outdoor gear – Page 31

New Equipment

12 August 2012 / Backpacking, Camping, Outdoor Gear / Golite Jam 2, outdoor gear

When I was in Wales the other week I bought a drinking tube kit for my roll up, 1l Platypus bottle. I have a Camelbak water bladder but I have had trouble with it going mouldy between trips – even though I have a Camelbak cleaning kit and hanger, which I use and I take care when drying it out. I now store the Camelbak with water in it and the air squeezed out. On the other hand I I have had no trouble with the roll up Platypus bottle – again I take care to dry it out before storing it away. The drinking tube kit will convert any Platypus roll up bottle into a bladder system – I can use it as a drinking system whilst on the trail and easily use it as a water bottle at the campsite.

Next month I am planning a wild camping trip to The Old Man of Coniston – when I will need to carry the water I will need for overnight – so I have bought another Platypus, a 2l version for extra water storage.

Here it is stored in my GoLite Jam backpack.

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Walk to Potterhanworth Wood

5 August 2012 / Lincolnshire, Outdoor Gear, Photography, Red, Walking / coffee, outdoor gear, Photos 2012, walking

I went for a short walk across the fields to Potterhanworth Woods – taking a short break there for some coffee before heading home and beating the thunder storm.

It was a chance to photograph the last of the poppies as they fade away and the fields before they are harvested.

click on the above image for a larger version

St Andrew’s Church Potterhanworth

click on the above image for a larger version

No backpack or stove today – I took a flask and instant coffee in a Molle water bottle case on a shoulder strap and carried the essential waterproof jacket in the back pocket on my Rohan vest. I had plastic sheet to sit on, which when rolled up slipped into the Molle loops.

I tried some Kenco Millicano coffee today – in individual sachets – and it was OK, even Richard who is “particular” about his coffee thought it was alright.

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Annotated Kit Photograph

14 May 2012 / Backpacking, Camping, Outdoor Gear, Walking / backpacking, backpacking food, coffee, lightweight backpacking, outdoor gear, tea

1 Aluminium foil wind shield – wraps in close around the stove for really windy weather
2 Stove board/stand – it protects the grass and makes a stable base for the stove.
3 Half aluminium wind shield – I bought a wind shield, cut it in half and removed a panel to make it fit better around this stove and mug
4 Vargo Triad XE Alcohol / Fuel Tab Titanium Stove with a copper mug support
5 MSR Titanium mug – mug and cooking pot
6 Aluminium lid for the mug
7 & 8 Small Beaker with lid – second mug when the titanium mug is being used as a pot. The lid makes it a useful storage jar and it is just big enough to rehydrate a 65g pack of noodles in.
9 Small Brew Kit
10 Army style tin opener
11 25ml bottle of dried milk
12 Refillable gas lighter – it has a stronger flame than a disposable lighter
13 2x fuel tablets – emergency fuel
14 Methylated spirits- in a clearly marked bottle – packed in a ziplock bag to protect the other equipment from leaks.
15 Washing up and Hygiene
– Alcohol hand cleaner – hygiene is essential when camp cooking
– 20ml Multi-purpose bio-degradable soap – for washing up, cleaning clothes or person. I decant some into a shampoo bottle that I got from a hotel
– 1/4 Pot sponge
– Hi absorbent cloth – for drying up
– Kitchen cloth
16 Plastic Cutting board – this is made from a plastic wall tile cut in half – 5cms x 12cms. Some kind of chopping board is often overlooked, having something to cut on saves other bits of kit, lids or plates getting damaged. I have several of these tiles in my camp box when one gets too badly scratched up I will replace it.
17 Victorinox Camper SAK – cooking knife, tin and bottle opener as well as an all round camp tool.
18 Paper towels in a small ziplock bag
19 Small LMF spork – this is a double ended utensil with a real fork at one end and a real spoon at the other. A true spork is not very good at getting the last drops of gravy out of a bowl or for hooking up a forkful of noodles.
20 Camp folding spoon and knife
21 Three section spice pot/shaker
22 GSI pot lifter
23 LMF ferro rod and striker
24 Spare gas lighter
25 1oz Single Malt Whisky
26 Stuff sack that holds most of this equipment
27 1l roll up water bottle with sports top for easy pouring
28 Selection of small pots and bottles to carry, dried milk, peanut butter etc
29 Coffee maker/tea strainer
30 Air tight canister for fresh coffee
31 600ml bowl with a clip on lid – this is large enough for the meals I make, but it also serves as a container for transporting more fragile food whilst walking.
32 1m square lightweight tarp – for putting on the ground and making a clean cooking area

Not shown in the photograph

Tea bags and sugar packets in the brew kit
58 Pattern British Army water bottle
Plastic food bags with wire ties used both for food storage and for packing rubbish out

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Gear that worked – Gear that didn’t

7 May 2012 / Backpacking, Camping, Outdoor Gear, Walking / backpacking, coffee, lightweight backpacking, MSR titanium mug, outdoor gear, tea

Inflatable Pillow

I’ll start with the failure – the inflatable pillow. It started off alright, it was comfortable, but that soon decreased as the air slowly leaked out from the valve. Luckily it only cost me a pound. I dumped it in the bin before leaving the campsite – however I will be looking for a better quality inflatable pillow as the idea was good.

Peanut Butter

I have seen in other backpacking blogs that in the US peanut butter, in single portion packets, is easily available in supermarkets – I have found it online in the UK but not for a price that makes it a viable purchase here.

I have been on the lookout for some small containers to portion jam, honey and peanut butter in to, and last week I found these in Boyes, in Lincoln at 89p a pack of four.

The pots have a very secure high thread so they can be filled to the brim. I filled two with peanut butter for this weekend and found one pot was enough for four crackers at lunchtime.

So these are a success.

Beaker or bowl

I have swapped the screw top beaker for a 600ml bowl with a snap top lid.

It is much larger which was needed to make the sausage and mash dinner.

I have gone back to carrying the lightweight beaker that fits inside my titanium mug, so I can have tea whilst cooking. The titanium mug with a lid still makes an excellent “one person kettle” and a mug. I can use the titanium mug almost straight from the stove – I have a GSI pot lifter to hold the handles in when I lift it from the stove (and to handle the lid and wind shield when hot) but by the time I make my tea or coffee in the mug the handles and mug lip are cool enough to hold and drink from.

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Dinner

5 May 2012 / Backpacking, Camping, Walking / backpacking food, lightweight walking, outdoor gear, tea

Dinner tonight – Sausage and mash and onion gravy, with a mug of tea and Jaffa Cakes to follow.

I am currently working on an ebook about lightweight, simple meals for backpacking and camping – I will post it on my Downloads page when it is finished and Diana has proof read it.

Dinner Read More »

Two Night Trip

5 May 2012 / Backpacking, Camping, Lincolnshire, Photography, Technology, Travel, Walking / backpacking, iPhone camera apps, lightweight walking, Lincolnshire, MSR titanium mug, outdoor gear, Photos 2012, walking

I had been planning a two night trip further afield – but the variable weather and the unseasonably low temperatures meant I changed my plan to a walk to Woodhall Spa. (I have been walking for about 30 minutes, as I write this, it was cold and grey when I set out, it rained, the sun came out, it rained and now it is grey again!)

I put my iPhone in the waterproof case at the start of the day, to protect it, so I can use it as a camera for those bad weather photos and so I can write this blog as I walk – wiping the rain drops from the screen so I can read what I write.

The plan is walk to Woodhall Spa campsite from Bardney using the Viking Way – tomorrow loop out around Horncastle using the Viking Way and other paths – then Monday back to Bardney on the Water Rail Way.

Two days food, extra fuel and some spare clothes has added to my pack weight – the starting load complete was 12kgs. One thing I do need to manage is the power consumption on my iPhone – so I have disabled the 3G and data function, whilst walking, to conserve power and no movies tonight in the tent – I also plan to turn on flight mode over night.

It has now hailed on me.

The path has been very muddy in places particularly two stretches that go through cow fields. I found a convenient bit of low wall for lunch – but sitting still I got cold very quickly – so lunch was a quick stop.

I got the tent up in the dry.

I have my new inflatable pillow with me – as I do not have enough spare clothes with me to make a decent pillow. You can see the two days worth of food to the left – the milk I got from the campsite shop.

Here you can see how useful the small tarp is for giving me somewhere outside the tent to sit – and my sleeping bag in the stuff sack makes a useable stool.

A pitch right by the lake in among the trees.

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Be Prepared!

27 April 2012 / Backpacking, Camping, Outdoor Gear, Photography, Walking / backpacking food, coffee, lightweight backpacking, lightweight backpacking food, lightweight camping, outdoor gear, Photos 2012, tea

I want to get plenty of overnight backpacking trips in the year, as practice for some future longer trips – The Speyside Way this summer and the Southern Upland Way summer 2013.

So whilst I have been sorting out the food this week for a trip with Jeremy next weekend I have put together a pack of food for a short solo overnighter, so if I decide to go at the last minute the food will be ready.

As I think the food pack will spend several weeks on the shelf the food had to have a good storage life – so no sausage or salami and the crackers have been double wrapped in cling film.

Menu

Trail Food
Spice and fruit oat cakes, white coffee and dried fruit and nuts

Dinner
Tuna in tomato and onion sauce, crackers, packet of noodles, tomato soup, sesame dessert, apple flakes, tea.

Supper
Hot Chocolate and biscuits

Breakfast
Tea and biscuits
Breakfast biscuits and portion of jam, 2x cereal bars, tea

Trail Food
Honey Chrysanthemum Tea and oat cakes and jam

Extra
Bag of Aldi chocolate buttons

The individual meals are packed in small ziplock bags and then these are packed in a larger ziplock bag.

The only things I need to add to this will be the tea bags and dried milk in my small brewkit – and it is ready to go.

1x Indian spiced tea bag
5x tea bags
3x sugar
salt and pepper
20ml dried milk
1x 500mg paracetamol tablet
1x indigestion tablet
small refillable gas lighter – it gives a stronger flame compared to a disposable lighter

The case is an mp3 case bought at a pound shop.

Update
I have added an “army style” can opener to this pouch – as I have removed the Bantam SAK from my backpacking kitchen, so there is no longer a tin opener in the stuff sack.

I have been finishing this post, whilst waiting to go to a supplier to look at their Cloud Computing solutions, and looking out of the window here the weather is grey, wet and overcast so the above image may well be today’s “Photo of the Day”!

Be Prepared! Read More »