intervening months. Next was PHD and I had a crack at making my own. I kept it simple short side, zip no collar just like the Marmot but with more stuffing. The result was an eye watering three hundred quid plus price tag. I then checked out Cumulus, one model fitted the bill but was a bit over budget.

I did a round of the high street stockists of Mountain Equipment, Rab, The North Face and Mountain Hardware, and only the Mountain Equipment Xero 550 made the grade but was more over budget than the Cumulus.

Back online I dropped by BPL UK and they have a small range of bags and the Golite Adrenaline 20 grabbed my attention. At £190.00 it was the cheapest I’d found so far, it weighs 900g ands is rated to -7c, not the -10c that I was looking for but close enough. I found a review done on the bag by Chris Townsend, which confirmed that it would be a good choice. Unfortunately Bob and Rose were out of stock, I had a long chat with Rose about other options but none came near.

Pertex Endurance capped foot

Back online I found that Mark Richardson had stock so promptly ordered one, not as cheap as BPL but still within budget. I’ve not had the chance to use the sleeping bag in its intended environment but I will confess that I did spend one night in it indoors. The lining is silky smooth, and bag is topped and tailed with Pertex Endurance which is waterproof. I don’t know why other sleeping bag manufacturers don’t adopt this approach because many a time I’ve found the foot of my sleeping bag damp, and this was a perennial a problem with one of the tents I used to own. I tested the material and the water beaded off nicely. The foot of the bag is shark tailed which matches the natural angle of the feet when at rest on your back. And it has a half zip on the front of the bag. How I get on with this unique arrangement will remain to be seen.

I hope to get out in the next few weeks to test this, the Scarp and the Golite Peak so more to follow.

the good wine shop

2009-12-23T23:18:00.003Z

I stopped by the Kew branch of the The Good Wine Shop on the way home from dropping off Christmas presents for Ben, to pick up a bottle of La Flor to go with the sausages, and a half bottle of Rutherglen to go with the pud on Christmas day.

As always the very large (and very expensive) bottle of wine, that used to adorn the counter at the St Margarets store, is still sitting there. And as always the bottle became a talking point. I joked that I wished I had my camera with me so I could take a photo of it and post something about it on my blog. But as I hadn’t, the next time I was passing it would have been sold, so I took a snap with my mobile phone…

I also joked that if the photo was too blurry it still might get sold as I’d have to come back to get a better shot. Being a talking point The Deer in Headlights bottle has become a sort of emblem for this small independent, so it’d be interesting to see what they do if someone makes them an offer they won’t refuse.

So if you’re in the area pop your head around the door, and a strike up a conversation about the very large (and very expensive) bottle of wine.

henry shires scarp 1 - first look

2009-12-22T17:05:00.021Z

I drove to Parcel Force's depot in Mitcham to pay the ransom that they and Customs had levied on the Scarp 1 and collected my belated birthday present (or early Christmas one).

The set up is straightforward; assemble the main pole and feed through the sleeve, locate the ends in the grommets, and with the six supplied pegs, peg out the corners and centre. Adjusting the pitch is equally easy. This is the first tent that I've owned that can be pitched as one and I like the idea.

As hoped I can sit up in the tent and there's plenty of space for one person. Ideal for a venture like the TGO in fact. It could even be used as a mountain marathon shelter for two as it has two porches. I'm going to have to persuade Penny to try this out on my next test pitch but will hold on to the idea that it was bought as a ONE person tent.

There's enough room in the porch space to park a pair of Terrocs and a rucksack so one could be used for storage the other for cooking, or not at all. If you're worried about cooking under cover then the inner can be pegged back to create more ground space however you'd still have the cross tension band in place.

Room for the shoes

Venting options are good; there are short zips at either end, two roof vents and the fly sheet can be gathered up the pole on either side. There's a buckle at the bottom of the zip that can be used to keep the flysheet closed and the zip open for another venting option. The zips on the fly aren't two way however but the buckle can be used to hold the flysheet in place with the zip either fully opened or partially zipped up. The buckle has another use in taking the strain of the zip which is a good thing. The zips on the ends don't have buckles and are prone to parting unfortunately, and there's also an elastic loop that I haven't worked out how to use yet.

End venting zips

The roof vents are closed by Velcro and an elastic loop and hook. And are kept open by a loop and hook internally. From my first attempt this can be done from inside (once you've had some practice).

Roof vents from the inside...

...and from the outside

Flysheet door venting mechanism

The inner is mostly material with mesh at the apex; it's a long time since I've owned a tent that's like this. Most are where the inner is wholly mesh or in the case the majority of my shelters the inner is wholly non existent. A double zip means that you can adjust venting of the inner on either side.

Mesh panel, double zip and D ring

At the top of the zips on the inner is a D ring and at the apex of the inner a clip. All ideal running a drying line or, in case of the clip, hang a lantern from. There is a pocket on either side too. Given the size of the pocket I'm not overly convince of their use; they could take a head torch like a Petzl Tikka but just that.

It will hold a cereal bar -just

I've found that there are two patches on Velcro on the under side of the groundsheet, I'll need to drop Henry an email as I'm baffled as to why they are there.

Curious patches

The inner doors can be rolled up and held in place by tying the two lengths of material supplied to do this. I've never found that this is a satisfactory way of keeping a door tied back. I may look to modify this by making a loop and using a friction toggle on the other, that can be feed through the loop to hold the door more securely. That said the simple overhand knot I used stayed put during the time I got in and out of the tent. The doors on the outer have Velcro retainers.

With Christmas and the end of the year fast approaching I'm not sure when I will be able to sneak out for an overnighter to give it a proper try out. Before I do I will be sealing those seems and especially the stitching around the Velcro patches on the groundsheet.

flexible head gear

2009-12-19T15:00:00.005Z

I usually have a baseball cap on my kit list for most of the trips, only swapping it out for the classic Lowe Alpine Mountain Cap when the weather is going to be really grim.

The humble baseball cap is the cornerstone of my flexible head gear set up, it keeps the sun, rain and occasional snow flurry out of my eyes. It’s wind resistant but being unlined it’s not that great at keeping my head warm in the colder months nor keeping the wind off my ears.

The second part of the arrangement is a Powerstretch beanie. This add a surprising amount of warmth when worn under the baseball despite its thinness and can be pulled over the ears to provide respite from chilling wind. And at only 28g it’s not going to break the gram bank. It doubles as a nightcap too.

The final part is a buff. I bought a me-too one not an original as I think that twenty odd quid for a tube of material is excessive. Venting the neck area is a great way of cooling down but when it’s chilly it’s nice to have something to plug the gap especially when the collars on some base and mid layers don’t seem to co-ordinate that well. I tend to think of it as a removable polo neck. The flexibility of the tube of material means you can arrange it to cover more of your head ears, and mouth when required, like when you might fancy doing a Lawrence of Arabia impersonation or robbing a bank. And if the wind is particularly strong the buff can be pulled up and over the baseball cap to keep it from flying away.

Off to do a bank job?

Upgrades to this system; I'd replace the cheap but still effective buff for a merino wool one, and perhaps use a wind/rain proof cap if you can still buy one.

The photo of the Lawrence look-alike was taken on a recent trip to the Lakes by Adrian Strand.

golite peak - another peak

2009-12-17T15:49:00.001Z

As promised I've taken a closer look at the bag. The hip fins are easy to remove being held by Velcro tabs, double sided means a secure attachment but I'm still wondering about how well these will work with loads when approaching the claimed 30lb maximum.

Golite's rucksack ideology goes back to Ray Jardine who wasn't a fan of hip belts for the simple reason that if your load is as light as you can make it hip belts are effectively redundant. And since a lot of weight in rucksacks is the hip belt and back system it makes sense to strip these out or pare to the minimum to save weight. That said I still feel that even with lighter loads some transfer of weight to the hips is essential. It lowers your centre of gravity adding stability, and if you're running, jogging or scrambling then a hip belt will keep the load from moving about. From a personal point of view I won't bother to look at a rucksack that doesn't have pockets on the hip belt. Removing the hip fins will save 133g.

As stated the foam back insert is removable and can only be done if the 'sack is empty, and even then it's a struggle to get out as it fits tightly. I ran the foam under a tap and although it doesn't look like closed cell foam it didn't take up any water. If you use three quarter length mattress or pad then the bag can be put under your heels if required but I wouldn't bother going to the effort of taking the insert out. The foam insert weighs a measly 44g.

With the hip fins and back insert removed the stripped down weight is 586g.

snow

2009-12-17T10:13:00.013Z

Ham pond

Working from home has it's benefits, I can pretty much stop what I'm doing and head out of the door. As soon as snow started falling I togged up and headed out the door with Harry.

One of the many 'tree houses' found in the park

I've a choice of routes but the one that I favour is a wander through Ham Common Woods to Richmond Park climbing up to Pembroke Lodge for a coffee stop. Pembroke Lodge is a Georgian mansion which was once the home of Bertrand Russell, the view from the terrace is a expansive one and on a good day there are a number of landmarks that can be made out some easier than others (Heathrow airport and Twickenham Stadium). Since I had Harry with me I wasn't allowed in to the house and grounds so had to make do with a coffee from the shack and it being midweek it was quiet. At weekends the car park at Pembroke Lodge is a place where dog walkers, ramblers and sunny day cyclists converge and the Lodge and shack become overwhelmed.

Snow dusting

Just north of the Lodge is a mound, Called King Henry's, where there's a telescope making easier to spot the more elusive landmarks like Windsor Castle. You can also look back to the City along St Paul's Vista. This day however the gap in the trees that create the vista was the only thing I saw. From Richmond Gate there's a path that runs parallel to Star and Garter Hill down to Petersham Gate, I took this and there was now a sprinkling on snow covering the trees and brambles.

St Paul's Vista

Through the gate and across the road, Richmond council finally installed a crossing here last year, even with the traffic lights at the bottom of the hill getting across this bit of road was a test of skill, timing and nerve. Past Petersham Church, where George Vancover is buried, I left the Capital Ring and followed a series of narrow footpaths skirting walled houses and school playing fields to the Thames.

I've walked and biked this stretch of the river countless times so I poddled along on autopilot with my mind on other things passing Marble Hill House and Ham House without a single glance. At Teddington Lock I picked up the Thames Cycle Path and followed this through to Ham, and home.

arcam cd37 cd player

2009-12-09T22:29:00.006Z

I've had a CD37 on home audition for the last couple of days and in between the various building works I've had a chance to listen to the player. The CD37 is a natural upgrade to the CD72 that I own (now available to purchase on gumtree if anyone is interested!) An interesting point to note is that one of the reasons for buying a CD72 was that the DACs could be upgraded to the similarly award winning CD92/CD192; a 192 upsampling improvement over the 24 bit DAC in the CD72. However by the time I made a decision to upgrade Arcam had revamped their CD player range and the boards were no longer available.

Straight out of the box the it was clear that there was a need to run the player in, over the last couple of listen sessions there has been a marked improvement with greater definition and more detail being pulled from the discs. The sound stage is wider and fuller than the CD72, with greater separation of the instruments and voices; the close vocal harmonies on Gillian Welch's Orphan Girl along with the sparse guitar picking stand out. One thing I like about Arcam's sound is that it's laid back, not strident or aggressive so you can enjoy hours of listening without the feeling that your ears needed a rest. Not all Arcam's disc spinners were this easy going, I once auditioned an Alpha 7SE and after twenty minutes I was longing for the quiet dead of night.

The transport and tray are solidly engineered, and the player takes time to load and read discs, no doubt due to the fact that it also plays SACDs. I don't own any of these although I've ordered one up from amazon to get an idea of what this format does sonically. I won't go into my cynical view of vinyl vs CD vs other formats here, I'll save that for another post. Suffice to state that the SACD format hasn't taken off as perhaps Sony would have hoped, no doubt not helped by the iPod generation, streaming and downloads.

Which leads nicely to why spend a very large chunk of cash on a seemingly soon to be obsolete item of hi-fi? There are personal and practical answers to this question. I've amassed a large collection of CDs and I prefer to spend time listening to the music rather than copying it to a hard drive, mp3 player or whatever, that is when I'm not out enjoying the hills and fells. And when I'm out I prefer Natures Soundtrack so I have no need to carry my favoured tunes around on a flash drive.

chanukah

2009-12-09T16:36:00.005Z

Chanukah starts this Friday so I was out on a mission to find a menorah. Back where I grew up this would have been a easy task; walking up to Stamford Hill and having a browse around the shops on the parade. In the depths of northern Surrey I'd have to improvise. Philip Werner suggested that I make one (Brent Council have a PDF on their website with instructions for a menorah made from recycled materials in case I was that way inclined). However I was going to find a candle holder to suit the Festival of Lights needs; it must hold nine candles, one for each day of the Festival and one for the Shamash, which the other candles are lit from.

The menorah is one of the enduring symbols of Judaism and is traditionally a linear affair but then there's tradition, and then there's tradition. My offering is a modern take on on this, well that's my belief.

golite peak – first impression

2009-11-25T12:34:00.002Z

A new model for 2010 which Bob at BPL UK managed to acquire limited stock of this side of the 31st December. Naturally I had to have one because… Well because it’s new but it’s not shiny; I ordered one in black, and I had need of a 40l rucksack (that’s my justification out of the way).

It’s basically a mini-me version of the Jam 2 only smaller and with a few refinements. The bag is made from grid reinforced dynema but with one difference, it’s made from 100% recycled material. In fact all rucksacks in next year’s product line will be made from recycled material (or as their website states 100% Tier 1 EPM’s). The bag boasts the same compactor system allowing you to skinny it down for smaller loads, the same large front pocket, the roll top closure, hydration sleeve, and two side pockets. My Travel Tap fitted snugly in one of these as would a platy or one litre water bottle.

One of the main differences between the Peak and Jam is that the hip belt fins on the Peak are removable and have be re-worked to fit the hips better, a bit like a single strap version that’s found on the Osprey sacks. The hip belt fins have pockets that will hold a couple of cereal bars, compass, GPS that sort of thing. I’ve not detached them yet so I can’t comment on how easy this is to do or undo. The bumph that came with the bag states that you can save 140g by removing these. I like hip belt pockets so I can’t see me removing them but will tinker and report back. Incidentally on my scales the bag clocked 793g.

The other difference is that there’s a foam back panel that’s removable to save weight when not required. I had a look at this and found it slotted in with a tight fit, so didn’t attempt to remove it. It looks like that it can only be taken out if the bag is empty, so no use as a sit pad at lunch then. Also the foam didn’t look like it was closed cell to me, only way to find out is to take it out and run it under a tap. Again that’s a tinker for another time. I’ll stick it on the scales and post a stripped down weight with my other findings.

I used the bag to carry my work bag and other bits and pieces home, and the bag fitted snugly. It was not loaded with a great deal of weight but it felt a comfortable carry all the same. Golite claim that you can carry loads up to 30lbs (14kg) but with no lumber pad and minimal padding on the hip belt fins I can’t help but doubt that, I could of course be wrong. That said the typical load I had in mind for it was circa 6kg, so unless I’m feeling masochistic at some point I’m not going to bother going to that extreme.

The next thing was to look at loading the bag. I stuffed my regular down bag into its 8l dry bag and this fitted with room to spare in the bottom of the sack. With this space to spare I knew that it would be ideal for the type of trip I planned to use it for.

At this point playing with the pack was put on pause – I had supper to cook.

mardale pile bivi boots

2009-11-24T15:59:00.003Z

The above items are one of those luxury items that you dream of at the end of a long day when your feet are wet and cold, and no amount of burying in the sleeping bag and wiggling of toes will make them warm up.

These are like buffalo pile mitts for the feet. The extra large (10-12) weigh 172g so not as light as I’d like. And being pile they are bulky too. Perhaps I should have indulged myself and bought some down booties from PHD but there’s one big advantage to these; they have a thin but durable sole so you can walk around in them. Non-lumpy ground obviously, I wouldn’t want to stand on a stone in these. Answering the call of nature in the damp dead of night is a foot wetting thing of the past.

The boots have, rather strangely, a pointy toe, very much like a Teddy Boys Winkle Picker. As a ice breaker in an alpine hut I could break in song, “Don’t you step on my blue pile shoes…” Or perhaps not.

savoy cabbage with white beans

2009-11-23T14:58:00.001Z

Savoy cabbage is one of my favourite vegetables from this time of year. And one of the best ways of serving it is like this.

One Savoy cabbage
Can of cannelli or butter beans
Three rashers of smoked back bacon

Strip the leaves off the cabbage and rinse under running water to remove any grit. Use a sharp knife to cut either side of the stalk to remove it. Stack the halves of the leaves and shred into pencil width strips. Place the shredded cabbage in a steamer, rinse the beans and place on top, steam for about 5 minutes, the cabbage needs to be cooked but with a little bite.

Cut the rashers of bacon into strips. Whilst the cabbage is steaming heat a small glug of olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and add the bacon bits, stirring until the fat runs and the meat is cooked. Add the cabbage and beans to the bacon stirring to coat with the fat and to mix the ingredients together. Season with pepper to taste, it shouldn’t need salt.

Serve as a side with gammon or, my favourite, rustic sausages like the Toulouse ones from Sainsbury’s. (I cook the sausages first in the same pan!)

vargo titanium sierra cup

2009-11-23T11:47:00.001Z

I must be spending too much of my online time chatting with American backpackers; seems their influence has lead me to buy the one piece of kit that is THE symbol of backpacking in the US - the sierra cup.

With a capacity of 270ml it doesn’t really fit in with my perceived camp kitchen ideal. That said I’ve often wanted to take just the Snow Peak 900 but think that it looks ridiculously big as a mug! The sierra cup sits nicely on top of this and the Primus 1L pot that I use with my Bush Buddy, so perhaps there was some reason for the purchase. That said once I’ve found one of those dinky Alpkit karabiner clips I’ll be hanging it off my rucksack :)

The big benefit with the cup is the ease in which it can be filled from the barest trickle or the shallowest of water sources, which makes filling the Travel Tap a whole lot easier. I’ll take it to the Lakes next week but I can’t see me needing it to that…

tgo challenge - round up

2009-11-13T12:00:00.000Z

The fat brown envelope arrived from Roger.

What's interesting about it is that it includes the names, location, how many challenges the lucky participants have done, and their age.

Scanning through the list many names jump out; Christine Roche, editor of the BPC's newsletter, Darren Christie, and Geoff Gafford. All three I've spent time on the trail with so I'm looking forward to catching up with them along the way. Alan Sloman, Phil @ Doodlecat and Martin Banfield (phreerunner) are outdoor bloggers that I've gotten to know. Alan and Phil's antics in the challenge are legendary - if they'll allow me to state that - and I'm looking forward to being a whitness to whatever they get up to next year. George Griffin, another blogger I've gotten to know, had a run of bad luck with his last few applications but has been given a chance to make up for it and is also down on the list.

And then there's Colin Ibbotson and Shirley Worrell. I've been following Colin's radical approach to kit with interest on Andy Howell's website. (Andy didn't make the first cut but is 18th on the waiting list so is almost certain to fnd his way on.) Shirl did a series of Podcast on this years Challenge that kept a smile on my face as I communted to and from work. Shirl has just finished posting her experiences on the Challenge on her blog, where you can also download the podcasts too. Essential reading for a never before Challenger like myself.

From across the pond, Philip Werner @ sectionhiker.com has secured a space and who I've gotten to know over the summer, so it will be good to met in an actual rather than virtually sense.

Also from the US Henry Shires deserves a mention, Henry is one of the US cottage industry manufacturers of tarp tents. I ordered one of the newly modified Scarp 1 tents from him last night, which I plan to use on the crossing. I hope to meet him somewhere along the way and perhaps if he'll allow do a 60 second interview with him.

vale of pewsey

2009-11-11T16:50:00.001Z

“There doesn’t seem to be much of a distance between the two campsites,” Ramblin’ Jay enquired of the BPC new members meet. Which was true but what she didn’t know was this area of Wiltshire is studded with tumuli and other ancient remains that are connected by a network of paths, tracks and trails. Enough to make up several weekends walking in fact.

The weather on the run up to the weekend was poor and I ditched the idea of packing the Bush Buddy as I doubted that I'd find any fuel dry enough to use. Although I did pack the tarp as I’d found a set up that would give the best weather protection from a rectangle of green nylon and a couple of trekking poles.

Tarp pitched at Wilcot

Friday night's pitch was a very sheltered spot and I pitched the tarp facing a wall but I didn’t need the extra coverage. We sat out side watching the stars slowly disappear behind the encroaching cloud until we felt spots of rain that had us diving for cover. The rain was short lived and the cloud passed leaving a clear sky with tumbling temperatures and rivers of condensation running down the tarp. Not that it mattered I was comfortably cocooned in my sleeping/bivi bag combo.

Saturday got off to a leisurely start despite the pre sunrise up farmyard cacophony of cockerels. Introductions and greetings were exchanged over breakfast and coffee. And several ideas for routes were proposed and debated. Two loose groups set off in differing directions with these breaking down into smaller groups as the morning progressed.

On the Wansdyke Path, West Woods

Ramblin’ Jay, Mark, Steve and I splintered from the group we started out with and headed on to pick up the ridge that ran from east to west along the northern edge of the vale. We loped over rolling down land in bright but breezy sunshine, stopping for a break in a small depression on the side of the chalk escarpment. I used the break to eat a home made gluten free pork pie and to flick the remaining moisture off my tarp and into the breeze.

The southern edge of the Marlborough Downs

At Adam's Grave on the Pewsey Downs Nature Reserve we headed south to Honey Street on the Kennet and Avon canal and in doing so the white horse on the hill side revealed itself as we retreated to the pub.

One of the many white horses

At the pub Mark and I discovered that a book we both owned had had a big influence us when we were much younger and was instrumental in getting me backpacking. The book was Derrick Booth’s The Backpackers Handbook. Even more bizarre was the fact that Mark, a fellow blogger, had written about the book and Derrick had contacted him. Here’s Mark’s post on the subject.

From the pub it was a easy ramble along the towpath to Wilcot. The sun was beaming and in the shelter of the vale it was hot enough to strip off the legs and walk in shorts to the campsite. Unlike the previous nights site this was more open and I was a bit concerned about my kit being on view under the tarp. Due to the prevailing wind the open end was facing across the site to the road which didn’t help. I cooked and chatted to others as they floated by and had a snooze before heading to the pub.

The following morning started grey and threatened rain. Ramblin’ Jay and I opted to take what was meant to be the most direct route back to the car. Along the canal, over a bridge and along the White Horse Trail north.

Ramblin 'Jay on the way

Everything was going to plan including the increasing dampness of the day until we headed up on another ridge near Oare and somehow we managed to drift slightly off route going further to the east than we needed to. We handrailed a fence and then a forest enclosure heading north, with the rain and clag reducing visibility and adding to the challenge. All way marking and signs of any footpath vanished so we dropped down across a meadow and located a path running along the edge of another enclosure. At the junction of this path and a track there was a OS map planning application that indicated that we had found our way back to the White Horse Trail and highlighted the dog leg diversion that we’d managed to take in doing so.

Before leaving Wilcot David Topley (the weekend’s organiser) had mentioned that the final leg of the route back to our starting point was through a field of maize that was head high and difficult to pass through. When we arrived at the field and we took one look and didn’t even bother. We circumnavigated the field, which in itself wasn’t without problems as we had several barbed wire fences to get over/under.

An enjoyable weekend where I made some new acquaintances, caught up with some old ones, and tried out some kit.

golite peak rucksack

2009-11-09T10:28:00.001Z

Bob at BPL will have some pre-release stock of the above. And of course, as I really need another rucksack I’ve ordered myself one up in the tastefully subtle shades of black and grease, in the long back length.

The Peak looks like a mini me version of the Jam 2 with a stated weight of 765g and 40l capacity for the large back length model. Given this spec I’m expecting that the rucksack will get used for overnight trips or two or three night trips in warmer weather. But that won’t stop me from trying to stuff all I need in it for a longer trip to the Lakes should it arrive before the end of the month.

I’ll post a first impression review once I’ve got my hands on it.

tgo challenge 2010

2009-11-03T14:30:00.003Z

I've received an email from Roger Smith confirming that Liam and I have been successful with our application. I've just sent him a text with the news and his reply was - Oh fuck LOL. Probably because he now knows that he owes me the thirty quid fee.

Time to buy that copy of Scottish hill tracks then.

And I've spoken Darren as he spotted that I'd got a place, as has he.

normal service will be resumed

2009-11-02T11:59:00.001Z

My blogging has taken the backseat over the last few weeks mostly due to stuff going on in my personal life; Some good things have happened and some not so good ones too.

The shenanigans around the house sale and purchase have finally finished and we have the date of 18th November for the move – hurray!

The ongoing issue around contact with my son is steadily improving and I spent four days with him last week. In the past, any time we had together was always put to good use, going to museums and the alike. So it was a joy just to spend time doing mundane every days things with him that I’ve not had the opportunity to do before. Although this time was nearly hijacked by the very people that are responsible for ensuring that he gets time with me. Go figure.

On the work front, El Bow the Iberian Archer, has paid a visit and I’ll be leaving at the end of this month. Not the best timing. I briefly toyed with the idea of doing the Pennine Way until Dave Mycroft pointed out that even with parts of it paved canoeing across some of the boggy bits (of which there’ll be many more of than say in September) will be required. Unless we get a stunning couple of weeks of deep freeze which is unlikely in this age of global warming.

Despite all this I still managed to fit in some backpacking and I’ve two trips to write up; The Vale of Pewsey BPC meet and the 1066 Country Walk weekend.

I’ve managed to pimp my audio arrangement thanks to some button pushing by Ben, I discovered that that the crossovers on the speakers was between the mid/tweeter units and the bass units. Why have the power amp driving the bass unit when I can harness it’s muscle to drive the mid range and tweeter instead? So I dropped Massive Attack’s Protection in the tray and had a listen to the first minute of the first track. I then powered down, swapped the leads, and replayed the track. The bass was leaner but the detail in the mid and treble was greater, and noticeably so. Sweet.

monitor audio br5 speakers

2009-10-13T14:05:00.005+01:00

"Not your usual lightweight kit," Ramblin' Jay stated when she heard that I was picking up a pair of floor standing speakers from some where else in Reading after depositing me at Sainbury's after our weekend trip out with the Backpackers Club.

And indeed they aren't. These slim built cherry wood finished speakers weigh 23kg a piece so you won't be seeing these stuffed in a rucksack. Although I wish that I could take the sheer sound quality that these pair manage. The Arcam/Monitor Audio pairing is a marriage made in audio heaven. Bi-amped, the speakers offer unrivalled definition, clarity and articulation of whatever genre of music the CD player wants to throw at them. And unlike the B&W stand mounts that they replace they aren't tiring on the ears. I've listened to them for hours at a go and enjoyed the closing bars of the last track as much as I did the opening ones of the first - with a huge grin on my face throughout.

This leaves me with a dilemma; do I use my spare time listening to music or getting out on the hills...

cowboy tv dinners

2009-10-05T19:46:00.014+01:00

Arranging this coming weekends trip I rashly promised to bring Bush Buddy along because Ramblin' Jay was bring her Bushbaby. At the time this looked to be a grand idea; we could while away the evening watching our ultralight versions of the cowboy TV, perhaps toasting something or making popcorn to go with a noggin or two of Scotland's Finest. And to milk the situation for every drop of bushcraft experience I was going leave the usual suspects of the Wasabi or Jabba at home and pack a tarp.

Then the weather happened and I realised that I needed to find a way of pitching the tarp in a more weatherproof way than the lean-to stylee that is my preferred way of putting the tarp up. A flying vee would work but there wasn't any guarantee that there'd be a tree and space to pitch the tarp in the desired position to shed the wind/rain. As my tarp came from BPL I took a look and there was one pitched in the cave or pyramid stylee; using two trekking poles, the tarp has three edges to the ground - ideal.

Cave or pyramind stylee

So I set to and put the tarp up in day light, then in several shades of dusk and twilight, and finally in the dark with the aid of a head torch. It was quite blustery on Saturday morning so I pitched it again to see how it stood up and to checkout the living space.

More than enough space for one

This is a very stable configuration and I expect it to keep the weather off. I could sleep with my feet towards the opening as there's enough clearance at the closed end for my head. I can sit up under the tarp at the open end and cook with the Bush Buddy, and there's enough room should a visitor wish to call. Roll on Friday evening :)

tgo challenge 2010

2009-09-21T12:41:00.001+01:00

The application form is sitting on my desk at work in an addressed envelope with a cheque for £30.00 enclosed and a two page résumé of my backpacking skills and achievements.

All that’s required, apart from a stamp, is Liam’s part of the application and his entry fee.

Over the last couple of years I’ve enjoyed listening to Bob Cartwright’s TGO Challenge podcasts so when Liam floated the idea at the last BPC London pub meet I said, “…Erm, yeah, well could do I suppose.” The thought of block booking two weeks leave required a little more consideration than a spontaneous answer at the time. With the consideration done the application was duly completed, and will be sent. What happens next is in the hands of the selectors.

gluten free bannock

2009-09-19T14:20:00.005+01:00

Success! I've just used Doves Farm gluten free self raising flour to make the best bannock bread yet. I followed Liam's approach for his rum and raisin bannock.

Three parts flour
One part dried milk powder
One teaspoon allspice
One teaspoon cinnamon
Two teaspoons of minced raisins
A dash of sunflower oil

I mixed the above with enough water to make a thick batter, and dropped a tablespoon of the mixture into the pan. I flipped the bread over once the underside was done and continued cooking until it sounds hollow when tapped with the spoon. Unfortunately I didn't have any rum knocking around the house but the result was delicious all the same! The above quantity will make two breads.

aquagear travel tap

2009-09-18T12:29:00.000+01:00

I bought the Travel Tap back at the end of March primarily to use on the Picos de Europa trip in July. As it happened I didn’t need to use it that often as the water sources were sound. On the odd occasion I did I had to make sure the cap was screwed down ultra tight as there was some leakage. I thought nothing more of this because I assumed that’s how it was meant to be.

On the trip the weekend Liam had packed his Travel Tap and it was then I realised that he didn’t need to tighten the cap down quite as tightly as had to.

Monday morning I fired off an email to BPL and received a swift response from Rose who stated that she’d sent my email on to Giles at Aquagear. Not long after I got an email from Giles asking me to give him a call about the problem. I picked up the phone and explained what I’d experienced and he said that it sounded like the seal wasn’t working and would send me not one but two caps to see if that fixed the problem.

The following day two caps arrived by first class post. At home I swapped the cap and problem solved!

Exemplary customer service from Rose at BPL, and a swift and unfussy response to my problem from Giles at Aquagear. Great job guys :)

carneddau

2009-09-17T13:00:00.011+01:00

He did mention that his boots had a Goretex lining whereas my trusty Inov8 Roclite 315 did not. I kind of wished that I put the Seal Skinz in my Talon 44 but as the weather was warm, clear and bright it didn’t matter that my feet stayed damp, sodden in fact, whilst we were away. The upside of having wet feet was that I stayed on them unlike my companion, Liam, who seemed to take great pleasure in diving into marshy bog grass and clumps of star moss at will. I could be mistaken but I thought at the time we were there to brush up on our crossing open country skills for next years TGO challenge not to get some training in for a bog snorkelling competition.

On the subject of the Challenge I was reminded on Friday morning that the dreaded midge loves my blood for breakfast. Liam asked me to stand next to him to distract the blighters whilst he ate his cereal bar, at a far too leisurely pace for my liking.

The great thing about the Carneddau is that, apart from the impromptu bog snorkelling practice opportunities the massif presents, there are fewer people about. Now this might just be down to the fact that everyone apart from us had figured out if you want bug free, firm footed walk you're better off across the A5 on the Glyders. And as we started our jaunt on a week day we only met one other bog trotter all day.

With a few ideas for possible wild camps from him we waded our way up to Gwaun y Garnedd the saddle between Carneddau Llewellyn and Foel Grach. Bog trotting across open countryside and going up hill was slow going and we frequently stopped to look back at the unfolding view. From Foel Grach we continued on to Garnedd Uchaf and then followed the ridge out to Drogsl before heading back to Bera Mawr to find a lumpy pitch large enough for our shelters and a guaranteed uncomfortable nights sleep. With the sun heading home for bed for the night we cooked supper and Liam baked some bannock.

Armed with cameras and mobile phones we squelched our way around to a suitable spot and snapped away as the sun set enjoying our first cloud inversion.

Despite packing my NeoAir the guaranteed uncomfortable night was duly had. The day dawned better than the previous day with more sun and little cloud but I wanted to get full value from the lumpy ground and was slow to rise. I’d used a zip lock washing machine on my socks the evening before and they were almost dry. Obviously they didn’t stay that way for long. Over breakfast we concocted a plan; we’d walk over Drogsl and down into Bethesda for a can of coke before heading back to the car.

bannock bread

2009-09-14T13:29:00.009+01:00

A simple rum and raisin bread cooked on the trail.

The bread is mixed a plastic bag and the batter dropped into a non stick pan on a low heat. Handling the sticky mixture isn't easy.

Cook on a low heat flipping over once one side is cooked, do this a couple of times until the bread sounds 'hollow' when you tap it with your spork. The rum is put on just before serving.

Remarkably easy to do and very tasty too. This was not a gluten free recipe so I wasn't able to try it but Liam, the baker, assures me that it was.

mapledurham and the thames path

2009-09-14T13:04:00.012+01:00

Took a drive up to Reading on Saturday before last to meet up with Jay. The Thames valley and the Chiltern Hills on the north bank of the river are her regular stomping grounds so Penny, Harry and I, were treated to a guided tour.

With one of Jay’s dogs, Cassie, a whuppet we set off towards Suleham Woods and from the valley side there were good views north to the Chilterns and up the valley to the Goring gap, where the villages of Goring and Streatley sit on opposite sides of the river.

On entering the woods we startled a deer, no white rump marks so it could have been a muntjack. The deer more agile than the dogs soon vanished.

Across a few fields we passed through Purley on Thames heading towards the river. After the second world war a row of holiday bungalow cottages were built on the flood plain on stilts and a few still survive today in various states however the plots of land where the bungalows once stood now are home to a variety of new build houses. For some reason a few of the older new builds didn’t take on board the essential design feature of stilts and suffered a number floodings that meant they had to be replaced this time with raised ground floors and entrances.

Holiday bungalow, Purley on Thames

We picked up the Thames Path and headed towards Mapledurham Lock. As soon as the river bank dropped low enough Harry and Cassie wasted no time and went for a dip. Approaching the lock Mapledurham House appeared through the trees, unfortunately you can’t cross the river here so we backtracked along the Thames Path to Pangbourne and crossed the river via the toll bridge to Whitchurch on Thames. From here we followed a track that ran parallel to the Thames towards Hardwicke House and Mapledurham village. Just outside Whitchurch we stopped for a break and brew. I’d packed my Bush Buddy (bush baby, as Jay christened it) and after gathering a few sticks and twigs we had fire going and a pan of water on for a boil much to Jay’s amusement.

Mapledurham Lock

This was the first time we’d been out for a walk with Jay and we chatted about food, gear, the places we’d walked, and canoeing. This last topic is currently a hot one for me and I was pleased to find out that her and her husband, Robert, owned a kayak and a three person Canadian – it was a bit obvious as they were hanging from the roof of the carport!

Mapledurham House

The hedgerow along the path to Mapledurham village was heavy with blackberries, sloes, and dotted hereabouts a few Mirabelle plum trees full of ripe golden fruit. We helped ourselves to mouthfuls of fruit as we walked along. As it was getting late we cut the walk short and Jay arranged for Robert to pick us up from Pangbourne.

Whitchurch on Thames

Jay later informed me that we’d covered 13 miles that afternoon, a bit of a surprise but when the conversation is flowing, the company easy going and the ground underfoot sound it comes as no surprise.

Looks like we’ll be meeting up again in early October on a Backpackers Club trip in the Vale of Pewsey, she may even convince her daughter to join us. Either way I’m looking forward to our next trip.

south downs way - winchester to buriton

2009-09-06T11:58:00.004+01:00

The best ideas are simple ones. The plan was to take the train to Winchester and start down the the South Downs Way. The Hampshire end has few campsites and, as it is mostly farmland, the opportunities for a discreet wild camp are few and far between. And despite the farming, water is also hard to find. And those cattle troughs I did spot were guarded better than the gold in Fort Knox.

Nevertheless we were undeterred by this. The section between Winchester and Exton was reminiscent of the first leg of the North Downs Way; flat, sometimes slightly rolling farmland. And the path like other sections is mostly bridleway which made for easy walking. Despite a late start we made good progress and found ourselves in Exton at six just as the pub was opening. We grabbed the now obligatory orange juice and soda, peanuts and crisps and asked about camping. We were in luck, there was a farm nearby that did camping. We grabbed a bottle of wine and headed off to the site. In retrospect we should have taken up the offer to be picked up as the site was about a mile and a half off route and much of that was along a busy B road. Arriving at the farm the site owner explained that the official site was being dug up, but we could pitch our tent in the walled garden where the swimming pool was!

The grass was short and the site level which was a surprise however it was next to the road. The tent was soon up and we made use of the pool side furniture to cook and eat our evening meal. Dark looming cloud and spots of rain had us clearing up and retreating into the tent as night fell. The Wasabi is a great little tent and we were able to pass the time happily finishing off the wine and listening to the rain patter harmlessly on the fly.

The day dawned bright and cool. The sun failed to reach our enclosure and as the rain overnight gave way to clear skies the tent was damp with rain and condensation. After an early breakfast we broke camp and headed back to Exton and picked up the South Downs Way. Despite a good nights sleep - I played the joker and used ear plugs that muffled the traffic on the road - I found it hard going. Initially it was over similar terrain but as the route began to roll higher and higher I found it harder going with no power in my legs. I was also suffering from an excitable tummy. We stopped for a extended break at the top of Old Winchester Hill, an Iron Age Fort.

And it's easy to see why they made this very obvious spot a fort; it has commanding views in all directions. We could easily make out the Isle of Wight. With the sun shining and a good breeze blowing across the top we dried and aired the tent and our sleeping bags; good backpacking housekeeping. I even inflated my NeoAir and took a ten minute snooze in the (vain) hope that it might help. Progress was slow; various detours and switch backs seemed to hinder our advance along this section. We stopped at the Sustainability Centre for a drink and a now frequent visit to the loo for me. Some more road walking lead to the familiar downland ridge walking that the Way is known for. Dropping down from the ridge the route crosses the A3 at gap in the ridge.

At the information centre we grabbed more refreshments and made use of the facilities. Enquiries were made at the desk about camping nearby but we'd past the one farm about a mile and a half back, and off route that were happy to allow backpackers to camp. I wasn't happy about backtracking even less so when we were told that the facilities were minimal and only open when the farm was. Or there was a bus back to Petersfield in less than half an hour from where we could get a train back to Guildford. It was really no choice and we grabbed the bus and was home in little under an hour.

On reflection having a gyppy tummy isn't pleasant, on a trail even less so. Importantly there is the issue of dehydration and, the fact that what you do eat you don't get the full benefit from, will effect your performance even over easy ground.

gluten free bannock bread

2009-08-31T16:39:00.009+01:00

My on going search for a suitable piece of cooking kit to make pan bread may have come to an end. Whilst out and about in Guildford I popped into Lakeland to buy some zip lock bags and found a mini non-stick bake tray. And for a little more than three quid it was worth a gamble.

To test the tray I mixed the following;

Three parts gram flour
One part polenta
One teaspoon of baking powder
A few raisins
A sprinkling of brown sugar
One teaspoon of ground cinnamon
One part oil

I added water little by little stirring until I had a smooth batter.

The tray was placed on the Coleman F1 Lite stove which was then lit and held on a very low flame. It didn't take long for the tray to heat up and I dropped a tablespoon of the batter in the middle of the tray. After a few minutes holes started to appear in the bread at this point I flipped it over and let it cook for another few minutes.

The result was very tasty. And not really bannock bread but a cinnamon and raisin drop scone in fact.

Will the idea work on the trail? The baking tray is heavy at nearly 200g and it needs a pot holder. The dry ingredients can be mixed at home and made into a batter by adding water to the bag and massaging it. And keeping a low flame on the stove may be difficult in windy weather. Another consideration is the stove, the F1 Lite is a very efficient burner, so the lazier flame of a Gnome might be a better option. I'd like to tinker around with different flour mixes and flavourings too.

canoe aspirations

2009-08-31T16:39:00.008+01:00

I always leave the car at the Millbrook car park and on the way back I took the scenic route back along the river. Crossing over the bridge by the lock I spotted a guy sitting with two inflatable canoes on the river bank. I've been toying with the idea of getting one so I stopped and had a long chat about the pros and cons of having one of these instead of a rigid one.

The big advantage is the space saved. I was told that this particular model was no bigger than a large suitcase when packed, so no roof rack is needed as they will fit in the boot of a car. Inflation takes about twenty minutes and this is down to the order in which the canoe needs to be blown up. Floor partial inflated, then the sides, more air in the sides, etc. An important point made was that as the canoe skin is material it needs to be fully dry before packing away. This will undoubtedly mean that if you've had to pack it back into the boot of the car you'll need to re-inflate it back at home.

In use the canoeist reckoned that he needed to paddle 20% harder with these than he would with a rigid one. And that's a lot more work.

I was glad I had a chat with him as it gave me answers to a number of questions about inflatable canoes. Personally I like the idea of a Canadian style canoe rather than a kayak as it's more the romantic image of paddling to my mind.

osprey talon 44

2009-08-30T10:39:00.018+01:00

A while ago I was deliberating on the purchase of another rucksack. A long drawn out process of weighing pros and cons, whys and wherefores, and of course, weight and cost.

The Exos has been a brilliant piece of kit and, as I've the long back version, something of a cavern when it comes to the capacity. Fine for week, winter or longer trips where the packed weight is north of 12kgs or when the kit is bulkier than the summer stuff but a bit overkill for summer weekend trips or an overnighter.

Working on the fact that I could fit my summer overnight kit into a 35l rucksack, a bag of 40l or so capacity would be ample when food and water are included. With the bank holiday looming and with it the opportunity to get out for a couple of days I needed no more justification to buy one.

The Exos owes a lot to the Talon series. There are a number of features that are common to both; the shoulder and hip belt are made from mesh and die cut foam to allow airflow, the shoulder strap pockets (two on the Talon; one on the Exos), a stretchy front bucket pocket, a floating lid with a zippered mesh pocket, stretchy side pockets and compression straps, and the floating lid retainer and a rope retainer/compression strap. Where they differ is that the Exos has mesh for the hip and side pockets and the compression strap webbing is thinner than the Talon. In fact the bags are a similar weight despite the difference in size, this is in part due to the weight saving of the thinner webbing and use of mesh on the Exos. And the Talon has an adjustable back system which adds to its weight but at 1100g it's still 400 to 600g lighter than comparable sized models from Berghaus or Lowe Alpine.

The hip belt pockets are big enough to hold a couple of cereal bars and other bits and pieces. The side pockets are deep enough to hold a water bottle but careful choice of bottle is needed as getting the bottle in and out isn't easy. In use I had a Nalgene hip flask (sadly not filled with a decent single malt) that I was able to push up and pull out. There is a U shaped flexible stay that transfers weight to the hip belt that the smaller capacity models don't have. I loaded the bag with about 10.5kg of kit, food and water and it handled that weight without fuss. I'm not sure what the top limit is with this but I'd guess about 12-13kg would be about right.

There's an external bladder pocket and hanger, although it not strictly speaking external as the slot is between the back sheet and main compartment, and the material separating the two is bellowed to accommodate a bladder. I'm using a Source 1.5l bladder and this hangs happily from the tab provided, in use it was necessary to partial unpack the bag for the bladder to settle in place.

Other features include double ice axe loops and bungee holders, bed roll holders, a LED bike light patch, additional tie off points and zipped entry to the bottom of the bag. The bag has a floating lid which means the bed roll holders are superfluous, and will no doubt meet the scissors in the near future.

Osprey pack sizing is on the generous side so the 44l capacity was more than enough for the kit that I'd selected, and a couple of days food.

Given that I think the Exos is a great piece of kit, it's no surprise that I've taken to the Talon. I'd prefer a fixed back to save some weight, mesh side pockets that are easier to use, and larger mesh hip belt pockets but I can live with these shortcomings.