The first port of call was the camping site where the Backpacker club were camped. It seems as the camping area was split in two; one side for the campers and one for all the lovely shiny new tents.
Although I'm not in the market for a new tent (yet!) it was nice to see the big range of lightweight tents out there.
While at the campsite I bump into a couple of old BPC friends and a reader of the blog (trenthamwalker).
The main and most interesting part of the show was a 10 minutes walk away at the Village hall; where most of the well-known lightweight traders were.
Backpackinglight.co.uk, Alpkit, Expedition Foods, Ultralight Outdoor Gear and The Outdoor Warehouse.
The one great thing about this show was that you could get all touchy feely with a lot of the gear we see on the Internet. Although I'm not really happy using an alcohol stove, it was nice to see the Caldera cone in the flesh. Also seen was the White box stove and Triad stove; with which Bob did a demo with.
As I wasn't staying at the site; I couldn't buy to much as I had to carry it. I picked up a tick remover and some freeze dried food from Expedition foods. I'm looking at maybe taking these to Scotland instead of dehydrating my own food.
One of the items that did turn my head was the new GoLite Shangri-La 2 tent/tarp this look a nice piece of kit and at a weight of only 708g but with as much room as my Hilly Nallo2. Even with the floor added the weight is still only 1200g.
While at the show I managed to link up with John, Dawn and Darren. After a lot of faffing about trying to get some lunch in the two pubs we descended on the local village shop who were happy to serve us, then back to the village hall to sit on the grass and shoot the breeze about gear and forth coming trips.
As usual I spent more time chatting and looking at equipment, that I forget to take any pictures of the show.
Again it was good to see some old friends there and the few people who recognised me from the blog.
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