tea

Overnight Walk to Woodhall Spa

/ Camping, Outdoor Gear, Travel, Walking / , , , ,

With the West Highland Way walk only weeks away now I am going to walk to Woodhall Spa this weekend for training. When we do the WHW we will be carrying daypacks and having our main luggage transported between the places we are staying at – the extra weight I will be carrying to Woodhall Spa will help with the training.

It will also be the first outing for the new GoLite Jam2, so I am busy packing it this evening.

The food will be the usual mix of “non-specialist” lightweight food simply bought from the supermarket, to keep the costs down!

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Weekend walk 10/9/2011

Saturday

On the trail　

Tinned mackrel, crackers, white coffee

Evening meal

Noodles with tomato soup and salami
Instant custard
Granola bars x2
Tea

Indian tea (with milk) and biscuits

Hot chocolate

Sunday

Tea – whilst still in the sleeping bag looking at the sunrise (I hope) or listening to rain!

Breakfast

Granola bars x2
Oat cakes and jam
White coffee

Lunch

Salami and crackers
White coffee

Trail food

Cereal bars x2
Salted cashew nuts

Both days 750ml water with 2x soluble electrolyte tablets

Saturday arriving at campsite SiS ReGo drink

Extras

3x tea bags and 15ml dried milk
1x white coffee
1x black coffee
2x peach tea (use hot or cold)
2x sugar packets
2x pepper packets
1x salt packet
1x tomato ketchup sachet

2x moist towels
Tissues

Weight excluding mackrel lunch (which will be eaten within an hour of starting) 900g.

For this trip I am not going to take the fleece liner for my lightweight sleeping, to add warmth, I am going to try experimenting with wearing my winter long underwear and some wool socks. This combination packs smaller and weighs less – and hopefully will keep me warm.

After recent experiences with fuel usage in the meths stove when the weather was windy, I am going to carry 250ml of meths.

Equipment

GoLite Jam2
Karrimor 1100 sleeping bag
Silk liner
Complete long underwear (cold weather / sleeping)
Air mat carried inside the pack
3x dry sacks
Belt lens case for brewkit – ease of access on the trail
1m x 1m lightweight tarp – sit mat when walking – used in tent porch

Coleman Bedrock 2 Tent
12 Ti pegs
4 steel
black bin liner – to pack the tent in if wet on the second day

Cooking
Ti stove inc copper mug support
2 fuel tablets – emergency fuel
100 ml meths
100 ml meths
50 ml meths
Half Al wind shield
Stove Board/stand
Ti mug and lid
Beaker with lid
Small brewkit in neoprene case – 5 teabags 15mls dried milk 2 brown sugar
2x lighters
Hi absorbent cloth – drying up
Pot sponge 1/2
5ml washing up liquid
Small LMF spork
Folding spoon/knife
Wide mug
cutting board – plastic 5cms x 12cms

Spare Clothes
Hi tech jumper
Walking socks
Underwear
Hat, headover and gloves
(stuffing the above in the headover makes a good pillow)

Wash Kit
Small Lifeventure travel towel
Hotel soap
Travel toothbrush
20ml liquid toothpaste – the bottle was a giveaway sample from Theramed
Comb
Mirror – from a Christmas cracker
20cm square high absorbent cloth

Tools
Camper SAK
Leatherman P4 Squirt
whistle
LMF fire steel
Compass

Petzl Tikka Headlamp
iTorch – led wind up (from Morrissons)
FAK
Safety pins, gaffer tape, needle and thread, cable ties, paracord
Two clothes pegs

2l Camelbak
750ml SIS bottle in belt case
1l Platypus Roll up bottle – for use in camp

Nano iPod and headphones in neoprene case

iPhone with extended battery jacket fitted
Booster battery for iPod/iPhone
Watatait Case

Headphones for iphone
Swisscard
Money £10
Pencil and notepaper
Personal Medicine
Sunglasses
Cricket Hat
Compeed stick
Lip balm
Sun stick – factor 50

Wearing
Lightweight long sleeved polartec shirt
3way Crag Hoppers
Northface Boots
Walking socks
Underwear

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Peach Tea

/ Camping, Outdoor Gear, Walking / , , , , ,

Whilst shopping in Lidl we came across this instant fruit tea.

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I am always looking for things to add to the brew kit and peach tea sounded good. Back at the campsite we tried it and both of us liked it, Jeremy especially like the idea that it could be added to cold water.

The instructions said use five tea spoons (20g) we used two heaped mini sporks in a mug and that was fine.

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I packed about six mugs worth in this 100ml nalgene bottle (I’ll weigh it when I get home).

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Found! WiFi in Dingwall

/ Camping, General, Technology, Travel / , , , ,

Since arriving at Dingwall campsite, last weekend we have been thinking about finding a WiFi cafe – there was not an obvious one in Dingwall and we went to a cafe in Ullapool where we got WiFi last year but they no longer offered a free connection. It is not so important as I have a really good 3G data deal from T-Mobile but WiFi mean’s catching up on some TV via BBC iPlayer and JSC wanted to FaceBook with his friends.

The Camping and Caravan Club sites have WiFi but when I looked into this in the past it was not very good value, especially when compared to my data bundle.

I went into Dingwall this afternoon and after buying some award winning black pudding from the local butchers I went to Grants Café Deli, in the High Street, where I got a cappuccino and they had a free 30 minutes of WiFi – however it was a BT Openzone access point, so I logged on using my account and had nearly an hour online. I watched Click, edited the blog, logged into a client’s server to check a problem out and updated eight apps on my iPhone.

The opening times at Grants are good; Mon to Wed 9am – 6pm, Thurs to Sat 9am – 8pm and Sun 10am – 4pm, as many Dingwall cafes stop serving at 4pm.

I got back to the site and put my iPhone in flight mode to charge it in the car, whilst we cooked and ate our award winning black pudding – which also got our seal of approval! After tea I got my phone out to update the blog and when I turned it on, the WiFi was still enabled and I have discovered there is a BT Openzone access point within range of us here – and I am now wondering if this is also part of the C and CC Site WiFi which means there would have been WiFi at Dunbar as well! I just never thought to check or ask because of previous costs and my current 3G deal. I will check in future.

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Logie Steading

/ General, Photography, Travel / , ,

The weather forecast today was not so great, so we planned a trip to the secondhand book shop at Logie Steading.

Well as you can see from the photos – it was excellent weather.

Click on the Pano image below for a larger version

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There is a walk from the visitor centre/shops down to the River Findhorn, where it passes through a gorge.

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Below was the view we had from our picnic spot on the banks of the river. Click on it for a larger version.

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Click on this Pano image below for a larger version

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So remember if you come to Scotland assume the weather will always be unpredictable!

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eBook Reader?

/ Camping, Technology, Walking / , , , , ,

What device should I buy to read e-books on?

Last week I was talking with a backpacker about reading when backpacking. She had a real paper book with her, I had my iPhone and was reading two books on it. She then said she was thinking of buying a Kindle – and that got me thinking about what I would recommend for the job.
One consideration in this process is that the phone/smartphone is kept in the pack, ready for use as a phone – rather than running the battery down using it as a book reader.

So what are the requirements for a backpacker’s e-book reader?

* lightweight
* compact
* robust
* easy to keep dry
* versatile
* long battery life

So just looking at this I think I would reject the Kindle – and many of the other dedicated e-book reader devices.

* lightweight – most dedicated units are reasonably light, but not very light
* compact – they are about the size of a large paperback in area but thin. However there are not many models that are truly pocket sized.
* robust – and being thin I am not sure how it would pack. As you push that last stuff sack in the bag, will you break your e-reader?
* easy to keep dry – can you get a dry case (Aquapac) to fit it?
* versatile – some e-readers can be used to browse the web and have other functions but they are limited to doing one thing well
* long battery life – most e-readers make use of screens that consume very little power – this is their one big advantage

So, looking at my list I think a better device for a backpacker would be lightweight, truly pocket-sized and offer more functions than a simple e-reader.

I think that an Apple iPod Touch meets these requirements.

Using a program like Calibre and the iPod app Stanza you could load your own books and buy from some stores. You can buy books from the Apple store and use Apple’s reading app, or even load the Kindle app on the device! Several other booksellers have apps to access their catalogues, giving a very large choice of where you purchase your books.

The screen is small but extremely sharp and easy to read. Stanza also has a simple function to change the brightness of the page to match your surroundings.

An iPod is easily more flexible than a dedicated e-reader.

Leave your camera at home and use the one on the iPod. Same goes for video.

With an iPod you can get online at wifi access points, listen to music and of course there are many other apps that will interest you. However one thing to remember is “how much battery” this will consume. A Kindle has an incredibly long battery life for just reading books – an iPod Touch much shorter if you use it for lots of other things, longer if you use it only as a camera and book reader.

To make the iPod a better proposition you would need to extend the battery life – my son uses a battery pack he got from the supermarket with his iPod, and for my iPhone I have a battery jacket. I know a search of eBay will turn up many more ways to extend the battery life of an iPod (or iPhone).

There are several very good waterproof cases for the iPod and it is truly pocket sized, so you can keep it handy, get it out and read a book at your tea stop in the rain!

If you just want an electronic book reader – there is a good selection on the market, and if you must have one try Sony – they sell a pocket sized model. If you want a more versatile device, as well as a book reader, opt for the iPod Touch.

(Of course an iPhone will offer all the above, and be your phone, blog poster and GPS… and save on the weight of the mobile phone – just take another battery pack!)

This article is sponsored by Octagon Technology Lincoln, England

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