time flies like knives; fruit flies like bananas

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

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

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

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.