inov8 roclite 305

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

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

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

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...