cowboy tv dinners

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

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

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

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 :)