Londonbackpacker

The Allt Duine Wind Farm Proposal

2012-01-17T19:57:00.000Z

London Ice Sculpting Festival

2012-01-15T11:25:00.000Z

More can be seen at :- Ice Ice Baby

Pasta Cup

2012-01-08T11:54:00.000Z

Not one of my usually posts, but I saw these Batchelors Pasta pot shots yesterday.

Tesco where these one's were bought only seem to have Tomato & Herb or Chicken flavour; so I'm not sure if there are any other flavours in the range.

The cost is 68p but there is the chance the they are on offer of 2 for £1. They taste fine for a snack or as an addition to a main meal. The only problem is the packaging is quite a hard plastic pot but you could easily transport the contents into freezer bag and cook it in them, as they only need 150 ml of water.

Because the pot is made from a hard plastic, I thought that it would double up as a coffee cup, the pot will hold 200 ml of water when empty of the contents and weighs in at 30g.

Regatta Freebase Insulated Jacket

2011-12-28T12:46:00.000Z

This Jacket has been supplied by Go Outdoors on a review and keep basis.

If money was no object then I guess I would buy the best and lightest equipment available but as it is , sometimes I have to look at the lower end of the equipment scale; to manufacturers like Peter Strom, Craghoppers and Regatta.

So when I was asked if I would like to review insulated jackets for Go Outdoors I chose the Regatta Freebase insulated jacket.

This jacket is a synthetic insulated jacket which is also waterproof. The swing-tags have this to say about the insulating and outer materials:-

Insulation - Thermo-Guard

Thermo-Guard insulation is made up of advanced synthetic fibres, trapping air to keep you warm in cold or snowy conditions.

Soft & Light
High loft, giving excellent insulation
Quick drying, easy to care for

Outer Material - Isolite 5000

Isolite 5000 is Regatta's waterproof and breathable lightweight fabric to keep you dry and comfortable outdoors.

Waterproof hydrostatic head of 5000mm
Hydrophillic breathable system allow inner moisture vapour to escape
Durable water repellent outer fabric treatment to help water run off
Superior windproof performance to eliminate windchill

Having looked at the Go Outdoors website's size chart, I guessed that a XXL would probably be the size I would need. This proved to be pretty much spot on, as the jacket fits really well.

The jacket is only available in one colour, which is a seal grey with a lime green inner, it has four pockets, two on the hips, one small one on the outside around the chest and one inside. The side one is situated near the bottom of the jacket and although fairly large, its position is a little awkward as you have to unzip the jacket to reach into it.

The jacket also has a fixed hood and although this fits quite well there is no way to cinch the hood in, as there are no cord or toggles on it.

It also has taped seams, as the jacket is also waterproof, although it doesn't have a storm flap across the zip, also missing is a beard guard.

I have worn the jacket over the last few weeks, with temperatures around 5-12c and it has kept me warm, there have been times when walking in it that I have been too warm.

The waterproofness of the jacket has worked well to, I have been caught out in the rain a couple of times and although there isn't a storm flap across the zip and water haven't as yet, got in.

Although this is a synthetic jacket it weighs in at a reasonable 1.5kg and folds up fairly small.

Jacket and ETA Pot

Pro's & Con's

Pro's

Synthetic and Waterproof
Fairly lightweight and packed fairly small
Has a hood

Con's

No storm flap over main zip
No beard guard
Hood can't be cinched down

The Regatta Freebase Insulated Jacket is currently available at Go Outdoors for £49.99

Not my annus horribilis, that's probably next year.

2011-12-05T18:30:00.001Z

Over the last six months, I have been thinking where is blog has been and where it is going, and whether I should continue with it.

I have always stated that it was primarily for me to write up trip reports and have photographs from these trips available for Peter & Keith to see; up until 2009 I spent eight years backpacking with these guys.

Keith, Peter and me somewhere in the peaks

Gradually others found it and started following or subscribing and slowly it built up a reasonable number over the years.

I wouldn't say I was a prolific blogger with rough 350+ posts over six years and the grammar and spelling at times have been pretty bad, there are reasons for this but I won't go into them.

Not surprisingly the most viewed posts are either trip or gear reviews, but then I guess we're all interested in when people have been or what gear they are using.

The last eighteen months have seen no backpacking trip reports posted; the main reason for this, is that after finishing TGO2010 and going back to work, I found that I had to take a fairly substantial pay cut. It also seems that public transport has become quite expensive especially travel in the South, the cost of a trip to somewhere like Dorset is almost as much as a trip to Scotland but a trip Scotland means at least a week away which then only adds to the expense. Even local campsites that use to change a couple of pounds a night are now asking £8-12 even for a backpacking tent.

I had hoped to enter the TGO2012 as a present for my fiftieth or failing that do something similar but neither are now looking possibly; although I didn't apply for the TGO as I knew I wouldn't be able to afford to do it.

The only thing at present keeping the blog alive are the equipment reviews and I'm not sure how much longer they will be appearing.

I did try to get out for a couple of trips in the past year but both times they were scuppered due to illnesses in the family. So for the first time in near ten years, I haven't managed to spend any time in the outdoors.

I honesty can't see next year being any better and the chances of getting out are going to be even more limiting.

There will be at least one more post before the end of the year but after that who know.

If I do manage to do something, I'm sure it will appear here at some point.

Review: Berghaus Terabyte 25

2011-11-25T09:01:00.014Z

I was contacted by a representative for Berghaus and asked if I would like to review some rucsacs for them, I have the choice of a few but decided that the Terabyte 25 would fit my usage the best.

The Terabyte is marketed as a sac for the urban environment; which means that it has a lot of pockets inside and outside.

Internal pockets

There are two compartments that make up the main body of the sac; one has five open pockets and one large zipped pocket.

The other compartment is designed to take a laptop, this compartment is made up of a material called 'd3o intelligent shock absorption'. The swing-tag quotes d3o as being 'soft & flexible but on impact its intelligent molecules lock together to absorb impact energy'

This compartment also has a pocket for a hydration bladder with the outlet hole at the top of the sac.

The rest of the sac is pretty much standard for a daysac, a couple of zipped pockets on the outside, mesh pockets on the sides, a hip-belt and chest strap although personally I can't see the point of either of these on such a small sac; luckily both can be removed.

The shoulder straps are a bit on the thin side but are well padded and are comfortable.

d3o computer pocket

The back has flow technology which is mainly ribbed foam on either side of the sac to create a channel up the middle to allow airflow.

Over the next month, I will be using it as my main sac for work; which means carrying amongst other things, waterproofs, eye-glasses, packed lunch, first aid kit, a kindle, phone charger and assorted batteries and chargers.

One extra to add is that this sac will be compared to a 15+ year old Berghaus Dart 35; as this has been my everyday sac for that time, and as yet I haven't found a sac to replace it.

More can be seen at the Berghaus website.

North Face Resolve Jacket Final Review

2011-11-15T19:30:00.001Z

I've had the jacket for roughly 4 months now and over the last few weeks it have been getting pretty regularly outings with the wet/damp days we are having.

This jacket was originally supplied by Go Outdoors on a review and keep basis, and the early reviews can be seen here and here.

The jacket has done the job it is intended for i.e. it keeps me dry when its been raining. And although it hasn't had a great deal of time out on the hills it has had a good workout around town.

The hood problem hasn't been a problem since I fixed it (see second update) using a hair tie, but it would be nice if North Face added some type of hood reducer in future models.

There has been some build up of condensation on my walks to work but nothing that has been that bad, even with a pack on and the rain coming down.

I still think that is jacket is a good mid-price waterproof that works most of the year round.

Awesome Video

2011-11-14T19:14:00.000Z

To get the full benefit of this watch in full screen mode

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

Help for Heroes-Everest Base Camp challenge

2011-11-03T19:57:00.000Z

Most PR stuff I receive via this blog is usually trying to sell me something or asking to promote some new piece of equipment, without actual seeing the said item.

But today I have a request to promote a walk to Everest Base Camp.

I know copy and paste of PR emails can annoy some but this get the point across much better than I could.

Setting off on 4th November 2011, the Everest Base Camp Expedition will see wounded hero Lance Corporal Jonathon "Frenchie" Le Galloudec, 30, trek 75 miles over 19 days, reaching a height of 17,590 feet. The expedition is considered an enormous challenge for even a fully-abled person. Jon faces the physical and mental challenges of this trek, the first since beginning to walk without the aid of walking sticks, which include undertaking grueling acts of physical exertion while living with the day-to-day reality of constant pain, and difficulties with balance on unforgiving terrain.

In June 2007, Jon sustained a gunshot wound to his spine while serving in Iraq, which has left him partly paralyzed. His best friend was killed while trying to rescue him. Jon was told he would never walk again and his ongoing recovery, supported by Help for Heroes, has astounded doctors.

To keep upto date with the Expedition, there is a website/blog and a facebook page

Help me win

2011-10-20T11:47:00.001+01:00

Help me win an iPad or iPhone 4s

All you have to do is click the giffgaff ad over on the right, for every unique click, I get one entry into the competition. That all you need do, you don't have to order a SIM; although you can as ordering one doesn't cost anything.

Thanks y'all :-)

Extra Brains

2011-10-15T19:01:00.000+01:00

Where's my Coffee!

2011-10-15T13:15:00.000+01:00

Stags and Zombies!

2011-10-09T17:30:00.002+01:00

For those who are not on facebook or google+, this is what I was up to yesterday.

I had an early start to get to Richmond Park to photograph the Stags; it's rutting time at the moment and I was hoping to get some pictures of the stags fighting but unfortunately none of the stags were interested in displaying their fighting talents.

This is my favourite from the day

From 2011-10-08

1/100 f5.1 ISO400@590mm

Stags Roaring in Richmond Park (mp3)

After Richmond it was back into London for World Zombie Day 2011

From World Zombie Day London

It's life Jim but not as we know it

Tour Of Britain

2011-09-18T23:15:00.002+01:00

I spend today up in town, watching the final stages of the Tour of Britain.

Here are a few pictures from the day.

Mark Cavendish, the Manx Missile

Arrow Head

peloton

The Leaders (House & Mclaughlin)

The Peloton chasing

Update:North Face Resolve Jacket

2011-09-12T09:00:00.002+01:00

I've had the jacket for about a month now; and luckily in that time we have had some heavy rain down here in London.

The jacket has performed really well in keeping me dry on a couple of days on my 3 mile walk to work, and the mesh insides have helped to move and keep most sweat away from me when cocooned in side the jacket.

One problem I did mention in the first post was that I find the hood to be to big and cinching it in didn't really help. I looked at a couple of ways to reduce the hood, one was to attach Velcro to it, but this would mean either having to sew into it and then have possible water entering through the needle holes or to use sticky Velcro but this could end up coming of with to much rain getting on it.

The solution I came up with, was to place a hair tie on the inside to reduce the volume.

This may not look pretty but it does the job of reducing volume and stops the hood flopping over my eyes.

Unlike the first time that I wore the jacket

Overall I'm pretty happy with the way this jacket preforms and will be my go to jacket for the foreseeable future.

When I was a kid...

2011-09-09T19:55:00.000+01:00

One thing I always remember wanting was a Blue Peter Badge; only problem I was never very industrious and never put the effect in, into getting one.

This is unlike my youngest daughter, who has just been awarded a badge for an acrostic poem which she wrote.

Unfortunately the poem was written by hand and she can't remember the whole thing, so it can't be repeated here.

But here's her Blue Peter Badge.

The best-laid schemes and all that!

2011-09-01T10:00:00.006+01:00

The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!

This post should of been about how I have a wonderful few days walking in the Peak District, about how I met up with some like-minded people and had a great time, but it's not.

The weekend before I was due to go to the Peaks, my mum was taken into hospital with a bad infection. I wasn't to worried as 1. she'd had this kind of thing before and 2. my sister would soon be back from her holiday and could deal with things while I was away.

My sister arrived back on the Saturday and was complaining of pains in her chest and on the Sunday was taken into hospital and diagnosed with having a mild heart attack (this was her 2nd).

Things took a turn for the worse on the Wednesday with my mum; I was informed that her would have to have a blood transfusion, with this mind and my sister still in hospital I cancelled my trip to the Peaks.

It's been a tough couple of weeks but slowly things are getting better, mum is out of hospital and is slowly getting back to her old self. My sister is also out but has been told to take things easy.

And Me; well my fortnight holidays didn't go to plan but I'm hoping I may be able to do something in September to make up for it but have to wait and see.

Competition Winners

2011-08-23T11:10:00.001+01:00

Sorry it has taken so long to get around to posting the winners of the Bear Gryll's Book.

I have had a major family crisis over the last week or so and haven't had time to sort out the winners.

Anyways I'm back on online for a bit so here are the winners

PhilW
Tom Hart

If the winners can send their address to londonbackpackr(AT)gmail(DOT)com I will get the books sent out as soon as possible.

Review: North Face Resolve Jacket

2011-08-13T12:00:00.001+01:00

This review item has been supplied by Go Outdoors.

Whether you are out on the hills or walking about a city, one essential piece of equipment during the Great British Summer is a waterproof jacket.

The North Face Resolve is a typical lightweight Summer waterproof, breathable and seem-sealed jacket.

It is made from The North Face's own ripstop nylon HyVent, which according to the swing tag is highly waterproof, has exceptional breathability, and exceptional durability.

The inner of the jacket has a mesh lining throughout the body; and nylon lining in the arms.

It has is a roll-away type hood and a fleece lined inner collar.

There are also two large hip pockets but no map pocket.

A double storm flap over the full length zip.

The Jacket weighs just under 500g for a XL.

Very small toggle on hood cinch cord

I haven't have a great chance to wear this as typically since receiving it, the weather hasn't been to bad here in London.

With what little rain I have used the jacket in, it has coped pretty well with and kept me dry.

Some small niggles I do have was it are that the hood is quite large and even cinching it in, the wind can get into and cause it to bellow up.

The cinch toggles on the hood are very small and difficult to find and grip to pull in, especailly when you compare it to the hem draw toggle.

Hem Draw Toggle

The two hip pocket are more than large enough to easily carry things like mobile phone and a snack bar and still have room for your hands to fit in.

The lack of a map pocket doesn't bother me as I never use them, I prefer to carry my map in hand or in my backpack.

I will continue to test the jacket over the coming months and report back.

Go Outdoors have a full range of Waterproofs from the budget end right through to high end products like Paramo.

Competition Time (Take Two)

2011-08-05T09:01:00.001+01:00

You may remember I did a review of Bear Grylls Autobiography Mud, Sweat and Tears back in June.

My final paragraph was nothing to do with the book but the fact that I never received a second copy for a competition. Well Transworld Publishers have been back in touch and sent me two copies of the book.

But these two are different, as they both have a signed bookplate by the man himself.

So if you want the chance to win a signed copy of Bear's Autobiography; leave a (reasonable) comment below to be entered into the competition.

Competition will runs until 14th August 2011

We Are All Bourgeois Now

2011-07-29T09:15:00.002+01:00

Just a couple of things to report.

First off; I am a bit disappointed in the response to the competition I ran for the free iphone city apps, there wasn't one comment posted for the competition.

So this bring me to the conclusion that no one reading this blog, is interested in this type of app or there isn't as many iphone users as they are making out*

Secondly if you go to the blog and not just pick the feed up in a rss feed, you will have noticed some adverts appearing in the sidebar.

These are there to help support the blog; so if you are ordering an item from Amazon, please use the banner on the right.

And of course clicking and using any of the other banners helps too.

This has been a Public Service Announcement; thank you for your time.

*Yes; that was a joke

Getting into backpacking on a budget

2011-07-18T09:01:00.000+01:00

Time for another guest post; this time from Simon Walsh for outdoor look

Congratulations, you’ve finally decided to take the plunge and go backpacking to see the world… but now what? How do you get started, what sort of stuff will you need, is this stuff expensive?

Fear not, we are here to give you a beginner’s guide to backpacking, on a budget. We can’t vouch for sending you off to particular places; however we can give you tips and ideas on what sort of outdoor clothing and equipment you need to take with you and what you don’t need to take on your voyage.

It can be scary thinking about it for the first time. You’re used to being at home, with amenities and a huge array of clothing options… how are you going to carry all this stuff around? Quite simply you are not going to be able too, and tough choices need to be made.

Our beginners backpacking list goes something like this.

- 1 x Backpack

- 2 x T-Shirts (both quick drying, technical t-shirts)

- 1 x Long Sleeved Shirt

- 1 x Shorts

- 1 x Lightweight jacket

- 2 x Trousers

- 1 x Hat

- 3 x Underwear

- 3 x Pairs of socks

- 1 x Pair of shoes

- 1 x Sleeping bag

- 1 x Sleeping Mat

- 1 x Tent

- 1 x Stove

Now, everyone will be different as to how much they value each item, and you may think that that seems an astonishingly low amount of stuff to take, but it really is all your essentials. Remember that if you need another t-shirt or pair of shorts, they sell and make them abroad too, often much cheaper than here in the UK.

Now we will go through everything on the list, and tell you exactly what you need to look for, how much you should be spending if you’re on a budget.

Around 55 litres would be a generous size considering you’re a first-timer and you may not be quite so ready to be ruthless on the issue. Many people however go with even less space than that and get by absolutely fine. We really wouldn’t recommend taking any more than that however.

Also be aware that your backpack will get battered, bruised and broken. So choosing something durable will put you in good stead. Backpacks get rained on, get stood on, get dropped mainly.

To ensure your backpack is durable, look for one which is made predominantly from ripstop fabric. Ripstop is basically the interweaving of nylon through other materials such as cotton or polyester. It’s often used on motorcycle equipment and at the highest grade, it’s the material used for hot air balloons. This will keep your backpack and possessions in good condition through the toughest of conditions and challenges.

You can pick up a 55 litre ripstop backpack for around £50, although the smaller you go, the cheaper it will be, and also free up more cash for whilst you are away.

Now for t-shirts, and you’ll need to consider the material. It would be nice to have something hip and ultra fashionable all the time, but it’s simply not practical for most of the time spent backpacking. Remember, you’re seeing the world not on a catwalk. Function over fashion.

Look for garments labelled as ‘technical t-shirts’ as these will get you through all conditions. Quick to wash, quickly to dry and ready for all situations, a tech tee will be right up your street when it comes to backpacking.

One of these versatile t-shirts can be picked up for less than £10 in some places, and you can be sure they will last the course.

A long sleeved shirt is an absolute necessity to take the chill off on a night time, or simply smarten up a little if you’re out and about. You’ll also want to make sure the shirt is just the one colour in order to avoid unwanted attention from potential muggers or thieves.

More earthly colours are best too if you can find them. Tan, sand or stone work well to avoid unwanted mosquito bites and other insect attention!

You can pick up some great quality shirts like this for around £20-30 if you’re looking for quality, which you should be. Quality over quantity is a golden rule when it comes to gathering your things for backpacking.

Shorts & Trousers are also needed. One thing we must point out from the off however is do not pack denim jeans! These are wrong for backpacking on so many levels in that they weigh a ton in comparison to walking trousers, and have nowhere near as much versatility.

We’d highly recommend picking up a pair of lightweight walking trousers from a brand such as Craghoppers or Regatta Clothing, which will provide sun protection, be water repellent and be easy to wash and quick drying.

We’d also recommend for your shorts a pair of swimming shorts which can double as regular shorts during the day time, if you can find a suitable pair. If not, you’d be wise to opt for any other lightweight shorts.

As for a second pair of trousers, we’d strongly recommend some zip-off trousers, which can double as shorts. Adding the Craghoppers Basecamp Convertible trousers to your backpacking wardrobe would give you lots of versatility and not take up too much precious room in the bag.

These convertible trousers may cost around £40, but remember you are getting a top quality pair of trousers and shorts for that money.

A lightweight jacket will also be required for any undue rainstorms or simply for going out in at night time.

Polyamide is your best friend here, fabrics wise anyway, as it is water and windproof, yet also lightweight and breathable.

A good quality, smart jacket of this nature shouldn’t set you back more than about £30-35 for backpacking on a budget.

A sleeping bag can be necessary on some trips, but your best off reading a few reviews of where you’re going first. Often hostels and the like are not quite as nice as they make out on their own website, and a sleeping bag maybe required if you want to avoid the bedbugs, or simply stay warm!

Gelert are one of the leaders in producing lightweight, tough, comfortable sleeping bags, and you can’t go wrong with anything from the “X Treme Lite” range they produce. These bags keep you warm in the cold, and cold in the warm. Not to mention they pack away to virtually nothing, freeing plenty of space in your bag.

This great sleeping bag is even better when teamed with a sleeping mat, which can provide essential comfort in tough terrain.

There are several types of sleeping mat, from your standard foam ones to self inflating and fully inflatable airbeds. I find that the most effective for any sort of backpacking which will include a great deal of camping will be a self-inflating mat. These are thinner in most cases than an air bed, they can be purchased cheaply and are more easily packed than a rolled up foam mat.

Of course you’ll need a roof over your head too for this excursion, and a quick to assemble, lightweight tent will be very beneficial to those who are taking a more wild route around the globe.

One of the top products around at the moment is the Vango TBS Spirit 2001 Tent, which is very reasonably priced, quick to pitch and offers great shelter from the elements. It’s also very lightweight for carrying around at only 2.2kg.

The stove will also be essential for cooking foods and boiling water whilst out and about. There are a great amount of lightweight camping stoves about, and one of the better one’s we’ve found is the Coleman F1 Lite, which as the name would suggest is light and compact, and great for taking away on a long journey.

As for socks and underwear, the final things on our list, we’ll leave that for you to decide which ones you take with you!

You might already own some of the things on this list, which makes the shopping list that much shorter.

Always remember though throughout the packing and planning process – You don’t need as much stuff as you think you do. A smaller amount of good quality items, such as those we’ve discussed above, will see you through no problem whatsoever.

You can always buy extra things once abroad and always leave your backpack at least 30% empty in order to carry any bits and pieces you collect along the way.

Enjoy your first backpacking trip, and we hope this guide has helped you choose the right clothing for your adventure.

London Calling

2011-07-07T09:01:00.002+01:00

Now that the holiday season is upon us; many will be jetting off to all parts of the world.

Once we arrive in our chosen destination, it would be nice to have a guide available to help us find the more interesting places.

This is where GPSmycity.com comes in; they have an iPhone app that works as a personal tour guide, helping you navigate independently and with ease through cities around the world; from Acapulco to Vladivostok.

In total there are 5,000 tours spanning 470 cities worldwide.

GPSmycity.com have recently released a self-guided tour for London. To celebrate this they asked me to run a Quiz/Competition on the blog.

Readers that get the following questions correct will win three free city walk iPhone apps, to the cities of their choice.

Answers must be sent to quiz@gpsmycity.com

Now on to the quiz

Discover London Quiz

1.The city of London has gone through a variety of names during its history. How was London never called like?
A. Lundenwic
B. Lundenburg
C. Londenstadt

2. A culturally diverse and multi-ethnic city, London is home to people speaking over ___ languages.
A. 100
B. 300
B. 500

3. Which one of these fine gentlemen is not from London?
A. Francis Bacon
B. Jerry Springer
C. Liam Gallagher

4. The Queen's official residence, Buckingham Palace, was built in 1702 on the site of a notorious:
A. Circus
B. Theater
C. Brothel

5. London's perhaps most famous address has never actually existed. It is of course, the world known:
A. 221b Baker Street
B. 221b Lemon Street
C. 221b Plum Tree Lane

6. How many of UK's restaurants are located in London?
A. 16%
B. 26%
C. 36%

7. When was the Big Fire of London?
A. 1666
B. 1777
C. 1888

8. Which is the oldest bridge over the River Thames?
A. Westminster Bridge
B. Tower Bridge
C. London Bridge

9. What is the “London Eye” ?
A. A large telescope in the London observatory
B. A large ferris wheel operated by British Airways
C. The nickname of London’s police

10. Whose statue is placed in Kensington Gardens?
A. Winnie Pooh
B. Mickey Mouse
C. Peter Pan

And remember answers must be sent to quiz@gpsmycity.com

Review: Primus ETA Express Stove

2011-06-29T09:00:00.004+01:00

This review item has been supplied by Go Outdoors

The whole kit

Technical Information

• Very fast boil time
• Low fuel consumption
• Environmentally friendly
• Extremely low total weight
• 2600W•8900 BTU/h

The EtaExpress Stove System comprises of 4 main elements; a 1L pot, a lid/frying pan, an express stove burner and a dedicated windshield.

All elements fit inside the 1L pot and this can also take a 100/250 gas cannister which then all go inside the supplied stuff sac.

One at a time

Burner - The burner is a typical 3 legged, screw on top gas burner, in fact it is the same one that I bought a couple of years ago, with the only difference being that this one has a Piezoelectric starter.

As expected from Primus the build quality is second to none, with strong sturdy pot legs and the gas control knob being made of a strong plastic, the electronic starter switch also has a robust feel to it. One thing to note is that the gas control and the starter are at 180° to each other and to fire the starter you pull the switch down.

1 Litre Pot and Lid/Frying Pan - Both the pot and lid are covered with a triple layer 'Titanium non-stick' surface. Both have grab handles attached; although the one on the lid can be removed. I much prefer the handles to be attached as it means I'm not constantly looking for a grab handle.

The 1l pot also has a heat exchanger attached to the bottom to help speed up cook times. Although the pot is 1l in size it's not much taller than my 750ml Vargo ti-pot and this helps to keep it pretty stable on the stove.

Most of my cooking is of the re-hydrate kind and usually only needs 300-400ml of water for this; so a 1l pot does seem to be quite big. Although saying that if there were two of us, it would probably be ideal.

Is it a lid? Is it a frying pan?

Eh; it's a lid. I do think that it is pushing it to call it a frying pan, yes you could fry an egg in it but you would struggle to get a couple of rashers in there.

Heat exchanger

Windshield - One of the biggest problems with top mounted gas stoves is that protecting the flame can be difficult as to place a windshield around the flame without also covering the gas stove.

Primus have come up with the idea of a windshield that clips to the gas cannister and help to protect the flame. This one is made of two pieces of metal held by another piece of spring loaded metal (this can be seen in the top photograph).

When all these elements come together they help to make the EtaExpress Stove a pretty fast stove, on the couple of times used I have had boil times around the 2-3 minute mark with a 100 cannister.

All together

Remember my comment about the positions of the starter switch and the control knob?

When the windshield is fitted to the gas cannister it is almost impossible to get to the starter switch.

As you can see from the picture above the switch is on the inside of the windshield and to get to it, you have to put your finger around the back to flick it. This is while you have the gas turned on, and it is igniting near your hand.

I have tried this a couple of times and on one occasion I nearly pulled the lit stove on to me. After this I had a look around the internet to see if I was doing something wrong; although the picture on the box showed I did have the windshield fitted correctly.

Once on the net I found that there seems to be two different windshields and I'm guessing that one was the original design and the one I have is the newer design.

New and Old designs

The old design has extra holes in it so that it sits on the potstand legs, and this leaves both the control knob and starter switch free and easy to get too.

Apart from this one problem the EtaExpress looks to be a very quick stove and the low weight (450g) makes it a good all round solo cooking system.

How Much?

2011-06-24T20:08:00.001+01:00

What's the point of having a blog, if you can't have a rant now and again.

I'm looking to plan an quick overnighter, and as such I want some food for the evening. As its only one night I can't be bother to get the dehydrator out and do one meal.

So I looked on the web for freeze-dried/dehydrated meals; now these can be expensive if you go for something like Real Tummat but one's like Mountain House/Be-Well are fairly cheap at around £4-5 mark.

But the problem I have buying those online is with the companies supplying them; as they seem to want to rip you off when ordering.

So far I have tried two sites and both have the meal I want at £3.95 but one wants to charge £5.95 delivery charge and the other £3.96.

The 5.95 one; only seem to offer a courier service and have no other options for delivery, I did try to contact them through their contacts page but this needed the following:- Username, Address, Telephone number, and department, these were the items that were required. So I have to register to contact them; No Thanks!

The Second site's charge of £3.96 (where do you get .96 from?) is for orders less than £100; so in theory ordering £99 worth of meals, which is roughly 20-25 packages is the same as ordering one.

I can't see how this is so; the bulk and weight is more than a single item and the cost surely must be more.

I guess I have the option to phone them and ask if they could send a single meal out by 1st class post but I have always been of the opinion that if you can't see it on show; then they don't do it. If they do 1st class postage surely it should be on the the website, without have to be asked.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not one of these people who think all postage on items should be free but I do feel that these postal charges are a rip off; last year I ordered a rucsac online and the postage for that was £3.00 and that's a lot more bulky than a dried meal.

Now I'm of to Waitrose and firing up the dehydrator.

Guest Post

2011-06-16T09:01:00.001+01:00

This is a first for this blog; today I have a guest post from Jess Spate.

Jess' bio can be seen at the end of the post.

Walks by train from London

Having a car in London can be more of a hassle than a help, but when it comes time to get out of the city and go for walk, cars come in very handy. They make it far easier to go where you want to go, when you want to go there, but there are a number of excellent walks that can be done from train stations rather than car parks. Here are a just a handful of the possibilities:

-Stour Valley Take the train to Chartham, Kent, and it's just a short walk to the bank of the River Stour. This area is famous for its orchards, so go in late spring and you'll see a wealth of fruit trees in full blossom. The Stour Valley Walk is well marked and very close to the train station in Chartham, or you can use the station as an entry point for a section walk on the North Downs Way. If you've got more than a single day on your hands, it's possible to follow this footpath all the way to Dover and get the train back to London from there.

-The Chilterns Great Missenden Station in Buckinghamshire is the starting point for excellent walks in the Chilterns, or you can stop at Saunderton. It's on the London to Birmingham line so fairly easy to get to. Head towards High Wycombe Hill there is a good chance of seeing some of England's only Red Kites. You'll know them when you see them- the red kite has a distinctive forked tail and they're anything up to 5'6" in wingspan.

-Thames Path The walk from Kingston Upon Thames (easily accessible by rail) to Westminster isn't exactly wilderness, but the 20 mile length is challenging. This section of the Thames Path passes Teddington Lock, Putney Bridge, Kew Gardens, and many more well-known landmarks along the way.

-Offa's Dyke Path Both ends of the 180 mile footpath are accessible by train. It's less than 3 hours from Paddington to Chepstow, changing at Gloucester, and from there you can either launch yourself onto the Offa's Dyke Path and head for Prestatyn in North Wales, or explore the Wye Valley and the Forest of Dean. Chepstow is also the starting point for the less well-known but very interesting Wye Valley Walk, which follows the river 136 miles up into Mid Wales. However, finding public transport from the end point isn't so easy. It's another 8 miles walking to Llanidloes, where a bus will take you to Newtown Station.

If you're willing to take a walk with a more distant starting point, the UK has a number of train stations that allow walkers to get into National Parks and more mountainous areas. Snowdonia and the Arans can be accessed from Barmouth, Blaenau Festiniog, and Betwys-y-Coed, and the stations along the Hope Valley line (Sheffield to Manchester) and the Derwent Valley line from Derby can be the starting points for walks in the Peak District. Kendal Station is just one of the options in the Lake District, or you can go even further and take the train all the way up to Fort William in the Scottish Highlands.

Jess Spate used to live in London but is now based in Cardiff, close to the Brecon Beacons and the Forest of Dean. She works for Appalachian Outdoors when not out on the hills.

Image credit 1: Richard Barrett-Small via flickr, under a Creative Commons licence

Image credit 2: Paul Albertella via flickr, under a Creative Commons licence

Review: Mud, Sweat and Tears by Bear Grylls

2011-06-13T18:20:00.001+01:00

This is a bit of a strange book to review; in the sense of I feel than Bear Grylls doesn't seem as though he wanted to give too much away.

The book opens with introductions to Bear's lineage; from his great-grandfather through his grand-parents to his parents; the social circles they moved in and the apparent influence they had on his life.

His early life and school is covered in the first 34 chapters; yes, that right 34 chapters! But this is only roughly the first 120 pages; as the chapters only average 2 or 3 pages.

The time-line moves along at a fair pace from boarding school to Eton, to University then on to his decision to join the SAS.

Up to this point in the book we only get short anecdotes and glimpses of his life.

The next 28 chapters (108 pages) are taken up by the telling of his selection for the SAS(R), the start of this section is prefaced with a note about how he sign the Official Secrets Act and how he is restricted on revealing details of the SAS.

This is only one of two parts within the book that his passion seems to come through; and you start to get a feel for the person, but again we only get small anecdotal stories, mostly centred around the training and the long route marches. Again there are plenty of bones but not a lot of meat on them.

Both Chris Ryan and Andy McNab have covered the SAS and selection in their books with much more insight.

The next 35 pages cover almost a period of two years, in which Bear breaks his back, recovers and meets his future wife and prepares to climb Everest. Quite some big events to squeeze into 35 pages!

The second part to play a big part in the book and show his passion is the climbing of Everest (115 pages). Again we get to see the commitment and passion that drives him on, and making him (at the time) the youngest Brit to summit Everest.

The remainder of the book (40 pages or so) concentrates on his marriage, his motivational talks and the start of Born Survivor.

I have to admit that I had never heard of Bear Grylls before his T.V. Series; Born Survivor, and was hoping that this part of his life would be covered but again this becomes a footnote.

Bear has been criticised about 'faking' within the shows and although mentioned he doesn't really have much to say on the subject.

And then on to the Epilogue; which goes on to mention, first team to cross the frozen North Atlantic Arctic Ocean, flying powered paragliders above Everest, and an expedition through the Northwest Passage in a rigid inflatable boat but these only get one or two line within this chapter, I would of like to hear more of these stories as this is the Bear Grylls I know from the T.V. Maybe they are being saved for Volume two.

I was looking forward to reading this book but have come away slightly disappointed. If you already know about his time in the SAS and the climbing of Everest (which was covered in his book Facing Up) then personally I think you won't find much more about the life of Bear Grylls.

On a sidenote, I was approached by Transworld Publishers about reviewing this book; the reasons for accepting this offer was 1. I get the chance to read the autobiography of Bear Grylls and 2. I was also offered a second copy to run a competition on the blog for one of my reader's to win.

Although the review copy turned up; the second copy never did, even after I had been back in touch with Transworld Publishers.

TRION:Z

2011-05-26T23:10:00.003+01:00

I was asked if I would like to try a TRION:Z dual loop bracelet and then review it for the blog.

First port of call was the Trion:z website to find out some more information.

"Designed to balance the body's magnetic and electrical fields, Trion:Z combines the therapeutic properties of magnets and negative ions, bringing you the most powerful complementary health product on the market today."

This is what the site has to say about the dual loop bracelet
Trion:Z’s original dual therapy bracelet combines Trion:Z’s patented Ionic AND Magnetic therapy into one unique and stylish wristband. With TWO identical loops of Negative Ion releasing “Mineon Health Fibre®” and twin patented ANSPO orientate therapeutic magnets, making it the most powerful ionic wristband on the market.

FEATURES
Dual Loops of Mineon Health Fibre® Negative-Ion producing material:
50- 100 stronger than any other product on the market 2 x 1,000 Gauss Magnets with patented ANSPO technology
Over 20 stylish colour combinations The theory behind magnet therapy is that when a magnet is placed around a specific joint or body part, more blood is attracted to that area, leading to an increase in oxygen and nutrients. The combination of increased oxygen and nutrients leads to a faster healing process.

Well that's most of the scientific spiel out of the way; so how has it worked for me?

I have to admit that I am sceptical when it comes to things like negative ions and magnetic therapy's, I have tried magnets in the past for pain relief and found they didn't work.

Also the website and information that comes with the bracelet doesn't seem to make any real claims that the bracelet will improve performance or help with pain relief.

At present I'm walking roughly 15-25 miles a week: I also have a few little niggly pains in my knees and ankles.

So far I have worn the bracelet 24/7 for the last week and have to say that it has done absolutely nothing for me.

I don't find that the walking time has improved or that my recovery time has got better, the niggly pains are still there.

All I can say about the bracelet is that its a fairly nice design; I usually wear some kind of bracelet, be it this one or my usual Cobra bracelet.

The only other thing to say is "Your Mileage May Vary"

Shameless

2011-05-05T21:59:00.002+01:00

I love trying new things; whether it's new equipment or a new piece of tech or playing with the code within the blog to make a scrolling blog list.

I enjoy the thrill of adding new features and seeing them either work or fall flat and then having to work out where I went wrong, and all this for someone who has a very basic knowledge of this kind of sort.

Since getting the Kindle I have wondered how I could get some personally content on to it. First off was to get the Londonbackpacker blog on there; although personally I can't see the point of this, as there are enough apps on the kindle to get the rss feeds through the kindle browser and the 3G network.

After that I turned my attention to getting an ebook/let on to Amazon and the Kindle. The only real piece of writing was the Journal from last year's TGO Challenge.

So this was converted into a .mobi file (this is the format that the Kindle eReader works in) and sent to the Kindle Direct Publishing site and within 24 hours the ebook was on the Amazon site and ready to download.

The ebook has been up for a few weeks and without any mention of it, I have managed to sell a few.

So here the shameless plug, if you click the TGO Challenge box at the top of the blog, it will take you to the page with information on how to obtain the ebook.

5

2011-04-30T11:57:00.001+01:00

Extra, Extra, Extra

2011-04-17T13:52:00.010+01:00

Someone once said 'That you should try everything once'*

So yesterday morning found me in London's Docklands, being made up to look like a Zombie.

I was playing a Zombie extra in a film.

First thing was to have the make-up applied, which wasn't the nicest experience, the fake blood is quite sticky and it never really dries so you always have this red goo on your face and hands, then it was off to Zombie School.

To learn how to move like a Zombie (it's not a easy as you think :-) ).

After that it was.... well a lot of sitting around doing nothing, it seems as making flims takes a lot of time and a lot of waiting, what for I don't know as we were never told.

When we did get on set, our part was to chase after the main characters of the film.

This involved staggering down the street after them, then being sent back to do it again.

I was luck to be in the front for most of these scenes so hopefully I'll make it into the final cut and not end up of the cutting room floor.

Overall it was a fun day and a good laugh with the other Zombies but it was tiring, I think this was all the waiting around. I guess I know that filming takes time but never realised how much time.

*There is some debate to that actual quote it's either:-

“You should make a point of trying every experience once, excepting incest and folk dancing.”--Arnold Bax

or

“Try everything once except folk dancing and incest.”--Sir Thomas Beecham

..

Dales Outdoor Weekend 7-8 May 2011

2011-04-15T17:36:00.003+01:00

Darren asked me if I would help to promote the upcoming Dales Outdoor Weekend.

Below is the piece Darren has written for it.

It seems bikes as well as boots are truly in vogue with the backpacking fraternity. The year round diary of meetings organised around the country by Backpackers Club is well sprinkled with the trips where wheels get the lightweight camper members between one pitch and the next.

Bikepacking they've called it, ever since the author Robin Adshead went ride-about and showed the way with a book that partnered his Backpacking in Britain title. (go Google it all) Robin was one of the original gang of gadabouts who helped build the backpacking in Britain image.

Northumbria Backpackers have already set the style for the Club's weekend in Bellingham, as all good Buff wearers remember. The 2011 agm weekend of Backpackers Club is back in the North east region, billed as Dales Outdoor Weekend, to broaden club appeal and get the public along to see what it is all about.

The organising team have linked into local features such as the Weardale Railway and the famed Coast to Coast hike & bike trail (C2C), Mike Knipe will help people discover more about the joys of tinkling along in an ANOB, and there's also a bike ride option.

Above Weardale sits Parkhead Station, with as good an all-day breakfast as you'll get anywhere - b&b too. The train no longer gets to here, but the old track is now National Cycle Route 7, from Sunderland, past Parkhead Station and terminating at Whitehead, or even Inverness if you are Highlands inclined.

Most people on the Weardale patch will use these tracks as part of a C2C trip - and there are some fine pitches for a tent or two you can find if you have the nose for that sort of thing. The arena for the lightweight camping equipment displays and the like is at Stanhope Showground, with hills either side, a river that burbles and all around nature at its very best.

There is also a poster with details of the whole weekend which can be downloaded from HERE.

A little walk

2011-04-09T17:00:00.007+01:00

Start

Trees

Arty

Hobbit Hole

Cockney Horses

Red

River Quaggy

Standing out

2011-02-20T23:23:00.000Z

On Friday I was lucky enough to be invited to the Panasonic Convention 2011 here in London.

This show is about highlighting the new equipment that will be appearing in the shops over the next few months; and although most of the equipment on show was home entertainment of some sort, TV's, Blu-ray player, Home cinema there was a big selection of cameras and video cameras which held the biggest interest for me.

Over the last couple of years there has been a big upsurge in 3-D films and 3-D televisions, this was noticeable at the show plenty of 3-D TV's on show, including a 150 in one!!!

So what's this to do with the outdoors, I hear you ask. Well Panasonic are introducing cameras and lens that are capable of taking 3-D pictures.

3-D this is nothing new as we have fads of it back in the 50s and cinema has always dabbled in it, I even have some stereoscopic pictures that go back to the 1860s.

Panasonic are not only making lens for their G Micro cameras but also for their video cameras too, which means that amateurs now get the chance to make 3-D movies.

I had a play with both the G2 and the GH2 with the 3-D lens attached and was really surprised at how good the results were, although these were viewed on a 50 in TV.

The 3-D lens for the video cameras also seems to process good video.

Obviously these new lens come at a fairly high price but it is good to see the ability to capture 3-D is coming to the digital amateur market.

1903 stereoscopic print

6

2011-02-03T18:55:00.002Z

“I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered!”

Whatever you do don't....

2011-01-28T23:18:00.004Z

Blink!

42

2011-01-26T18:29:00.011Z

"....and secondly it has the words DON'T PANIC inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover."

So far I been enjoying the Kindle for book reading but one of the things I dislike, is the screensavers that appear when the reader is in sleep mode.

In fact a couple are a bit scary; especially the one's of Emily Dickinson and Harriet Beecher Stowe (if you have a Kindle you know what I mean).

Amazon don't actual have a way of putting your own pictures on the Kindle but it is possible to achieve this with a bit of jiggery pokery.

The jiggery pokery is to jailbreak the Kindle to allow you to place your own pictures on there.

After doing this the only picture that could go on the screensaver was:-

If anyone is interested in changing the screensavers on their Kindle the instructions are at How-To Geek and it goes without saying that you do this at your own risk.

Update: Amazon have updated the firmware to the Kindle to 3.1 and because of this the Jailbreak and Screen Hacks don't work on the new firmware.

Thoughts on the Outdoors Show

2011-01-13T22:05:00.001Z

If you like messing about on the water or ride a bicycle then the Outdoors/Boat/Bike show is for you, if it's the walking side of the outdoors you are after then the show is a let down again.

This is the Outdoors Show that was held in Birmingham at the NEC and was sponsored by The Ordnance Survey but not anymore, there is no sponsor and now it's in London.

Over the last few years the show has been losing its Mojo and this year it seems to have lost it completely.

As the show was only around the corner from me, I had to go even if it was going to be awful. A few of the big brand names were there but with pretty small stands compared to previous years, Garman and Memory map are there but only showing off there GPSr's with maps built in.

Cicerone looked to have a much smaller stand but still seems to have most of their range of books on show.

Again there looks to be an increase in discover... [insert name of country here] stands and strangely food stalls, showing great British food.

Bushcraft and survive skills magazine has a stand with demo's on how to light a fire and how to cook with a dutch oven, subjects that seem to have been covered 100s of times.

Two big high street chains are there in the forms of Blacks and Decathlon to cater for your average walker, and with Craghoppers and a couple of stalls selling discounted apparel.

Names that were missing Alpkit, Terra Nova, Inov8; in fact names that most of the lightweight backpacking community look to for equipment.

In fact there is a general lack of walking equipment on show; no major tents, only a few from the Blacks/Decathlon ranges, hardly any sleeping bags, mats, cooking equipment.

In previous years there has been a theatre were you get a free ticket to see the likes of Brian Blessed, Kate Humble plus a few other celebs give a talk; this year there is an extra charge (between £35-20) to see the likes of Ray Mears, Simon King ,and Ben Fogle, the less said about this the better.

Personally I think THAT this Outdoors show has had its day but there is a 'new' Outdoor Leisure Show in Birmingham next month, which will have the likes of Alpkit, Terra Nova, Vango and quite a few that wasn't at the Outdoors Show.

Kindle Reader

2011-01-03T15:06:00.006Z

I recently bought an Amazon Kindle 3G and I'm planning to write a few posts on my experiences using it.

First off the Kindle is an ebook reader, that's it, it doesn't do anything else. Saying that though you can access the internet with it, you can play mp3's on it and in some cases it can read a book to you via the text-to-speech function; more on these in a later post.

The Kindle's physical size is roughly the height and width of a paperback book and 8.5mm thick, the display is black & white only and uses an E-ink screen; this screen looks sharpe and it's like reading a normal book page and it weights 270 gms.

The screen reminds me of the children's toy Etch-a-sketch. Each time the page is 'turned' the screen has to refresh and this means that it flashes, on some of the videoes I watched before buying the kindle I was a bit distrubed by this but once I started using it, I can say that I don't notice it anymore.

The screen is not backlit so this does mean that you need to have some kind of lightsource to read by, but it also means that eye strain is kept to a minimum unlike lcd screens.

The Kindle can store roughly 3,500 ebooks on it which by any standard is a lot of books!

I will cover books, blogs and newspapers in another post.

The Kindle is advertised as having up to a month of battery life (when the wifi is switched off) so far I have only done one charge and still have half the battery life showing.

So far the kindle has renewed my interest in reading books again and with is new interest I have set myself a challenge.

The challenge is to read 100 books (either Physcial books (p-books) or e-books) in 2011. I have set up a page on the blog that will appear in the menu bar (above) to show what books are read and how I getting on.

Eltham Lights Up

2010-11-19T18:28:00.004Z

Last night my youngest daughter was part of the Lights Up Eltham, which is the turning on of the Christmas lights in our local high street.

This years theme was Time & Alice in Wonderland, this involves the local schools making lanterns for the parade along the high street.

Below are some pictures from the event.

Bang, pop, fizz

2010-11-07T11:32:00.003Z

Last night was spent at a fireworks display with the family, this is the display's finale.

TGO Challenge Journal 2010

2010-10-03T14:37:00.007+01:00

Top Ten

2010-10-01T21:38:00.003+01:00

It seems as this blog has been chosen as one of the top ten UK Outdoor Recreation blogs over at Cision

Hang Drum

2010-09-13T20:45:00.002+01:00

Listen!

New Blogs

2010-09-13T19:09:00.004+01:00

I have set up a couple of new blogs; both are to do with photography.

The first is On The Street which is my attempts at Street Photography.

The second site is really a place for pictures that don't fit in with either backpacking or street photography but are IMO worth showing.

Action packed First Issue

2010-09-05T14:20:00.000+01:00

I haven't bought an issue of Trail magazine since the September 2003 issue.

I know this because I have every issue up to and included that one.

I can't fully remember why I stopped buying it; it may be because there wasn't enough to interest me or the general content seemed to be getting pretty bland and predictable.

Trail is celebrating its 30th birthday this year, so I thought I'd take a look back at issue one.

Back in the mists of time; July/August 1990 there were as far as I remember only one or two U.K based walking magazine; and that was The Great Outdoors and Country walking (the sister magazine to Trail), at that time I always found The Great Outdoors to be for the bearded, red sock brigade and only bought it on a handful of occasions. Country walking was always for the day walker and had very little to interest me.

So with the arrival of Trail Walker (that's what it was called back then) there was a new kid on the stands, it looked fresh, entertaining and fitted exactly the type on walking/backpacking I was into at that time.

A look at the FIRST ACTION PACKED ISSUE

When first published it was a bi-monthly magazine and I think it was like this for the first year.

Much of the issue is in black & white with only a handful of colour pictures and colour adverts.

The editor-in-chief was Keith Nelson

The first article was called Around the roof of England by Paddy Dillon; which is a 2 day youth hostel route or a 3 day backpacking one taking in Scafell Pike, Scafell, Helvellyn and Skiddaw.

Test report was on seven backpacks including Karrimor Panther 4, Mag Mor Spectre, Berghaus Pulsar, and Lowe Alpine Outback II.

The letter's page covers interesting questions like 'how to put a rucsac on', what is the best stove/fuel and it seems as meths burners are pretty thirsty beasts. My favourite letter is 'What's the ideal rucsac weight?' with the answer being the maximum recommend safe weight for a laden rucsac is 1/3 of your body weight.

A second article by Paddy covers the Pennine Way with a very detailed outline of the route and where to stay each night.

Other articles include a Pyrenean backpack, Crib-Goch Scramble, and how to make the most of scrambling.

There is also the weekender section which covers the Marsden-Edale classic, the Buttermere round, two days over Dartmoor and a two day trip around Lochnagar.

Adverts in the magazine include the OS new national trail guides, Mag Mor makers of the best British rucsacs, Bourne Sports,
HF holidays, Ron Hill and Bivvy Bug there are also 5 pages at the rear Advertising Trail Breaks.

So that's a look back at the first issue of Trail, I guess things haven't really changes that much, although the biggest thing missing form this issue is no web addresses.

Trail Walker Issue One

TGO Photographs

2010-08-15T14:01:00.003+01:00

I've finally gotten around to sorting out my photographs from this year's TGO Challenge.

As you may remember from a previous post; I left the SD card for my camera behind and had to take most of the photographs with my video camera.

If you click on the link below the picture, it will take you to the TGO Challenge album.

St. Cyrus beach

From My TGO Challenge

Chameleon Wrap Slam Update

2010-08-12T19:15:00.004+01:00

I have been wearing these shoes for the best part of a month now; mainly on day walks to the local woods and on the urban walks I have been doing.

The walks range in distance for a couple of miles up to the longest which was about 6 miles. Terrain has consisted of woodland path to normal city concrete pavements.

There has been very little rain in the South over the month; so testing the shoes in the rain has been impossible, As there is no waterproof liner, I would expect the shoes to get wet in wet condition. I would allow expect them to take a while to dry out, as they are quite a well padded shoe.

Padding detail

The wrap design on the shoes help to fit the shoes better to your feet and this with the high amount of padding does help to give the shoe a boot-like feel.

Wrap detail

I found the sole to be quite stiff; just like a boot's sole; which along with the rather chunky vibram sole did give good protection on hard surfaces; although on the longer walks I did find that the stiffness and lack of flexibility did seem to make my feet ache more that normal for the distance.

In my initial report I did say that I thought the shoes where on the heavy side, after wearing them for a time, I still think this. They are heavy enough to know you are wearing them, especially when going up hills or climbing stairs.

Although the shoes are comfortable and give good foot support; I don't think they would be my 'go to' shoes for walking mainly because of the weight and the stiff sole, I have gotten so use to a light shoe and flexible sole.

I see the Merrell Chameleon Wrap Slam trainers as possibly a good shoe for somebody who wants to move away from a full boot but isn't sure that the super lightweight shoes are for them; obviously something like a Sealskin or Goretex liner would be needed, as I can't see these being quick drying.

Thanks to Adam and Fitness Footwear for the chance to test & review the shoes.

More days out

2010-08-12T17:35:00.000+01:00

Deer, Greenwich Park

Greenwich Naval College

Greenwich Park Panorama

Canary Wharf

From Days out

Salad Days

2010-08-11T19:30:00.001+01:00

Yesterday was spent going around the Natural History and Science Museum in London.

I haven't been to either of these Museums since around 1976/77; back then I spent quite a lot of time there, for reasons I won't go into.

There was plenty of feelings of deja vu, seeing some of the same exhibits from back then, like the dinosaurs and the Apollo 11 moon lander (obviously a reproduction).

Things have changed though; back then the most interesting electronic 'gadget' in the Science Museum was the T.V that had Ceefax on it. Nowadays its all touchscreen interactive computers.

One thing the Science Museum always had were either really old things like Stephenson Rocket, or Beam engines or items that Joe Public would never own like a Cray computer or Space craft.

But yesterday I saw a Chopper Bike, NES Console and an original Game Boy machine; these are not old (well that old to be a Museum!!) these are part of my childhood and early twenties.

Going to Museums can sure make one feel old.

Major Tom

From Days out

T.Rex

Sea to Summit X-Series

2010-08-08T18:00:00.002+01:00

Occasionally I get asked if I would like to test and review equipment, other times I will see something that interests me and I will contact the supplier/manufacturer to see if it would be possible to have an item to test/review.

Burton McCall were nice enough to send me a set of the Sea to Summit X-Series Mug, Bowl and Plate.

For years I always carried two cook pots; one of meals and the other a small one for doing 'brews'. The main reason for this was that when using homemade dehydrated meals, they needed to soak for an hour or so, and this ment that one pot was not usable in this time.

I did for a time use just one pot and a plastic bowl but it would not always fit into pockets easily and occasionally pressing to hard on the pack would crack the bowl.

I did also for a time try the Orikaso set of mugs and bowls but never got on with these.

So after seeing a x-bowl on this year's TGO Challenge I though this maybe the ideal solution for the way I cook.

The best way to do this review is do the items individually; So I will start with the X-Mug.

X-MUG

Weight: 52 g
Size: 20mm x 110mm (when flat) 85mm x 110mm (when open)

The X-mug is made from food grade silicone material, this means that it won't taint any liquid that is placed into it.

The mug has a nylon rim to help give rigidity to the mug. The mug is calibrated on the inside in ml and cups, so can be used as a measuring cup. The measurements show from 100 ml to 480 ml.

It will hold 480 ml (2 cups) of liquid but this will take it to the top of the mug; Personally I only fill it to about the 350 ml (1 1/3 cups) this is because where you pick the mug up normally i.e by the sides the mug squishes sightly and can cause the liquid to overflow. The mug can be picked up by the rim but you need to have fairly big hands to do this.

Comparing the x-mug to my old mug; the x-mug will hold sightly more liquid but does weigh a few grams more. But it is much easier to pack away inside a pack or even in a trouser pocket.

Old & New

I do have one niggle and one concern with the x-mug; the niggle is that although the mug will take quite high temperatures, it doesn't seem to hold the heat particularly well. I wouldn't expect it to hold heat like a insulated mug but I found that the heat disperses quite quickly; even quicker that the old plastic mug I normally use. Now I don't know the reason for this; it could be the the walls of the x-mug are quite thin or it could be that silicone don't retain heat particularly well.

The concern is how resistant the silicone is to puncture; I like to have my brew kit close to hand which means I carry it in the outside pockets of my pack. Packs can sometimes get snagged on items like gates, stiles and the odd bit of barbed wire and this could puncture the x-mug; I know this may never happen but I think about these things.

Pros: light and compact, holds a good amount of liquid

Cons: Doesn't seen to keep liquid hot for very long, possibly easy to puncture

X-Bowl

Weight: 86 g
Size: 15 mm x 150 mm (flat) 60 mm x 150 (when open)

The X-bowl is made for the same materials as the X-mug the only difference being that there is no nylon rim; the nylon this time is in the base of the bowl.

The base of the bowl can be used as a cutting board, if you are someone who like to cook and prep fresh food out of the trail.

Again the bowl is calibrated to use for measuring, and shows from 100 to 500 ml.

The bowl can hold a maximum of 650 ml; and you can use virtually all of this, as this time as you are more likely to hold the bowl in the palm of your hand.

I used the bowl for a breakfast (Oat So Simple) and a homemade dehydrated meal and neither of these meals came above the 400 ml mark.

X-Bowl & Breakfast

But once again I found the the meals seems to get cooler quicker than in either a traditional bowl or my Vargo ti-lite mug.

Pros: light and compact, small pack size

Cons: Doesn't seen to keep food hot for very long

X-Plate

Weight: 152 g
Size: 15 mm x 220 mm (Flat) 38 mm x 220 (open)

Again the X-plate is made from the same silicone and nylon, as the other two items. Because of it's bigger size, you get a much bigger cutting board and the plate will hold 1170 ml.

Now I have to admit the I can't really find a way of fitting this plate into my backpacking set-up. It has nothing to do with the weight or the size but more to what I would use it for.

Most of my meals on trips are 'heat and eat' so the X-bowl would serve this purpose 99.9% of the time.

I could see the plate being used on 'Glamping' trips with the family; when having 'proper' meals in a tent.

Pros: light and compact, good if you like a large plate

Cons: doesn't really fit in with my type of backpacking

Overall I see the mug & bowl to be a good addition to my backpacking kitchen.

Local Nature Reserve

2010-07-18T19:10:00.000+01:00

Popped along to our local nature reserve today; which is about 10 minutes from home.

The reserve has been created within Sutcliffe Park, the river used to run under the road and covered culvert through the park. This was remodelled several years ago to reintroduce a flood area to protect areas further down stream. Also this created a marshy area for wildlife to return. It is now an oasis in the middle of two major roads.

View Larger Map

There are suppose to be dragonflies, damselflies, herons, little egrets, kingfishers and reed warblers there but I only saw a heron today along with the usual suspects of ducks, coots and moorhens.

(Karma) Chameleon Wrap Slam

2010-07-17T14:25:00.003+01:00

At the end of last year Stef from BG! put my name forward to Fitness Footwear to test and review some TNF Hedgehog walking shoes; At the time I had just bought a pair of these shoes, so declined the offer.

Adam Smith from Fitness Footwear has been back in touch with some new shoes to test and review and this time I have taken up the offer.

This month's offer was on Merrell Trainers. I had the choice of a few different shoes and opted for the Merrell Chameleon Wrap Slam (yeah I think the name is a bit of a mouthful too).

Chameleon Wrap Slam

Sole Detail

I asked Adam to send me a size 12; I usually take a 11 or 11.5 but when ordering shoes unseen I tend to go a half size bigger. Adam actully sent me a size 12.5 which was lucky as I think the 12 would of been a bit tight.

Initial thoughts on the shoes are that, they are fairly comfortable: I've only tried them on two short walks so far. They are a lot heavier than I would expect from a shoe made with neoprene but I think this is partly to do with the rubber rand and the rather chunky Vibram sole.

The weight is around 548g per shoe, this is in comparison to Inov8 Terrocs=408g, TNF Hedgehog=478g, and New Balance S70=419g

A selection of hiking shoes
New Balance S70, TNF Hedgehogs, Inov8 Terrocs, Merrell Chameleon Wrap Slam

I'll be wearing the Merrell's as my main shoes for the next couple of months and with have a fullier report then.

Fitness Footwear has a selection of Merrells on sale at present.

Power to the people

2010-07-12T18:47:00.001+01:00

There have been a couple of posts on charging mobile phones, mp3 players and possibly other equipment while out on a trip.

In the past I have always used a mp3 player that would take AA/AAA batteries and just carry a spare, this usually worked quite well; as for mobile phones, well I never really worried about it because they would be switched off most of the time as they were only a phone.

Nowadays mp3 players have internal batteries that have to be charged through a USB port on the computer and mobile phones are more than just a phone.

There seems to be quite a few different types of chargers out there; from one's that can be picked up in a pound shop to in excess of £30

For my TGOC trip I had picked up one from the pound shop; as I wasn't sure how good these things were and didn't want to pay a lot for something that may not work.

The picture above is of the £1 one; which is very basic, it takes 4 AAA batteries and comes with one lead the connects to the unit and has a female USB on the other end.

Using standard Energizer batteries the unit gave me enough charge to re-charge the mp3 two to three times off one set of batteries.

For the phone is was pretty useless as it only even seemed to add one bar into the phone and I also believed the it was draining the phone but have no proof of that.

Since being back I've looked into them a bit more and if you have an iphone there seems to be plenty of choices, other phones are a bit limited because of the adaptors you need for them. Yes you could use the USB lead that connects to the computer but this means bring along a lead that is at least 3 feet in length.

One company that does seem to make a charger with a variety of adaptors is Powertraveller; they do a whole range of charger but I went for the PowerChimp mainly because is was still fairly cheap and had the tip adaptor I need for my phone.

The PowerChimp comes with 9 tips, a lead to connect the unit to your equipment, a re-trackable USB to unit cable, 2 1800 mAh AA batteries and something I found quite clever; 2 plastic sleeves so you can use AAA batteries in the AA unit. It also has a LED light build into it and also has an on/off button.

Although the unit comes with re-chargeable batteries; normal batteries can be used in it.

The unit takes about 5 hours to fully charge its batteries; and again charging the mp3 player I can get a about 3 full charges.

The website quotes the following about the charger:-

There are two rechargeable AA 1800mAh batteries in the powerchimp, but the voltage is 1.2v. Mobile phones require 4.5 ~ 5.5 v, so the powerchimp needs to convert from 1.2v to 5.5v. The battery capacity is almost divided by 5, 2 x 1800mAh NI-MH batteries are equal to 1x 1000mAh Li-ion battery, powerchimp is a typical emergency charger and therefore will give you up to one full charge of your mobile phone

To test this out I allowed my phone to go completely flat and has a full 5 hour charge in the PowerChimp. The PowerChimp did recharge the phone but not to a full charge; 3 bars did appear but even in standby the phone dropped to 2 bars with in an hour.

Another test was done but this time using Energizer Lithium batteries, again the phone charged to 3 bars but this time it stayed at 3 bars for a day but as usual started to drop as I used the phone.

The unit with the AA rechargeable batteries weights in at about 50 grams and a bit less with Lithium batteries.

The on/off button is recessed on the unit so makes the chances of being switched on by accident less, but I also reverse one of the batteries when not in use, just in case.

The first press of the button will start the charging procedure and this is accompanied by a flashing green light to tell you that that the charging is working. A flashing red light tell you that the batteries are nearly exhausted.

The second press of the button switches on the LED light and a third press will switch the unit off again.

The overall size of the unit in roughly 9x4x3 cm and it come with a small pouch case to store a couple of adaptors and the unit in.

As yet I haven't tried it with Alkaline batteries but would imagine that I will get something between the rechargeables and the Lithiums in performance.

Overall I think the unit works well for mp3 players, and is a good emergency back up for the phone.

SoFoBoMo

2010-06-22T04:00:00.000+01:00

SoFoBoMo stands for Solo Photograph Book Month.

SoFoBoMo is a group event where a bunch of photographers all make solo photo books start to finish in 31 days.

This year the project runs from 1st June to 31th July; this is a fuzzy month which allows the photogrpher to start at any time within these date but still have a month to complete the project.

I signed up for last year's event but never get around to doing it.

This year Darren decided to have a go as well, so I thought I`d keep him company.

I was hoping to use the TGO Challenge as my entry but it was outside the dates, so another idea would have to be found, and this was a problem as I didn't have to many free weekend in the time period to get out and take something.

Luckily something was brought to my attention late last week, and a plan was formed to get a set of photographs for the project.

So Saturday morning saw me in Central London at 07.30 am and at the start of a 12 hour run around London, taking in most of the well known landmarks, Leicester Square, St James Park, Hyde Park, Barker Street, Marble Arch, Green Park, The City of London, St Paul's cathedral, London's South bank and finally Greenwich.

All of this was to get the photographs for my SoFoBoMo book Elephant's in London

It was fun doing this in such a short timescale and I really enjoyed visiting some of my old childhood haunts.

Don't see many of these in town

2010-06-20T20:34:00.003+01:00

Thanks

2010-06-12T10:41:00.003+01:00

I just like to say a big thanks to all the people who have commented on the video's; here and on Twitter.

I'm glad people enjoyed them and hope it gave the flavour of my TGO crossing.

After the disasters with both the stills camera and the phone; this was the best way to capture the crossing and my thoughts at the time.

I also found is to be a much easier medium to work with than writing up the trip each night; although editing the clips together was harder work than writing :-).

TGO Challenge 2010 Day Eleven/Twelve

2010-06-11T09:00:00.002+01:00

In which our Hero starts to think about the end, has a gentle walk by the river, has a problem, bounces along a bridge, a mini disaster is averted, arrives at St Cyrus, has a final moan and plays out the final act.

TGO Challenge Day Ten Video

2010-06-10T09:00:00.001+01:00

In which our Hero makes a dash for a bed, walks along Loch Lee, gets attacked!, meets the Mason's and finally sleeping in a bed.

TGO Challenge 2010 Day Nine Video

2010-06-09T09:00:00.000+01:00

In which our Hero finally leaves Braemar, sees a special bothy, meets Carl, plays hide & seek with a bothy, and camps at the stable.

TGO challenge 2010 Day Seven/Eight Video

2010-06-08T09:00:00.000+01:00

In which our Hero muses about wild horses, challengers, crosses a wobbly bridge, has his peace disturbed, finds a snake and visits Mar Lodge

TGO Challenge 2010 Day Five/Six Video

2010-06-07T09:00:00.001+01:00

In which our Hero is unsure of what to do, meets Merv again, visits the local history, arrives in Glen Feshie and finds a wondrous seat.

Best seat in the house

2010-06-06T22:22:00.000+01:00

TGO Challenge Day 2010Three/Four Video

2010-06-06T09:00:00.002+01:00

In which our Hero walking with the pylons, gets on the wrong side of a bridge, takes a tour, gets upset with walking and finally gets to camp.

TGO Challenge 2010 Day Two Video

2010-06-05T14:00:00.004+01:00

In which our Hero battles with the rain, gets lost! and meets Bill & Merv.

TGO Challenge 2010 Day One Video

2010-06-04T23:33:00.001+01:00

As most know I like to video most of my walking trips; and the TGO was no different.

I have edited around 600 video clips and this has ended up with about 80 minutes of video.

The idea of videoing trips has always be as a record mainly for myself.

The video's also give a good representation of how I was feeling and my thoughts at points through the day.

More Pictures

2010-06-04T19:52:00.003+01:00

Broken Bridge (Glen Feshie)

Bridge across Allt Darraire

Rapeseed

Long Man

Some Pictures

2010-06-02T23:21:00.005+01:00

Loch Duich

Athnamulloch

Loch Affric

Wood

Ruthven Barracks

Glen Feshie Camp

500 miles

2010-06-01T22:15:00.004+01:00

Or The Dad Dance :-)

*@^! It!

2010-05-29T17:05:00.004+01:00

I`m back home after finishing at St Cyrus at 11.00 am on Wednesday.

At present I am trying to get my phone sorted out as between Virgin and Orange they have really ballsed it up.

The computer is chugging away processing the 600 or so video clips I have taken.

One little mistake (apart from the phone) was I forget to put a SD card in my still camera and carried it across Scotland unable to take any pictures with it! DOH!!! Luckily the video camera can take stills as well; so I got some pictures.

I not sure how I'm going to proceed with blogging about the trip, as I have some mixed feelings about it. I'll take the rest of the weekend to decide what to do.

While that is ongoing here is a clip from day three.

TGO Day 2 Tales from the riverbank

2010-05-16T15:26:00.002+01:00

We had rain again during the night also strong winds. I was away by 8.30 once I could pack between showers. Again the track was good but this time I was on my own, I reached the Cougie turn off about 10.30 and followed the map, which ment crossing a stream; the terrocs at great for this, wet feet yes but they do dry quickly.

At this point things started to a bit wrong; I was struggling to find the second path East. After an hour of faffing about I decided to go back to the start and take the longer but easier track around.

As I was backtracking I bumped into two challengers and explained my problem; This seems I didn't need to cross the stream as the path stays to one side, bloody OS maps.

Anyway we made it Cougie by 2.15 and had lunch there.

I explained to the owners I wouldn't be staying and they were fine with it.

I carried on into Sunday's route and started climbing up the pass to Fort Augustus. For all thee snow they have had up here the pass is pretty dry, I was finding it hard to find any decent water.

I finally bumped into kate & Tim Wood camped next to a stream; so I've set up camp too GR292207.

It's now 20.15 15 May

TGO Day 1 I feel fine

2010-05-16T15:22:00.002+01:00

Fairly good day's walking although it was a day of sunshine and showers so waterproofs on and off.

The walk up Glen lichd saw nice but the climb up to Fionngleann was a killer even though I know it was there.

Most of the day was spent leapfrogging two or three groups.

Camban bothy was a welcome sight as by then I was feeling quite tired but after a good rest and food I felt better.

Again following the crowd to Alltbeithe YH. From here I had to path to myself as most were staying at the YH.

I pushed on to Athnamulloch as the vetter told me that there were some flat pitches here; that's not strickly true as there is a lot of tussocks about but have found a pitch and am just waiting for dinner to cook.

The sun is now shining again and things look pretty good; only probrlem is tomorrow, I can't decide to go to Cougie as planned or push on into Sunday route and make the walk into Fort Augustus easier.

The walking today was better than expected.

It now 19:32 14 May; I'll post as soon as there is network.

Ready, Set....

2010-05-11T23:13:00.002+01:00

After the panic from earlier in the week; everything is now packed and waiting for tomorrow.

Pack weight is around 11.5kg

I'm going to try and blog while on the trip but this is dependent on a phone signal, and so far tonight I haven't been able to send any updates, as Orange are having problems with their network.

As the posts will be via email they may end up being out of order, but hopefully they will make some kind of sense.

I will also be making use of Twitter; this will just be short updates but maybe easier than full posts every day.

So if anyone is interested in following along that way; just click the Twitter icon on the right and sign up.

So that's it for now; hopefully the next post will be from Scotland.

Get in There!!!!!!!

2010-05-10T20:43:00.002+01:00

It's Official...

2010-05-09T16:44:00.007+01:00

I have hit PANIC! mode.

Yesterday was spent on shopping trips to get last minute bits and pieces; gas, food, watch.

Yep; I don't own a watch. And although this trip isn't about timekeeping I do need to make sure I'm at certain places to make the right connections. See PANIC!

Yesterday I also realised that for some reason I can't fit everything in the GoLite Pinnacle, O.K. that's not strictly true; everything in the picture below fits into the pack, this is everything I am taking, minus food. But that's the problem, with all that lot in the pack there is no room for my maximum of 4 days worth of food. PANIC!

Now I say all that lot but it isn't that much; honest. The only piece I don't normally carry is the synthetic jacket, but I think I'm going to need this.

I've swapped the GoLite out for my Six Moon Designs pack, which has given me more room, in fact probably enough to get 4 days food in.

The weight is only around 11 kg but it seems as I'm having problem with bulky items.

TGO Challenge 6 to the End

2010-05-03T16:28:00.009+01:00

This started out with the idea of previewing the days of my TGO Challenge but lack of time on my part; means I'm going to post the remaining days as one post.

Day Six; sees me going to a place I've wanted to visit for a while, Ruthen Barracks. Then head East to get into Glen Feshie and another wild camp somewhere in the upper part of the Glen.

Day Seven; continues in Glen Feshie, and along the Geldie Burn, the last time I was here I had to crossing the Geldie but this time, I'm on the right side.

Continuing East I'll be aiming for White Bridge and possibly another wild camp before Braemar.

Day eight should be the shortest of the whole trip, with a short hop into Braemar; for a day's rest the following day.

Day nine looks to be a long and interesting day. Long as it looks to be about 30km and interesting because the bothy I am hoping to be staying at that night has a reputation, as not being that easy to find.

Day ten is over Murkle Cairn into Glen Lee, Loch Lee and on to Tarfside.

Day eleven will be spent walking along the River North Esk into Edzell first of all; and as I now know it's little secret, it shouldn't be to long getting to the campsite at North Water Bridge.

The final day follows the lanes and roads into St Cyrus and then a bus to finish control at Montrose.

The Edzell Conundrum

2010-04-28T12:10:00.001+01:00

I admit I can be slow on the up take sometimes.

I can miss things that to most are obvious.

I think my map reading skills are fairly good; yes I do get misplaced at times, who doesn't?

If I do go astray its mainly because I'm chatting or not concentrating on where I'm going.

I'll also admit I can be a lazy so & so at times, so walking an extra couple of km's when not really necessary, especially near the end of a day for me isn't fun.

So when planning my TGO route; I thought it strange that people would walk into Edzell only to have to walk out again to cross the river; yes I know there is a cafe but to me that's extra km's.

But I've just found Edzell's little secret.

Now people in the know will say 'yes; we know, didn't you look at the map?'

Yes; I did look at the map, now maybe on a 1:25 its as clear as a bell but on a 1:50 it isn't, well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it :-)

So am I the only one to be dimwitted about this and miss it? Or have others similarly missed Edzell's little secret?

Sent by Hansel in a wood somewhere

Google Earth Route

2010-04-25T21:40:00.003+01:00

I have put my route into a Google Earth file; So anyone wanting to take a look can download the file here.

You do have to wait 20 second before you can download the file, and you do need Google Earth installed to run the file.

TGO Challenge 5 Roads

2010-04-21T11:49:00.001+01:00

Today's route will be on a lot of roads. I think it's about 9km or so of road into Laggan, but it does look to be B roads. At Laggan I have a choice to make; either stay on the North side of the river or cross to the South. If I stay North; I can pick up a path going North which will bring me into Newtonmore and then the cycle path into Kingussie. Going across the river means more road walking but I have heard of a wild camp East of the A9 and this is easier to reach going this way. I guess I'll make the decision on the day depending on how I feel at Laggan.

Sent via GW520

TGO Challenge 4 Corrieyairack

2010-04-17T13:28:00.002+01:00

Today's route; will take me from Fort Augustus to Grava Bridge. This will mean crossing The Corrieyairack Pass, the pass is one of General Wade's Roads the pass climbs to over 2500ft.

I'm quite looking forward to going through this pass and hopefully the weather on the day will be as good as the last time I when through a high Scottish pass.

The night's camp will be another wild camp but I also think that there maybe a few others camping near to the same place.

TV Maps

2010-04-16T19:05:00.002+01:00

BBC Four are starting two new programmes with maps as the central theme.

The first is a four part series titled Maps: Power, Plunder and Possession.

Documentary looking at the history of maps.

This Starts on Sunday 18th April at 9.00pm; and looks to have a few repeats during the week. I guess it will also appear on iplayer as well.

The Second is called The Beauty of Maps, and is again a four part series.

Documentary exploring the cartography through the ages.

This one starts on Monday 19th at 8.30pm; and again looks to had a few repeats during the week.

Lick of Paint

2010-04-15T21:31:00.002+01:00

As the blog is coming up on its fourth birthday; I thought a lick of digital paint was in order.

So here it is the freshly painted londonbackpacker.

There will probably be a few tweaks over the next few days; so be careful as the paint may still be wet.

TGO Challenge 2-3

2010-04-08T18:51:00.001+01:00

Day two; sees me setting out from a wild camp somewhere between Alltbeithe YH and Athnamulloch to Cougie. This is a relativity short day but not by intention; I have heard a lot about the little settlement of Cougie and wanted to experience the place, after hearing stories from previous challenges.

The route continues through Glen Affric to join the path along side Loch Affric until I reach the Bridge across Allt Garbh where I turn South then East to find the path into Cougie.

Day Three; looks to be a long day, the route goes from Cougie to Fort Augustus a distance of about 18 miles (eek!!)

From Cougie; it's North/Northeast to Plodda Falls then the track going South to Fort Augustus; this should easy to found as there are Electricity Pylons along the whole length on this track.

The only section I am worried about is the walk from Torgyle Bridge to FA as this is through forest and I'm a bit like Hansel & Gretel when it comes to forests.

The camp site I was going to use in FA is now closed for the year; so I have managed to find another one and they are also happy for me to have a food parcel sent there.

TGO Challenge 1

2010-04-01T19:42:00.002+01:00

First off; this is for the people who don't know what the TGO Challenge is.

The TGOC is a self supported walk from the West coast of Scotland to the East coast, it is held every May.

The map shows my first day on the challenge; overall my route is a low level one starting out from Shiel Bridge and going up through Gleann Lichd. The route crosses a couple of rivers/streams before climbing up to Camban bothy from here I drop down to the river Affric. I continue into Glen Affric; passing the youth hostel and then start looking for a camping spot. Athnamulloch looks to be a reasonable place but maybe a bit to far for the first day.

6 30 16

2010-03-27T16:21:00.002Z

Yesterday was spent in the company of Mick & Gayle; who have recently set out on their next long distance walk.

As they were passing close to home; I thought it would be good to join them for a day's walking.

Ou meeting place was Dartford; and after making our way out of there along a busy A206, we finally linked up with the River Darent, and then on to the River Thames.

Most of the area around the Thames here is very industrial, from modern sewage works (a bit pongy) to a 18th century pump house.

Crossness Pump House

Mick & Gayle along the Thames

As the route moved closer to Central London the industrial side started to give way to the luxurious apartments along the Thames and especially Around the old Royal Woolwich Arsenal.

Cybermen???*

Up until now the weather had been pretty good with sunshine and the odd dark cloud passing over but no rain. We stop in the Firepower cafe for lunch; and this was time for the rain to come.

By the time lunch was finished; so was the rain and we set out again to sunny skies, and only four miles to Greenwich.

At this point the London skyline starts to show off some of its interesting architecture; like the Thames Barrier, Canary Wharf and the O2 Dome.

From the Barrier we took a bit of a short cut to avoid going around the dome; this ment crossing the A102 but luckily there was a footbridge crossing it. At this point we rejoined the Thames path but it seems as someone had closed this section; without informing any one. So there was a bit of backtracking to take to the roads to finally get in to Greenwich.

From here Mick & Gayle went off to catch a train to their campsite for the evening and I walked down to the Cutty Sark to get the DLR home.

* thanks to WD for that

1st Swanage & Purbeck Walking Festival

2010-03-09T22:45:00.002Z

I normally ignore PR mail that I receive but this one concerns an area of the Country, that I have a soft spot for.

An invitation to explore Swanage & Purbeck & the stunning Jurassic Coast
The First Purbeck Walking Festival
May 3rd –May 7th 2010

The first annual Swanage & Purbeck Walking Festival is now an essential event for the spring calendar for walkers of all abilities.
Only 2.5 hours from London Waterloo, and a World Heritage site, the Purbecks are blessed with breathtaking scenery such as the chalk cliffs around the Studland peninsular, historic villages such as Corfe Castle, and the hidden coves of Chapman’s Pool and Kimmeridge Bay. Miles of coastal and countryside paths make for unrivalled walking, as well as bird and wildlife watching, particularly as the area is home to many rare species.

A varied programme will be running throughout the week which has been specifically designed to cater for a wide range of interests and abilities as well as giving an insight into the area’s fascinating history. Local and specialist guides will be on hand to reveal the delights and secrets of the area, and Festival participants will able to take advantage of inclusive steam rail travel on Swanage’s world famous steam railway as well as sample some of the delicious local Purbeck produce and finest ales with inclusive pub lunches in some instances.

Now; I know this type of event probably won't be for the hardened backpacker or walker but for the few readers that do like a gentle stroll; this is an ideal opportunity to enjoy some of the best walks in and around the area of Purbeck.

The walks range from strenuous 15 milers to an easy 1 mile walk around 'old Swanage'. All walks look to cost £3.00 to join and there is a .pdf file to download for each walk.

More information is available from the website:- http://www.walkswanage.com/

Just some harmless fun

2010-02-21T19:42:00.000Z

Not a Moan

2010-02-17T18:49:00.003Z

In the past I have used the blog to vent my anger and frustration at outdoor retailers that can't seem to post items out in a reasonable timescale or one's that take an order and then can't fulfill it.

Well this post isn't one of them. On Sunday night Steven Horner posted on twitter that Wiggle were selling Inov-8 Terrocs at a really good price.

So at 20:10 on Sunday night I ordered a pair; they turned up at 08:00 Tuesday, now that's what I call service.

So a BIG thanks to Steven for posting the tweet and an even BIGGER thanks to Wiggle for the quick delivery.

Map Book

2010-02-06T14:59:00.001Z

My map book for the TGOC

Walking Training Log

2010-01-30T15:46:00.000Z

I've just added a Walking Training Log widget in the sidebar; this is mainly for me to help keep track of the walking I will be doing over the next 3 months.

The widget is for a website called dailymile which is a social training site, it will help me keep on the straight & narrow (hopefully!).

I have also been think about using the Wii Fit Game to see if I can use it for extra workouts, it has Strength Training, Aerobics, Yoga and Balance Games. The more interesting one's look to be the Aerobic and Strength Training but I need to look into this more.

The walking starts on Tuesday.

Run Fat Boy Run

2010-01-26T23:55:00.000Z

I don't run, never have. That's not strictly true; I probably last ran when I was about 24-25 and that was only over distances of 20-30 yards; cricket was a nice easy game.

Back to the point; I know I'm overweight, I know I could do with losing a few pounds but making the effort to do so is........well an effort.

But knowing I was probably going to get on the TGO Challenge (yes; it another TGOC post, expect more in the coming weeks), I decided to try and lost some weight and doing some actual walking looked like a good idea.

So back in September; I started walking to work, two days a week. The distance for each day was just shy of 6 miles; 5.9 to be exact.

I did this for 9 weeks which added up to 108 miles. 108 MILES!

The weight must of been dropping off me; right.

WRONG!!!!!!!

In all that time and mileage I lost 5 pounds.

I did feel fitter but not losing weight is the biggest issue for me.

I do like the odd bag of crisps and bit of cake but I cut these out during the 9 weeks and ate sensible food during the period, as I really wanted this to work.

I can see why people can get frustrated with diets and give up.

Anyways from next week I'm starting out again and hopefully I can lose my 2oz a day.

Guess Who's Back?

2010-01-24T22:48:00.001Z

Hello World

Miss me?

Thought not.

It seems as though there is just over a 100 days or so before the start of the TGO challenge for this year; so I thought, it's time for an update.

The route has been vetted; my vetter did give me a couple of new ideas for camping and a slight change of route which I will probably use.

I'm on the lookout for some new equipment before the challenge and have started acquiring it; The first new bit is a new pair of waterproof trousers.

I usually use a pair of Peter Storm trousers but didn't feel that these would be up to two weeks across Scotland, so have bought a nice pair of Berghaus Paclite
Pants. They only weigh 185 g, pack down really small and are a whole 200g lighter than the Peter Storm's.

These are the most expensive waterproofs I have ever bought but they seem much better than the previous one's I've owned.

They have 3/4 length zips on the legs; so make it much easier to put on over boots, they also so help to vent the legs.

BYFMTWW09

2009-12-08T20:37:00.005Z

This week is Bring Your Favourite Minifig To Work Week.

So here's Indy

The Blade of Doom

The Sliding Wall

Pull The Lever!

Route Vetted

2009-12-03T22:38:00.003Z

My route has been vetted and it seems as most things are in order. There a few suggestions and advice to make the route a bit better. Although the route I have chosen is a 'classic' first timer's; there were a few points the I was unsure of, but my vetter has foreseen some of my worries and has pointed out better alternatives.

Once I've had a good look at the suggestions; I may post the route; I'm not about the etiquette posting TGO challenge routes before hand.

Printing Maps

2009-11-25T23:17:00.001Z

Have spent some more time playing around with the Quo mapping software designing the route for the TGO Challenge, I now know that the whole route fits on 29 A4 sheets of paper.

The Quo maps I have are at the 1:50 scale but the software allows the maps to be printed out at almost any scale. I did try printing at 1:25 which give the best detail but only allows a 7x6 km square map, which mean more pages. Printing at 1:50 gives the lease number but is nearly impossible for me to see without glasses, it would mean having to put them on to map read then take off to see where I was then going, which in a pain and in bad weather a complete hassle.

So to give me the best option of scale I can see without glasses and not have to many pages; I have gone for 1:30 scale, which gives the 29 sheets of A4, but by printing double sided is only actually 15 sheets of paper.

But I worked out a way to make this even less sheets of paper; in fact only 8 by printing them on A3 paper, I can get 4 maps to one A3 sheet.

The next step is how waterproof the printed maps will be; printing on standard paper is a no-no as one drop of water and the maps will be ruined. I know that you can buy waterproof papers (which are expensive) to print on but I'm sure that you also need to have waterproof inks to make this work properly.

I have some maps printed using a high end electrophotography machine and will do some tests to see how good they are in the wet. I don't expect them to be fully waterproof but to be better than the ones printing on a normal printer.

As I'm taking a low level route; I'm sure that having the digital print out instead of 'proper' maps will work out O.K. although I will probably get and take the Havery's Cairngorms & Lochnagar British Mountain map incase I decide to take a detour in the Cairngorms.

Part One Complete

2009-11-22T17:21:00.003Z

I've just completed part one of the start of my TGO Challenge; and that is getting the route sorted out.

As a first timer; it is suggested that you do a low level route, so I have kept to this and made the route as such.

I did have two starting points but have gone with the one that I feel is the easier start for me, although it doesn't seem that easy to get to.

As usual I've used digital maps to plan the route but this time using a different software package namely Quo. I went with this one as I needed to update the two other software packages I already had, Anquet and Fugawi both of these are a long way out of date.

To update either of these two worked out quite expensive, but Quo allows you to buy 25K tiles and the cost of buying these for the route I had, worked out to less than £10.

After using Quo for a couple of weeks, it turn out to be a very easy program to use, much easier than both Anquet and Fugawi. The printing of the actual maps is much better and shows exactly what part and what scale you are printing at; unlike Fugawi.

The only problem I have had with the route is working out the map numbers to include on the route sheet, as digital maps don't have this infomation in/on them and to be honest I have never used map number since going digital.

Next thing is to send the route off for vetting and find out if there is anything wrong with it.

TGO Challenge 2010

2009-11-03T18:19:00.002Z

Darren phoned me today at lunch-time and left a message on my voicemail along the lines of 'check your email; they're sending out emails at the moment'.

Its been a long afternoon; as I can't access my email at work.

My application has been successful, so I'm on next year's TGO Challenge. GULP!

Feed me, Feed me now!!!

2009-10-31T16:02:00.001Z

A normal day's food

7.00 AM 1 bowl of fruitful
1.00PM 1 1/2 round of sandwiches with various filling; 1 apple
3.00PM A Banana
7-8 PM Evening Meal
10.30PM Maybe a couple of biscuits

I've always had a problem with converting this normal day's food into backpacking food; I can never find the right food to eat, especially when wild camping.

Breakfast and lunch seem to be the biggest problems, and in all the years of backpacking I've never been able to pin these down.

On the recent trip I was trying out a few new ideas; some worked, some didn't work so well.

For breakfast I usually just eat breakfast bars but always find these to be quite bland and not very filling. This time out I took along 'oats so simple'. The oats worked out O.K, were filling to a degree but after two days, became boring and I wasn't enjoying them.

I can't be bothered with the faffing about mixing in powder milk; I really only want something that is quick and simple to do first thing in the morning.

I've tried other foods like pop tarts but find these taste like sweeten cardboard.

Next up lunch; this time I took tortilla wraps and these worked well, they were small and light to pack and stayed fresh for the whole trip. The only problem was a filling for them; I took a big lumb of Brie with me and this was O.K. but did start to turn after 3 days. I also had Chorizo sausage but again found this to start turning after a few days.

As usual I had dehydrated food for this trip; some old favourites and some new ideas to try.

Fruits are always a good item to dehydrate as they can be eaten dehydrated or re-hydrated; I usually do 4 apples covered with cinnamon and these can last 3-4 days.

Strawberry are another favourite and work in the same way as the apples; either eaten during the day or re-hydrated as a pudding in the evening.

Talking of pudding I found a great cake to make and take on trips; It called an Angel food cake and is made from whipped eggs whites, with essence of vanilla.

When made it is a very light cake and once dehydrated can be broken into small nuggets which can be eaten as is or as I did hydrated with a little hot water and mixed with either the strawberries or apples to make a tasty pudding.

For evening meals were the usual mixture of home-made meals and shop bought meals dehydrated; two of these were the 'look what we found' meals. These rehydrated o.k and tasted fine but were small in portion size.

I also took some Eccles cake but these seem to be quite heavy for the size to weight ratio; also they didn't last to long as they were quite more-ish.

I think I need to spend the Winter working on a good set of backpacking menus.

Enjoy England

2009-10-01T18:44:00.005+01:00

I started this before the trip to Wales and have had it sitting in my drafts folder; I though I still had a day to post it. Don't you just hate those pesky 30-day months :-)

Even if its not eligible for the feature; it's written so may as well share.

I was contact by Jam to write a blog post on 'three things you do to enjoy England' this is part of the Guardian's Enjoy England feature.

I thought long and hard about what three things I could write about; other than the obvious of backpacking.

The three I came up with are all sightly different (I think) but all take in the Great Outdoors.

Bird Watching

I have been a keen bird watcher for many years (not to twitcher standards, mind you). The RSPB have some great reserves in the country and they are a joy to visit and explore.

One of my favourite sites is Minsmere in Suffolk. This site has a good range of habitat from reed beds to heathland to coastal waters, and changes with the seasons. Now is a great time to visit as the migrating birds will be starting to arrive and past through and there is always the chance of a rarity.

England's History

England has a rich and varied history and along with this are the buildings.

Buildings from neolithic burials to fortifications from the Napoleonic Wars.

Taking a trip to any of these interesting places is educational and helps to give a sense of where we came from.

One of my favourite of these; is the Avebury Stone circle; a much better place to visit than Stonehenge.

Geocaching

Geocaching is a modern day game of hide & seek only now it uses hi-tech gadgets; namely the Global positioning satellites around the Earth. Using a GPS receiver players seek for caches hidden around the Country using lat/lon co-ordinates from the geocaching website within the caches are normally some kind of small trinket and a logbook. Usually you swap out one trinket for another.

This Game is a great way to get the kids out in the the countryside and they love the idea of hunting around the countryside looking for caches.

Elan Valley 3

2009-09-28T15:26:00.005+01:00

The final day started off with a bit of a start for me; when I opened the inner of my tent, I found that the outer had been invaded with lots of spiders. Glad I wasn't in a tarp and bivvy.

After a quick brew and breakfast; I dealt with the spiders and then packed up. Today was going to be hard on the feet mainly because most of the walking would be on track and cycle paths.

We still had nearly 2 miles of the reservoir track to walk before hitting the road, that makes almost 6 miles off reservoir track.

Dam of the end of Claerwen reservoir

The road and cycle track were hard on the feet; and with hindsight and looking at the maps when back home there were a couple of alternatives we could of taken.

Bridge across Caban-coch reservoir

Overall this was a pretty good walk; the weather stayed good for the whole trip and we managed to find a quicker route home, living in the SE of the Country doesn't lend it self well for trip to Wales.

I have some thoughts on equipment and food from this trip but I'll leave them for another post.

In the mean time here is some video from the trip.